Internet Explorer 6
Developer(s) | Microsoft |
---|---|
Initial release | August 24, 2001 |
Stable release | Service Pack 3 (6.00.2900.5512)[1]
/ April 21, 2008 |
Windows ME | |
Included with | Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 |
Predecessor | Internet Explorer 5.0 (1999) Internet Explorer 5.5 (2000) |
Successor | Internet Explorer 7 (2006) |
License | Proprietary, requires Windows license |
Website | msdn |
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) is a graphical
Despite dominating market share (attaining a peak of 90% in mid-2004), this version of
Because a substantial percentage of the web audience still used the outdated browser (especially in China), campaigns were established in the late 2000s to encourage users to upgrade to newer versions of Internet Explorer or switch to different browsers. Some websites dropped support for IE6 entirely, most notable of which was Google dropping support in some of its services in March 2010.[6][7] According to Microsoft's modern.ie website, as of August 2015[update], 3.1% of users in China and less than 1% in other countries were using IE6.[8]
Internet Explorer 6 was the last version to be called Microsoft Internet Explorer. The software was rebranded as Windows Internet Explorer starting in 2006 with the release of Internet Explorer 7.
Internet Explorer 6 is no longer supported, and is not available for download from Microsoft.
It is the last version of Internet Explorer to support Windows NT 4.0 SP6a, Windows 98, Windows 2000 and Windows ME, though it is only available as pre-installed in Windows XP RTM—SP1 and Windows Server 2003 RTM; as the following version, Internet Explorer 7, only supports Windows XP SP2 or later and Windows Server 2003 SP1 or later.
Overview
When IE6 was released, it included a number of enhancements over its predecessor,
In addition, IE6 added
IE6 was the
In a May 7, 2003
On March 4, 2011, Microsoft urged web users to stop using IE6 in favor of newer versions of Internet Explorer.[15] They launched a website called IE6 Countdown,[16] which would show how much percentage of the world uses IE6 and aim to get people to upgrade.
Since 2015, all of the older sample questions offered by IE6 Search Companion on Windows XP and other unique functions have been replaced with "Windows 10 Upgrade".[citation needed]
Security problems
The security advisory site
As of June 23, 2006, Secunia counted 20 unpatched security flaws for Internet Explorer 6, many more and older than for any other browser, even in each individual criticality-level, although some of these flaws only affect Internet Explorer when running on certain versions of Windows or when running in conjunction with certain other applications.[17]
On June 23, 2004, an attacker used two previously undiscovered security holes in
Probably the biggest generic security failing of Internet Explorer (and other web browsers too) is the fact that it runs with the same level of access as the logged in user, rather than adopting the principle of
Art Manion, a representative of the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) noted in a vulnerability report that the design of Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1 made it difficult to secure. He stated that:
There are a number of significant vulnerabilities in technologies relating to the IE domain/zone security model, local file system (Local Machine Zone) trust, the Dynamic HTML (DHTML) document object model (in particular, proprietary DHTML features), the HTML Help system, MIME type determination, the graphical user interface (GUI), and ActiveX. … IE is integrated into Windows to such an extent that vulnerabilities in IE frequently provide an attacker significant access to the operating system.[20]
Manion later clarified that most of these concerns were addressed in 2004 with the release of Windows XP Service Pack 2, and other browsers had begun to suffer the same vulnerabilities he identified in the above CERT report.[21]
In response to a belief that Internet Explorer's frequency of exploitation is due in part to its ubiquity, since its market dominance made it the most obvious target, David Wheeler argues that this is not the full story. He notes that Apache HTTP Server had a much larger market share than Microsoft IIS, yet Apache traditionally had fewer security vulnerabilities at the time.[22]
As a result of its issues, some security experts, including Bruce Schneier in 2004, recommended that users stop using Internet Explorer for normal browsing, and switch to a different browser instead.[23] Several notable technology columnists suggested the same idea, including The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg[24] and eWeek's Steven Vaughan-Nichols.[25] On July 6, 2004, US-CERT released an exploit report in which the last of seven workarounds was to use a different browser, especially when visiting untrusted sites.[26]
Internet Explorer Desktop Market Share | |
---|---|
— October 2023[27] via Net Applications[note 1][note 2] | |
Internet Explorer 8 | 0.01% |
Internet Explorer 9 | 0.01% |
Internet Explorer 11 | 0.06% |
All variants | 0.08% |
Microsoft Edge excluded from the list. | |
Internet Explorer 6 was the most widely used web browser during its tenure (surpassing
IE6 remained more popular than its successor in business use for more than a year after IE7 came out.[30] A 2008 DailyTech article noted, "A Survey found 55.2% of companies still use IE 6 as of December 2007", while "IE 7 only has a 23.4 percent adoption rate".[30]
Net Applications estimated IE6 market share at almost 39% for September 2008.[31] According to the same source, IE7 users migrate faster to IE8 than users of its predecessor IE6 did, leading to IE6 once again becoming the most widely used browser during the summer and fall of 2009, eight years after its introduction.[32]
As of February 2010, estimates of IE6's global market share ranged from 10 to 20%.[33][34][35] Nonetheless, IE6 continued to maintain a plurality or even majority presence in the browser market of certain countries, notably China[36] and South Korea.[37][38]
On January 3, 2012, Microsoft announced that usage of IE6 in the United States had dropped below 1%.[42]
In August 2012, IE6 was still the most popular IE web browser in China. It was also the second most used browser overall with a total market share of 22.41%, just behind the Chinese-made 360 Secure Browser at 26.96%.[43]
In July 2013, Net Applications reported the global market share of IE6 amongst all Internet Explorer browsers to be 10.9%.[44]
As of August 2015, IE6 was being used by <1% users in most countries, with the only exception being China (3.1%).[8][45] Usage in China fell below 1% by the end of the year.[46]
Criticism
A common criticism of Internet Explorer is the speed at which fixes are released after the discovery of security problems.
Microsoft attributes the perceived delays to rigorous testing. A posting to the Internet Explorer team blog on August 17, 2004 explained that there are, at minimum, 234 distinct releases of Internet Explorer that Microsoft supports (covering more than two dozen languages, and several different revisions of the operating system and browser level for each language), and that every combination is tested before a patch is released.[47]
In May 2006,
Programming interface
Unlike most other modern browsers, IE6 does not fully nor properly support
Additionally, IE6 lacks support for
Due to the long-lasting popularity of Internet Explorer 6, web developers had to work around its lack of interfaces. For example, due to the lack of the position: fixed
parameter in CSS for elements such as top bars that should remain on screen when the user scrolls, JavaScript code had to be used to determine the user's scrolling position and then push down an element positioned with position: absolute
by the same distance to have it remain on screen,
Bugs
Internet Explorer 6 has also been criticized due to its instability. For example, the following code on a website would cause a program crash in IE6:[citation needed]
<style>*{position:relative}</style><table><input></table>
or
<script>for (x in open);</script>
The user could crash the browser with a single line of code in the address bar, causing a pointer overflow.[52][53]
ms-its:%F0:
Deprecation of support
Several campaigns were later aimed at ridding Internet Explorer 6 from the browser market:
- In July 2008, 37signals announced it would phase out support for IE6 beginning in October 2008.[54]
- In February 2009, some Norwegian sites began hosting campaigns with the same aim.[55]
- In March 2009, a Danish anti-IE6 campaign was launched.[56]
- In July 2009, developers of YouTube placed a site notice that warned about the impending deprecation of support for Internet Explorer 6, prompting its users to upgrade their browser. It is claimed that they represented 18% of the site traffic at that time.[57][58]
- In January 2010, the German Government, and subsequently the French Government each advised their citizens to move away from IE6.[59]
- Also in January 2010, Google announced it would no longer support IE6.[60]
- In February 2010, British citizens began to petition their government to stop using IE6,[61] though this was rejected in July 2010.[62]
- In March 2010, in agreement with the EU, Microsoft began prompting users of Internet Explorer 6 in the EU with a ballot screen in which they are presented with a list of browsers in random order to select and upgrade to. The website is located at BrowserChoice.eu.[63][64]
- In May 2010, Microsoft's Australian division launched a campaign which compared IE6 to 9-year-old milk and urged users to upgrade to IE8.[65][66][67]
With the increasing lack of compatibility with modern web standards, popular websites began removing support for IE6 in 2010, including
Security framework
Internet Explorer uses a zone-based security framework, which means that sites are grouped based upon certain conditions. IE allows the restriction of broad areas of functionality, and also allows specific functions to be restricted. The administration of Internet Explorer is accomplished through the Internet Properties control panel. This utility also administers the Internet Explorer framework as it is implemented by other applications.
Patches and updates to the browser are released periodically and made available through
Quirks mode
Internet Explorer 6 dropped Compatibility Mode, which allowed
Supported platforms
Internet Explorer 6 supports
Release history
Version | Release date | Significant changes | Shipped with |
---|---|---|---|
6.0 Beta 1 | March 22, 2001 | More CSS changes and bug fixes to be more W3C-compliant. | — |
6.0 | August 24, 2001 | Final release. Removed the smart tag feature, which was introduced in the beta. | Windows XP |
6.0 SP1 | September 9, 2002 | Vulnerability patch. Last version for Windows NT 4.0, Windows 98, Windows 2000 and Windows ME. | Windows XP SP1 and Windows Server 2003 |
6.05 | October 1, 2003 | Released only for Windows Longhorn build 4051-4094. | Windows Longhorn
|
6.0 SP2 | August 25, 2004 | Vulnerability patch. Popup/ActiveX blocker. Add-on manager. No longer available as a standalone product, even as a separate update for earlier builds of XP/2003. | Windows XP SP2 and Windows Server 2003 SP1 |
6.0 SP3 | April 21, 2008 | Latest updates included with XP SP3 and Server 2003 SP2. Also no longer available separately. | Windows XP SP3 and Windows Server 2003 SP2 |
System requirements
IE6 requires at least:[78]
- 486/66 MHz processor
- Windows 98/NT 4.0 SP6a
- Super VGA (800 × 600) monitor with 256 colors
- Mouse or compatible pointing device
- RAM: 16-32 MB
- Free disk space: 8.7–12.7 MB
See also
References
- ^ a b SV1 stands for "Security Version 1", referring to the set of security enhancements made for that release.[I] This version of Internet Explorer is more popularly known as IE6 SP2, given that it is included with Windows XP Service Pack 2, but this can lead to confusion when discussing Windows Server 2003, which includes the same functionality in the SP1 update to that operating system. —
^ "XPSP2 and its slightly updated user agent string". The Windows Internet Explorer Weblog. Microsoft via MSDN. 2004-09-02. Retrieved 2008-10-05. - ^ a b Tynan, Dan (2005-05-26). "The 25 Worst Tech Products of All Time". PC World. IDG. Archived from the original on 15 June 2006. Retrieved 2006-07-18.
- ^ "New browser wins over net surfers". BBC. November 24, 2004. Retrieved May 13, 2019.
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4508897.stm The assault on software giant Microsoft
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4270449.stm Security scares spark browser fix
- ^ a b Goss, Patrick (2009-07-14). "Official: YouTube to stop IE6 support". TechRadar. Future plc. Archived from the original on 2009-07-18. Retrieved 2009-07-26.
{{cite web}}
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- ^ a b "IE 6 Countdown". developer.microsoft.com. Microsoft. Retrieved May 13, 2019.
- ^ "CSS Enhancements in Internet Explorer 6". Microsoft. September 2006. Archived from the original on 2010-10-28. Retrieved 2010-02-09.
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- ^ Hansen, Evan; Staff Writer (May 31, 2003). "Microsoft to abandon standalone IE". CNET. CNET. Archived from the original on 9 August 2012. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
- ^ "Internet Explorer 6 Countdown". Archived from the original on 2014-12-17. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
- ^ "ie6countdown.com". Archived from the original on 2014-12-17. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
- ^ Secunia. Archived from the originalon February 1, 2011. Retrieved May 13, 2019.
- CBS Interactive. Retrieved 8 September 2010.
- ^ Howard, Michael (November 5, 2004). "Browsing the Web and Reading E-mail Safely as an Administrator". Microsoft Developer Network. Archived from the original on February 6, 2006. Retrieved May 13, 2019.
- ^ "Vulnerability Note VU#713878". US-CERT. June 9, 2004. Retrieved 2006-04-07.
- CBS Interactive. Archived from the originalon November 7, 2012. Retrieved May 13, 2019.
- ^ Wheeler, David (November 14, 2005). "Why Open Source Software / Free Software (OSS/FS, FLOSS, or FOSS)? Look at the Numbers!". Retrieved May 13, 2019.
- ^ Schneier, Bruce (December 12, 2004). "Safe Personal Computing". Retrieved 2006-04-07.
- ^ Mossberg, Walt (September 16, 2004). "How to Protect Yourself From Vandals, Viruses If You Use Windows". The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company. Retrieved 2006-04-07.
- ^ Vaughan-Nichols, Steven (June 28, 2004). "Internet Explorer Is Too Dangerous to Keep Using". eWeek. Linux & Open Source – Opinions. Retrieved 2006-04-07.
- ^ "Vulnerability Note VU#713878". US-CERT. June 9, 2004. Retrieved 2006-04-07.
- ^ "Browser Version Market Share". Net Applications. October 2023. Retrieved 2017-12-02.
- ^ https://gs.statcounter.com/#desktop-browser_version-ww-monthly-202310-202310-bar
- ^ "The Rise and Fall of Internet Explorer". Digital Trends. 2015-04-15. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
- ^ a b Mick, Jason (2008-04-03). "Firefox Makes Big Gains In Business at IE's Expense". DailyTech. Archived from the original on 2009-08-15. Retrieved 2008-10-05.
- ^ "Top Browser Share Trend – Market Share". Net Applications. September 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-05. The date range spans October, 2006—September, 2008.
- Hitslink. February 9, 2010. Retrieved 9 February 2010.
- ^ "Global Web Stats". W3Counter. February 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-20.
- ^ "StatCounter Global Stats". StatCounter. February 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-20.
- ^ "Browser Version Market Share". Net Applications. February 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-20.
- ^ "Top 12 Browser Versions in China". StatCounter. February 2010. Retrieved 20 March 2010.
- ^ "Top 12 Browser Versions in South Korea". StatCounter. February 2010. Retrieved 20 March 2010.
- ^ "Korea Paying Price for Microsoft Monoculture". The Korea Times. September 23, 2009.
- ^ "Modern browsers for modern applications". January 2010. Retrieved 5 March 2011.
- ^ Protalinski, Emil (February 2010). "YouTube to kill IE6 support on March 13". Ars Technica. Condé Nast. Retrieved 5 March 2011.
- ^ Schmidt, Rodrigo (August 2010). "Chat with No Interruptions". Facebook. Retrieved 26 August 2010.
- PC Magazine. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
- ^ http://www.techinasia.com/china-safari-browser-market-share-2012/ Techninasia
- ^ Keizer, Gregg (2013-07-03). "IE10 pushes past predecessor to take second place among Microsoft's browsers". Computerworld. IDG. Retrieved 2013-07-03.
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- ^ "StatCounter Global Stats". StatCounter. December 2015. Retrieved 2018-06-16.
- ^ "The Basics of the IE Testing Matrix". Internet Explorer team blog. Microsoft. August 17, 2004. Retrieved 2006-04-07.
- ^ "PNG Files Do Not Show Transparency in Internet Explorer". Microsoft Help and Support. Microsoft. July 19, 2007.
- ^ "Fixing for Internet Explorer 6 Step-by-Step". Union Room. 18 May 2009. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
- ^ "Windows XP Basics". Retrieved 2022-05-17. (archive, originally bundled with Windows XP)
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- ^ Yam, Marcus (February 4, 2010). "How to Make Internet Explorer 6 Crash Instantly". Tom's Hardware. Purch. Retrieved May 13, 2019.
- ^ "Another Way to Ditch IE6". Krebs on Security. February 3, 2010. Retrieved May 13, 2019.
- ^ "Phasing out support for IE 6 across all 37signals products". 37signals. July 3, 2008. Retrieved 11 June 2010.
- ^ Calore, Michael (February 19, 2009). "Norwegian Websites Declare War on IE 6". Wired. Condé Nast. Retrieved 9 February 2010.
- ^ Nielsen, Jens (27 March 2009). "Danske medier lover død over Internet Explorer 6". Comon (in Danish). Computerworld A/S. Archived from the original on 20 July 2009. Retrieved 9 February 2010.
- ^ Protalinski, Emil (2009-08-11). "Google's Orkut starts phasing out support for IE6". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2021-10-02.
Last month, Google's YouTube made a similar move [to deprecate IE6]. As you can see below, however, the order of browsers on the video-sharing website is different: Firefox, Chrome, IE8. This order actually changes upon every refresh of the page, which is probably the better solution. It's more important to note that unlike on Orkut, you don't have to log in to get the warning message on YouTube.
- ^ Warren, Tom (4 May 2019). "Former Google engineer reveals the secret YouTube plot to kill Internet Explorer 6". The Verge. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
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- HMG. 31 July 2010. Archived from the originalon 2 August 2010. Retrieved 9 February 2010.
- ^ http://www.browserchoice.eu Archived 2013-11-11 at the Library of Congress Web Archives browserchoice.eu
- ^ Currie, Brenton (2010-03-04). "Microsoft's European browser ballot now live, Opera benefiting". Digital Journal. Retrieved 2010-03-06.
- ^ "Upgrade to Internet Explorer 8". Microsoft. Archived from the original on May 16, 2010.
- ^ Microsoft: Internet Explorer 6 past expiry date Computerworld US, May 17, 2010
- ^ Microsoft Compares Internet Explorer 6 to Spoiled Milk Archived 2010-05-20 at the Wayback Machine Windows 7 News, May 16, 2010
- ^ Metz, Cade (2009-07-08). "Orange UK exiles Firefox from call centres". The Register. Situation Publishing Ltd. Retrieved 2009-07-26.
- ^ "IE6 Countdown". Microsoft. 2011-03-05. Archived from the original on 2011-03-04. Retrieved 2011-03-05.
- ^ Shiels, Maggie (2009-08-13). "Microsoft backs long life for IE6". BBC Online. BBC. Retrieved 2009-08-21.
- ^ "Internet Explorer Support Lifecycle Policy FAQ". Microsoft Lifecycle Support Website. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
- ^ "Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer 6 for WEPOS and POSReady 2009 (KB3124275)". 2016-01-12. Retrieved 2016-01-12.
- ^ "How to install and use Compatibility mode in Internet Explorer 5 or 5.5 (KB197311)". Microsoft Help and Support. Microsoft. 2007-01-23. Archived from the original on January 11, 2014. Retrieved 2008-10-05.
- ^ "Unable to Use Internet Explorer 4.0 Compatibility Mode (KB237787)". Microsoft Help and Support. Microsoft. January 24, 2007. Archived from the original on April 3, 2008. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
- ^ Hardmeier, Sandi (August 25, 2005). "The History of Internet Explorer". Internet Explorer Community. Microsoft. Archived from the original on October 1, 2005. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
- ^ Chao, Ingo; Holly Bergevin; Bruno Fassino; John Gallant; Georg Sørtun; Philippe Wittenbergh (June 3, 2006). "Quirks mode in IE 6 and IE 7". satzansatz.de. Archived from the original on May 31, 2017. Retrieved October 5, 2008.
- ^ Koch, Peter-Paul. "Quirks Mode and Strict Mode". QuirksMode.org. Retrieved 2010-02-09.
- ^ "Internet Explorer 6 SP1 System Requirements". Microsoft. 27 August 2001. Archived from the original on 19 November 2010.
External links
- IEBlog — The weblog of the Internet Explorer team
- IE 6 Countdown webpage by Microsoft
- "Microsoft Windows Family Home Page". Windows History: Internet Explorer History. Archived from the original on 2003-10-02.
- "Microsoft Knowledge Base". How to determine which version of Internet Explorer is installed.
- "Index DOT Html and Index DOT Css". Browser History: Windows Internet Explorer.