A week ago, there was a media frenzy of sort when a report was published that suggested that Internet Explorer users are generally dumb and have a lower IQ than those who use other browsers like Google Chrome or Firefox.
I did not pay any attention to it because I figured that the study was biased or supported by one of Microsoft’s many competitors or whatever.
What did amaze me is that everyone was up in arms about it (quite understandable if you are an IE user like me) and that all the major media outlets were reporting on it. The company that initially brought this report to light, AptiQuant, was even targeted with a lawsuit!
Well, it turns out now that it was all a lighthearted hoax! You can read all about it at AptiQuant’s website.
I hope that all the media outlets that ran with the story will learn from this embarrassment (they probably won’t!) and in the future, make an effort to check the authenticity of the news/information they are publishing/reporting on!
As for AptiQuant, they did get their 15 minutes of “SHAME”! A tasteless and underhanded tactic to get attention and God knows what else. Some may have found it humorous. I didn’t. The sad reality is that there are many individuals and companies that engage in such kind of activities everyday. To pay attention to them and get them plastered all over the news, in a sense “glorifying” their actions, will only encourage more stupidity like this from others.
So people, please don’t take everything you see/read on the Internet as the truth and then pass it on to others as fact! Exercise restraint and we will all be slightly wiser for it! That’s what I think anyway.
If you have read this article and use Internet Explorer as your browser, use this opportunity to upgarde to Internet Explorer 9 if you haven’t already done so. Internet Explorer 9 is a great browser (it brought me back from using Google Chrome and Firefox) and is available for Windows Vista and Windows 7 users. Sorry Windows XP users, but this upgrade is not available to you. If you are using Windows XP, you should think about upgrading to Windows 7.
Till next time.
Thank Sri 🙂