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AptiQuant, a company from Vancouver, Canada, published a study which shows a correlation between a person's IQ and the choice of their web browser.
The study revealed that the average IQ of IE users (especially old versions) is drastically lower than the IQ of modern web browsers users.
Source article: link
Is Internet Explorer For The Dumb? A New Study Suggests Exactly That. Vancouver, BC. July 28 2011 A Vancouver based Psychometric Consulting company, AptiQuant, has released a report on a trial it conducted to measure the effects of cognitive ability on the choice of web browser. AptiQuant offered free online IQ tests to over a 100,000 people and then plotted the average IQ scores based on the browser on which the test was taken. And the results are really not that surprising. With just a look at the graphs in the report, it comes out pretty clear that Internet Explorer users scored lower than average on the IQ tests. Chrome, Firefox and Safari users had just a teeny bit higher than average IQ scores. And users of Camino, Opera and IE with Chrome Frame had exceptionally higher IQ levels. Internet Explorer has traditionally been considered a pain in the back for web developers. Any IT company involved in web development will acknowledge the fact that millions of man hours are wasted each year to make otherwise perfectly functional websites work in Internet Explorer, because of its lack of compatibility with web standards. The continuous use of older versions of IE by millions of people around the world has often haunted web developers. This trend not only makes their job tougher, but has also pulled back innovation by at least a decade. But with the results of this study, IT companies worldwide will start to take a new look on the time and money they spend on supporting older browsers. Microsoft created a conspiracy with Internet Explorer’s shell integration with Windows Explorer, and making its removal complicated, if not impossible. It is usually criticized that this move was made during the last moments of Windows 95 release in a haphazard manner, just to snub the competition from Netscape Navigator. In the following years Microsoft spent millions of dollars on Internet Explorer, with the aim to dominate the browser market. It succeeded to gain a huge share of over 95% for quite a few years. But recently open source browsers like Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome have taken away a large share out of Microsoft’s pie. These browsers are not only better in performance than IE, but offer better compatibility with W3C standards. This latest report about the intelligence levels of IE users is expected to create a storm. The company behind the study, AptiQuant is a psychometric consulting company, that offers online tools to other companies to better assess their existing/potential employees based on their mental aptitude, skills, motivation and performance. It also has self-serving tools for individuals looking to identify their skills and reach their potential. The full report can be downloaded at: http://www.aptiquant.com/IQ-Browser-AptiQuant-2011.pdf
The key picture:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/orPPu.png)
AptiQuant, the makers of the study, are now being threatened with a lawsuit by a group of Internet Explorer users.
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Personal opinion:
Regarding the study itself, it's interesting to notice the average IQ of IE6 users in 2006 and in 2011. From the huge drop in IQ, it's visible that the intelligent people have moved on to better alternatives, while only the dumbest still use it. (This isn't meant to offend anyone, so don't be offended - even tho I doubt a single person on TL uses IE6)
Further, I wonder if this article will spread or will it stay under radar?
It's certainly provocative, and I can easily see this getting a lot of shares on facebook and twitter, which could lead to a small wave of browser switching.
Also, Opera is suddenly 'the browser geniuses use', so that's great for them, they really deserve more public recognition.
P.S. I wonder if the makers of the study bought some Opera shares :p
What does TL say, and will you be sharing this?
Poll: Will you share the article?Nope (524) 77% Yep (160) 23% 684 total votes Your vote: Will you share the article? (Vote): Yep
(Vote): Nope
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Maybe IE crashed before people could finish the test in a certain percentage of cases . =)
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Funny, interesting story. It won't spread, and I doubt anybody will ever hear about it again (fortunate or unfortunate - that's your call).
I also think it's a good assessment to sue this research company. They are accusing Microsoft of "a conspiracy with Internet Explorer’s shell integration with Windows Explorer, and making its removal complicated, if not impossible." Whether or not that is true, the courts will find out. That's totally uncalled for.
I'd also like to state that nowhere in that report does it state "independent research". It's pretty salient why this report came out then... 
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I have been using Opera for a while, simply because IMO it is the best browser.It is soo use friendly it is insane.
With that being said, where i grew up school was mainly skipped and simply ignored by a marajority of the city and the rest like me, just didn't get a fuck and had more suspensions and detentions than D,C,B,A grades combined on tests.So my grades were never good on exams(the game we used to play is making a sentence with all the "fill in the circle" A B C D parts.
But i am smart i guess have a well paying job, more "street smarts" than anything, just don't have anything to prove it.
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Threatened by a law suit lol..
"you called us dumb, and proved it"
what a world we live in.
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Opera - Fastest browser, okay security.
Chrome - Pretty fast, best security.
Firefox - Fast enough, secure enough, good flexibility using add-ons/etc.
IE9 - Is actually not bad.
I don't think we can dictate a person's intelligence through their choice of browsers though.
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I have to use IE at work and it's the worst. Nonstop crashes and I can't open more than 10 PDF's when I'm doing bulkwork. GIVE ME FIREFOX, CHROME, OR OPERA PLZZZZ 
I don't understand why people even use IE. It's not user-friendly. It's out of date. It's not efficient, and it's ineffective at doing simple tasks [like opening a new tab instantly or remembering important websites properly].
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This is interesting, and exactly as I expected would be the result. (:
I personally use firefox, because I hate Opera, and never heard of Camino.
I had Opera a while ago, but yeah. Didn't mesh well with me. =w=
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Yes, I use Opera! I AM GENIUS!!! *cough*
wish there were percentage error bars on the graph though.
Edit: And nope, they don't show how many people used each type of browser in the full report either. Seriously?
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I think it would take another company to be able to replicate their results before I believe what they're claiming.
Do they ever say the proportion of users surveyed that used each browser type?
I couldn't find this, so some of their results might not be statistically significant.
edit
So at least 500 surveys for each browser type out of 101,326.
Still strange they don't report the browser usage proportions.
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never had problems with IE9..
I'm using all of these browser cause i'm a webdev so 
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What the hell does IQ level have to do with choice of web browser?
If the average joe wants to visit cnn.com to read news, I don't think they could care less whether they used IE or Opera to view it.
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Because the sc2 patcher incorporates IE for patch downloads, that means all sc2 players use IE, and therefore, + Show Spoiler +sc2 players have low IQ
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A study has shown that women with blue eyes are 5% more likely to smoke than women with green eyes, coinsidense? Naaaaah.
Besides that, i find it interesting that "logical thinking" is the only topic factored in being "dumb", aren't there geniuses of understanding human emotions and interaction, or geniuses of moltivation and hard work?
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I think I'll stick with Internet Explorer for as long as I want, and allow you all to consider me "dumb".
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All the korean players use IE, do you think they are dumb? It is just that many korean sites are optimized for IE...
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On July 31 2011 00:48 k1mjee wrote:
I think I'll stick with Internet Explorer for as long as I want, and allow you all to consider me "dumb".
would it be too much to ask you to take an IQ test and post results here..
just joking..
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On July 31 2011 00:49 Cosmos wrote:
All the korean players use IE, do you think they are dumb? It is just that many korean sites are optimized for IE...
The test was offered only to visitors of a few Englishspeaking
countries namely USA, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand.
(from full report)
So I guess the study wouldn't apply to individuals outside of this area. Yeah, but it doesn't matter. I am still pissed they did not mention percentage error/# of user per each browser at all. What kind of study is that?
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not double blinded, IQ tests are hardly objective measures of intelligence, all together, a joke study that says nothing, but does so in the most provocative was possible.
Chrome user btw, and I didn't need a study to prove to me that my feelings of immense superiority were valid
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I am so switching to opera now! That's how it works, right?
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EPT
