Internet Explorer 6 had to be the worst pile of programming crap ever foisted onto the web. Mind you we should be thankful in that is sparked a whole new wave of interest in developing really good browsers but that doesn’t change the fact that the time of IE6 is past.

Unfortunately it continues to hang on like some putrid ghost at an exorcism gone wrong. The problem is that it has become ingrained within the IT culture of a large majority of corporations. This is mainly because of legacy application on corporate Intranets that break when viewed by anything other than IE6.

So because of the cost that would be involved in either upgrading those applications or finding new ones these corporations decide it is cheaper to deal with the devil they know rather than so the right thing and start using a modern browser. However this is a really dangerous trade-off to make given that IE6 is one of the biggest security risks – next to stupid users – on the web today.

As Ed Bott said in a post

Any IT professional who is still allowing IE6 to be used in a corporate setting is guilty of malpractice. Think that judgment is too harsh? Ask the security experts at Google, Adobe, and dozens of other large corporations that are cleaning up the mess from a wave of targeted attacks that allowed source code and confidential data to fall into the hands of well-organized intruders. The entry point? According to Microsoft, it’s IE6

I strongly suggest giving his post a read and then sending a copy to every single person you know who is still brain dead enough to be using IE6. As well find every IT person you know who refuses to replace IE6 on their corporate networks and staple this post to their foreheads.

Oh and make sure this graphic (courtesy of Ed) goes along: