If you ask different people what IE 6 is, different people will give different answers, but perhaps everyone once loved it.
Since April 2014, Microsoft has officially ended technical support for Windows XP. IE 6, which came along with XP, is finally about to fade from the scene.
But this is only Microsoft's idea; users may not agree.
According to data from Net Market Share, in November, IE still topped the global browser rankings, with a total market share of 58.94% (October share: 58.49%). Chrome ranked second with a market share of 20.57% (October share: 21.25%), a slight decline.
However, these are not the highlight. The highlight is that IE 6, which was abandoned in April 2014, still has a 0.96% global market share. Although this is a large drop from the 4.15% in early April, it is still worth noting that whether it is the data released in early April or early December, IE 6's share is still higher than the share of "Other" in the statistics. It can be seen that although IE's global user base has declined again and again, the number of users is still not to be ignored.
Let's look at another set of data. According to statistics from early April 2014, the old but resilient Windows XP still occupied nearly 28% of the domestic market share. At the same time, Office 2003 office suite remained active. IE 6 also had a 4.15% global market share. Moreover, according to incomplete statistics, on the Chinese mainland, 22.2% of users are still using IE 6.
Although global data has now dropped from 4.15% to 0.96%, even at the same rate, as of early December, mainland China still has at least 6% of users using IE 6. However, due to incomplete statistics caused by piracy and other reasons, the actual usage rate of IE 6 in China may still be higher than 10%.
Why do Chinese people always like to use outdated browsers such as IE 6?
We must start with the rampant piracy that mainland China is unwilling to admit.
Government departments must support genuine software, but they often do not purchase the latest versions. In fact, domestically there is a particular preference for Windows XP, and naturally, by extension, people have become accustomed to IE 6 and have continued using it for a long time. As a result, many government agency websites were designed based on IE 6 and have not been updated since. On the one hand, it is a matter of habit; on the other hand, many government department websites have very low usage frequency, and since they were built, they have never been upgraded or revamped.
Some special enterprises or institutions, such as state-owned enterprises, also have to guard against Microsoft's surprise anti-piracy checks. At the slightest sign of trouble, the network maintenance department will uniformly switch the company's systems back to the versions for which genuine licenses have been purchased. Many enterprises purchased genuine versions of Windows XP, and because it is classic and easy to use, and also to save costs, many enterprises have used it for years.
And we have to mention special enterprises such as banks, which have extremely high security control requirements. Most banks' online banking can only use the IE browser, and cannot use the higher-version IE 10; they can only use fairly low versions like IE 6. The banking industry's "unambitious" approach caused netizens to complain, and IE browsers also took the flak. The main reason for this is that the password input boxes of domestic online banking generally use ActiveX controls, and ActiveX is Microsoft's proprietary technology, and IE browser has a relatively large number of users, so banks naturally give priority to IE.
But in fact, banks also have their own difficulties. For security reasons, banks need to carry out a lot of testing and strict project approvals during online banking development. Every time IE updates, the online banking system has to be patched, but browsers other than IE, such as Chrome and Firefox, often update very frequently, so banks are not willing nor do they have enough energy to maintain security controls for other relatively niche browsers besides IE.
However, the good news is that major banks are currently researching next-generation online banking systems, which will be based on HTML 5 technology to achieve cross-platform operation, breaking the impact caused by technical differences between browsers.
Finally, let's talk about the core reason: the piracy problem. There must be many old machines that can only use IE 6, and the reason is pirated XP. Because XP is too popular in China, XP users are still the largest group. But in fact, you should understand that an estimated 70% to 80% of XP systems in China are pirated. Pirated systems directly turn off system updates; otherwise, many IE 6 instances could have been upgraded to IE 8 or even higher.
As for computers bought in earlier years, especially those bought at computer malls, it was related to Ghost for Windows XP. In major computer malls, "computer enthusiasts" each had a system disc, which greatly saved time in installing XP on computers, and what came with it was basically the miserable IE 6. Ghost versions like Deepin and Tomato have long stopped updating, and the key is that they did not integrate IE 8 either. The installation workers at computer malls were too lazy to change it, so they kept using it. Of course, there are also some stubborn computer illiterates who refuse to use higher versions like IE 8.
Most people won't upgrade after installation, and some people even buy a new computer, find Vista/Win 7 not to their liking, and reinstall the system with a pirated XP disc.
Many reasons directly caused IE 6 to prevail back then, and its legacy still lingers today.
Why doesn't the "update prompt" method used by foreign peers work in China? For example, when a user visits a website with IE 6, the website prompts: "Please use a more awesome browser!" and then provides download links for Chrome or other browsers. The reason is that upgraded versions such as IE 7 and IE 8 are not satisfactory; compared with IE 6, they have not improved much — they are slow and have a bloated interface. So prompting users to upgrade IE 6 is not enough; what is needed now is to prompt users to use browsers like Chrome, Safari, and Firefox. But for the IE 6 users in China, that is even more asking too much.
And in fact, websites still support IE 6, because competition is fierce and no one wants to lose this group of users, so they always think too much for netizens, which leads to lagging server development, and netizens naturally are too lazy to switch.
At this point, you should understand why so many people in China persist in using IE 6 so tirelessly.
What will the future bring? The author believes the answer is optimistic. Over time, there will be fewer and fewer IE 6 users, and websites and developers will gradually abandon IE 6. More importantly, the era of mobile Internet has already arrived.
The mobile side is becoming more and more important, and the shift of traffic from PC to mobile is an inevitable trend. More and more websites should consider mobile-side performance first. Even on the PC side, when the cost of supporting IE 6 becomes disproportionate to the benefits, websites and developers will naturally abandon it.
So, be a little patient. IE 6 will eventually leave the global browser stage, and the Chinese market is no exception. Everything is now in place; the rest is just a matter of time. So, at the end of the article, here comes the question: The soon-to-retire IE 6, will you miss it?
Original source: http://www.donews.com/idonews/article/5157.shtm