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Microsoft Internet Explorer users are thick headed
SOFTWARE COBBLER Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browser has been revealed as the preferred weapon of choice for the mentally challenged.
Anecdotal evidence that suggests something has to be wrong with you if Internet Exporer is the web browser you use has been backed up with scientific evidence. Research conducted by Aptiquant, a firm that calls itself "a world leader in the field of online psychometric testing" found that out that, of over 100,000 surveyed individuals, those that used Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browsers had the lowest intelligence quotient (IQ) scores.
Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6, a browser so rubbish that Microsoft has taken to pleading with users to dump it, was found to be used by the dumbest people, with their average user IQ scores nudging just over 80. Curiously that has dropped from over 100, a very respectable IQ, five years ago. Internet Explorer 7 wasn't far behind in the dumb and dumber stakes with IE9 and IE8 rounding off the bottom four, failing to exceed 100 IQ points on average.
Interestingly, Firefox users had the lowest IQs of those who used the 'alternative' web browsers, though its users' average IQ has actually risen in the past five years. Perhaps Mozilla secretly wants that figure to fall as a sign that it is picking up Internet Explorer users, but then again this research tends to suggest that Internet Explorer users might find typing firefox.com and hitting enter a bit beyond their ability.
The figures got us thinking, just what does an IQ of around 80 mean? According to research papers, an IQ of between 70 and 85 is classified as "borderline intellectual functioning". Curiously that phrase, omitting 'intellectual', could be applied to Internet Explorer itself.
Google's Chrome and Apple's Safari all scored similarly to Firefox, with "IE with Chrome Frame" sitting ahead of the lot with an average user IQ of beyond 120. Mac-only Gecko browser Camino and Opera top the list. As a group, Opera users have either gotten smarter very quickly or they've practised doing IQ tests, as five years ago the average was hovering around the 100 point mark, yet in five years there has been 20 per cent growth. Even Darwin would be impressed by that pace of evolution.
Aptiquant concluded that users with lower IQs tend not to upgrade and said, "It is common knowledge, that Internet Explorer Versions to 6.0 to 8.0 are highly incompatible with modern web standards. In order to make websites work properly on these browsers, web developers have to spend a lot of unnecessary effort. This results in an extra financial strain on web projects, and has over the last decade cost millions of man-hours to IT companies. Now that we have a statistical pattern on the continuous usage of incompatible browsers, better steps can be taken to eradicate this nuisance." We assume the firm was referring to Internet Explorer, not its users, when it said "steps can be taken to eradicate this nuisance", but we can't be sure.
So while the research doesn't quite suggest that Internet Explorer users are a few sandwiches short of a picnic, it does suggest that their neurons do fire a bit slower up there. Of course all this leads to the inevitable argument of nature versus nurture, but at present we'll have to assume that Microsoft's products don't turn its users' brains into mush. At least no more so than they were when they started using the Vole's rather dumbed down, click-and-drool software.
Staff at The INQUIRER were instructed to take the IQ test to see where we fit into this IQ and web browser landscape, but sadly we all got lost on the way to it and wound up in a pub. µ
Tags: Microsoft
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That "modern languages" was just a touch too long to type out was it?! haha. Oxford Brookes I imagine.
IE users, eh, lol.
What a bleedin' cheek. My IQ was measured by MENSA at 156 - 146. I am an Oxford mod. langs graduate and was a career teacher. I am very pleased to use Microsoft software; it's comfortable and effective. My current laptop offers me about four alternatives, but what would be the point...?
... what the connection might be between “stupid people are likely to use IE” and “using IE makes it likely you’re stupid” should read up on Bayes’ Theorem.
http://groups.google.com/group/nz.comp/msg/4c2a4d220499dafd?hl=en
Sorry to say that it never fulfills my expectation. I'm bored of it. Web designers are not supposed to use it.
Doesn't it just show that those people aren't aware that there is an other choice than IE.
I would conclude this is prove of MS forcing IE on people with their OS.
(it's easy to force it on a not educated person)
@dave I'd say that anybody starting at a low average IQ knows that a substantial number of the so-called 'studies' related to smoking are pure BS propaganda.
The last claim I read was that a 'study shows' that secondary smoke was a main cause of hearing loss in teenagers and young adults....
There's really no limit at all to what the anti-smoking league manages to come up with.
Just to explain: Anybody that uses an online IQ test is an idiot, so then it's just reading their headers and you got your report :)
"An online IQ assessment test was offered on our website. Most of the subjects came to the website either by
organic searches from search engines, or advertisements put on various search engines for keywords
targeting users who were looking for a free online IQ test. The test was offered only to visitors of a few English-
speaking countries namely USA, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand."
"... All visitors
under 16 were redirected to another website, and their scores have not been included in the results of this
study"
@Phillip
your comment shows you are not exactly as smart as you think.
From the pdf article it doesnt mean that everyone using IE is an idiot, it means statistically 'on average' they score lower in IQ tests than people who use other browsers, just like smokers on average have lower IQs than people who dont smoke.
Phil, perhaps youre suffering from the Dunning–Kruger effect?
Ok, so I use IE and have for years. You say that I am a moron. Hmm... I have been building computers for almost 15 years, own and maintain 2 companies, and I started the first company when I was 23. I am 31 now and continue to grow my current companies and working on a 3rd and 4th. But I must have a low IQ. At least I can find my way to a testing site and avoid the pub.
This author isn't too bright...
The IQ difference is probably just because smarter people are more likely to test multiple browsers and pick the best one, instead of sticking to the one that came preinstalled (MSIE) or the one they heard about on TV (Firefox).
Regardless of IQ, everyone I know who has spent two weeks using Opera has stuck with it. Tabbed browsing, cursor gestures, instant back and forward navigation, page zoom, script and plug-in blocking, etc., were all in Opera years before they made it into other browsers, and it still has a lot of unique features. It also has the fastest interaction between JavaScript and the rendering engine (which is what really matters to end users), even if Chrome is faster at running obscure JavaScript maths functions (which is what Google's benchmark measures).
Why didn't they include Netscape Navigator 2.5 in the study as a reference to IE6 (or any version of IE - Don't the other browser makers version theirs?). I guess since I use IE, I'm more likely to be dumb? This reminds me of a "King of the Hill" episode where Hank goes to a website to see if he was racist... I can't remember if he was on a mac or a dell...
HMMMM
Those of us in the I.T. crowd have been aware of this trend for many years; it's quite obvious.
And @FF22: Pull that stick out, mate. You'll find you can walk better. "Staff at The INQUIRER were instructed to take the IQ test to see where we fit into this IQ and web browser landscape, but sadly we all got lost on the way to it and wound up in a pub."
"Anecdotal evidence that suggests something has to be wrong with you if Internet Exporer is the web browser you use has been backed up with scientific evidence. "
Wrong. The only thing that can be deduced from the numbers and the statistics is that more people with lower IQ use (or have visited the site with) Internet Explorer, than users using other browsers. However, the conslusion that (all) people using IE have generally lower IQ, or that "something has to be wrong with you if Internet Exporer is your browser" is not proved by the statistics at all.
So the only thing this article proves is that the author himself, regardless what browser he's using, has obviously a not that high IQ as he might want to believe.