Web devs rejoice! Firefox share finally exceeds IE6

Matt Jancaitis 4 Nov, 2009 at 1:37pm ET Article published in Tech

In an event which can only be described as a long time coming, increased exposure for Mozilla’s Firefox has finally driven it to exceed that of Internet Explorer 6, the decrepit hunk of code venerable old browser released all the way back in 2001.

While IE’s overall market share still hangs around 62%, the portion of that belonging to the reviled IE6 shrunk to (a still abhorrently high) 23.30%. Combining versions 2.0, 3.0, and 3.5 for Firefox yielded a total presence of 23.83%.

Frankly, we don’t care what you switch to–Firefox, IE8, Safari 4, even Opera–but for heaven’s sake, get off of IE6 already. We’re talking to you, too, IT bean counters!

Ed note: In before enterprise risk analysis and legacy code.

Comments

4 Nov 2009 ~ 1:48pm Cliff_Forster Its amazing how many great choices we have in the browser market. Why use IE6?
4 Nov 2009 ~ 1:55pm Kwitko Why use IE6? Because I'm familiar with it and it runs WoW.
4 Nov 2009 ~ 1:57pm Snarkasm Your toaster runs WoW, but if it doesn't have a ground prong, you're still behind the times.

Thank God for Win 7's wonderful reception, at least.
4 Nov 2009 ~ 1:57pm Thrax 11 million people can't be wrong.
4 Nov 2009 ~ 2:04pm lordbean 11 million people with 11 million worms can be.
4 Nov 2009 ~ 2:05pm Snarkasm He was referring to WoWers, not IE6 users.
4 Nov 2009 ~ 10:22pm chrisWhite It's about damned time.
4 Nov 2009 ~ 11:15pm Tim So it takes THREE versions of Firefox combined to have more market share then IE6 all by its antique self that I still use? Okay.
4 Nov 2009 ~ 11:17pm Winfrey
4 Nov 2009 ~ 11:23pm Kwitko

Winfrey wrote:
4 Nov 2009 ~ 11:25pm NiGHTS You never cease to amaze.
4 Nov 2009 ~ 11:25pm chrisWhite

Tim wrote:

So it takes THREE versions of Firefox combined to have more market share then IE6 all by its antique self that I still use? Okay.

I still use AOL myself.
4 Nov 2009 ~ 11:30pm NiGHTS Prodigy here, on my trusty Packard Bell.
4 Nov 2009 ~ 11:38pm primesuspect I'm a BBS man, mahself. At 14.4K, my 4096-color GIF pictures get here in no time flat.
4 Nov 2009 ~ 11:44pm mertesn

primesuspect wrote:

I'm a BBS man, mahself. At 14.4K, my 4096-color GIF pictures get here in no time flat.

Yeah, it looks so much better on my Tandy 1000TX and 12" VGA monitor too.
4 Nov 2009 ~ 11:59pm Thrax Noobs, I use a 5 megabaud modem
5 Nov 2009 ~ 12:12am shwaip

Thrax wrote:

Noobs, I use a 5 megabaud modem

pshh.

well aren't you mr fancy pants. I just upgraded to one of these.
5 Nov 2009 ~ 12:27am NiGHTS Hey, they still work for us, right? Who needs to upgrade!
5 Nov 2009 ~ 1:30am MachineDog Somewhere, someone actually has to use that for some ancient machine that *has* to work for some purpose.
5 Nov 2009 ~ 1:59am Winfrey

shwaip wrote:

pshh.

well aren't you mr fancy pants. I just upgraded to one of these.

LUCKY!
5 Nov 2009 ~ 4:05am Snarkasm

I love it. Even without directly referencing Tim in the article, it still turns into Tim-based lulz.
5 Nov 2009 ~ 9:29am Zuntar ^ every time! LOL
7 Nov 2009 ~ 9:14am MathieuB It's about time! I think that the share of IE6 will take a hit with a lot of Windows XP users migrating to Windows 7 in the next year or two.
8 Nov 2009 ~ 2:31pm ardichoke Part of me wants to craft an IE6 hijack page and get Tim to go to it just because he deserves it.

A slightly larger part of me doesn't want the FBI showing up at my workplace or apartment looking for me though.

I feel immensely sorry for anybody that takes tech advice from Tim... if such a person exists.