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Survey shows Internet Explorer users have lower intelligence

AptiQuant, a Vancouver consulting firm decided to check the intelligence of 101,326 users by holding an IQ test and monitoring the browser they were using at the time.

The findings show that users who completed the test using Internet Explorer scored lower than average. Other results show that Firefox, Chrome and Safari users scored higher than average.

Interestingly, people using lower profile browsers, such as Opera and Camino, and those using Explorer with Chrome Frame, scored ‘exceptionally high' in the test. Chrome Frame is a plug in which lets the end user view HTML5 content.

Internet Explorer has many versions, and those people still using Internet Explorer 6 scored the lowest in the tests, with 80 points. Opera users on the other hand scored over 120 points which was the highest group score. As a reference the population mean IQ score was 100.

AptiQuant said “It is common knowledge that Internet Explorer Versions 6.0 to 8.0 are highly incompatible with modern web standards. In order to make websites work properly on these browsers, web developers have to spend a lot of unnecessary effort. Now that we have a statistical pattern on the continuous usage of incompatible browsers, better steps can be taken to eradicate this nuisance.”

How did they test the individuals? They used the Wechsler Adult Intelligence (IV) IQ test, which is a respected test within the industry.

AptiQuant added “The comparison clearly suggests that more people on the higher side of IQ scale have moved away from Internet Explorer in the last 5 years.”

“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. 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.”

Kitguru says: Which browser are you using? Did you take the test?

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3 comments

  1. Ha Ha, no surprise there. I use Chrome & Firefox and have never been a big fan of IE. I think the results are a bit skewed though. Most non technical users use windows and will normally (in my experience) only use the default browser, which for years was IE. I’ve used Opera in the past, it’s a good browser but not extensible so I don’t use it any more. The reason I think why chrome and Camino users rated higher is because they are less well known browsers and mostly used by more IT oriented users.

  2. Turin hit the nail on the head. Most people use the default browser.

    It proves actually that people who upgrade the browser are actually more intelligent than the average windows user. Which I would think is obvious.

    Interesting report from these guys.

  3. So what are the chances that the writer of that famous AMD “goal” slogan was an IE user?