As of May 2010, Inventables will no longer support Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 6. The reasons for this are numerous and varied and range from the technical, to the methodological, to the ethical, to the practical.

IE6 is a 9 year old piece of software. That’s at least a century in internet years.

At a time when even resource-laden internet powerhouses like Google and Amazon are discontinuing support for the aged, buggy, and categorically unsafe browser, we simply felt it was time to say goodnight.

Still, we acknowledge that there are many users (namely at large corporations with staggering IT infrastructures) that have no choice but to use IE6. We understand the predicament these users find themselves in, but given the small size of our development team and the ever changing nature of our app, we found we could no longer afford to spend valuable development time getting IE6 to comply.

Using Dean Edwards IE9.js, we’ve managed to make IE6 “hang together” for now, with minimal effort. This has made developing for IE in general much easier, and has provided those using IE6 a somewhat usable consolation. Here’s a screenshot of what IE6 users can expect:

Let’s let the web evolve…it’s ready and willing! In this spirit I am reminded of Bob Dylan’s immortal lyrics:

Your old road is / Rapidly agin’ / Please get out of the new one / If you can’t lend your hand / For the times they are a-changin’.

—Written by Billy