Microsoft has underlined support for its Internet Explorer 6 web browser², despite acknowledging its flaws.

尽管漏洞不断，微软宣布延长IE6支持时间。

IE6 is still used by nearly 20% of users

The software giant said it would support IE6 until 2014 - four years beyond the original deadline.

Critics - some of which have started an online campaign - want the eight-year-old browser mothballed because they claim it slows the online experience.

"Friends do not let friends use IE6," said Amy Barzdukas, Microsoft's general manager for Internet Explorer.

"If you are in my social set and I have been to your house for dinner, you are not using IE6," she said. "But it is much more complicated when you move into a business setting."

"It's hard to be cavalier（骑士，武士） in this economy and say 'oh it's been around for so long they need to upgrade,'" Ms Barzdukas told journalists in San Francisco..

Web monitoring firms estimate that 15-20% of people still use IE6 to browse¹ the web.

Enough is enough

Among those speaking out against IE6 is a group of more than 70 developers who have banded together to form a project called ie6nomore.

"Enough is enough," they implore³（恳求，哀求） on their website.

"Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 was released in late 2001. For its time, it was a decent（得体的，相当好的） browser, but in 2009, it is still in use by a significant portion of the web population, and its time is now up."

"Web developers hate IE6," said Evan Solomon of Justin.tv, one of the backers of the campaign.

"We are passionate⁴ because we run a website and something like 10% of our users use IE6, but our web designers and developers have to spend a lot of time debugging for the platform.

"The other issue for us is that we have launched an API to let people build applications and while our goal is to make it as easy as possible for people to do this, IE6 is a barrier," Mr Solomon told BBC News.

In a blog post in response to such campaigns, the software giant said that while this issue is a simple one for technology enthusiasts⁵（热心人）, "the choice to upgrade software on a PC belongs to the person responsible for the PC".

"Many PCs don't belong to individual enthusiasts, but to organisations. The backdrop（背景） might be a factory floor or hospital ward⁷ or school lab or government organisation⁶, each with its own business applications," wrote Dean Hachamovitch, general manager for the browser group.

"Dropping support for IE6 is not an option because we committed to supporting the IE included with Windows for the lifespan of the product."