IE6 users should be forced to upgrade!
Microsoft is rolling out silent updates for Internet Explorer in the new year. But as usual this is a half-baked effort that will let too many people off the hook to do any real good.
Any IE users with XP, Vista, or Windows 7 will have their browsers updated to the latest version starting in January 2012. If they have automatic updates turned on, if they have a genuine copy of Windows, if they don’t opt out, and if they haven’t opted out of an update at any point in the past.
I can’t help feeling Microsoft is being too cautious here. Sure, forcing users of older versions of Internet Explorer to upgrade to a newer version would be controversial. It would also annoy some of those users. Enterprise customers – businesses who refuse point blank to move on from IE6 – would throw a major tantrum. But who cares, really?
There is a slight risk that some of these users would switch to Chrome or Firefox, ditching Internet Explorer altogether. But it would be a small number of people, and if they’re so stuck on IE6 that they would rather switch to an alternative browser than upgrade to a newer version then screw them. They’re hardly worth having as customers anyway.
Microsoft needs to realize that some people will not upgrade to the latest version of Internet Explorer unless and until they are forced to. The number of caveats and clauses included in the silent updates scheme means many will just carry on regardless, either ignoring, or never even receiving word of, the need to update their Web browsers.
I want to see IE6 killed off for good. I want to see people using as new a version of their browser of choice as their machine is capable of running. This scheme will fail to achieve these goals. And for that reason it’s time for Microsoft to grow a pair and start bullying people into submission. Internet Explorer is their product, after all. So they should be able to do with it what they want.
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December 19th, 2011
“Internet Explorer is their product, after all. So they should be able to do with it what they want.”
No, They should not. Next Microsoft will format your OS as it is their product.