While developing BlogSell I’ve come to understand the importance of cross-browser compatibility. I’ve switched to Firefox a long time ago and hardly ever use Internet Explorer, but the fact is there is still a large group of people using IE – which is installed by default in all Windows OS – and never quite made the leap to Firefox or Chrome or even Safari.
Fortunately, stats from analytics for a similar site in the blogging niche shows that Firefox users are now at 56.21%, while IE is only at 21.70%. Other browsers like Chrome (12.35%) and Safari are also significant, but IE still represents a big user group after Firefox.
It’s really no problem making your site or software compatible for Chrome and Safari – differences in appearance are minimal. But IE really sucks, and it varies so much from each version of IE, that it’s hard to believe it’s done by Microsoft.
Optimizing for IE is a lot of work.
However, I think it’s better for us to stick to the 80/20 rule and optimize only for 80% of IE versions, which is version 8.xx and 7.xx. All other versions can take a hike. It’s easier to ask users to just upgrade their browser or download Firefox instead 
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One thing I don’t like about Firefox is the AdBlock Plus plugin. And the odd thing is the relationship between Firefox(Mozilla) and Google. I still support IE, but they have to make their browser more secure. Firefox is faster but more bloated. Maybe Opera is the best.
When i started surfing net back then, i was using IE ,after that when i came out working, i stop using totally coz i feel it is unstable and loading is slow. But ,recently, i start using back,i will say that they had improved a lot.
Hahah! I’m surprised myself with why people still use IE. I guess it could be those middle-aged users who are die hard fans of IE. I remember it took me a while to even switch from IE to Firefox. Then there was Opera, etc. I guess the 80/20 applies. Microsoft can’t let IE die and let Chrome and Firefox be the majority. Gates is WAY too smart to let that happen. Anyways, thanks for the insight!
I still use IE for some things only because I don’t want all my tabs open in Firefox:) Think the only reason people have it is because you can’t uninstall it the way Microsoft has it bundled into the operating system. Hmmm, maybe I should give Linux more thought.
Thanks Gobala, good even handed review.
I have also stopped using IE since long time ago. It is so true that IE really sucks.
I dont think it’s going to die any sooner. Maybe it wont.