RIP IE6

Sshhhhh... if you listen close, you can hear the ghost of Internet Explorer 6 lumbering through the pages of The Tirade.

Seriously, are you guys using IE6? I bet a ton of you are reading this blog on that damned browser right now. If you are, let me tell you right now... you're viewing the world through a zombie's eyes. That's right... Internet Explorer 6 has officially been murdered.

The funeral is being held today for the aging Web browser.

So who's doing the killin'? Looks like our sneaky friends at Google are pulling the trigger. Or wielding the machete. Or stabbing with the knife. Or crushing with the rock. Or setting on fire with the blowtorch. Or cutting the brake lines on IE6's car. Or sneaking under IE6's house through the foundation crawl space with a giant tank of Argon Gas. From there, Google will run a small tube up through the floor, and pump tons of gas into IE6's bedroom while it sleeps. Since Argon is technically heavier than Oxygen, it will slowly take the place of Oxygen in IE6's lungs, slowly killing it while it sleeps. Or pulling the pin on the grenade and stuffing it into IE6's underwear while it's taking a piss in the men's room at YouTube.

However it's happening, Google is doing the job. This past Monday, Google killed the support for the browser for its sites, and YouTube will boot it out of the house on March 13.

What does it all mean?? From my point of view, I've only used the browser once or twice, and I think that was back in 2001 or 2002. Yeah yeah, I'm one of those life-long Mac guys. If you want to get into the bread and butter, many of you know that I've never used a PC to accomplish anything in my life other than looking at websites. To be honest, I have no idea how a PC even works. Those things scare me to death.

I do know, however, how much of a pain it is to keep your site design browser compliant, and this IE6 abomination is always the biggest thorn to work around. What looks like a beautiful summertime pond covered in flowers and hot chicks in sundresses in Safari or Firefox looks like you're trapped at a bad GWAR cover band concert with a football-field sized mosh pit containing 100,000 Carrot Top clones all wearing pink Snuggies in Internet Explorer 6.

I offer my condolences to the users of IE6 and also offer up a warning: if your internet browser suddenly starts to crave human flesh, I'd totally download the new Safari or Firefox immediately. You sure as hell don't want to end up like Captain Rhodes.

Best regards and stuff,

-----> McClane, Blog Owner Man