There's been increasing pressure from frustrated web developers to get users off Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6 web browser, which they say is an increasing pain to support. Last week, for example, a group of startups launched a campaign called IE6 No More, where site visitors are urged to "switch to a modern browser."
So we can all look forward to an IE6-free future in a few months, right? Not according to a blog post written by Microsoft's Dean Hachamovitch and published last night. His post repeatedly refers to "choice," and how the choice of browser isn't up to the web developer, or up to Microsoft:
We’ve blogged before about keeping users in control of their PCs, usually in the context of respecting user choice of search settings or browser defaults. We’ll continue to strongly encourage Windows users to upgrade to the latest IE. We will also continue to respect their choice, because their browser is their choice.
Somewhat counter-intuitively, Hachamovitch also points to a user survey run by popular news aggregator Digg, which shows that 69 percent of IE6 users on Digg didn't actually choose the browser. Instead, they use IE6 because an IT administrator or someone else at work prevents them from upgrading.
So, uh, how does that square with the constant references to "choice"? Good question! Turns out that when Hachamovitch eloquently defended "user choice," he was actually referring to "the person responsible for the PC." In other words, "user choice" actually means "IT administrator's choice." For everyone else, Microsoft's "user choice" boils down to "no choice at all, and maybe you should stop complaining, because that's a real drag for IT."
Ain't freedom grand?