A new study from a self-described “psychometric consultant” and recruitment firm says that there’s no real difference in IQ between other browsers — but IE users are, well, below average. To study the “effects of cognitive ability on the choice of web browser”, they ran a free online IQ test to over 100,000 people, and plotted the average IQ scores based on the browser used.
Now clearly online IQ tests are kind of naff, and Internet Explorer is the default browser for Internet noobs everywhere, but yeah, there you go. [Aptiquant via Business Insider]
Adam
Friday, July 29, 2011 at 6:00 PMHave been an Opera user for the last 10 years :)
matteb
Friday, July 29, 2011 at 6:03 PMLOL
Eckythump
Friday, July 29, 2011 at 6:12 PMBeen using FF so I guess about average, nothing new their! #]
adrian
Saturday, July 30, 2011 at 1:12 AMWay to use the wrong there when talking about your IQ
Snarf
Saturday, July 30, 2011 at 3:08 PMWay to not get a joke.
EckyThump
Sunday, July 31, 2011 at 8:28 AMSorry dude, it was a grammar error and not a play on words, but I appreciate it.. #)
EckyThump
Sunday, July 31, 2011 at 8:26 AMYeah, I used the wrong their/there, but it was a brainfart!! Unlike Grammar Nazi’s like you, who are just farts!! #}
Simon Reidy
Friday, July 29, 2011 at 8:14 PMIt surprises me that IE9 users would rank lower than IE8. Given that’s the only decent version of IE in existence.
Francis
Friday, July 29, 2011 at 8:58 PMI think the message is that those smart who were previously on IE have moved onto use other browsers. Those remaining on IE are the less bright ones.
Brett
Friday, July 29, 2011 at 9:21 PMI think you can write them ALL down as having below average IQs. They did an online IQ test for heaven’s sake.
Hmn
Friday, July 29, 2011 at 9:34 PMthey would move to other browser if they were smart…
Travis
Friday, July 29, 2011 at 10:42 PMIQ test are inherently flawed and do not actually measure someones worth or ability. Not to sound harsh but you may have a autistic/savant child who scores exceedingly high yet they can’t grasp with real world situations or apply experience effectively. Our company did a silent test of applicants to gauge(roughly) peoples IQ and the outcome was basically it didn’t matter you scored high or low as some people CANNOT grasp certain concepts either simple or complex. Long story short. Don’t trust teh interwebz test. Also a TENSO on the IE6 would’ve been great! :)
pd
Saturday, July 30, 2011 at 1:24 AMLet’s not blame users, the company still takes the cake for the biggest culprit. Not releasing IE9 for XP is the single biggest scumbag act since releasing IE6 on the poor bastards on the interwebnets, closely followed by not producing a decent follow up for 8 years.
Microsoft should literally be paying users to go through the hassle of moving away from older IE versions. Users deserve a break from the callous disregard Microsoft has shown them for so long.
Robert
Saturday, July 30, 2011 at 9:43 AMAlthough IE9 possibly could run on XP, it wouldn’t be able to provide the same set of features and performance. The MS of late has been all about a consistant user experience across all devices, and the descision not to provide a muted experience under XP is a no brainer. Believe it or not, their recent products make attitudes like yours impossible to defend.
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/forum/ie8-windows_xp/ie9-for-xp-why-doesnt-internet-explorer-9-work-on/e8113f20-b149-4763-b4d4-562d1da524b6
The alternative is that people would falsely assume that the product is bad. It’s actually damn good.. and if you upgraded to Win7 you’d be able to see for yourself and realize that both Win7 and IE9 are great products.
Would you blame Nokia if your 10 year old Symbian phone couldn’t play Angry Birds?
Dougal
Saturday, July 30, 2011 at 9:28 PMI use FF, but am forced to use IE at work.
Given it is an old and buggy version that falls over 3-4 times an hour I suggest the 2011 IE users just never finished the test!
I also note the 2006 tests were about even given minor statistical variation.
Does this alleged consultant use Chrome by chance?
Greg Zeng
Tuesday, August 2, 2011 at 2:13 AM… “forced to use IE at work”
In those circumstances I use one of many IE shells: GREENBROWSER, AVANT BROWSER, MAXTHON, … .
Personally I favor Slim Browser, with the url blocks provided by Avant Browser. Maxthon was an old favorite, but became so confused & complex, that I stopped using it.
Like most IQ testers, in my six decades of life experience, IQ tests, like science, is always ‘wrong’ – in hindsight. The academics in 5 years will write how idiotc those ‘old’ & silly academics were. And they would be correct … at that particular point in human evolution.
My first exposure to these Idiot Quotients: racist, ethnocentric, monocultural, robotic, inhuman, antisocial. Later studies have validated my ideas about IQ.
The Idiots Quotient reporters seem Internet ignorant. They should be able to tell us the nation that scores highest, the standard deviations, etc. If they used smart-enough programming, they could have all these correlated, statistically significant … with operating system used, ping speeds, etc.
My personal conjecture is that IQ idiots lack intelligence, thus explaining their obsession in life. The early IQ tests, as we super-smart people know, were so silly, that the multiple choice answers had more than one correct answer to every puzzle.
Medically Retired It Consultant, Australian Capital Territory
DONAR
Thursday, August 4, 2011 at 10:50 AM…and it’s a hoax;
http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2011/08/03/media-hoax-internet-explorer-users-dumb-research/