Two Reasons Internet Explorer 6 Is Not A Bad Browser
I've had to use IE 6 for a long time. Spending over 6 years working for a large corporation where everyone used it and now working to build websites that need to function and look good in it. After spending all this time working with and using IE 6 I've come to realize that it's not a bad browser and I can prove it.
It is Old
Internet Explorer 6 was release back in 2001. Do you remember what web technology like back then? I worked for an Internet service provider at the time and remember quite well. You had Netscape 6 and Opera 5 at the same time. This was before the days of webkit or even the Mozilla foundation.
IE 6 is 8 years old. What other pieces of software are people using that's 8 years old? IE 6 is an aged piece of software that's been vastly eclipsed by new software and versions. That doesn't make it bad. It makes it old.
It Works
There are a lot of people who use IE 6 on a daily basis to do business and they get a lot done. Millions and millions of people. It may not embrace the newest technology. It is by no means fast. Since it's users are able to get their jobs done with it, IE 6 works for them.
How To Make A Change
Like every other developer with a sane mind I want to see IE 6 pass off into memory as a browser from the past. Ideally, I'd like to see IE 7 there as well. If we want to help guide the last major group of IE 6 users onto better browsers complaining that is sucks isn't going to change their minds about it. For many of them it works.
On top of that, most of the IE 6 users are people who don't have a choice. They are people who work for a company or government that locks down their systems. Suggesting they update is asking them to do something they have no control over.
We need a different approach. If we want the updates to happen off of IE 6 and to help IE 7 have a short life we need to educate the decision makers. This is some manager in middle of a corporation or government who is oblivious to the whole debate. Most of this persons time is spent dealing with issues not related to the web and caught up in business processes. This person doesn't have the time nor inclination to listen to the people who produce websites complain. A sales pitch on advantages of upgrading, that's an entirely different story. That might actually get them to upgrade.
"IE 6 works for them"
It's because web developers and designers still have to spend extra time to make it work. It doesn't comes from the browser being a good piece of software, it comes from the hard work put into making this old piece of software still work.
"most of the IE 6 users are people who don't have a choice"
Sad and true, but it still doesn't make IE6 a good browser... anymore. IE6 once was good, but 8 years later, it is an old piece of crap, that thousands of developers are forced to support because company or government don't even know they should upgrade.
Stop supporting IE6, then they will realize that there is a problem. We can't give a sales pitch to all of them, and as these 'decision makers' only rely on performances, having their teams not being able to use internet because IE6 isn't supported seams like a good way to convince them to me.
What you're missing is understanding from the end users point of view. For them it works. It doesn't matter how or why it works. It's just that it does. And they feel that it does. Telling them that it's bad is, to a certain degree, off putting and creates a divide. You're not telling them why it's better to switch. You're telling them that they are wrong. Entirely different reception from an end user.
Taking IE 6 support away is not an option. If companies want to pay for it they will keep it around. If someone decides to stop supporting it when they create sites a businesses will just go to people who will support it. No big company wants to take a stand on it because they make so much money from IE 6 users. Cutting IE 6 off is just not going to happen. The economics don't work.
Decision makers don't just rely on just performance. They think about security, schedule, and money. Saying we can't give a sales pitch to the decision makers is true. But, we can influence them. The question to ask is who are they and though what channels can we influence them? Remember, we don't have to have direct influence. Just influence.
"No big company wants to take a stand on it because they make so much money from IE 6 users."
That's not true. Youtube and facebook are two recent examples of major websites announcing that they stopped supporting IE6. And remember that IE6 is now only 12% of browser share. (according to W3C http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp), and that, as you said, it's mostly from old companies, or government employment. I don't think that's the primary target at all, as opposed to family computers, that usually have at least IE7.
"Cutting IE 6 off is just not going to happen."
It is happening, and like any old browser, IE6 is on the way out. In the last year, the IE6 share went from 22.3% to 12.1%. More and more web companies ask for extra charge to support IE6, so less and less website come out supporting IE6 at all.
It's happening without any real influence needed. It's just happening.
w3schools.com is not the w3c and there is a great statement about their stats at the bottom of their stats page which says:
The target audience of a group makes a big difference. YouTube and Facebook have entirely different audiences than w3schools.com with different browser habits. It's like comparing apples and oranges.
Understanding the browser habits is important here. People who work for the governments and businesses that have IE 6 are, also, behind proxy servers. These organizations are filtering sites like YouTube and Facebook out. This means Facebook and YouTube can more easily cut this segment because the places that have IE 6 can't get to their sites anyway. This is not true of most consumer sites.
IE 6 usage is on the decline. With less Windows XP computers on the market its usage is going downhill. And, with the next release of Windows we should see more people switch off XP with means less old Internet Explorer versions.
As someone who creates sites for mass consumers, IE 6 has to stay supported. And, when that one finally falls off the radar, IE 7 will still be on it for the same reasons IE 6 is today. If we want faster updates of IE (the browser currently used by the masses) we need to help the decision makers make that updating decision.