Hacker News Reader

And big enterprises are places with deep pockets. They'd happily pay the IE6 tax.

I'm not really serious about the idea, but the idea of taxing users of outdated software could lead to some pretty interesting applications.

View on HN

The enterprises wouldn't decide to pay the IE tax. The decision would have to be made by the end-users forced to use IE6. And they wouldn't pay.

Then offer an IP-range license deal for them.

End users at large enterprise companies have zero say in the support browsers of that organization. These policies are put in place by their IT organization which in some cases manages all applications and patches that are pushed down to an individual's machines. In those large companies even Windows patches are managed in house and not through the standard Windows update process. I think those companies will easily stomach an additional charge for IE6 since they're used to paying for everything else. That said, I'm sure they'll use their size to attempt to negotiate themselves a better price.

Have you ever tried to make a sale to this sort of company? It'll take three years before they even bother to react.

Thankfully no, but given the speed those companies move I wouldn't be surprised if IE6 is still there, 3 years later.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com