Researchers at The SKOS Institute have released a report stating that a majority of web users still using Internet Explorer 6 believe it is the year 2003 and not, as recent calendars suggest, 2008. Experts believe this delusion stems from a fear of newer technology and a heaping dose of “being all crazy and stuff.”

“‘Crazy’ might be a harsh label, but it fits,” said researcher Kevin Dugan. “Only a crazy person would choose to use a crappy browser like IE6 when there are newer browsers like IE7 and, especially, Firefox out there.”

Voted the eighth worst tech product of all time by PC World in May 2006 due to a myriad of security issues and bugs, Internet Explorer 6 has frustrated web designers for years.

“A website that looks fantastic in Firefox will look like total crap in IE6,” remarked web developer Amy Elzenhoffer of Silicon Valley. “It makes designing websites a headache. We have to design for tech savvy users and for those users living in the stone age.

“It is the redheaded stepchild of the browser family. It should be taken out back and beaten with an ugly stick.”

Internet Explorer 6 user and crazy person Aaron Jenson of Birmingham, Alabama, disagrees.

“I don’t know what these ‘experts’ are talking about,” said Jenson as he stuffed Jello pudding down his pants. “Internet Explorer 6 rocks. Anyone who disagrees can kiss my super karate monkey death car.”

Despite being old and riddled with flaws, Internet Explorer 6 remains very popular. Statistics show that in January 2008 almost one-third of all Internet usage was with IE6 as the web browser.

These numbers perplex the researchers at The SKOS Institute.

“It’s like having one-third of the world’s doctors still use leaches when a patient is sick,” noted Dugan. “Or a director casting Wesley Snipes in a movie.

“It’s archaic.”