Well my comp's a bit old (WinXP) and I'm still using IE 8 because Opera/Chrome/Firefox all have whispy shit text that I cannot stand and I've tried to change in the browser settings and googled to no avail. I know the browsers have customisations for text however these don't change the problem I have. I use firefox for twitter but really IE does everything I want it to so I don't care. Sure it's a RAM hog (though hardly more than firefox), but I would use another browser if I was running Win7 and the text didn't look funny, mainly so I wouldn't feel like a noob than anything else lol.

Offhand

United States1869 Posts

July 30 2011 20:58 GMT

#162

And if relative size of the userbases are figured into the equation, it becomes obvious that this is just an incredibly misleading and sensationalist "study".

han_han

United States205 Posts

July 30 2011 21:24 GMT

#163

This study isn't the most rigorous and reliable study IMO. First of all, the sample consisted only of people who "were looking for a free IQ test." That in and of itself introduces extraneous possibilities that are unaccounted for. What if lower IQ people were the ones who were curious about their IQ? What if the higher IQ people were also curious, but simply avoided the test because it looked fishy?

When using IE, any intelligent person would turn their privacy options WAY UP when browsing unfamiliar websites, and even then they wouldn't visit something that could be malicious. Using older versions of IE on the internet is like banging a whore that you suspect has an HIV infection.

The second figure is misleading because it is grouped by percentile, which I think was fairly unnecessary. While I can't say that the correlation isn't real, there are flaws in the procedure that fail to rule out certain variables that could have a huge impact on these trends. It's worth noting that the standard deviation of the IQ data obtained was 15 with a mean of 100. I wonder how many people with 100+ IQ were found using IE?

Edit: just in case the source hasn't been posted yet, here it is for any other science people out there who want to scrutinize this.

Sufficiency

Canada23833 Posts

July 30 2011 21:30 GMT

#164

I have always thought that IE is only used to download other browsers, hahaha.

Whether or not this thought is justified is subject to debate, but I do think that because it came with Windows and the gap between Netscape's decline and Firefox's rise, Microsoft grew complacent about IE while IE had no competition - this left many user with an impression that IE is really bad.

I suspect the younger generation who does not remember the horror of IE4/5 won't find any bias against IE.

Piggiez

393 Posts

July 30 2011 21:39 GMT

#165

On July 31 2011 00:37 caradoc wrote:
Maybe IE crashed before people could finish the test in a certain percentage of cases . =)

Clearly an Opera browserer.

jackarage

Canada104 Posts

July 30 2011 21:49 GMT

#166

I alternate between chrome and opera, I like opera but I think flash work better on chrome.

FryktSkyene

United States1327 Posts

July 30 2011 22:06 GMT

#167

Well my new computer came with only IE...so... >.>

But I auto DL chromo and use that.

Diks

Belgium1880 Posts

July 30 2011 22:39 GMT

#168

On July 31 2011 07:06 FryktSkyene wrote:
Well my new computer came with only IE...so... >.>

But I auto DL chromo and use that.

chromo is quite a lapsus, man

Playguuu

United States926 Posts

July 30 2011 22:50 GMT

#169

I do development work for government software and we have to make specific tests and use cases for IE, especially older versions because government never upgrades their stuff unless they are absolutely forced to. It is an absolute pain in the ass. 90% of the issues we come across would just be solved if they upgraded to firefox.

epikAnglory

United States1120 Posts

July 30 2011 22:53 GMT

#170

Chrome is obviously the best if you have at least 4 GB of memory and don't do anything special like coding and developing, just for standard browsing and videos. It also makes me feel good knowing I am using a Google product.

T0fuuu

Australia2275 Posts

July 30 2011 23:03 GMT

#171

uhhh.... ppl that partook In a free online iqtest are compared for their intelligence... they couldnt have been that bright then lol. What's next? People that partake in free penis enlargement pills get studied for their penis size and we find a correlation between browser and penis size lol.

btw tyler uses opera and so do I :-)

Lewan72

United States381 Posts

July 30 2011 23:10 GMT

#172

On July 31 2011 00:37 caradoc wrote:
Maybe IE crashed before people could finish the test in a certain percentage of cases . =)

Lollll +1

3clipse

Canada2555 Posts

July 30 2011 23:13 GMT

#173

Opera is nice if you want speed and to stroke your own ego, but every now and then there will be a site that won't display properly in it. I use FF as a backup and for the StumbleUpon toolbar.

DreamChaser

1649 Posts

July 30 2011 23:13 GMT

#174

Correlation does not lead to causation. That and IQ tests are outdated and hardly a measure of a persons intelligence anymore.

Emperor_Earth

United States824 Posts

July 30 2011 23:15 GMT

#175

Since I use Opera... I approve these graphs^^

AnxiousHippo

Australia1451 Posts

July 30 2011 23:16 GMT

#176

I've been swapping between Chrome, Firefox and Opera regularly. I guess Opera's about to get a flood of people

Isn't IE with the Chrome Frame pointless and you could just get Chrome straight out?

Turbovolver

Australia2454 Posts

July 30 2011 23:16 GMT

#177

The people saying that "only low IQ people would take an IQ test" are kind of missing the point, because there have been both high and low IQ scores recorded by the test.

If you really want to attack the causation/correlation link, think about things like "people with worse living conditions will have shittier computers, and thus are using old browsers".