Less intelligent: Users of Internet Explorer were found to have lower IQs. Superior: Users of Firefox were found to be more intelligent. |
They have long had to grapple with a catalogue of bugs and viruses. But now users of Internet Explorer have another reason to feel humiliated - they are more stupid too. A study has found that those with Internet Explorer 6 installed on their computer typically have an IQ barely higher than 80 - which by some rankings makes them almost retarded. This compares to those who used Firefox or Google’s Chrome who came in at around 110. Users of Opera or Camino were top with an IQ of around 120. A ranking of a mere 80 might explain why millions of people around the world continue to use Internet Explorer even though it is an inferior web browser. Some 10 percent of computers are thought to have the software installed on their home or office computer. The study, by Vancouver-based psychometric consulting company AptiQuant, examined IQs or Intelligent Quotient which is a measurement of a person’s intelligence worked out on the basis of special tests. The average is 100. AptiQuant polled 101,326 people aged 16 and up from countries including the US, Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand. Subjects were asked to take an intelligence test which recorded their operating system and location via their IP address. A ranking of 70-80 is seen as borderline retarded, while 80-90 is below average. A score of 110, where Firefox and Chrome users are, is above average, while the 120 ranking of Opera or Camino users is considered superior. Internet Explorer has long been the subject of ridicule on account of how bug-ridden it is. Earlier this year Microsoft announced that all versions of the browser were at risk of being hacked due to a flaw in the program. All 900 million users around the world were advised they needed a patch because of a colossal security bungle. ‘From the test results, it is a clear indication that individuals on the lower side of the IQ scale tend to resist a change/upgrade of their browsers,’ the study concludes. ‘This hypothesis can be extended to any software in general, however more research is needed for that, which is a potential future work as an extension to this report.’ (Read by Renee Haines. Renee Haines is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies) |
长期以来IE浏览器用户就饱受大量程序漏洞和病毒之苦,现在他们又再次受到羞辱——研究指出他们还更愚蠢! 一项研究发现,那些电脑上装IE6浏览器的用户通常智商仅略高于80,这一智商水平在其他一些排行中简直可以算是智力迟钝了。 相较之下,使用火狐浏览器或谷歌浏览器的用户们智商在110左右,而欧普拉和卡米诺浏览器的用户们智商高达120,位列榜首。 IE浏览器用户智商仅为80,这也许可以解释为什么尽管它功能低劣,全世界仍有上百万人对它情有独钟。据认为,近10%的家用或办公电脑上装有IE浏览器。 这项研究由温哥华的一家名为AptiQuant的心理测量咨询公司进行。该研究通过一些特殊测试对人们的智商进行测评,智商平均值为100。 AptiQuant对来自美国、加拿大、英国、澳大利亚和新西兰等国的10万多名16岁及以上的用户进行了调查。 该公司让被调查者接受智力测试,记录他们的操作系统,并通过他们的IP地址了解他们所在的方位。70-80的智商水平被认为是弱智的临界点,80-90是低于正常水平的智商。 火狐和谷歌浏览器用户平均智商为110,高于正常智商水平,而欧普拉或卡米诺浏览器用户得分120,堪称高智商。 一直以来IE浏览器就因漏洞百出而被百般嘲弄。今年早些时候微软公司宣布所有版本的IE浏览器由于存在程序缺陷而面临被入侵的风险。 由于存在巨大的安全隐患,微软建议全世界9亿IE浏览器用户安装补丁。 该研究推断说,“从测试结果来看,很明显,那些智商水平处于下游的人往往会拒绝更换或更新他们的浏览器。” “尽管仍需做更多的研究,但总体来看,这一假说可以扩展到任何一种软件,这也许是未来为这一研究报告做进一步延伸所要做的工作。” 相关阅读 (中国日报网英语点津 实习生沈清 编辑:陈丹妮) |
Vocabulary: grapple with: to try hard to find a solution to a problem(努力设法解决;努力对付) a catalogue of: 一连串 bug: a fault in a machine, especially in a computer system or program (机器,尤指计算机的)故障,程序错误,缺陷 retarded: less developed mentally than is normal for a particular age(迟钝的;弱智的;智力发育迟缓的) psychometric: used for measuring mental abilities and processes(心理测量的;精神测定的) colossal: extremely large(巨大的;庞大的) bungle: something that is done badly and that causes problems(搞糟了的事情;失误) |