Upgrade Internet Explorer 6 or DIE
Ahh! Now this just may be the coolest plugin I’ve come across in all of 2009. And, it’s compatible up to the latest (at the time of this article) WordPress 2.7.1.
The plugin is designed to thwart IE 6 users from seeing any content. That’s a good thing. IE 6 is akin to the crud at the bottom of your garbage can in the browser world. Why anyone would not upgrade from this antique is beyond my scope of understanding. I pray 16, maybe 17 hours per day that IE 6 will one day be banished from the world.
This is a great start.
For reference, here’s what IE 6 users will read:
WARNING!
You are using Internet Explorer 6.0. Due to security risks associated with this outdated browser, as well as its noncompliance with WC3 standards, I have disabled access for all Internet Explorer 6.0 users.
I would love to share the content of this site with you, but unless you upgrade your browser, this is impossible. There are too many security risks posed by this outdated browser. Won’t you please take a moment and upgrade-it’s 100% free!
If you are at your place of employment and do not have access or permission to upgrade your browser, please contact your company’s IT department and request an upgraded browser, which will keep your company’s information safe and secure. Upgrading will also improve your overall browsing experience!
There will then be two buttons the user can choose: “No Thanks” and “Upgrade”. If they choose the “Upgrade” button, they will be taken directly to Microsoft’s IE upgrade page, where they can quickly upgrade to the latest version of IE. However, if they choose “No Thanks” then they will be taken to “CrashIE.com” out of pure spite. CrashIE.com uses a well known bug in IE to crash the browser and cause the user to have to restart it.
We should all thank Josh Jones for this one, and thank him well!
Man, this plugin is getting some CRAZY mixed reviews… LOL
It seems as though EVERYBODY hates IE6, but many of them think that this is just “crossing the line” and going too far! In my opinion, I think that if we don’t “cross the line” then these people will never upgrade!
I also made sure to mention in the plugin “Other Notes” section that if you are not interested in bringing pain and suffering upon IE6, then you probably shouldn’t use the plugin.
Anyhoo, it’s nice to see someone who hates it with a passion like I do!
Comment by Josh on March 3, 2009
I definitely like this idea. It really boils down to money for development. Why should developers spend 1/2 their time hacking code to work in IE6. That time savings could be passed on the client. Its the job of the developer to educate the public and keep them up to date. I’ve already locked out IE6 from my newer sites. I would hope the whole dev community would follow suite by the last day of this year. The browser only has 20% at this point. The upgrade is free. There is no financial burden. There is no good reason except pure laziness to keep IE6.
Comment by Lance Wig on March 27, 2009
To support this cause, as a webdesigner I wasted my last 6 hours coding for IE6.
I even created a project on google code to spare the time of web developers that are in the same situation.
http://code.google.com/p/ie6-upgrade-warning/
Check it out, I think it’s a great idea.
Comment by Dan Mihai Ile on April 9, 2009
a question: can users of stolen windows upgrade their IE? If not, this would explain a couple of ten or hundreds million users not upgrading their IE …
Comment by Question on November 9, 2009
Yes I have a pirated copy of Windows and I can instal Windows upgrades and all the latest updates of microsoft.
Comment by Ronald on December 17, 2009