The Internet has become a vital tool in today's society. Nowadays, we not only access the Internet on our computers, but on our handhelds and cell phones - anywhere, anytime! As a matter of fact, due to the vast amount of information on the Internet, I decided to cancel my cable TV service.

Today, we can buy just about anything we want online, pay our bills, find out information, chat and be a part of social networks like Facebook or Twitter, watch movies on YouTube, and most recently - pay a nominal fee to watch movies (yes, I said movies) legally over the Internet through companies like Netflix or Blockbuster. It's a radical concept, but the Internet is fast replacing what we know our world to be. Imagine what the Internet will do for us in five years, and also imagine how many more avenues we will have to access it.

That brings me to the blog of the day - what browser do you use? Here at WEB Speak, we insist on beta testing in Firefox and Safari. We find Internet Explorer to be too clunky, slow, and buggy.

One browser that over 15% of Americans use (this is a conservative estimate) is Internet Explorer 6.0. It's been in existence longer than any other broswer on the market - and it is also the most difficult to deal with for the regular user, and the web designers like us. In fact, there is a website dedicated to the "death" of the browsers expiration date that you can visit. http://www.iedeathmarch.org is a website devoted to the end of Internet Explorer 6.0.

So how does this affect you? Very good question. As the web continues to grow and prosper as we assume it will, programs over the Internet will become more advanced, and Internet Explorer 6.0 will be unable to run such devices. Released in August of 2001, it is being asked to do far beyond what it was designed to do. This results in poor performance on your end, the user. Our professional recommendation to any client using Internet Explorer 6.0 is to go for the free upgrade. Internet Explorer 7, and 8 have already been released, not to mention Firefox 3.5, a new version of Safari (a mac browser but PC compatible) is also available for a free download. Another neat browser that probably has one of the fastest platforms we've seen is Google Chrome.

The web is an experience - but you must have the right tools to do so. Enjoy the web the way it's meant to be enjoyed. Visit some of these helpful websites listed above and download your new browser today!