According to web analysis firm Stat Counter, Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 is now truly a relic of the past with market share below 5% in the U.S. and Europe. For years, IE6 caused headaches for developers and calls for many users to switch to other browsers.

It was full of security holes and broke almost all the web standards in the book. As has been the default browser on Windows machines many, also was the dominant browser in the somewhat early, to achieve 90% market share in 2002 and 2003.

Unfortunately, overstayed his welcome by about five years, maintaining good solid part of the market, even after Internet Explorer 7 and 8 have been released.

Now, based on an analysis of 15 billion page views in May 2010, the number of Stat Counter indicate that the use of IE6 in the United States fell to 4.7% from 11.5% in the last 12 months. For other browsers, IE8 has 30.49% of the stock market in the U.S., followed by Firefox 3.6 with 19.85% and 16.64 shares with IE7% market share.

With this huge decline in usage its nearing extinction very soon. We might see the legendry IE 6 resting in peace.