When I was a child, we briefly (and possibly regretfully) visited a Butlins holiday camp one Easter. Accommodation was in the form of chalets, graded according to how much you were willing to pay. Right down at the bottom was what was called Standard accommodation. The name implied that it was somehow in the middle of the range, but in truth it was pretty basic. Plastic furniture and bunk beds.

Our family stayed in what was called Standard Plus accommodation. This was basically the same as Standard, but without the bunks. There were five of us crammed into this tiny chalet. We had five beds and four of everything else. There was an electricity meter that swallowed 50 pence pieces, and had no sensitivities as to the time of day, who was in the bath, or the availability of additional 50p coins. It was fun in the same way that standing to eat your dinner is fun because there’s five people and only four chairs.

The top of the range was called County Suite. This sounded grand and was grand. The living areas had soft furnishings, the kitchens had breakfast bars, and the bathrooms had showers. They had pre-paid cards to operate the electricity meter. From what I could see through the windows as we walked past these admirable abodes, they even had a bunch of plastic flowers on the elegant coffee table. Real class, for the 1980s. If you could afford to stay in County Suite, you would. No question about it – this was the type of accommodation every Easter holiday maker dreamed of.

Internet Explorer 6 for Windows reminds me of that holiday. It reminds me of the chalet with five people and four forks. It reminds me of plastic sheets on the bed because customers weren’t trusted not to wet the mattress. It reminds me of the fact that although it covers all the essentials that I need, it does none of them very well and makes no attempt to easy my life or offer creature comforts.

With great browsers like Mozilla, Firebird, and Safari around, IE looks more aged and basic by the day. Yet IE remains the world’s most commonly used browser. I bet it’s not the most popular, however.

Why rent Standard Plus when you can move to County Suite for free? It’s baffling.