The Death Knell of IE6
/Everyone benefits from an up-to-date browser.
Today we are sharing our plan to automatically upgrade Windows customers to the latest version of Internet Explorer available for their PC. This is an important step in helping to move the Web forward.
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The Web overall is better – and safer – when more people run the most up-to-date browser. Our goal is to make sure that Windows customers have the most up-to-date and safest browsing experience possible, with the best protections against malicious software such as malware.
I cannot tell you how great of a move this is on Microsoft’s part. IE6 is the bane of the Internet, and I know so many people who use it because they don’t know there have been three new versions since. IE9 isn’t fully standards-compliant, but it is a great step in the right direction. And IE10 looks promising.
Chrome auto-updates, Firefox is going there. Apple already pushes new versions of Safari via Software Update, though the user must still choose to install it. For the fast pace of the Internet, auto-updating is the right thing to do for home users (my only gripe is the user is often not told what is new).
It seems Microsoft finally took notice they were shipping a terrible browser, and ever since they have been on the frontline to kill the zombie that is IE6.
[via Zeldman]