Last week, WordPress dropped support for IE6 and joined the hundreds of other web sites that are working to move enterprises and consumers alike to a modern browser platform. Thank you! As WordPress highlighted in their blog, you can track IE6’s demise across the globe and join the cause on the IE6 Countdown site.
The additional developer work supporting IE6 and even IE7 is something we would love to see be a thing of the past. More than that, however, is the security concern. IE6 was the browser that shipped with Windows XP 10 years ago. Maximum PC posted a piece last week that caught my eye. The article summarizes some data from a recent Microsoft Security Intelligence Report. It’s a rich report, but one of the findings highlighted was that the infection rates for Windows 7 PCs are in fact five times lower than that of a Windows XP machine with Service Pack 3. The chart below and the excerpt from the article show just how stark the security improvement is as you move from XP to Windows 7.
“We knew that Windows XP was holding back Microsoft’s ability to innovate on the security of its operating systems, but just how much? Well according to new data released in the company’s annual Security Intelligence Report, infection rates for Windows 7 are five times lower than a fully patched machine running Windows XP SP3. Windows Vista faired significantly better, however infection rates were still almost double that of a comparable Windows 7 based PC.” Source: http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/windows_7_infection_rates_5_times_lower_xp
This is just one more example that shows that the browser you run is only as good as the operating system it runs on. Windows 7 provides a modern operating system that is designed to support a modern web. IE6 and Window XP were fine pieces of software for their time, but the threats of ten years ago and the protections available to consumers pale in comparison to what we can do today to keep users safe. Advancements in things like DEP (Data Execution Prevention) and ASLR (Address Space Layout Randomization) are fundamental security innovations that simply didn’t exist with Windows XP. SmartScreen Application Reputation in IE9 helps protect you from the #1 threat to consumers today, socially engineered malware.
For our customers that are on Windows XP, the good news is that you can continue to use the world’s number one browser with IE8 and get some of the protections the afforded by the browser with technologies like SmartScreen. For the best protection however, Windows 7 with IE9 provides the environment for browsing the web safely.
As we look forward, we share developer and partner enthusiasm for what’s ahead and can’t wait to see what developers will create with the new capabilities enabled by IE9 and Windows 7.
Ryan Gavin
Senior Director, Internet Explorer Business and Marketing
More...