Opinion: Microsoft has never said that they would drop support for Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) after the release of Windows XP Service Pack 3. However, I've often wondered if it would be to Microsoft's advantage, as well as beneficial to their customers, if they did drop the IE6 support. With Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) now the status quo for most non-Enterprise users of Windows and IE8 development underway, what better opportunity is there to end support for IE6 than now?

There is no question that Microsoft is supporting IE6 in the next service pack. Jane Maliouta, Microsoft's Deployment Project Manager for IE8, addressed IE6 support with XP SP3 in an IEBlog post on IE and Windows XP SP3.

XPSP3 will continue to ship with IE6 and contains a roll-up of the latest security updates for IE6. If you are still running Internet Explorer 6, then XPSP3 will be offered to you via Windows Update as a high priority update. You can safely install XPSP3 and will have an updated version of IE6 with all your personal preferences, such as home pages and favorites, still intact.

So the question remains, just how long does Microsoft plan to support this 7 year old browser? From as near as I can tell, support for Internet Explorer 6 is tied to the life cycle of the Windows XP operating system. Mainstream support for Windows XP is currently dated to end in April 14, 2009. So that means Internet Explorer 6 will have been on the desktop for more than eight years! While enterprises may take comfort that product support for Windows XP and IE6 has lasted so long, consumers and the rest of the world have since moved on with the changing world.

Blog Herald: Bloggers are not gone for long, though some manage to
stay away a year or so. Typically, all return for more, and what they
bring with them is fascinating to watch.

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"While the misconception that a database is an absolute requirement for complex web applications may not be listed as the second most common error of the 21st century, it is a misconception that continues to go largely unchallenged."

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Karen Bauman, Antigrammar.com, reminds us that once you receive something, the importance of giving something back.

I have noticed a trend on various blogs to have a special Sunday post linking to some of the better articles written throughout the week. I think this is a fine practice and I would like to try that someday. Unfortunately, however, I am feeling

• far too lazy
• much too self centered

to go to that much trouble. I am going to go through my referral logs instead and tell you all who it was that sent me traffic during this past week. Anyone reading this who wishes to be listed here in weeks to come, well, I think you know what to do.

Here at CMSReport.com, some of the biggest gifts we receive are from those leaving their own comments and opinions here at the site. Our "giving back" is via the Blogroll. Those sites and people listed in the Blogroll had something of value to say in a comment or article left here at CMSReport.com.

"That said, life is not one big family gathering. Religion and
politics—and other topics that might be taboo at the dinner table—are
certainly appropriate fodder to weave into many other conversations.
But, is it appropriate for a writer sharing his opinions on The Content
Wrangler website to use politically-charged language to illustrate a
point, lead the reader down a specific thought path, or tempt them into
clicking on a hypertext link? When does a writer go too far in
attracting attention?"

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My apologies for writing so much about hardware and not content management this week. I suppose though, if Dean Barker at Gadgetopia can talk about content management, I can occasionally discuss gadgets here at CMS Report. Sometimes it helps to take a look at the devices we use to view our content just as much as it helps looking at the software we use to run our Web content management systems. Well, at least this is my excuse for not being fixated so much on content management.

In Thursday morning's Wall Street Journal, Walt Mossberg did a review of the Asus Eee PC. The article, Asus Offers Travelers Small, Mobile Eee PC, but It’s Too Cramped, can be found in his column archive (a Wordpress site). I had been waiting for someone of his stature do a review on this product, but I was a little disappointed to see yet another review of a non-Apple device (this one is Linux based) be so negative.

I like your magazine, Marco, but I have to disagree with you on this one. "

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"Has Facebook replaced government?

This is the sort of outlandish speculation I've come to know and love from an industry that thrives on hype. As far as I can tell, no one has actually said it yet, but let's give it time: It's not even lunchtime, and any number of theories are bound to pop up before the end of the day."

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