How YouTube Developers Conspired to Kill Internet Explorer 6
By
romanhn
Fresh out the oven, still warm. Top of the tray.
Summary
This article tells the story of how a small team of YouTube web developers deliberately conspired to kill Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) support from within YouTube around 2009. The author, Chris Zacharias, recounts how the team intentionally implemented code that would break YouTube's functionality in IE6, effectively forcing users to upgrade to modern browsers. This was a covert operation driven by frustration with IE6's outdated technology and limitations that were hindering web development progress.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledThe bittersweet consequence of YouTube's incredible growth is that so many stories will be lost underneath all of the layers of new paint.
This is why I wanted to tell the story of how, ten years ago, a small team of web developers conspired to kill IE6 from inside YouTube and got away with it.
I do not recall the exact triggering event that led to our web development team laying out plans to kill IE6 over lunch in the YouTube cafeteria.
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