The Slowness of Browser Upgrading

I'm certainly no fan of Internet Explorer 7. Out of all the modern browsers, it still has the most CSS bugs and I dislike how its overwhelming market share is due to it being the default install rather than the best browser. However, compared to its predecessor (version 6) it is a godsend to work with.

Unfortunately for web developers, we still have to struggle with older versions until users (aka my client's customers) abandon the older browser in suitable numbers. Really we need the number to get below 1%.

With the millions of web surfers out there, the reality is that this can take years; many simply wait until they buy a new computer.

So although it has been almost a year since IE7 was released, most statistics show that IE6 still has the greatest user base.

It is good news, then, to see Microsoft attempting to make their browser a little easier for consumers to upgrade to. From the official Internet Explorer blog:

Because Microsoft takes its commitment to help protect the entire Windows ecosystem seriously, we’re updating the IE7 installation experience to make it available as broadly as possible to all Windows users. With today’s “Installation and Availability Update,” Internet Explorer 7 installation will no longer require Windows Genuine Advantage validation and will be available to all Windows XP users.

Realistically this is unlikely to have a dramatic effect on the speed of IE7 adoption. And when IE8 is released (whenever that may be) we will have to continue the slow upgrade cycle again.

I wonder how we will eventually solve this problem. Here are some random thoughts:

• As IE finally becomes standards compliant, we will be able to degrade our designs gracefully, rather than see them skewed beyond all recognition. This may still drive designers crazy, though. Although it could also encourage us to think of designs in a more fluid manner when used on different devices.
• The newer browsers will provide a much richer experience so clients will be more willing to push the boundaries and let some users fall behind. With much of the web broken, users will be forced to upgrade.
• We will start to push more of the design from the server, so that we have central control. The CSS engine would be cached rather than come with the browser, and therefore always up-to-date.
• We just improve the versioning of CSS and its implementation so that the upgrade path is clearer and simpler.

We are all bored of ranting about IE6, but what will we be ranting about when IE6 drops out of significance? Will the new rant be about something less aggregating?