Anti-IE6 Ads: You Wouldn't Drink Old Milk
You wouldn't drink 9-year-old milk, would you?
Microsoft really, really wants customers to move away from older versions of its Internet Explorer browser. It's latest attempt to push stubborn users into the next century stems around an ad campaign launched in Australia. The angle? You wouldn't drink 9-year-old milk.
It's hard to believe that Internet Explorer 6 originally launched in 2001, but it's even harder to believe that consumers are still using that particular version. Yet that's the case, and at this point, it's a nasty security issue for everyone.
"When Internet Explorer 6 was launched in 2001, it offered cutting-edge security... for the time," the ad body reads. Next to the text sits a carton with "You Wouldn't Drink 9-Year-Old Milk" printed in pastel shades of blue, green and white. Naturally Microsoft is aiming to convince die-hard IE6 users to switch over to the new Internet Explorer 8, a browser available in the present designed to "cope with today's modern cyber crime."
A study recently conducted by Net Applications show that 17.6-percent of the browser usage worldwide is owned by IE6. That's because it's built into Windows XP, an operating system that's still heavily used by businesses, consumers, hobbyists, and PC enthusiasts worldwide. The company said that it will be tough to push corporations into upgrading, as many applications may be built around the IE6 model.
Although Microsoft is pushing Internet Explorer 8 as more secure than Firefox 3, Safari 4, and Chrome, the company's biggest bet is in Internet Explorer 9, providing support for CSS 3, HTML5, hardware accelerated rendering, and faster JavaScript.
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9 year old milk? mmmm, cheese
I really wish people would do away with IE6 altogether. I don't care what browser they go to as long as it's something current.
Well, it's not exactly "pushing users into the next century", considering it came out this century.
Fail. If I used IE6 and saw the ad, I'd just switch to Chrome/Firefox.
Pretty sure I'm on IE6 right now, at work. At home tho, Firefox.
I prefer Opera and Chrome..and IE6!
Since IE6 did a shit job of complying with web standards, there are many companies running around with older corporate software that only works on IE6. Updating that old software in this economic climate, would be pretty burdensome.
Updating to IE8 destorys the IE6 installation, and methods to get both browsers installed at the same time are iffy at best. So... for a modern browser, the best solution is to install something like Firefox, Chrome, or even Opera. These adds will probably hurt Microsoft.
That's what they get for integrating the browser into the OS the way they did. Looks like its finally catching up with them.
9 year old wine anyone?
I've quit all IE6 support as a web dev.
2001 Rieussec Sauternes with my desert please.
@Excalibur
Dude, I just explained why they CAN'T upgrade to ie7 or ie8. It would break compatibility with older applications designed around ie6.
Can't believe someone is still using IE6...
I personally stick to Firefox, tried Chrome, but then switched back to Firefox when 3.5 camed out. Currently on 3.6. Tried Chrome 5 Beta, same speed as FF 3.6.3.
But i'm curious what will they do with IE9... might give it a try when it comes out, i haven't touched IE in a year of so because it's relatively slow, even to open a single tab takes 2 seconds. On FF and Chrome they open the same moment i press the new tab button.
Hmmm, Toms Hardware/Guide seems to be putting out these articles late. I've read about this one in particular two or three days ago I think.
What really needs to be done is to push website developers to make pages that aren't compatible with IE6. Anything that's compatible with IE6 seems to get screwed up on other browsers.
Why don't they just use the compatibility mode function built into IE8 for the software designed for IE6?
The company I work for is global and just about all business applications are web based and built around IE6. Just for kicks I tried upgrading to IE7 for a while, nothing worked and it was impossible for me to be productive so I moved back to IE6. I don't think this company will ever leave IE6 behind as it might very well cost hundreds of millions. It's so sad that even new applications are built to run only in IE6.
You shouldn't have to code for a particular web browser. You code to a web standard. Then all browsers comply to that standard. Too bad Microsoft bollocks up IE6 so bad with it's deviation from standards. IE6 is it's own proprietary web "standard" and if you coded an app for IE6, it won't run on any browser other than IE6. Talk about vendor lock-in. This should be a lesson to developers everywhere to ONLY support open standards.
As a web developer a large chunk of my time is spent on compatibility and I would love for IE6 and 7 to be abandoned for IE8&9, Firefox, Opera and Chrome. I still provide functional support for IE6 because many people are forced to use it.
Me on ie6 since ie7 came out:
"KILL IT, KILL IT, KILL IT!!! DIE IE6, DIE!!!!"
As a developer, I don't test my code for IE6. I don't even test for IE7 unless we get a complaint about it.
I like my milk nice and sticky and curdled. IE5 FTW!! lol I'm kidding.
their fault for stopping development of IE until Firefox emerged to offer a challenge. Great job MS
I never would drink that milk.
Saying this is like comparing a 9 year old car to 9 year old milk. People don't drop what works for them so quickly. It isn't something nasty like milk.
Dammit, everyone needs to move to Windows 7, now! The world would be a much, much better place that way.
Problem is that you need the IE6 from any Windows 95/98/Me/2000 CD, and you can only upgrade Windows NT to IE6 (IE7 doesn't work on it I believe).
So on any of these older platforms you start out with IE6 (or can upgrade to IE6, and from there upgrade.
If MS discontinues the upgrade function of IE6 browsers, by creating websites that won't display on IE6 browsers, MS successfully disabled the further use of these ancient os'es.
Everyday I say about IE6 -- "DIE DIE DIE DIE... DAMMIT Why won't you DIE????"
I can play CS:S version 3.0 on IE9?
Awesome!
No commercials yet huh?
Can I assume XP's market share is also around 17.6%?
It doesn't seem much different from Microsoft wanting customers to switch to the newest version of Windows.
IE9 sounds like a real upgrade...
IE8 from IE7... not so much.
The fact so many people still use IE 6 (and IE 7 and 8 for that matter) proves there is something dramatically wrong with average joe's attitude to computing.
Europe headed the right way, thank god. At least my less tech savvy fellows are now aware there are alternatives to IE, thanks to the ballot screen. In my circle of friends, nobody actually kept using IE after seeing the ballot screen. They asked me or another friend which browser they should pick, I explained them why not to pick IE and they were happy ever after.