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Microsoft Internet Explorer users have lower IQ

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CIOL Bureau
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BANGALORE, INDIA: A Vancouver based Psychometric Consulting company, AptiQuant, has released a report on, 'Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and Browser Usage', a trial it conducted to measure the effects of cognitive ability on the choice of web browser.

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The consulting company used detailed data from a trial to calculate the IQ scores of people using a variety of different browsers.

Also read: Microsoft to scrap Internet Explorer 6

AptiQuant offered Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (IV) test to over a 100,000 people and then plotted the average IQ scores based on the browser on which the test was taken. And the results are really not that surprising.

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"A significant number of individuals with a low score on the cognitive test were found to be using Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) versions 6.0 to 9.0," said a report released from AptiQuant.

Also read: Windows XP not to support Internet Explorer 9

There was no significant difference in the IQ scores between individuals using Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Apple’s Safari; however, it was on an average higher than IE users, added the report.

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The report further added that, Our data have important implications and identify reasons behind the continuous use of outdated browsers, that has been bugging the web developers and IT companies since the last decade.

Chrome, Firefox and Safari users had just a teeny bit higher than average IQ scores. And users of Camino, Opera and IE with Chrome Frame had exceptionally higher IQ levels, added the report.

The continuous use of older versions of IE by millions of people around the world has often haunted web developers. This trend not only makes their job tougher, but has also pulled back innovation by at least a decade, added the report.

The results were compared to a previous unreleased study of a similar nature undertaken in 2006. The average IQ score of the individuals using the then current version of IE was significantly higher than the individuals using the current version of IE now, implying that a lot of people with higher IQ are moving away from IE to other browsers, the report added.

The full report can be found at: aptiquant.com

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