As Internet Explorer 6’s (IE6) usage share declines, Microsoft is growing more aggressive about convincing users to upgrade away from the older browser.
Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) latest play to undercut IE6 — which is still the second most popular version of IE in use on the Web — is a tiny ad that appears on the Bing search engine’s home page, promoting IE8. Clicking on the ad takes users to a site extolling the virtues of IE8 and providing a link to download the latest version of IE, which first became available in March 2009.
However, the ad does not display for users who are already using IE8, a Microsoft spokesperson said.
Microsoft has made no bones about wanting to get users to move off of IE6, but has run into resistance from some corporate users who are also still running Windows XP, instead of the newer Windows 7 version of Microsoft’s PC operating system.
“Microsoft has continually recommended that users upgrade to the latest version of the browser. The small prompt on Bing is just one of the ways Microsoft will continue to encourage users to update if they have not already done so, but those that have updated, like you and me, will not see this prompt when visiting Bing.com,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in an email to InternetNews.com.
The move comes on the heels of the most recent browser usage share numbers from Web analytics firm Net Applications, that show that usage of the nine-year-old browser continues to decline slowly but surely.
According to Net Applications, IE6 lost 0.8 percentage points to finish August with 16.2 percent of all U.S. browser usage, down from 17 percent in July. For August, IE6 finished third behind IE8, which had a 27.9 percent share. Firefox 3.6 had a 16.8 percent.
Overall, IE6 has fallen from 24.42 percent share in the past year, a slip of 8.22 percentage points, while IE8 grew from 16.84 percent in the same time period.
“Net Applications is reporting that IE6 share is now at its lowest point ever … As we have said in the past, one of our main missions is to get people off IE6 as fast as humanly possible,” Ryan Gavin, senior director of Internet Explorer business and marketing, said in a post to the Exploring IEblog a week ago.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is busy preparing for next Wednesday’s festivities — Sept. 15 — designed to celebrate the release of the first public beta test versionof IE9, which the company has touted as the fastest and most standards compliant version of IE to date.
Stuart J. Johnston is a contributing writer at InternetNews.com, the news service of Internet.com, the network for technology professionals. Follow him on Twitter @stuartj1000.
Ethics and Artificial Intelligence: Driving Greater Equality
FEATURE | By James Maguire,
December 16, 2020
AI vs. Machine Learning vs. Deep Learning
FEATURE | By Cynthia Harvey,
December 11, 2020
Huawei’s AI Update: Things Are Moving Faster Than We Think
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
December 04, 2020
Keeping Machine Learning Algorithms Honest in the ‘Ethics-First’ Era
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
November 18, 2020
Key Trends in Chatbots and RPA
FEATURE | By Guest Author,
November 10, 2020
FEATURE | By Samuel Greengard,
November 05, 2020
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
November 02, 2020
How Intel’s Work With Autonomous Cars Could Redefine General Purpose AI
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
October 29, 2020
Dell Technologies World: Weaving Together Human And Machine Interaction For AI And Robotics
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
October 23, 2020
The Super Moderator, or How IBM Project Debater Could Save Social Media
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
October 16, 2020
FEATURE | By Cynthia Harvey,
October 07, 2020
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
October 05, 2020
CIOs Discuss the Promise of AI and Data Science
FEATURE | By Guest Author,
September 25, 2020
Microsoft Is Building An AI Product That Could Predict The Future
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
September 25, 2020
Top 10 Machine Learning Companies 2021
FEATURE | By Cynthia Harvey,
September 22, 2020
NVIDIA and ARM: Massively Changing The AI Landscape
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
September 18, 2020
Continuous Intelligence: Expert Discussion [Video and Podcast]
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By James Maguire,
September 14, 2020
Artificial Intelligence: Governance and Ethics [Video]
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By James Maguire,
September 13, 2020
IBM Watson At The US Open: Showcasing The Power Of A Mature Enterprise-Class AI
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
September 11, 2020
Artificial Intelligence: Perception vs. Reality
FEATURE | By James Maguire,
September 09, 2020
Datamation is the leading industry resource for B2B data professionals and technology buyers. Datamation's focus is on providing insight into the latest trends and innovation in AI, data security, big data, and more, along with in-depth product recommendations and comparisons. More than 1.7M users gain insight and guidance from Datamation every year.
Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on Datamation and our other data and technology-focused platforms.
Advertise with Us
Property of TechnologyAdvice.
© 2025 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved
Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this
site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives
compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products
appear on this site including, for example, the order in which
they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies
or all types of products available in the marketplace.