Ade in Business

Even though IE7 was part of Window’s automatic updates, most of the Internet Explorer world is still on version 6. According to W3Counter stats, 59% of website visitors are using IE6 versus 6% of visitors who are using IE7. So it’s clear that developers will have to continue IE6 for a long time to come.

I mentioned previously how I used evolt.org’s browser archive to run IE6 alongside IE7. This solution works great — it’s simple to setup and performance is quick. However, I did discover one significant drawback: IE6 won’t support cookies in that setup. That means that testing most modern applications under IE6 is a pain. For instance, while recently implementing a new design for FormSpring, I couldn’t log in and use the application as I would under a “real” browser. I could only use it on static pages, or areas that didn’t require cookies to be enabled.

Thankfully, a few weeks ago Microsoft released a solution for running IE6 in a virtual machine without the need to purchase a separate license for Microsoft Windows. The virtual machine essentially provides a completely isolated computer system that you run in it’s own window. The software is a pretty big download, and consumes a decent amount of memory and CPU power when running, but it’s a much better solution than keeping that old dusty PC in the corner. And best of all, it’s completely free.