My thread hijack alarm is going off, but carpets and browsers are apples and oranges, one of them is free and you can install a current version in about 5 minutes, then uninstall and install another one. The warning against IE6 (or earlier IE 5.x) is a simple fact, that an ancient browser was detected and is presumed unsafe, and that Microsoft's update policy is to push a more modern IE7 to their legacy users. Those same folks can go out and download Mozilla, which will do an arguably more efficient jobs keeping the browser current and secure (at the expense of allowing users to keep their older browsers if that's what they want). Unless I'm mistaken, IE6 lacks any antiphishing features, let alone ongoing support for security vulnerabilities. Hate to break it to anyone, but the same goes for you old farts (like my Dad) still running Windows 98 and other OSes beyond support...

I think you'll see more of these warnings from other well-intentioned sites, like banks and financials, who are tired of their clients being compromised by botnets because their browsers don't support modern day security features. Apparently they're necessary, because anyone browsing with IE6 should be singing their death song.