Why It's Time to Ditch IE6 and Windows XP
If your small business is still using Internet Explorer 6 for a Web browser, there are no more excuses. It’s wayyy past time to switch to any one of many free, modern browsers available for PCs (IE 9, Chrome, Firefox, etc.). It’s not hard, it doesn’t take long, and if you don’t hurry you could end up being the last company in America still stuck on the aging and vulnerable warhorse.
Even IE creator Microsoft has wanted IE 6 dead for years, and statistics now show that fewer than 1 percent of Web users rely on IE6. Don’t be fooled, though, IE6 still holds a 7.3 percent share of PC browsers, mostly in China where many users are apparently afraid to upgrade because they’re running counterfeit copies of Windows.
That’s not your reasoning, is it? Of course not.
Apart from sheer inertia, in most cases companies refuse to abandon IE6 because they run some custom Web application that requires that browser’s particular set of quirks. But that typically affects larger enterprises, not smaller companies who’ve never had the resources to develop custom web apps.
If you’re one of the stick-in-the-muds, be aware that Microsoft has long stopped updating IE6, leaving users highly vulnerable to security breaches, reliability issues, performance woes, and other problems. Plus, you’re likely to have trouble accessing many modern websites.
What about Windows XP?
OK, but even if you’re not still addicted to IE6, you’re not out of the woods yet. Dumping IE 6 is a no-brainer, but what about the still common yet equally ancient Windows XP?
The Windows XP operating system faces many of the same issues as IE 6, including increased vulnerability and reduced performance and reliability. But while Microsoft is also desperately trying to kill XP, that campaign isn’t going quite as well. In fact, while usage continues to decline, Computerworld recently cited a Net Applications report saying that Windows XP use dropped 2.4% to 46.5% of the PC market.
That’s almost half of all PCs still running a 10-year-old operating system. And I’m guessing that small business usage of XP is even higher.
Now, I understand that a lot of people still like XP. And that a lot of people thought its replacement, Windows Vista, basically sucked. I also understand that upgrading to a new operating system is a lot more expensive and complicated than upgrading to a new browser -- and requires you to learn some new ways of working. The learning curve isn’t that steep, but it could affect productivity while workers get up to speed.
Windows 7 is better than XP
But again, it’s past time to start making the move away from XP. Windows 7 is significantly better than XP in just about every way possible. The security and networking improvements can pay for the new OS over time, and the user experience is much more pleasant as well. That’s why the trend away from XP is starting to accelerate.
So if you’re one of those companies specifically asking for XP on new PCs, stop that right now! When it’s time to do maintenance on an old PC, consider biting the bullet and spending a few dollars to upgrade to a newer OS as part of the process. Worst case, wait for Windows 8 to come around. Just don’t think XP is forever. It’s not.
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