BBC NEWS | Technology | Microsoft backs long life for IE6
Microsoft has underlined support for its Internet Explorer 6 web browser, despite acknowledging its flaws.
The software giant said it would support IE6 until 2014 - fours years beyond the original deadline.
Critics - some of which have started an online campaign - want the eight-year-old browser mothballed because they claim it slows the online experience.
"Friends do not let friends use IE6," said Amy Bardzukas, Microsoft's general manager for Internet Explorer.
"If you are in my social set and I have been to your house for dinner, you are not using IE6," she said. "But it is much more complicated when you move into a business setting."
"It's hard to be cavalier in this economy and say 'oh it's been around for so long they need to upgrade,'" Ms Bardzukas told journalists in San Francisco..
Web monitoring firms estimate that 15-20% of people still use IE6 to browse the web.
