Microsoft launched its own Internet Explorer 6 countdown site

Microsoft launched its own Internet Explorer 6 countdown site on Friday.

Theie6countdown.com marks Microsoft’s “commitment to getting rid of IE6″ according to the software giant. “Now that it’s 2011, IE6 is officially a ten-year old browser. According to Net Applications, IE6 still has 12% share worldwide. Our goal is to get this share under 1% worldwide,” explained Roger Capriotti, Director of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer Product Marketing team.

Internet Explorer 6 countdown

Microsoft’s countdown site provides statistics for Internet Explorer 6 usage worldwide. “We will update the site’s stats on a monthly basis and celebrate as countries dip under the 1% mark,” said Capriotti in a company blog post on Friday. Aten Design Group hosted a funeral for IE6 in Denver, Colorado a year ago. Microsoft sent flowers at the time in support. Unfortunately the browser is still used widely across the world and Microsoft wants to see it gone for good. The company is encouraging developers to spread the word by placing an upgrade notification to IE6 users on their sites. CNET, Facebook and others have placed notifications on their sites and Meebo plans to follow suit soon.

Despite Microsoft’s hate of Internet Explorer 6, all versions of the web browser’s market-share have dipped over the past 6 months. Worldwide Market-share trackers Net Applications issued their monthly browser share report on Tuesday which indicates that Internet Explorer market-share has increased for the first time in eight months. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer now controls 56.77% of the market compared to 60% a year ago and 67% in January 2009. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer market share bled for seven months continuously as the company struggles to convince users to pick Internet Explorer for their browsing needs.