YouTube prepares to drop IE6 support

[Justin]

No matter how popular a browser is, once the developer stops supporting it, eventually its usage will start to decline and even those who make web services available will find themselves unwilling to continue supporting it. Such is the case with Internet Explorer 6, which just a few years ago was the world's most popular browser and now is getting the cold shoulder from YouTube.

Users of IE6 are reporting that YouTube now displays a banner to them warning that the service will soon be phasing out support for the browser. The logos of Google Chrome, Firefox, and IE8 appear right next to the text encouraging users to upgrade to a more modern browser.

Security experts and even Microsoft itself have also been urging users to upgrade as fast as possible. So long as major sites continue to provide support for IE6, however, the longer it will take for it to disappear entirely – so when a major site like YouTube announces their intention to say goodbye, it can generally be seen as a good move. We can probably expect a more formal declaration soon.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/35446-youtube-prepares-drop-ie6-support.html

 

[mattfrompa]

If only we could drop support for IE6 worldwide....

 

[Geoffww]

Fantastic news. Now if Google would only do the same!

 

[vnf4ultra]

It's surprising how many people still use such an antiquated browser.

 

[HaMsTeYr]

2nded on that. I remember using IE 6 like.... 4-5 years ago? maybe more O_O after that it was onto firefox and now i'm a chrome user

 

[LinkedKube]

Hmm I think it was like 03-04 when i used IE 6

 

[Jibberish18]

Using IE6 is almost as bad as using IE8.

 

[Jibberish18]

Whoops! I meant almost as bad as using Windows 98.

 

[tengeta]

At least you can use an older Firefox on Windows 98, some vulnerabilities but a lot less.

 

[Julio Franco]

IE6 has been a web developer nightmare for years, but finally we have reached the point where you can expect YouTube to be only one of the many sites that are going to be dropping support for the old browser.

Believe it or not, about 10% of TechSpot visitors are still using IE6, though I hear that a considerable share of these users are in the workplace stuck on a restricted platform with no other browser choice.

 

[camuss15]

I refuse to use such an outdated browser regardless of the location or computer I am on. I bring my U3 flash drive with me to school every day to run Firefox off of it instead of whatever browser may be installed on the computer. I used IE6 from the point my family first got internet to the first beta of IE7. It's been Firefox ever since then though.

 

[gobbybobby]

I liked IE6. after that I chnged to FF2 Now I am on FF3.5. ''I bring my U3 flash drive with me to school every day to run Firefox off of it instead of whatever browser may be installed on the computer''/ Can u do that. I used to try that at school and it never worked. (I tried MSN, Firefox, Old computer games that would work on the school ''low spec'' computers) They never worked.

 

[Wendig0]

People are still using IE6? I'm amazed people actually use IE at all. I thought that was just a story my parents told me to frighten me. Firefox FTW

 

[Darth Shiv]

Julio said:
Believe it or not, about 10% of TechSpot visitors are still using IE6, though I hear that a considerable share of these users are in the workplace stuck on a restricted platform with no other browser choice.

They can't even run Firefox Portable?

 

[T77]

why dont they altogether drop ie support!
much better ones are available out there
i only use ie for windows update

 

[Guest]

Some of us are limited to IE6 by system restrictions and don't have the ability to update to a more recent IE. We alos find FireFox to be to much of a resource hog or find the layout hard to use compared to IE6. Others are restricted by company policy to not use any other browser, including those via USB. So dropping IE6 given that it still has 27% of browser market seems to be a bad idea.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

IE6 is too much of a resource hog (far more than Firefox) and security risk compared to other browsers. And Chrome has a lighter footprint and is faster than IE.

And I don't see why companies cannot install Firefox or Chrome, except for cases where IE6 is needed for certain applications. I don't think one has to pay to use Firefox on a company-wide basis, but I'm not 100% sure about that.

And surely, security should be the primary concern for a company compared to a little teething problems like employees finding it hard getting used to a new browser.

Perhaps this move will make companies and software developers move on from the wretched, malware-drenched, crawling mess that IE6 is.