UPDATE: We are no longer stuck with IE6. Yay! 🙂

Among web developers, Internet Explorer 6 is considered a horrible browser. However, amongst many corporations, it is the standard browser that is used throughout the organization. One reason for this is due to the great amount of difficulty for a large organization to change. Every page on the company intranet has to be tested and fixed. Additionally, moving away from Internet Explorer 6 typically involves a change in operating system.

Windows XP was the operating system that Internet Explorer 6 shipped on. Additionally, it was the most popular operating system for a very long time. Many companies still use it as their standard desktop operating system. If a large company wanted to change operating systems, then a huge amount of work would need to be done to ensure compatibility with all of the applications and set-ups that are used in the company.

Interestingly, China has the largest percentage of Internet Explorer 6 users. It is fun to speculate as to the reasons why. One possible speculation is there are so many pirated copies of Windows XP in China that can not be upgraded to use a new version of Internet Explorer.