Internet Explorer users stupid, study finds

[TheGoose]

Average IE user has an IQ of 80. No wonder Internet fraud is still so rampant!

http://www.aptiquant.com/news/is-internet-explorer-for-the-dumb-a-new-study-suggests-exactly-that/

Oh this is getting so forwarded to so many people I work with. I should say "people I fix with" actually.

[Daedalus]

@AccyD

Mine. Our PCs still have IE6, and the updates are pushed down to the clients meaning the IT department control which updates the PCs get, and they've chosen not to update IE. They say it's for compatibility with some old Citrix setup we use for QPulse and the likes... Now, for my particular job I have admin access in my department so I could upgrade it, but personally I've installed Chrome on my machine. Yes, I have used all the others. I just find that I prefer Chrome for many very small reasons.

Not a Google fan as such, and I know they do some nasty stuff, but if you stick to the rule of *never* putting anything on the internet you don't want people to see, you'll be fine regardless of what evil corporation's software you use. I couldn't care less if Google read my report on Google Docs about our latest long-term stability test on one of our products, or see my spreadsheet of how many outstanding work orders I have each month. Good for them - they might even enjoy my probe temperature study on haemostasis analysers! For me it's bloody handy access to these files wherever I am. And I happen to find Google Streetview very handy as well for finding an address. Knowing that someone has a big tree outside their house and a red door makes it a little bit easier to find that house party

[Daedalus]

I only ever see inexperienced users who think they are power users installing firefox, opera or chrome.

Wow. That must make me a pretty inexperienced user. I guess I'm only programming as a hobby for 20 odd years, and work developing firmware for the medical devices industry, so that doesn't count as experience, right? The way you say that almost sounds like "Real men only use IE" as if anyone using another browser doesn't really know what they're doing, and can't handle IE. I guess that makes Linux users like myself total wimps, right?

[_ThEcRoW]

Stupid study from stupid people. Just another free microsoft bashing type.

[Kremlar]

Most users I find using Chrome or Safari are simply too computer illiterate to know enough to unselect it while installing some other unrelated application or update that tries to push it to their system.  It's pretty much unneeded bloat for my clients.

I also love how uninstalling Chrome can leave URL shortcuts and links unusable because it doesn't correctly remove itself from certain registry keys.

Complete garbage IMO.

[Daedalus]

@Kremlar

Chrome? Bloat?? Ummm... Not sure how you arrived at that conclusion. I find that putting Chrome on computer-illiterate users' PCs actually reduces the amount of bloat they end up with. Have you never gone to a client's PC to find they have IE with 6 or 7 toolbars installed as free "extras" from various packages they've installed? Maybe a Yahoo toolbar, a Google toolbar, sometimes the odd warez or pr0n toolbar, a couple of printer driver toolbars and of course the free virus checker toolbars. All installed fairly innocently.

Anyone with a "slow internet" problem that I've told to install Chrome have been blown away by the speed and efficiency of it, and that's mostly to do with the toolbars and plugins rather than IE itself. And way to go helping out your users there by leaving them with broken shortcuts. It's a pretty crap way of handling things on Chrome's part, but you sound like you enjoy the extra hassle you cause your clients by doing that.

In fairness, I don't like Safari under Windows at all, but I use it most of the time on my Macs.

[Kremlar]

Chrome? Bloat?? Ummm... Not sure how you arrived at that conclusion. I find that putting Chrome on computer-illiterate users' PCs actually reduces the amount of bloat they end up with. Have you never gone to a client's PC to find they have IE with 6 or 7 toolbars installed as free "extras" from various packages they've installed? Maybe a Yahoo toolbar, a Google toolbar, sometimes the odd warez or pr0n toolbar, a couple of printer driver toolbars and of course the free virus checker toolbars. All installed fairly innocently.

Sure, though mostly on outdated systems running outdated versions of IE.  I also find other "bloat" such as Chrome, Safari, etc., all installed inadvertently because a user wanted to install Google Maps, iTunes, etc.
 
I get calls from users unable to perform work-related functions because the sites they visit do not work on Chrome which was inadvertently installed.  
 

Anyone with a "slow internet" problem that I've told to install Chrome have been blown away by the speed and efficiency of it, and that's mostly to do with the toolbars and plugins rather than IE itself.

That's fine.  I'm just not a fan of applications trying to push down other applications to unsuspecting users, like Chrome, McAfee Security Scan, etc.  Seriously - if someone WANTS to install Chrome, they will install it - they don't need it pushed to them.
 

And way to go helping out your users there by leaving them with broken shortcuts. It's a pretty crap way of handling things on Chrome's part, but you sound like you enjoy the extra hassle you cause your clients by doing that.

Who said my clients were left like that?

[Duce]

Anyone "pushing" Chrome at you should be suspect in the first place.

Google, afaik - has no "bundling" deals with anyone when it comes to Chrome.  They don't make a dime off it and don't need to cram it down anyones' maw.

It's one of the fastest and most secure browsers in existance, and I have never seen it exhibit anything (broken links, etc) like you have mentioned, and I've used it since beta.

The whole idea that inexperienced users only use FF or Chrome is hysterical.  The noobs use what comes on systems, and in the mainstream that is PURELY IE or Safari and nothing else, and it's been that way for 20 years due to OEM OS deals.

You have the option to NOT install Chrome/Safari when installing itunes or any google apps.  You are never forced to.  IE, on the other hand, is linked to Windows in the belly of the beast and requires real magic to ever get rid of.

[Kremlar]

Google, afaik - has no "bundling" deals with anyone when it comes to Chrome. They don't make a dime off it and don't need to cram it down anyones' maw.

They certainly have and do.  A quick Google search brought up this:
http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-10409905-12.html
and this:
http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2009/03/google-chrome-bundled-with-realplayer.html
and I'm sure I could find others if I cared to.
 

It's one of the fastest and most secure browsers in existance, and I have never seen it exhibit anything (broken links, etc) like you have mentioned, and I've used it since beta.

Perhaps you've never uninstalled it?  I see it all the time:
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Chrome/thread?tid=6223bc3b0294b96a&hl=en
http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=80831
 

The whole idea that inexperienced users only use FF or Chrome is hysterical. The noobs use what comes on systems, and in the mainstream that is PURELY IE or Safari and nothing else, and it's been that way for 20 years due to OEM OS deals.  

I never said that, but I did say MOST users that I find with Chrome or Safari installed have no idea where it came from because they installed it inadvertently.

[stevieu]

IE is horrid. That's all I have to say on this matter. ;-)

Steve

[Bif]

IE 9 is a complete turd for me. I heard they were going to focus on speed and decluttering the UI. I was eager to give it a try as I have no great allegiance, I just want something fast and not filled with useless toolbars I can't get rid of. I haven't HATED other versions of IE in the past, but I've always ended up using FF or Opera and now Chrome just because they were that much better (and to me, Chrome is MUCH faster than all the other bloated stuff).

Anyway, I still use IE9 just for one gmail based account as I have two I need open at all times. It's comical how bloated and slow and annoying it is for this. I'd also say the UI is ugly. After taking forever to load up and go to web pages, the browser keeps asking me if I want to go through my plugins to remove them and speed them up (which I did). Still slow. I am a heavy keyboard shortcut user as I hate using the mouse to scroll or navigate back through pages and stuff. I use the arrow keys to scroll up and down through my list of emails. I press it a few times to go down ... and it takes like 1 second to process each key. It's comically slow, like being on a 486 or something. Press down 5 times, step back, and watch it grind the screen down for 5 seconds. Geez. On the other side I always have like 20 tabs open in Chrome and it's amazing how well it always performs. I never had these horrid performance problems with IE8 either.

So yes, I think if you want to keep using a turd like IE9 I think you might not be on the smarter side, but more likely it's just computer illiterate people not knowing any better (because they aren't smart enough to be computer literate?).

[psxphill]

Yeah right... Keep wearing that tin foil hat.

Is that the same tin foil hat all you web power users are wearing.
Anyone who thinks, "phew I'm glad I don't use IE after reading the survey" is one of your web power users.
 
Microsofts motives are clear cut, they want market share for their operating systems.
 
Google don't make money any other way than processing your data. All their products involve you giving them data to process. Ignoring that they might do something evil with your data, I don't want to help them make money from something I give them. Especially as there are always cheaper alternatives.
 
I understand both companies motives & act accordingly, so I don't need a tin foil hat thanks. Trusting google with everything is like replying to an email asking for you bank details and PIN.
 
 

Weird place you live in.
 
 
Organizations that force users to use outdated IE are source of major security headache. There are numerous organizations that are unable to upgrade from IE6 because of Microsoft lock-in in their various internal web sites.

It's the same place you live in. Outdated IE is just as stupid as picking an alternative in the workplace. Any company that standardises on anything other than the latest version of IE is doing it for the wrong reasons.

[Kesa]

I'm not sure people who are illiterate with computers will stick with IE. In fact i can't think of anyone who uses IE - including people who have no idea about computers. Everyone i know uses either Firefox or Safari.

In my opinion IE9 is a victory for Firefox4 and every other browser. Especially the way they copied things like tab pinning and moving tabs to different browser windows etc. Things other browsers have been doing for yonks. HAHA!  

Off topic. My 2 cents about browsers in general. I hate the way browsers try to get me to go to specific sites like Facebook or some other stupid site when i open a new browser window. Opera, Safari and i think IE9 do this and it really gets under my skin. I've tried them all except IE9 and i think they all suck in some way. So i am happy to stick with Firefox4 for now. I also love the way you can highlight a word and right click and select "search with Google".

[Franko]

And can you explain what a power user of the web even is?

A power user of the web is just someone whose even more thicker than the rest of us who use the web...

Can't say I'm surprised by this study, it just confirms what I've always thought and just over a year of using the net has only proven to me, it's a place generally used by numpties (meself included) for nothing more than gibbering keech, watching porn and generally cos even with 600 odd TV channels on Sky the telly's still crap...

It has one saving grace though, it means I don't have to go out so often just to wind people up and rip the P out of them...

[Lurch]

8 out of 10 survey's are bogus :-)

[Franko]

8 out of 10 survey's are bogus :-)

Strange I read a survey that said only 7 out of 10 survey's were bogus...