Aw! Man! I Knew It Was Too Good To Be True! IE Study a Hoax!

Man! It was fun while it lasted! The “IE Users Are Dumber” Study trues out to be an elaborate hoax. OR, this revelation is a Microsoft plant to discredit the real study! Yeah! Maybe that’s it! Thanks to a faithful reader for forwarding this on to me!

Whew! Study was a hoax, IE users not dumb after all

“Highly publicized research that found Internet Explorer users tend to have a lower IQ than those who use other browsers, has turned out to be an elaborate hoax.

Major media outlets around the world, including CTVNews.ca, BBC, CNN and Forbes, jumped on the quirky data last week after it was released by a Vancouver-based firm calling itself ApTiquant.

It is still unclear who is responsible for the stunt, but the ApTiquant website has been updated to reflect the fact the study was a scam designed to draw attention to the flaws of IE6.

‘ApTiquant was set up in late July 2011, in order to launch a fake ‘study’ called ‘Intelligent Quotient and Browser Usage,” the website’s homepage now states.

‘The study took the IT world by storm. The main purpose behind this hoax was to create awareness about the incompatibilities of IE6, and not to insult or hurt anyone.

The research, now known to be fake, was purportedly based on online testing of 100,000 invited participants.

It claimed that users of any version of Internet Explorer tended to have a lower intelligence quotient than respondents who used Firefox, Chrome or Safari.

“From the test results, it is a clear indication that individuals on the lower side of the IQ scale tend to resist change/upgrade of their browsers,’ the report suggested.

It eventually emerged that the website for the company had only been set up in the past month. Upon closer inspection the BBC reported that the images found on ApTiquant’s website had been copied from a French research firm Central Test.

The note now posted on the ApTiquant site says ApTiquant is not related to Central Test, the French company, in any way.”