81% market share is still spectacular - even if you used to have 97%.
However you look at it they are the largest player, and you have to design for it. Having a website that doesn't work in IE is like having a store where you have a guy at the door telling 4 out of five people that they can't come inside to buy your stuff.
I don't particularly like MS, and I don't agree with their tactics but that doesn't mean I make the naive mistake of dismissing them or thinking that in a few years they'll be gone. They won't, so be a little pragmatic.
IE is in no way irrelevant, nor is it becoming so in the near future.
Agreed, but I can't shake the feeling this is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
You're advising to act like they'll still be the dominant player in a few years, but by supporting them this way it's indeed true that this will be the case. See the vicious circle?
81% market share is not very spectacular when you used to have 97% a few years ago.