There really isn't any compelling reason to move from 6 up to 7 or 8 for the folks that use IE. If you knew enough to use a better browser, you'd be on Firefox or Opera or... well... or anything other than IE. For the average non-power user, all newer versions of IE add is bloat and confusing UI changes.
I disagree. After using IE7, I can't imagine going back to IE6. I don't use FireFox except when I'm using Linux, because the unprofessional look and feel of one is a perfect fit for the other.
As for the question at hand, I'm in the opposite of most of you guys. I'm using IE8 at work. At home, I'm still using IE7 because I don't see anything in IE8 that'll make me upgrade. If it aint broke, I don't fix it.
I like the interface better in IE 6. It lets me move the bars and the icons around anyway I want. The interface seems far more restricted in IE7. It costs me screen real estate that I can use for browsing in both IE6 and Firefox. Chrome is just super efficient with screen real estate to start with by not wasting all that room for the title bar when you maximize. I hate not having tabs in IE so I do have an add-on for that but I don't use IE much anyway.
Also, IE 7 doesn't seem to be any more secure than IE 6. It seems just as bad based on friend who I have that have computer problems. Those who use firefox or chrome consistantly have less random issues/malware.
I use Chrome and Firefox most of the time. Chrome is faster on my PC's and I like the start page with recent site thumbnails in Chrome. I do like the full page zooming (much better than any other browser zoom I've seen - ctrl-[scroll wheel]) in Firefox as well as the "find as you type".
With Firefox and Chrome I have no desire to install IE8. If a site requires IE, I always seem to get by with IE6.
I guess if I ever move to Windows 7 from Windows XP I'll probably end up with IE 8.
Work computers are still stuck at IE6; certain company apps apparently won't run on newer versions and the company either let the people go that could fix the apps or there is no funding.
At home, I have several computers with Win2K and Microsoft thought it a good idea to artificially not allow IE7 to run on Win2K. (Why are they still running Win2K? Because that's what they came with and Microsoft thought it was a good idea to extort large sums from people to move to a newer version of Windows.)
Thanks for all the great responses everyone - this confirms my theory that the vast majority of people who are using IE6 don't have any choice in the matter. Unfortunately as Web sites continue to evolve and grow, the IE6-users view of the Web will become broken and dysfunctional. Makes me wonder why IT departments don't leave IE6 as the standard for Web-based apps, but install Firefox for day to day browsing for employees.
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Makes me wonder why IT departments don't leave IE6 as the standard for Web-based apps, but install Firefox for day to day browsing for employees.
Let me give the short answer to this one. Corporate IT departments in large organizations (In general) really don't CARE about day to day browsing for the serfs and peons. It would take budget to test, verify security and support Firefox, and there is no one they can sue if problems happen. Why bother?
Let me give the short answer to this one. Corporate IT departments in large organizations (In general) really don't CARE about day to day browsing for the serfs and peons.
Yeah, I understand - but I hope that users will "rise up" against their IT departments and complain loudly if they can't see/use Web sites the way they're supposed to look/work. IE6 was so completely non-standards-based, things are going to get ugly when the next wave of Web site re-designs start to go live over the next 12-24 months and developers drop support for IE6.
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I only recently moved to IE7 on my work laptop. We're not locked down at all but when IE7 first came out, it caused problems with Visual Studio. Visual Studio is our lifeblood, so anything that could even possibly mess with that, is a no-no. Those issues were cleared up long ago, but still there's little reason to change: we're all using FF3 anyway for everything except for those few sites that only work in IE (and thankfully, that # of sites is shrinking over time).
Still I find it curious that the official MS browser had compatibility issues with the official MS development tools (Visual Studio).
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yup still on IE6 -- corporate standard. They wont roll out 7. and it will take years to figure out if they want to go with 8..... Firefox is an option, but it is equally as old.
It's my 3rd choice
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