Microsoft launches anti IE6 campaign

Tells people to stop using 10 year old browser

THIS IS ONE of those rare times when a company does something completely unexpected, but Microsoft has launched a website that is telling people to stop using IE6 and no, this isn’t an April fools joke. Then again, only a company like Microsoft would have a problem with its users not upgrading their software, right?

You might be surprised to learn that 12 percent of internet users are still on IE6, although China accounts for the largest share of these users at 34.5 percent of internet users still using IE6 closely followed by South Korea at 24.8 percent. In the case of South Korea the problem is that a lot of the banks there are still relying on custom ActiveX plugins which are required, or you won’t be able to log in to your online banking. So much for being a high-tech country huh?

In India 12.3 percent of internet users are still on IE6 with Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam and Saudi Arabia all at 10 percent or above. In North America the US comes in at only 2.9 percent, beaten by Canada at 3.3 percent and Mexico at 3.9 percent. The UK comes in at 3.5 percent which is the second highest in Europe, only beaten by Switzerland of all places.

Microsoft is hoping to get less than one percent of worldwide internet users to stick with IE6, but as the site doesn’t cover actual reasons as to why people still use IE6, it’s hard to get to the root of the problem. Statistics are all well and good, but as in the case of South Korea, as long as the banks don’t upgrade their infrastructure, usage of IE6 is set to continue as is.S|A



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