Comments on: The Economics of Supporting IE6 http://codecolossus.com/2009/01/03/the-economics-of-supporting-ie6/ Software Craftsmanship with Ruby Wed, 28 Dec 2011 17:54:32 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: JoeyRed http://codecolossus.com/2009/01/03/the-economics-of-supporting-ie6/comment-page-1/#comment-6612 JoeyRed Mon, 20 Sep 2010 12:44:29 +0000 http://www.railsgarden.com/2009/01/03/the-economics-of-supporting-ie6/#comment-6612 Is there any data out there covering exactly how much more it costs to support IE6? This seems like it may be compelling information when trying to advise a client against it. Why can't I finds it ANYWHERE on the internet? Have we just been complaining this whole time? NO ONE has actually gathered data about this? WTF!!!! Is there any data out there covering exactly how much more it costs to support IE6? This seems like it may be compelling information when trying to advise a client against it. Why can’t I finds it ANYWHERE on the internet? Have we just been complaining this whole time? NO ONE has actually gathered data about this? WTF!!!!

]]> By: nicemandan http://codecolossus.com/2009/01/03/the-economics-of-supporting-ie6/comment-page-1/#comment-2193 nicemandan Fri, 20 Mar 2009 01:32:01 +0000 http://www.railsgarden.com/2009/01/03/the-economics-of-supporting-ie6/#comment-2193 I offer my clients a choice of IE^ compatibility. In my experience I can create simple site templates that will work in IE7+, FF, Safari, Opera in around 2-4 hours. To make those same templates work in IE6, takes something like another 6 hours, especially when factoring in png fixes etc. So really it's more than double the money for the client to support an aging browser that has about 18% share and falling. Simple choice really. I'd love it if all sites could browser sniff for IE6, display a condescending message and list of download links for all other browsers. I offer my clients a choice of IE^ compatibility. In my experience I can create simple site templates that will work in IE7+, FF, Safari, Opera in around 2-4 hours. To make those same templates work in IE6, takes something like another 6 hours, especially when factoring in png fixes etc.

So really it’s more than double the money for the client to support an aging browser that has about 18% share and falling. Simple choice really.

I’d love it if all sites could browser sniff for IE6, display a condescending message and list of download links for all other browsers.

]]> By: Katz http://codecolossus.com/2009/01/03/the-economics-of-supporting-ie6/comment-page-1/#comment-1913 Katz Fri, 20 Feb 2009 09:10:08 +0000 http://www.railsgarden.com/2009/01/03/the-economics-of-supporting-ie6/#comment-1913 You are right in many ways. I think that supporting IE6 is really optional but when I'm bored, I really have a tendency of fixing browser issues. You are right in many ways. I think that supporting IE6 is really optional but when I’m bored, I really have a tendency of fixing browser issues.

]]> By: benhughes http://codecolossus.com/2009/01/03/the-economics-of-supporting-ie6/comment-page-1/#comment-1811 benhughes Wed, 28 Jan 2009 21:34:03 +0000 http://www.railsgarden.com/2009/01/03/the-economics-of-supporting-ie6/#comment-1811 Yeah the free upgrade is a good point. One of the points I forgot to raise in the original article is that deliberately not supporting IE6 has another major advantage as a whole: by deliberately not supporting IE6 with your applications, you are helping people upgrade to a better browser. The irony of all this is that the whole reason that IE6 still exists to begin with is because *web developers always make their sites work with it*, so there's really just no reason people see to upgrade. As soon as developers stop supporting IE6, people will upgrade their browsers, which makes everybody better off. This models what economists refer to as a positive externality: by locking out IE6 with your web application, you are conferring benefits to other developers that you don't directly receive yourself. In fact, it may even cost *you*, but there are externality benefits to other developers. Furthermore, from an incentive perspective the whole thing is self-reinforcing. If developers stop supporting IE6, some users upgrade away from it, which reduces the economic benefit of supporting IE6, which causes developers to not support it, ad infinitum. Getting the ball rolling is difficult though and I'm glad some companies such as Apple (with MobileMe) are leading the charge. Yeah the free upgrade is a good point. One of the points I forgot to raise in the original article is that deliberately not supporting IE6 has another major advantage as a whole: by deliberately not supporting IE6 with your applications, you are helping people upgrade to a better browser. The irony of all this is that the whole reason that IE6 still exists to begin with is because *web developers always make their sites work with it*, so there’s really just no reason people see to upgrade. As soon as developers stop supporting IE6, people will upgrade their browsers, which makes everybody better off.

This models what economists refer to as a positive externality: by locking out IE6 with your web application, you are conferring benefits to other developers that you don’t directly receive yourself. In fact, it may even cost *you*, but there are externality benefits to other developers.

Furthermore, from an incentive perspective the whole thing is self-reinforcing. If developers stop supporting IE6, some users upgrade away from it, which reduces the economic benefit of supporting IE6, which causes developers to not support it, ad infinitum. Getting the ball rolling is difficult though and I’m glad some companies such as Apple (with MobileMe) are leading the charge.

]]> By: Ed http://codecolossus.com/2009/01/03/the-economics-of-supporting-ie6/comment-page-1/#comment-1799 Ed Mon, 26 Jan 2009 22:35:16 +0000 http://www.railsgarden.com/2009/01/03/the-economics-of-supporting-ie6/#comment-1799 Good article, I have had this debate with many co-workers in the past. I strongly believe IE6 should be culled and wiped from history. Our development projects are hindered by IE6 bug fixes and end up costing money. The thing that amazes me more is that it is a FREE upgrade. I have heard the argument that it is difficult for larger corporations to upgrade but I believe it is a bit of a cop out. It is like the people saying, "you know what... i think i'll stick with 4* petrol instead of this unleaded stuff that will make things better for me". Good article,

I have had this debate with many co-workers in the past. I strongly believe IE6 should be culled and wiped from history.

Our development projects are hindered by IE6 bug fixes and end up costing money.

The thing that amazes me more is that it is a FREE upgrade. I have heard the argument that it is difficult for larger corporations to upgrade but I believe it is a bit of a cop out.

It is like the people saying, “you know what… i think i’ll stick with 4* petrol instead of this unleaded stuff that will make things better for me”.

]]> By: Aaron Reichman http://codecolossus.com/2009/01/03/the-economics-of-supporting-ie6/comment-page-1/#comment-1795 Aaron Reichman Mon, 26 Jan 2009 01:46:07 +0000 http://www.railsgarden.com/2009/01/03/the-economics-of-supporting-ie6/#comment-1795 Ben- You hit a lot of good points here. I can't tell you what a pain supporting IE6 for one of my apps has been. At times, I feel like I've spent 75% of my development just debugging and hacking IE6 instead of adding new features. In my corporate environment, we are unfortunately stuck with IE6 so I have no choice but to support it. I actually had an IT manager tell me, "I hope to never deploy IE7". And if that isn't bad enough, another said, "Firefox is not allowed. If we find it, we delete it or disable it". Are you kidding me? Why don't we just revert everyone to Netscape Communicator 4.0 then? Maybe run some Windows 3.1 while we are at it... But such is the life of the corporate world, where technology advances at a snails pace sometimes. In these cases, sometimes the best you can do is to try to abstract IE6 hacks out as much as possible using a separate ie6.css file, for instance. That and dream of the day that IE6 finally dies a horrific death. -Aaron Ben-
You hit a lot of good points here. I can’t tell you what a pain supporting IE6 for one of my apps has been. At times, I feel like I’ve spent 75% of my development just debugging and hacking IE6 instead of adding new features. In my corporate environment, we are unfortunately stuck with IE6 so I have no choice but to support it. I actually had an IT manager tell me, “I hope to never deploy IE7″. And if that isn’t bad enough, another said, “Firefox is not allowed. If we find it, we delete it or disable it”.

Are you kidding me? Why don’t we just revert everyone to Netscape Communicator 4.0 then? Maybe run some Windows 3.1 while we are at it…

But such is the life of the corporate world, where technology advances at a snails pace sometimes. In these cases, sometimes the best you can do is to try to abstract IE6 hacks out as much as possible using a separate ie6.css file, for instance. That and dream of the day that IE6 finally dies a horrific death.

-Aaron

]]> By: Nate http://codecolossus.com/2009/01/03/the-economics-of-supporting-ie6/comment-page-1/#comment-1780 Nate Sat, 24 Jan 2009 01:04:01 +0000 http://www.railsgarden.com/2009/01/03/the-economics-of-supporting-ie6/#comment-1780 Thanks for the well-thought out piece. I was recently given the task to ADD IE6 support after months of developers not supporting it. It'll be an uphill battle, but it's hard to ignore ~20% of the market. Thanks for the well-thought out piece. I was recently given the task to ADD IE6 support after months of developers not supporting it. It’ll be an uphill battle, but it’s hard to ignore ~20% of the market.

]]>