Aussie web store applies Internet Explorer 7 tax "to help make the internet a better place"

With the help of some almost illegible notations passed to me by the PCGamer.com browser analysis badger, I happen to know that roughly 12% of you are using Internet Explorer right now. You might want to consider migrating to another browser if you're using version 7, the BBC report that an Australian online store have started to add an IE7 "tax" charge onto orders made through Microsoft's decrepit browser.

Kogan.com is the store, named after its CEO, Ruslan Kogan. He told the BBC that the store found that while only 3% of customers who used the site visited using IE7, Kogan's IT team were spending a lot of their time making sure the site was compatible with ancient software. "I was constantly on the line to my web team. The amount of work and effort involved in making our website look normal on IE7 equalled the combined time of designing for Chrome, Safari and Firefox," he said.

So Kogan has now decided to pass the cost of that time onto IE7 users, but he doesn't think anyone will actually pay the charge. He hopes that it'll encourage that 3% to shift to a more current version of IE, or one of the many alternatives. The tax is set at 6.8%, 0.1% for every month since IE7's release.

"As Internet citizens, we all have a responsibility to make the Internet a better place. By taking these measures, we are doing our bit," says the latest Kogan blog post.

"This will help us increase our efficiency, help keep prices for all smart shoppers down, and hopefully help eradicate the world of the pain in the rear that is IE7!"

That bastard badger, which has bitten me and is now hanging off my right arm, managed to scrawl a few extra details on my desk in its own poo before flying into a rage and attacking my elbow. Apparently most of you are using "CHROOOME," with something called "FIREBADGER" in second place. I think he meant fox. We really need to stop using animals to do our bidding. Anyhow, I need to leave and get a quick Tetanus shot, but before I go I'll leave you with a question. Which is your favourite browser, and why?

Part of the UK team, Tom was with PC Gamer at the very beginning of the website's launch—first as a news writer, and then as online editor until his departure in 2020. His specialties are strategy games, action RPGs, hack ‘n slash games, digital card games… basically anything that he can fit on a hard drive. His final boss form is Deckard Cain.