If you’re reading this on TNW then you’re probably not going to be surprised to find out what I’m about to tell you. If it has gotten passed on to you via your Hotmail account and you’re reading it on Internet Explorer, I apologize in advance.
Canadian “psychometric testing” company AptiQuant has gone to work trying to find a link between IQ and the browser of choice for different users (full results, in PDF form, here). With the understanding that those of lower intelligence might be more resistant to upgrades and trying new things, the group’s findings are not all that surprising.
In short, the lowest end of the scale more consistently chose to use Internet Explorer 6 (heck, even Microsoft doesn’t like IE6) while moving up the scale the smartest people studied are Opera users. Camino, IE with a Chrome frame and then Safari make up the remainder of the top 4, with Chrome itself holding the 6th spot.
AptiQuant states, in its conclusion, that the study “showed a substantial relationship between an individual’s cognitive ability and their choice of web browser.” The company went on to discuss the importance of using browsers that support modern Web standards so as to lower the overall cost of Web development.
I guess what they’re saying is that you can blame the dumb people for all of the extra effort that devs have to expend, as well. Thanks, morons.
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