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Update Your Browser, Dummy
40% of global users running outdated browser
by Karl Bode Monday 21-Jul-2008 tags: security · stats · software
A security patch is only good if someone actually downloads and installs it. A post to the Google blog points to a new study that finds only 59.1% percent of Internet users worldwide use the latest major version of their preferred web browser with all the latest patches. Firefox users are the most attentive: with 92.2% of Firefox users using the latest version. Only 52.5% of Microsoft Internet Explorer users have updated to version 7. Of course this is in part thanks to Firefox's auto-update mechanism, which the paper suggests Microsoft needs to emulate. Of course many older Windows users and corporations don't use IE7 because it either isn't compatible with their OS or it, well, breaks things.

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Chiyo
Save Me Konata-Chan
Premium
join:2003-02-20
Charlotte, NC
kudos:1

nothing to see move along

This is no surprise, what I am surprised is that Microsoft hasn't bothered to do the same thing FireFox does but they already noted that in the article.

I wonder how many of hte "users" are businesses holding off upgrading to latest and greatest IE.
--
My Blog:
»abanzai.animeblogger.net/

BIGMIKE
Premium
join:2002-06-07
Westminster, CA

Re: nothing to see move along

»www.google.com/custom?hl=en&safe···G=Search
pandora
Premium
join:2001-06-01
Outland
kudos:1

Re: nothing to see move along

Why is that link so very long?

Smith6612
Premium,MVM
join:2008-02-01
North Tonawanda, NY
kudos:21
Reviews:
·Frontier Communi..
·Verizon Online DSL
Many businesses I know of are holding off on the upgrades to IE7 mainly because of "compatibility issues." Most of or all of these issues for as far as I know, one example is Lotus Note's Domino Web Access 6.0 was patched AGES ago and the IT crew is probably just too lazy to use WSUS to install IE7 on everyone's computer.

All of the computers I use or have fixed/worked on all run either IE7 or Firefox 3 or both. Though don't forget, those smart enough to change their useragent can make it appear that they have an older browser I believe.

Mike
Premium,Mod
join:2000-09-17
Pittsburgh, PA

Re: nothing to see move along

A lot of it is compatibility issues. This study is not valid past a random statistic.

We don't use IE 7 because of Blackboard being a POS with it.
jp10558
Premium
join:2005-06-24
Willseyville, NY
Brio that we use only works with IE6. Replicon 7.5 (what we have) doesn't work with FF3. So we need our time tracking for instance to actually work with our browser, so we can't upgrade till we upgrade the timecard stuff - which is not as easy or quick as a browser.

LazyITAdmin

@conversent.net
A lot of IT administrators in large organizations (particularly hospitals) are the laziest bunch of cretins you will ever meet. Most of them sit on their ass and do absolutely nothing unless there's a "technical emergency." I've said it before...

"If the world were full of IT administrators, we'd all still be running DOS."

Smith6612
Premium,MVM
join:2008-02-01
North Tonawanda, NY
kudos:21

Re: nothing to see move along

Most of the IT guys I see are either on YouTube or are busy messing with the mail server. Sometimes though, I'll see them assembing a new computer for the place. But this is only when I arrive of course :P

Mike
Premium,Mod
join:2000-09-17
Pittsburgh, PA

Re: nothing to see move along

Sometimes IT people are swamped or have absolutely nothing to do.

Also, that amusing youtube clip can be the one thing between them shooting up the place and going insane.
TherapyChick

join:2003-09-19
Fayetteville, NC
You're obviously not an IT admin, or a part of IT, or you'd know what we really do all day.

james

join:2001-02-26
CWCville USA

Re: nothing to see move along

He's just mad because the IT admin wont let him install Utorrent or minesweeper on his machine, and doesnt come right away when he calls because his keyboard is "broken again" (maybe you should stop spilling drinks on it).
neufuse

join:2006-12-06
Indiana, PA

auto updates...

MS has an auto-update mechanism... they just chose thanks to corporate pressure not to make IE7 a mandatory update..

serge666

join:2004-06-07
Little Falls, NJ

if it ain't broke...

the latest and greatest isn't always good. look what happened when Vista SP1 came out c.c

dadkins
Can you do Blu?
Premium,MVM
join:2003-09-26
Hercules, CA
kudos:18

Re: if it ain't broke...

What happened?
This laptop came with Vista SP1 factory installed - runs fine.
--
Think outside the Fox... Opera

odreian615

join:2006-01-18
Chicago, IL
SP1 works fine on my Vista PC Nvidia driver on the other hand are still crap
wmeyer

join:2001-05-22
Ravena, NY
Upgraded to Vista Sp1 Runs like a champ

yolarry

join:2007-12-29
Creston, WV
SP1 Runs like XP to me

jkj860
The Final Frontier

join:2002-01-10
Valparaiso, IN
Me too. Mine is fine.
Bobcat
Premium
join:2001-02-04

IE7

quote:
Only 52.5% of Microsoft Internet Explorer users have updated to version 7.
IE7 does not work on Win98SE, so I still have to run IE6.

tschmidt
Premium,MVM
join:2000-11-12
Milford, NH
kudos:5

Re: IE7

IE7 breaks a lot of web sites.

I upgraded and had to downgrade back to 6.

/tom
Blackened

join:2003-09-29
Toronto, ON

Re: IE7

Think of 6=>7 as it would be XP=>Vista.

You upgraded to 6.

S_engineer
Premium
join:2007-05-16
Chicago, IL

Re: IE7

I like the IE 7 security patch that disables Internet browsing
No browsing...no bugs I guess!

»www.vistaheads.com/forums/micros···ing.html
--
The "Lifetime" channel is responsible for 83% of all divorces...Robert Ginty

Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
Premium,MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI
Reviews:
·Site5.com
·Comcast
·Callcentric

Re: IE7

said by S_engineer:

I like the IE 7 security patch that disables Internet browsing
No browsing...no bugs I guess!

»www.vistaheads.com/forums/micros···ing.html
Yea, that problem just started happening.....7 months ago.

Michail
Premium
join:2000-08-02
Boynton Beach, FL
kudos:1
From a web standards perspective IE6 needs to die a horrible and quick death. Use IE7, FireFox, Opera anything. Please get rid of that **** IE6.
ja2007123

join:2007-10-06
Vista runs great on my machine.

You know, this whole Vista sucks thing is now a meme like rickroll :P
Blackened

join:2003-09-29
Toronto, ON

Re: IE7

Except being in the gaming industry, I'm forced to use computers with a shit OS.

aw2222

@spcsdns.net
This is no meme.. Vista does stink for the most part.

Its basically a OS with 100 security checks on every click that slows down the entire computer to a miserable level. Installing Vista on any PC will basically needlessly double the response time on simple programs and worse on more complex ones.

I will stick with XP as long as I can.

pspcrazy
Anime Freak

join:2008-02-06
San Diego, CA

Re: IE7

OR you could just disable UAC in the control panel, and it works without checks like XP :|. Unless of course you just want to feel inferior to vista user's for some reason

S_engineer
Premium
join:2007-05-16
Chicago, IL

Re: IE7

Disable the indexing service too...you'll notice the difference!

gaforces
United We Stand, Divided We Fall

join:2002-04-07
Santa Cruz, CA
said by pspcrazy:

OR you could just disable UAC in the control panel, and it works without checks like XP :|. Unless of course you just want to feel inferior to vista user's for some reason
It also disables IE7 protected mode sooooo, if you do what you suggest, using IE is less secure ...
--
There is no greater sign of a general decay of virtue in a nation, than a want of zeal in its inhabitants for the good of their country. ~ Joseph Addison

ttiiggy
Premium
join:2001-03-27
Bozeman, MT

Re: IE7

Make Vista run like XP:

- disable UAC in the control panel
- disable IE7 protected mode
- disable the indexing service

Vista --> XP: Less blote.
IE7 --> IE6 : Less blote.

Oh, wait. Just keep XP!
jarthur31

join:2006-04-14
Carlsbad, NM
I use version 6 to update Windows only. Since Micro$oft won't allow me to customize its browser anymore I won't be using or any other version unless I'm allowed to change what it looks like and where I can put things like toolbars on it.

Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
Premium,MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI
Reviews:
·Site5.com
·Comcast
·Callcentric
said by Bobcat:

quote:
Only 52.5% of Microsoft Internet Explorer users have updated to version 7.
IE7 does not work on Win98SE, so I still have to run IE6.
Yea, Microsoft should still be releasing and supporting an OS that is over 10 years old. :P

S_engineer
Premium
join:2007-05-16
Chicago, IL

Re: IE7

Why not, IE 7 sucks. Try this experiment; check your memory usage with IE 7 with 5 tabs open to graphically intense websites, then check the usage to those same 5 sites using Opera or Firefox. IE 7 will almost double the expense of RAM.
Do you feel the same about XP or are you now touting Vista?
--
The "Lifetime" channel is responsible for 83% of all divorces...Robert Ginty

OperaUser

@comcast.net

Re: IE7

IE 7 may start off using more memory than Firefox, but give Firefox a few minutes of browsing and it will end up using more memory than Safari.

BF69
Premium
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN
said by Bobcat:

quote:
Only 52.5% of Microsoft Internet Explorer users have updated to version 7.
IE7 does not work on Win98SE, so I still have to run IE6.
Well update to at least XP dummy. Less than 1% still use that. I don't how anyone does anything these days with Win98

See 15 replies to this post

Jason Levine
Premium
join:2001-07-13
USA
According to »marketshare.hitslink.com/report.···qprid=10 , only about about 3.5% of users are using Windows 2000/NT/98/ME. That's not enough to really make a dent.

Speaking of the stats on that site, I took the stats on »marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=2 and grouped them into New Versions and Old Versions. (I tossed out any items below 0.05%.) I came up with 50.61% using the new versions and 49.03% using the old versions. That's pretty close to the report's figures.
--
-Jason Levine
Support a children's charity. Buy a calendar. Shooting For A Cause
Jason's Toolbox | PCQandA.com
CanadianIron

join:2006-10-08
Beverly Hills, CA

IE6 >>>> IE7

IE6 is better than IE7 in that IE7 breaks a whole lot of things which are widely and commonly used by businesses.

cdru
Go Colts
Premium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
kudos:5
Reviews:
·Frontier FiOS

Re: IE6 >>>> IE7

Actually, the things that IE7 "breaks" are all the hacks and ActiveX that were "standard" for IE6. Those "standards" are for the most part long outdated and the bane of existence for webdevelopers.

IE6 Beta 1 was released in March of 2001. The last service pack for it was released in August of 2004. That's almost 4 years of outdated standards, browsing, and poor CSS support. Yech.

lamapper

@rr.com

Re: IE6 >>>> IE7

quote:
Actually, the things that IE7 "breaks" are all the hacks and ActiveX that were "standard" for IE6. Those "standards" are for the most part long outdated and the bane of existence for webdevelopers.
- cdru, 2008-07-21

Good post. Of course you mentioning "standards" made me think of the Web 2.0 marketing hype. I wonder if it will ever be finished; hopefully before the Web 3.0 hype really ramps up.

With the failed Web 2.0 standardization effort, Internet Explorer was one of the largest bottle necks to “standards”. So anyone using either IE 6 or IE 7 has no room to complain. Isn't Mozilla FireFox still the only Web 2.0 compliant browser on the market? Is Safari or Opera? I know Internet Explorer IS NOT.

CSS would not be as difficult if it were not for all the issues with different versions of Internet Explorer.

And don't get me started with the phishing and scamming that is invited via poorly crafted JavaScript, Active X, the list goes on....primarily when using a Microsoft Operating System.

A brilliant reason to turn the junk 'off' in your browser. As one person said in another forum, if one website tries to force 'javascript' or 'Active X' on you, go somewhere else. The web is big enough that there is another source for that information. Stop using those that open you up to phishing, cross scripting, adware and viruses.

If you MUST use that particular website, here is the ONLY method that guarantees you security, safety, etc...:

Use a separate PC for that website only. Before using it the first time on the web, ghost an image and learn how to restore the image, so that you can fix it when it breaks. It will, not a matter of if, only a matter of when.

Ghosting or restoring images is a very fast and efficient way to restore a messed up PC, however if you change the hardware, i.e. the hardrive, your version of Microsoft Operating System may no longer 'validate'; they will assume it is 'pirated' and will tell you must purchase a new copy. Ignore them and find another better solution.
When it gets bogged down with junk, gets cross-scripted or hacked. You blow it away, erase all the junk and re-ghost the image so that you start fresh. How often you have to do this, will be how often you use those websites.

As long as you utilize tools that do 'dynamic anything' for you, you will be vulnerable to these issues. You mitigate your risk by your choices. You NEVER automatically OPEN UP everything to everyone. As you are forced to do when you turn on JavaScript, Active X, etc... For JavaScript, if you turn it on, control what it can and cannot do, therefore you don't OPEN UP EVERYTHING!

Linux - runs like a champ, rarely gets messed up, of course I have to do more configuring to get everything working together. Once it is working, it runs forever without issues, I love that about it.

My Microsoft OS - gets bogged down regularly, browser slows down, harddrive runs excessively, etc...; so I re-ghost the image a few times a year. What I have to do to use their Operating Systems, C'est la vie.

cdru
Go Colts
Premium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
kudos:5
Reviews:
·Frontier FiOS

Re: IE6 >>>> IE7

said by lamapper :

Good post. Of course you mentioning "standards" made me think of the Web 2.0 marketing hype. I wonder if it will ever be finished; hopefully before the Web 3.0 hype really ramps up.

With the failed Web 2.0 standardization effort, Internet Explorer was one of the largest bottle necks to “standards”. So anyone using either IE 6 or IE 7 has no room to complain. Isn't Mozilla FireFox still the only Web 2.0 compliant browser on the market? Is Safari or Opera? I know Internet Explorer IS NOT.
"Web 2.0" is just a buzz word. There is no such thing as a standardization for Web 2.0. It's just moving away from staic, html-only sites to more dynamic applications using existing and newer technologies and methods.

HardwareGeek

join:2003-11-15
Brooklyn, NY

They really needed a study to tell them this?

I'm sure google could of looked at their own logs to see that most people are on out dated browsers..
--
Email/MSN: Michael at hardwaregeeks.comAIM: MikeR35292

FLengineer
CCNA, CEH, MCSA
Premium
join:2007-06-26
Leesburg, FL

Auto update is the reason here.

It's so much easier to click "Yes" than to go find, authenticate, download, authenticate, and install an update. Does IE7 require authentication? The Windows Genuine Advantage thing they make you do every 5 mins?
fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20
kudos:3

Here's my issues

Firefox auto updates can break plug-ins. (Usually due to not being "certified".)

I'm still waiting for Real Player, even, to catch up to FF 3. Paypal just introduced a new plug-in to use the service on any site.. not compatible with FF 3. People

IE7, in my opinion, needs to move away from the Windoze update system and have it's own like FF and about any other program does. A lot of people I know turn off the untrustworthy Windows updates because of things like the so-called critical update of WGA being installed, etc. and for other network management reasons.

Safari - I don't know much about that browser except I won't install it anyway. When Safari became part of the Apple update and they tried to push that out to my computer (because I had the update software installed for my iTunes and iTouch) I ripped iTunes off my computer and sold the iTouch. (For that and other reasons)

Others - don't use 'em.

See 9 replies to this post

AVD
Respice, Adspice, Prospice
Premium
join:2003-02-06
Onion, NJ

Is IE6 obsolete?

I use FF exclusively. Can IE6 be patched up to be as secure as IE7. I thought the difference between IE6 and 7 was some features, basically the tabbing.

SLD
Premium
join:2002-04-17
San Francisco, CA

Re: Is IE6 obsolete?

As a web developer, I can say that there are many improvements in the CSS rendering engine that make me wish everyone would upgrade from v.6. Also, trasparent PNG is now supported in IE7, amongst other things. When a clients asks for IE6 support, I have to charge extra, and I remind them that IE8 in soon to be released, which makes IE6 very old.

uid1307457
Premium
join:2005-12-30
Tempe, AZ

Re: Is IE6 obsolete?

said by SLD:

As a web developer, I can say that there are many improvements in the CSS rendering engine that make me wish everyone would upgrade from v.6. Also, trasparent PNG is now supported in IE7, amongst other things. When a clients asks for IE6 support, I have to charge extra, and I remind them that IE8 in soon to be released, which makes IE6 very old.
ur greedy

AVD
Respice, Adspice, Prospice
Premium
join:2003-02-06
Onion, NJ

Re: Is IE6 obsolete?

I meant from a security standpoint, not a development one.

cdru
Go Colts
Premium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
kudos:5
Reviews:
·Frontier FiOS
Do you develop websites for a living? I do. While we don't charge an extra fee specifically for sites compatible with IE6, if the chosen site design does not work with IE6 then the client ends up paying additional in the long run with billable hours. Depending on the complexity of the design we might spend 2x the hours getting the site to look pixel identical with IE6 as what usually comes fairly naturally for FF2&3/IE7/Opera/Safari.

SLD
Premium
join:2002-04-17
San Francisco, CA

Re: Is IE6 obsolete?

Thats what I meant.

ninjatutle
Premium

join:2006-01-02
San Ramon, CA

Clean out your furnace filter, dummy

and your refrigerator's water filter, drain the sediments of your water heater, check tire pressures, clear gutters, get a physical.

There are a lot of things everyone needs to do. People have different priorities and know how.
Poetique

join:2007-08-05
Birmingham, AL

1 edit

Re: Clean out your furnace filter, dummy

I use Firefox 3 on this partition, but IE6 on WinXP.

Not because IE7 breaks things though... moreso just because it's a big, slow, memory-hogging browser that I'm not particularly fond of. Not to mention its fairly easy to crash it to the point of having to kill & restart explorer.

Forcing people to update isn't what's needed... Microsoft's browser needs to suck less.

gomer1701ems

join:2001-08-23
Minneapolis, MN

Microsoft Update

Didn't Microsoft, at one time, make it a critical update, so that even people with a pirated version of Windows could get it? I thought I saw it when I used Microsoft Update. I could have a fuzzy memory, however.
--
"Don't argue with stupid people; they will beat you with experience."

Mr Anon

@k12.il.us

IE 6 isn't dead

IE 6 comes in SP3 still, in fact if you have installed IE 7 you won't be able to revert to it if you don't uninstall it before sp3.

IE 6 still gets patched and the version of ie6 in sp3 is newer than the rest. So I'm not sure how important it is to be on IE 7.

Titus Pullo
I came, I saw, I slept

join:2004-06-26
kudos:1
Reviews:
·Embarq Now Centu..

Upgrade fatigue

People tire of the constant downloading and problems releases bring.
Not everyone must have the newest version the second it hits a server, and some people don't care if they have the newest version period. I got so tired of Mozilla downloads I don't run the damn browser anymore.
--
rdmiller

join:2005-09-23
Richmond, VA

Re: Upgrade fatigue

I'm sticking with FF2. All those plug ins are too much work.
gnm109

join:2003-03-15
Wilton, CA
Reviews:
·Frontier Communi..

IE6 v. IE7

I'm currently using WIN XP SP2. I'm not a software or website developer but I know a slow browser when I install one. I tried IE7 and even with the phishing filter shut off, it's still slower than IE6.

I do like the tabs feature on IE7 but I can live without it until Bill Gates and his crew figure out a way to force me to buy another new computer with his latest OS.

Mizzat
Will post for thumbs
Premium
join:2003-05-03
Atlanta, GA
kudos:1

Corporate users

Me and my qurter million other corporate peers are locked into IE6.
--
-M

NotMe

@rr.com

IE 7?

If I had a dollar for the number of machines I've rescued in the past year, simply by de-installing IE7...

Even worse, most of the victims had it done "automatically", for their own good.

So now they have another process running, the "don't install IE7 update" process.

Similar straits occur with new machines running Vista.
Newer is not necessarily better.

Mashiki
Balking The Enemy's Plans

join:2002-02-04
Woodstock, ON
Reviews:
·Bright House
·TekSavvy Cable

One thing I have seen...

In a lot of cases is some people keep older versions for compatibility. In the worst cases, people see a download that's going to take 20mins-2hrs, and say forget it and simply don't do it.

That last feeling is pretty common among non-broadband users which there still is quite a few of.
Skunko

join:2000-10-12
Texas

Re: One thing I have seen...

IE 7 is a huge piece of trash. I DOWNGRADED back to IE 6, the same way I DOWNGRADED back to XP. Go away vista and ie7 NO BODY WANTS YOU, YOU SUCK!!!!!

wxboss
This is like Deja vu all over again.
Premium
join:2005-01-30
Fort Lauderdale, FL

1 edit

Browser updates....why?

Click for full size
Most computer users

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ
kudos:4

Extensions

I don't see why firefox cant update the BROWSER without breaking extensions. most people have 'musthaves' that are always broken after an update.
--
When I gez aju zavateh na nalechoo more new yonooz tonigh molinigh - Ken Lee

Unit649
I B U, Who U B?
Premium
join:2000-01-22
Stockton, CA

Re: Extensions

You'd think unless the update was dire (like an exploit, known to people who might use it) that they could release the update to the people who make extensions first and give them a day or 2 to fix it before releasing it to everyone.

Course, part of the reason people like FF is that its open like that-they find a problem they fix it NOW, get it out to everyone, and disclose it. They don't try to hide it like MS does with a lot of stuff "Oh, this is a security update" when all they did was remove a note that someone left in the code or something that could be potentially embarrassing or something like that.

You have a good gripe, but on the other hand, people would probably complain that it wasn't fixed yesterday!

Grail Knight
Qui audet adipiscitur
Premium
join:2003-05-31
Valhalla
kudos:6
Reviews:
·Time Warner Cable
quote:
I don't see why firefox cant update the BROWSER without breaking extensions. most people have 'musthaves' that are always broken after an update.
Well Mozilla Foundation updates Fx and then Mozilla Foundation only offers the ability for Fx to use extensions.

It is up to the extension developer to make sure they are updated for Fx or Tb version whatever.

Same goes for themes.
--
"Another day another abandoned thread"

benc
Premium
join:2007-06-17
Glen Carbon, IL
Reviews:
·Charter

I Haven't Upgraded to F.F. 3 Yet...

I'm unsure how my add-ins would be affected, and I wonder about Flash and what not.

So, I figure I should wait a little while.

And, there are advantages to not using the latest thing. All the kinks in the older version are more likely to be gone, though this only works as long as they work to update the older software.

As for not using the latest thing, there can be advantages in other cases too.

DVD came out in 2000, but I didn't break down until 2004 when many movies started to be DVD only. So, I didn't spend like $300 for the player. With Blu-ray, I won't buy it until I'm forced to, so to speak.

Cars: This is a big one. The first year of any model, if it's not based on a previous frame, is likely to have all sorts of kinks and problems. So, the best thing to do is only buy models that haven't been significantly updated in a long time. I.E. Grand Marquis is a good choice since my understanding is that the chassis/engine hasn't been significantly updated since '92, just minor improvements since then.

JukeBoxHero
Premium
join:2001-12-30
USA
kudos:1

Re: I Haven't Upgraded to F.F. 3 Yet...

And I haven't upgraded to XP SP3 either. I'll wait for the bugs to be worked out.
bgraham

join:2001-03-15
Smithtown, NY
Reviews:
·Verizon VoiceWing
·Verizon FiOS
·VOIPo
To be honest I am a pretty well an anti upgrade / update kind of guy. Got better things to do than obsess about updates. I do keep Adaware and Avast up to date.

Since I had not updated anything in the last year or so in XP I broke down and went to firefox3 and SP3. Wasted an hour or so and the end result really is that XP runs the same and Firefox 3 has a fancier back button. Oh now a backup of my C drive takes 2 DVD's.

You can update and upgrade software until your computer is a slow obsolete piece of junk or take the if it ain't broke don't fix it approach.

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