[threeseed]

Being pretty disingenuous to compare IE6 with WebKit in terms of implemented features. Many websites had to be specifically coded for IE as it wouldn't render correctly many basic parts of HTML/CSS. WebKit is deficient mainly in the newer, less popular features.

Also Microsoft would unilaterally add proprietary features and tie their software to it e.g. Outlook/Sharepoint which then encouraged corporations to do the same as well. Apple actively participates in standards organisations eg. one for Web Components:

http://www.w3.org/2015/04/24-webapps-minutes.html

[WalterGR]

Legitimate questions:

    Many websites had to be specifically coded for IE as it wouldn't render correctly many basic parts of HTML/CSS.

Was IE6 demonstrably less compliant than other contemporary browsers? I recall - similarly - sites that were "Best viewed in Netscape Navigator at foo x bar resolution."

    Also Microsoft would unilaterally add proprietary features

IIRC, IE6 added XmlHttpRequest, which - though there were other workarounds to accomplish the same thing - enabled AJAX.

Do not other browsers even today add their own features (e.g. browser-prefixed CSS properties) prior to standardization?

    ...and tie their software to it e.g. Outlook/Sharepoint

Okay, that's definitely bad.