This news may come as a shocker to the tech-savvy folks in the house, but 60 percent of companies use Internet Explorer 6 as their default browser, according to Forrester Research. Meanwhile, your IT department spends a decent amount of time erecting barriers to prevent browser upgrades. Bottom line: companies need a browser policy, or they will risk productivity losses.
Welcome to the wonderful world of enterprise browser adoption. While the tech press spends a lot of time talking about Web 2.0 and even 3.0, Corporate America is on Web 0.5.
To be sure, there are good reasons for the enterprise reticence on browsers–they’re a security risk. However, too few IT departments have a browser policy, and they sure don’t think through potential productivity gains with advancements such as tabs, faster processing, and JavaScript engines and better search features.
Forrester analyst Sheri McLeish says in a research report:
As more and more companies look to SaaS (software-as-a-service) solutions, and the Web delivers richer media, firms need to rethink their browser choices in concert with the Web-based apps they deploy. Today, the overwhelming majority of enterprises support Internet Explorer–remarkably, 60 percent of enterprises are still on IE 6.
I’ve witnessed the love affair with Internet Explorer 6 up close. I got a new work laptop a few months ago, and IE 6 was the default. I forgot what that browser looked like–partially because I use Firefox, but also because I had IE 7 (now IE 8 ) before. Luckily, the upgrade didn’t kill me.
Forrester’s market share stats illustrate how enterprises are sleeping through the browser wars:
- IE is the corporate browser of choice, with 78 percent of enterprises using it as a default;
- IE 6 has 60 percent of the enterprise market, with IE 7 clocking in at 39 percent;
- Firefox has 18.2 percent of the enterprise market;
- Chrome has 2 percent;
- Safari has 1.4 percent.
The problem: Information workers live in browsers all day. And companies are giving them the equivalent of a Yugo.
Why? Companies are worried about custom apps that may fail on new browsers and security and compliance. In addition, companies limit the ability to upgrade. Seventy percent of companies restrict browser choice and Web content. Forrester notes that “IT control trumps technology populism.”
Ultimately, this IT control may be short sighted, argues McLeish:
Even if enterprises lag behind in browser upgrades, leading consumer-facing Web sites take advantage of browser capabilities that enhance rendering speed, better support rich Internet applications (RIAs), and offer new privacy and security capabilities. From an information worker perspective, these benefits are only part of the picture.
Features like tabs, add-ons, quick copying, improved search and navigation, and better post-crash recovery provide tangible productivity benefits for most information workers. Address bars that double as search save time, and available add-ons feature a wide range of functionality such as better remembering of passwords and saving pages to view later without creating permanent bookmarks.
The other issue: Employees use multiple browsers, depending on various applications. We’ve become agnostic about browsers, so limiting them is the equivalent of removing a key wrench from the toolbox.
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News on Microsoft’s aging Windows XP operating system has surprisingly been coming in at a steady pace over the past few weeks. Although Windows Vista is Microsoft’s current bread-and-butter consumer operating system, there is still much love to go around for Windows XP.
In late September, DailyTech reported that Microsoft is providing XP downgrades for unhappy Vista customers. Microsoft followed up on that news a few days later with the announcement that Windows XP sales would be extended to June 30, 2008.
The company followed up with a new build of Internet Explorer 7.0 for Windows XP that doesn’t require product activation and released a Service Pack 3 (SP3) beta for a select group of testers.
The latest SP3 beta is labeled as build 3205 and is a rather small 334.92 MB download. The bloggers over at NeoSmart have gotten a hold of the new SP3 release and have detailed many of the new features and bugfixes with the software update.
According to NeoSmart, SP3 contains 1,073 hotfixes and patches; 114 of which are security related. SP3 also adds four major features to the Windows XP operating systems.
The first is a new activation scheme which will not require a product key during installation. The second feature is a new Network Access Protection Module first featured in Windows Vista. Other new items include a Microsoft Kernel Mode Cryptographics Module and a Black Hole Router detection algorithm.
The release of SP3 coupled with the announcement that XP will be available to businesses and consumers for a longer period of time could breathe new life into the venerable operating system. Many gamers have stuck by the operating system and OEMs like HP and Dell still offer XP on brand new systems.
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Users running pirated or counterfeit copies of Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 can now download Internet Explorer 7, Microsoft announced Thursday.
From the moment it released IE7 almost a year ago, Microsoft has restricted the browser to users who can prove they own a legitimate copy of the operating system. Before Microsoft allows the browser to download, it runs the user’s PC through a Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) validation test, a prime part of XP’s antipiracy software.
When it instituted the requirement in 2006, Microsoft said rights to IE7 was one of the rewards for being legal. It changed its mind Thursday, saying the move is in users’ best interest.
“Because Microsoft takes its commitment to help protect the entire Windows ecosystem seriously, we’re updating the IE7 installation experience to make it available as broadly as possible to all Windows users,” said Steve Reynolds, an IE program manager in a posting to a Microsoft company blog. “With today’s ‘Installation and Availability Update,’ Internet Explorer 7 installation will no longer require Windows Genuine Advantage validation and will be available to all Windows XP users.”
Microsoft has consistently touted IE7 as a more secure browser, and post-launch patch counts back that up. In the past 11 months, IE6 for Windows XP SP2 has been patched for 22 vulnerabilities, 20 of them rated critical. IE7 for XP SP2, however, has been patched only 13 times; 10 of those fixes were ranked critical. In fact, when Microsoft announced that IE7 would not be offered to users running illegal copies of XP, some analysts questioned the company’s commitment to security.
Play for Market Share?
This is the first time that Microsoft has removed a WGA check for a major product. Among those that still require validation are Windows Defender, the company’s antispyware software, and Windows Media Player 11.
Several people who left comments on Reynold’s post wondered if there’s more to the decision than meets the eye. “I am guessing that this is in reaction to Firefox’s growing market share,” said someone identified as Dileepa. “I am not surprised at this at all.”
Mozilla’s Firefox has gained some ground on Internet Explorer since IE7′s launch. According to Net Applications, a Web metrics company, Firefox’s share is up by about two percentage points since October 2006, while IE’s total — IE6 and IE7 combined — slipped by more than three points.
IE7′s uptake was dramatic late last year, when it went from about a 3 percent share in October to 18 percent in December, but growth has slowed. Since April, for instance, it has increased its share by four percentage points, almost all of it at the expense of the older IE6.
The IE7 update also sports a few tweaks: The menu bar is now visible by default, for example, and a new administration kit that includes a revamped MSI installer is available to smooth corporate deployment.
Users can download IE7 from Microsoft’s site immediately or wait for it to appear in Windows Update as a high-priority item. It will take several months for Windows Update to roll out IE7 to all XP customers, and anyone dissatisfied with the new browser can downgrade to IE6 by using the Add/Remove Programs control panel applet.
A blocking tool kit is still available for companies and organizations that don’t use Windows Server Update Services and want to permanently prevent IE7 from automatically installing on PCs equipped with IE6.
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