4 ms·

I promise that this isn't a snarky question. Why has it taken so long for corp America to move off of IE? There are so many other better alternatives. I still

by ok_coo 5y ago

I promise that this isn't a snarky question. Why has it taken so long for corp America to move off of IE? There are so many other better alternatives. I still sometimes have flashbacks of having to design around and support IE6. /shudder

vijaybritto 5y ago
I think if they are shown that moving off IE is gonna increase the profits then they'll do it in a week
vb6sp6 5y ago
I think it is two reasons 1) Sometimes companies go out of business or stop supporting\updating things. If you build critical processes around these outdated tools, it can be very difficult to change. 2) Users aren't savvy enough to know when to use Chrome, Firefox or IE. Some aren't even savvy enough to call things the correct names (looking at you Mozzarella Foxfire). So they just settle on on a lowest common denominator.
mschuster91 5y ago
Easy reason: why spend money (and reduce quarterly profit) if the software is still supported by the vendor for another two years? Let it be the problem of the CTO of two years from now. In two years the C-level/VP responsible has long since taken the golden parachute and his successor is stuck with the bill. Also, any sort of internal IT stuff is exclusively seen as a cost center by the MBA bean counters. Stuff like employees leaving due to outdated IT isn't something quantifiable in impact unless you have entire departments walking away at once.
crispyambulance 5y ago
I still have IE installed so that I can run ONE god-forsaken enterprise application known as Oracle EBS (Enterprise Business Suite). For everything else I use Chrome. Oracle EBS uses NPAPI (AKA Java Plugins AKA Java Applets). Chrome dropped support for NPAPI years ago, and since then we've been using IE to whenever we need to use Oracle EBS. I understand that the latest version of Oracle EBS might now support the cutting-edge technology of Java Web Start to continue to deliver their 1990's era grey-blah UI's with shitty layout. I don't even care to ask about upgrades. Negotiating with the bean-counter types that have enabled Oracle to put it's slimy tentacles into every critical area of the business is a dreadful, thankless task. I expect it will keep running, at its current version, long after I leave or retire. At some point, I expect employees will need to spin up VM's to open IE to use the f-ing thing-- perhaps they can set it up in their "forever" dream OS, Windows NT with IE4?
- kstrauser 5y ago
  That's actually probably the best approach: make some Citrix hosts running IE11 and let people use those when they actually need to touch the legacy software. Then you can upgrade everything else.
- elygre 5y ago
  It sounds like you (or your enterprise) has chosen not to upgrade you applications. That's fine. But it's hardly fair to blame the vendor for your choice of not upgrading.
  - crispyambulance 5y ago
    I agree it's not entirely fair, but yes, the bulk of the blame has to go to the corporate derps that keep it running and love it. But even if we could use the "latest version" a quick google image search for "Oracle EBS screenshots" shows that UI-wise, not much has changed. Maybe they got rid of the insipid flash-light icon? I didn't want to get too stressed by looking closely.
akamia 5y ago
I used to work in IT at a Fortune 100 manufacturing company. IE versions hung around for a long time because there was a lot of software that was built with only IE in mind and only received the bare minimum of support. In some cases this was off the shelf software from vendors who had gone out of business. In other cases it was software built in house that would require a complete rewrite to modernize. All of this software was tightly integrated into processes that were critical for the company to operate. While the cost of replacing the old software was a consideration, the biggest concern was the potential disruption to operations. If a software change reduced productivity or even worse caused work to stop entirely, it meant millions in financial impact.

by ok_coo 5y ago

vijaybritto 5y ago

I think if they are shown that moving off IE is gonna increase the profits then they'll do it in a week

vb6sp6 5y ago

I think it is two reasons 1) Sometimes companies go out of business or stop supporting\updating things. If you build critical processes around these outdated tools, it can be very difficult to change. 2) Users aren't savvy enough to know when to use Chrome, Firefox or IE. Some aren't even savvy enough to call things the correct names (looking at you Mozzarella Foxfire). So they just settle on on a lowest common denominator.

mschuster91 5y ago

Easy reason: why spend money (and reduce quarterly profit) if the software is still supported by the vendor for another two years? Let it be the problem of the CTO of two years from now. In two years the C-level/VP responsible has long since taken the golden parachute and his successor is stuck with the bill. Also, any sort of internal IT stuff is exclusively seen as a cost center by the MBA bean counters. Stuff like employees leaving due to outdated IT isn't something quantifiable in impact unless you have entire departments walking away at once.

crispyambulance 5y ago

I still have IE installed so that I can run ONE god-forsaken enterprise application known as Oracle EBS (Enterprise Business Suite). For everything else I use Chrome. Oracle EBS uses NPAPI (AKA Java Plugins AKA Java Applets). Chrome dropped support for NPAPI years ago, and since then we've been using IE to whenever we need to use Oracle EBS. I understand that the latest version of Oracle EBS might now support the cutting-edge technology of Java Web Start to continue to deliver their 1990's era grey-blah UI's with shitty layout. I don't even care to ask about upgrades. Negotiating with the bean-counter types that have enabled Oracle to put it's slimy tentacles into every critical area of the business is a dreadful, thankless task. I expect it will keep running, at its current version, long after I leave or retire. At some point, I expect employees will need to spin up VM's to open IE to use the f-ing thing-- perhaps they can set it up in their "forever" dream OS, Windows NT with IE4?

kstrauser 5y ago
That's actually probably the best approach: make some Citrix hosts running IE11 and let people use those when they actually need to touch the legacy software. Then you can upgrade everything else.
elygre 5y ago
It sounds like you (or your enterprise) has chosen not to upgrade you applications. That's fine. But it's hardly fair to blame the vendor for your choice of not upgrading.
- crispyambulance 5y ago
  I agree it's not entirely fair, but yes, the bulk of the blame has to go to the corporate derps that keep it running and love it. But even if we could use the "latest version" a quick google image search for "Oracle EBS screenshots" shows that UI-wise, not much has changed. Maybe they got rid of the insipid flash-light icon? I didn't want to get too stressed by looking closely.

akamia 5y ago

I used to work in IT at a Fortune 100 manufacturing company. IE versions hung around for a long time because there was a lot of software that was built with only IE in mind and only received the bare minimum of support. In some cases this was off the shelf software from vendors who had gone out of business. In other cases it was software built in house that would require a complete rewrite to modernize. All of this software was tightly integrated into processes that were critical for the company to operate. While the cost of replacing the old software was a consideration, the biggest concern was the potential disruption to operations. If a software change reduced productivity or even worse caused work to stop entirely, it meant millions in financial impact.