How best to convince people to upgrade IE?

Question

I recently asked a question that got shot down for being too strongly worded. I'm having another go today because it's something I really am concerned about and I really do want feedback and ideas from the smart people on SO.

IE6 isn't quite the bane of my existence, but it's close. I'm a web-developer and spend too much time fixing things for IE6. Considering its age and relative quality, I'm shocked so many people are still using it.

I understand that some companies still use it for legacy internal webapp support but I've found two companies now that haven't upgraded solely because XP's automatic updates doesn't offer it by default (you have to go through the browser-based Windows Update to install IE7/8).

So forgetting those that need it, how would you convince an individual or organisation to upgrade to a newer version of IE?

Do warning banners work? I've considered skipping doing the IE6-fixing before and putting a "This site works best in..." statement up but surely having a poorly-rendered site makes me and/or my client look bad, not IE6.

There are also people who don't need to keep IE6 but cannot upgrade because they're in a controlled environment. What is the best way to influence them enough to get their admins to do something about the problem?

Note: As I said last time, I don't care about moving these people to another browser. I don't mind giving them the option but this certainly isn't supposed to be a Firefox/FOSS uber-alles thread.

I'm also not looking for a fight, just constructive ideas on making business types aware of browser technologies in the least damaging way.

Edit: There are a couple of "you can't force it" answers. I agree, but I feel I could influence it. I tell people when I see IE6 but I'm not sitting behind every IE6 user that accesses a site I've made.

Consider health warnings on cigarettes. They don't force people to stop smoking but they do educate in a succinct and (nowadays) fairly brutal way. There's no doubt that educating people has had a massive effect on the numbers of smokers.

IE6 is a lot less addictive than smoking so, yeah, pushing the education idea seems like it might be able to influence the right people to do the right thing.

Answer 1

You could prove it to them by scanning their machine with something like HiJackThis to show them how compromised their existing computer is by not having the latest IE.

Answer 2

Simple!.. Newer versions have not been thoroughly tested and therefore are not supported!.. Newer versions of many software products also introduce unsuspecting passive features which are marketing oriented and even eavesdrop on confidential information!

Answer 3

Create one standard for the web. Then fix IE.

Answer 4

Here's a good one: Microsoft SharePoint 2010 will not support IE6.

This will force the majority of most large companies to upgrade.

Answer 5

GMail showed IE6/7 users a small unobtrusive notification to the effect of, "Want your GMail to work better/faster? Click here". The landing page offered upgrades to Chrome, FF3, and IE8.

I think if more sites spread the word about the end-user benefits of installing free, upgraded software from trusted names; that would go a very long way.

Answer 6

You cannot convince people to upgrade. The only people left who have IE6 either don't care or work in large corporations/government who have no control over which browser they use.

A banner or warning is just going to annoy them all.