Internet Explorer 6 died on March 1, 2010, in Mountain View, Calif., after a family rival removed it from life support. The simultaneously beloved and detested Web browser was nearly 8.5 years old.
IE6, as it was known, was born on Aug. 27, 2001, to parent Microsoft Corp. and was presented to the world by its loving caretaker, Windows XP. It is survived by Microsoft, Internet Explorer 7 and Internet Explorer 8.
A funeral will be held Thursday at the Forest Room 5 bar in Denver. Services will be hosted by Aten Design Group, whose employees had a complex relationship with IE6.
"It's something people love to hate," Justin Toupin, Aten Design's principal and creative director, told seattlepi.com. "It's been around forever and it's getting old."
Internet Explorer 6 was the sixth in a popular bloodline of Web browsers from Microsoft. When it was released, it was on the top of the world. But in the years since, IE6's reputation has been marred by security exploits and complaints that designing Web sites for it is a pain.
It played a starring role in Microsoft's U.S. antitrust fight over the bundling of Internet Explorer and Windows. And, more recently, it contributed to the cyber attacks Google publicized by threatening to pull out of China.
Despite all of that, in January it was still the second-most popular browser behind IE8, likely due to its inclusion in Windows XP. So yes, IE6 is still very much alive, and Microsoft will officially support the browser until 2014.
"Microsoft has consistently recommended that consumers upgrade to the latest version of our browser," a family (Microsoft) spokesperson said. "Internet Explorer 8 offers improvements in speed, security and reliability as well as new features designed for the way people use the Web. While we recommend Internet Explorer 8 to all customers, we understand we have a number of corporate customers for whom broad deployment of new technologies across their desktops requires more planning."
In the past year, numerous Web companies have announced they're tired of the extra work it takes to optimize for the ancient IE6. Most recently, Google announced it will phase out IE6 support by March 1 for Google Docs and Google Sites. And YouTube support is nearly out the window.
"It is definitely challenging and it's certainly something we spend a lot of time and energy debugging," Toupin said, "trying to make things work in IE6."
Aten Design, a six-employee firm that designs and develops Web sites, hosts parties every few months for the small Web-design circle in Denver. Usually the parties are themed, so after Google's announcement Toupin and his coworkers thought it would be appropriate to hold a tongue-in-cheek funeral for Internet Explorer 6.
The service starts at 7 p.m. Funeral attire is encouraged. Those unable to attend are asked to send flowers.
IE6funeral.com already features 79 pages (and counting) of comments about IE6. All Web designers and developers have war stories to share about the browser.
"Personally, I always felt special for knowing that IE6 doubles margins when you float left," Toupin reflected.
