Thread: YouTube Will Be Next To Kiss IE6 Support Goodbye

Judging by this screenshot taken by an IE6 user who was watching some videos on YouTube, it appears the Google company will be phasing out support for the browser shortly. I don’t have Internet Explorer 6 installed on my computer, so I can’t verify this first hand, but illogical it seems not and a simple Twitter search shows multiple people confirming the news. Heck, some are even downright ecstatic over the news.
The online video behemoth is pointing to ‘modern’ browsers like Google Chrome (twice on the same page even, unsurprisingly), Internet Explorer 8 and Firefox 3.5 as alternatives.
With the impending move, YouTube follows in the footsteps of that other Web 2.0 poster child, Digg, which recently hinted at wanting to cut support for the browser too. Digg’s User Experience Architect Mark Trammell at the time wrote that the site is strongly considering removing essential features like digging and commenting for IE6 users. He explained that while IE6 users make up around 5% of site traffic, it only accounts for 1% of diggs, buries, and comments.
YouTube so far hasn’t officially communicated about the desire to drop support for IE6, but it’s conceivable that like Digg it would rather have its developers spend time optimizing the service for newer, better browsers than wasting man hours on the oft-despised Microsoft browser. We recently reported that Internet Explorer is losing market share to Firefox and Safari at a rapid pace.


Source - YouTube Will Be Next To Kiss IE6 Support Goodbye

woohoo, good for them!! why would anyone use IE 6 anymore anyway? lol

Originally Posted by gigaleech

woohoo, good for them!! why would anyone use IE 6 anymore anyway? lol

Lol, why would anyone use any version of IE anymore, let alone 6

My understanding is that IE6 tends to be the default browser on many older work machine terminals that have not been upgraded in a long time and are locked down to installs by IT.

That said, I'd be willing to bet a handful of digg traffic from IE6 is from poor web developers who have to spend time rewriting their sites to make it compatible in IE6. Having done some web development myself, I am glad IE6 is finally losing support.

It's great they're finally phasing out IE6, as airman said it's most likely the default browser installed with an older version of windows, and if said user is still using it after a few weeks, it's either computer illiterate grandmas or a commercial computer with a specific set of software running, or an image. Not only are these two groups of users already a minority with the browser they use, they also must contribute the smallest amount of traffic on sites such as youtube.

i'm sorry but what is this IE6 you speak of? oh... internet explorer... people still use that? i thought we're in the 21st century now! =P

Sweet .... I used to have a blog that never displayed correctly in IE6.
IE6 doesnt support png transparency :O