A very dignified bouquet of flowers from Microsoft arrived at the address of a Denver venue on Thursday, March 4, 2010, where mourners had gathered for a tongue-in-cheek funeral of Internet Explorer 6. The Redmond company obviously wanted to compensate for its absence from the funeral ceremony, unable to break away from the Internet Explorer 9 development process (pure speculation on my part). The event advertised via the IE6Funeral website was put together as a publicity stunt by Aten Design Group, but, of course, the real joke is that IE6 is not only not dead, but also nowhere near expiration.

Fact is that, despite the mock-funeral, Internet Explorer 6 is very much alive and kicking. Statistics from Internet metrics company Net Applications indicate that IE6 continues to be the second most used browser worldwide, with a market share of 19.76% at the end of February 2010. In this regard, IE6 is still far more popular than Firefox 3.5 with just 14.54%, or IE7 with 13.57%. Also, IE6 was the most used browser globally until December 2009, and only at the start of 2010 did Internet Explorer 8 manage to dethrone it.

“Internet Explorer Six, resident of the interwebs for over 8 years, died the morning of March 1, 2010 in Mountain View, California, as a result of a workplace injury sustained at the headquarters of Google, Inc. Internet Explorer Six, known to friends and family as ‘IE6’ is survived by son Internet Explorer Seven, and grand-daughter Internet Explorer Eight,” the invitation to the event from the funeral’s official website reads.

Those that question the fact that IE6 is expired are few, and Microsoft itself is not among this crowd. The software giant has repeatedly urged users to upgrade to IE7 or IE8, and is agreeing with all critics indicating that IE6 has worn out its welcome. But what Microsoft won’t do is actually pick up the hammer and start driving nails into the IE6 coffin. The Redmond company also explained repeatedly that it was committed to offering Extended support for Windows XP until 2014, and that IE6 was an integral part of the “package deal.”

It’s safe to say that IE6 will still be around for quite a while, and well into the next decade, ifthe player’s evolution on the browser market is any indication. Mock funerals could, in this regard, become somewhat of an occurring tradition, without any actual results, as long as Microsoft will not even consider the possibility of euthanasia.

IE was released in 2001, and was followed by IE7 at the end of 2006 and by Internet Explorer 8, in March 2009. Microsoft is currently cooking the next iteration of IE, dubbed Internet Explorer. The company already previewed the browser release at PDC 2009 and is gearing up to release additional details in just ten days at MIX10 in Las Vegas. The card accompanying the flowers of IE6’s funeral reads, “Thanks for the good time, IE6. See you all @ MIX, where we'll show a little piece of IE heaven.”