They have long had to grapple with a catalogue of bugs and viruses. But now users of Internet Explorer have another reason to feel humiliated - they are more stupid too.
A study has found that those with Internet Explorer 6 installed on their computer typically have an IQ barely higher than 80 - which by some rankings makes them almost retarded.
This compares to those who used Firefox or Google’s Chrome who came in at around 110. Users of Opera or Camino were top with an IQ of around 120.
A ranking of a mere 80 might explain why millions of people around the world continue to use Internet Explorer even though it is an inferior web browser. Some 10 percent of computers are thought to have the software installed on their home or office computer.
The study, by Vancouver-based psychometric consulting company AptiQuant, examined IQs or Intelligent Quotient which is a measurement of a person’s intelligence worked out on the basis of special tests. The average is 100.
AptiQuant polled 101,326 people aged 16 and up from countries including the US, Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand.
Subjects were asked to take an intelligence test which recorded their operating system and location via their IP address. A ranking of 70-80 is seen as borderline retarded, while 80-90 is below average.
A score of 110, where Firefox and Chrome users are, is above average, while the 120 ranking of Opera or Camino users is considered superior.
Internet Explorer has long been the subject of ridicule on account of how bug-ridden it is. Earlier this year Microsoft announced that all versions of the browser were at risk of being hacked due to a flaw in the program.
All 900 million users around the world were advised they needed a patch because of a colossal security bungle.
『From the test results, it is a clear indication that individuals on the lower side of the IQ scale tend to resist a change/upgrade of their browsers,』 the study concludes.
『This hypothesis can be extended to any software in general, however more research is needed for that, which is a potential future work as an extension to this report.』
(Read by Renee Haines. Renee Haines is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)
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(Agencies)
長期以來IE瀏覽器用戶就飽受大量程序漏洞和病毒之苦，現在他們又再次受到羞辱——研究指出他們還更愚蠢！
一項研究發現，那些電腦上裝IE6瀏覽器的用戶通常智商僅略高於80，這一智商水平在其他一些排行中簡直可以算是智力遲鈍了。
相較之下，使用火狐瀏覽器或谷歌瀏覽器的用戶們智商在110左右，而歐普拉和卡米諾瀏覽器的用戶們智商高達120，位列榜首。
IE瀏覽器用戶智商僅為80，這也許可以解釋為什麼儘管它功能低劣，全世界仍有上百萬人對它情有獨鍾。據認為，近10%的家用或辦公電腦上裝有IE瀏覽器。
這項研究由溫哥華的一家名為AptiQuant的心理測量諮詢公司進行。該研究通過一些特殊測試對人們的智商進行測評，智商平均值為100。
AptiQuant對來自美國、加拿大、英國、澳大利亞和紐西蘭等國的10萬多名16歲及以上的用戶進行了調查。
該公司讓被調查者接受智力測試，記錄他們的作業系統，並通過他們的IP位址了解他們所在的方位。70-80的智商水平被認為是弱智的臨界點，80-90是低於正常水平的智商。
火狐和谷歌瀏覽器用戶平均智商為110，高於正常智商水平，而歐普拉或卡米諾瀏覽器用戶得分120，堪稱高智商。
一直以來IE瀏覽器就因漏洞百出而被百般嘲弄。今年早些時候微軟公司宣布所有版本的IE瀏覽器由於存在程序缺陷而面臨被入侵的風險。
由於存在巨大的安全隱患，微軟建議全世界9億IE瀏覽器用戶安裝補丁。
該研究推斷說，「從測試結果來看，很明顯，那些智商水平處於下遊的人往往會拒絕更換或更新他們的瀏覽器。」
「儘管仍需做更多的研究，但總體來看，這一假說可以擴展到任何一種軟體，這也許是未來為這一研究報告做進一步延伸所要做的工作。」
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（中國日報網英語點津 實習生沈清 編輯：陳丹妮）