According to Ars Technica, Microsoft may have removed the WGA requirement to install IE7 in hopes of gaining more market share by allowing users of pirated Windows XP systems to upgrade.
I doubt this will really do much. My guess is that those who are avoiding WGA are more technically advanced users. They either:
- Use Firefox, since that’s what real cool kids do. Besides, they like the extensions.
- Use Opera
- Using a workaround to install without WGA.
I think the bigger reason IE6 is still so prominent is that corporations spent the better part of the decade bringing their applications on the web. Upgrading to IE7 means testing and upgrading them. Nobody wants to rush into that. Corporate users who will continue to use IE will mostly stick with IE6 until they move to Vista.