Study says high IE use means low IQ
We're talking 'bag of hammers' dumb
flickr/Kevin Marks
I love British newspapers and their headlines. A recent study tested over 100,000 people using a Web-based intelligence test, then tabulated the results based on the browser used to access the test. The headline in The Register read: "It's official: IE users are dumb as a bag of hammers."
Reading the study tea leaves to provide guidance about the users will be fun for days and days. Do users stick with IE 6, a known terrible version Microsoft has been trying to phase out, because they're really dim? The study puts their IQ score around 80, which may not be bag of hammers dumb, but is certainly not great. So are "slower" people also slow to adopt and upgrade? Afraid of the challenge?
Don't feel smug if you use Firefox (me), Chrome, or Safari: those users showed up around 110 IQ points, but statistically too close to make judgments among the three. Firefox was on the low side (ouch) but not by much. Only gloaters? Those using IE with a Chrome Frame, Camino, and Opera, all over 120 IQ points in the test. Guess smug does mean smart, except for Safari users. They tend to get their smug quotient from the Apple hardware running their browser.
Gloaters
Where's the "smug" icon? I already use Opera
Pete 6 on theregister.com
Don't switch, add! I use Firefox, Chrome and Opera, so by my calculations my IQ is about 350!
Steve Evans on theregister.com
So only thing the article and the stats actually prove are that people who created this study and editors who publish it with headlines like this are indeed kinda stupid.
FF22 on pcworld.com
Haters
forward the results of the study to Dell and Cisco who are forcing users of some of their products (web management interfaces of some switches or wireless equipments, SSL VPN etc.) to use IE only. In this case it's not only the users of IE but also the developers forcing us to use IE that are victims of low IQ scores.
Anonymous Coward on theregister.com
Proof that if you use Microsoft Internet Explorer you are a dumbass.
Damien Worrell on mashable.com
The one thing I do know with some confidence: anyone who thinks this reflects with any significance on browser preference at all is more than "kinda" stupid.
crosswordbob on pcworld.com
On the other hand
Wow, It’s not often a study makes you laugh as much as this one :-))
Kabelkultur on mashable.com
I am a Camino user and on rare occasion, where required by a website a IE 6 user. Does this mean that I have dissociative identity disorder?
nonseq on pcworld.com
I'd think that the IE with Chrome Frame users are those who have to use IE(6) at work (undoubtedly for some horribly coded but business-critical web app) and have put Chrome Frame on to ease the pain. After all, Chrome Frame isn't very well advertised. If you don't keep up to date on the big G's blog and developments, it's highly likely you wouldn't have heard of it, so I'd say those users are more tech-savvy than your typical office grunt and are just trying to make IE a little less painful to live with.
Ghost_in_Zshell on theregister.com
Are you with stupid (IE)? If so, why?
