Petition urges U.K. government to dump IE 6







Google, which was victim of a partially successful IE 6-based attack that led to the possibility of withdrawing from China, is a loud advocate of a modern Web programming foundation. In addition, it's got taxing Web applications, and last week announced it will phase out IE 6 support on Google Docs.

Why ditch IE 6? Security is one big reason, but another is support for newer Web design technologies that let Web developers do more with sites and maintain sites more easily. Performance is another: newer browsers are much better at running Web-based JavaScript programs that handle everything from governing minor aspects of a page to full-on applications and graphical interfaces.

Frydman recognizes it's not always easy for organizations to upgrade to a newer browser. However, there's a cost to staying with IE 6, too, he said, pointing out that some U.K. government browser users can't use some parts of the government's own site because the older browser isn't up to the task. Because of the development difficulties, his firm now will charge extra for IE 6 work.

"If someone wants to be old-fashioned and reckons all their customers or stakeholders are too, then they need to pay for the extra time it takes to make their site IE 6-compatible," Frydman said. "With Microsoft themselves saying [IE 6] end of life has been put July 4, 2014, it was time to make a stand."

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