Driving a stake through the heart of Internet Explorer 6

Regardless of the fact that there are some people out there recommending that companies use Internet Explorer 6 as a way to keep their employees from wasting work time on things like Facebook (and Google) the real world is catching on – Death to Internet Explorer 6.

StatsCounter just released a new statement that says that Internet Explorer 6 is finally dropping down below the 5% mark in U.S. usage.

Boston, US and Dublin, Ireland, Tuesday, 1st June, 2010: Usage of web browser Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) in the US and Europe fell below the 5% mark for the first time in May, according to web analytics company, StatCounter. The firm’s research arm StatCounter Global Stats reports that IE6 US usage has fallen to 4.7% from 11.5% 12 months ago.

“At these levels web developers now have valid justification not to support IE6 in the future,” commented Aodhan Cullen, CEO, StatCounter. A number of sites including YouTube are already understood to have withdrawn support for IE6.

StatCounter Global Stats reports that IE8 US usage increased to 30.5% in May from 8.5% in the same month last year. IE7 is currently at 16.6% in the US.

“IE6 has been a bit of a pain for many web developers and designers who have often had to recode their site to get it to work. There are also security implications in its continued usage,” added Aodhan Cullen of StatCounter.

It’s none too soon either. Here’s hoping the numbers keep dropping – and fast.