IE6: The Roadkill of Corporations

Most corporations are still using IE6. Why? It's old technology! Move forward!

If you've been developing web sites for a while and keep up with the web, you may have noticed a recent upheaval with the IT industry regarding updating browsers...specifically Internet Explorer 6 (IE6).

Heck, I thought Microsoft had this taken care of with their updating process through Windows.

Yes, I can hear everyone screaming at their workplace that it's the "man" holding them down from updating their browser. Certain companies control what a user can and can't install on their computers which is understandable. But, because of that, we now have a ton of web developers supporting every frickin' IE browser out there.

A note to corporations...PLEASE kick IE6 to the side of the road of the information superhighway! It's roadkill. Please upgrade your users!

What?!?!?

You're saying you don't want to? Is your IT guy Milton from Office Space? He doesn't want to update the entire company's browser?

Oh boy...Ok, let me let you in on a little secret: The Internet is evolving! You need to update your browser to keep up with the Internet technologies for your company to survive.

Not only that, but Internet companies are not going to support IE6 any longer. Don't believe me? Even Google is asking users to drop IE6. We'll see what happens when YouTube's "plug is pulled" for IE6 users.

Here's comes the hard part to understand...these new browsers (even the old ones) are FREE. Why wouldn't companies upgrade to at least IE7? Am I missing something here? PICK ONE! Firefox, Opera, Safari, Chrome, and yes, even IE.

Need more proof? Well, it's getting pretty bad when people are building sites to convert IE6 users to a newer browser. It doesn't matter what browser...just upgrade!

The resistance from companies to remove IE6 is really beginning to scare me. Are we at a point where if IE6 was removed from all computers in corporations and replaced with IE7/IE8 that the economy would dip even lower because all web sites and applications using the IE6 engine would just up and die? Do we really have that many corporations still running IE6?

Right now, if you're still with me, you probably are looking for a reason to upgrade. I'm sorry, but I think I've given you just about every reason to upgrade to a decent browser that I can think of.

If someone is still clinging to IE6, it must be a religion or cult thing.

UPDATE: If you absolutely HAVE to use IE6, here is the Definitive Guide To Taming the IE6 Beast.

UPDATE: Another good article about why we can't pry IE6 out of their cold, dead hands.

Does anyone have an opinion as to why companies are still clinging to IE6?