Microsoft is keen on phasing out its ageing IE6 internet browser from the market by all possible means. The 8 year old browser has been subjected to some of the most notorious security exploits and attacks in the recent years. In fact, the security vulnerabilities of IE6 have played a pivotal role in data theft and OS crash for several million users across the globe. It is also another reason why the alternative browsers like Opera and Firefox have improved their market share.
While Microsoft released IE8 in the first quarter of 2009 a huge number of users still have IE6 installed on their Windows based PCs. Generally, two types of people still use IE6:
- There are some corporate users who cannot discard IE6 because of company policies and licensing agreements.
- There are other users who are not aware of the importance of upgrading their browser.
That is why Microsoft has started a campaign that projects IE8 as a much better option compared to IE6. According to Microsoft the campaign is aimed to make the users realize that with IE8 they will be able to protect their privacy online. IE8 is also far superior to its predecessors in security implementation. A number of web designers grudge about making the sites compliant to IE6 which lacks support for some of the new web applications and technologies. However, many users will upgrade by default to IE8 by purchasing a PC with Windows 7. If Windows 7 succeeds in wooing the corporate users, the number of IE6 users will reduce dramatically.
