4 ms·

Flash updates itself seamlessly, even in IE6; even, to my knowledge, in corporate-firewall situations, as long as Adobe's servers aren't completely blacklisted.

jwr 15y ago
Really? I have to admit, I just don't understand the corporate "security" logic, then. You don't update a crappy 10-year old browser full of security problems, and yet you let another piece of software (with potentially even more security problems) update itself quietly behind the scenes, totally out of your control? ... and then you actually make your enterprisey software applications depend on that piece of software, which you have little control over? I just don't get it.
- cjdavis 15y ago
  It's not necessarily a security issue. There are many custom corporate apps that only run on IE6.
  - teyc 15y ago
    Internet Explorers are an interesting beast. You can't install different versions of IEs side by side but you can install Chrome, Firefox etc with IE.
    - justincormack 15y ago
      And Chrome frame inside it...
- Joeri 15y ago
  Security usually isn't the reason. Typically they have old versions of large software suites (like SAP) which had a ton of custom development done by external consultants, worth millions of dollars. If they want to upgrade to a new browser, they need to upgrade to a new version of the platform, which in turn means upgrading all those custom developed solutions. The cost outweighed the benefit for a long time. It's no longer that much of an issue though. IE6 is starting to die off in the enterprise space. Once apps get on IE7 they're easier to upgrade thanks to microsoft's backwards compat support in newer IE's. I'm hopeful that IE9 will get adopted more quickly than IE7 and IE8 did.
acdha 15y ago
That's only the most recent version of Flash and that assumes that a) it hasn't been disabled by the kind of conservative-bordering-on-ossified IT groups which still use IE6, b) the user has permissions to install the update, and c) the user reboots when prompted. Flash updates are still a problem unless you use Chrome.

jwr 15y ago

Really? I have to admit, I just don't understand the corporate "security" logic, then. You don't update a crappy 10-year old browser full of security problems, and yet you let another piece of software (with potentially even more security problems) update itself quietly behind the scenes, totally out of your control? ... and then you actually make your enterprisey software applications depend on that piece of software, which you have little control over? I just don't get it.

cjdavis 15y ago
It's not necessarily a security issue. There are many custom corporate apps that only run on IE6.
- teyc 15y ago
  Internet Explorers are an interesting beast. You can't install different versions of IEs side by side but you can install Chrome, Firefox etc with IE.
  - justincormack 15y ago
    And Chrome frame inside it...
Joeri 15y ago
Security usually isn't the reason. Typically they have old versions of large software suites (like SAP) which had a ton of custom development done by external consultants, worth millions of dollars. If they want to upgrade to a new browser, they need to upgrade to a new version of the platform, which in turn means upgrading all those custom developed solutions. The cost outweighed the benefit for a long time. It's no longer that much of an issue though. IE6 is starting to die off in the enterprise space. Once apps get on IE7 they're easier to upgrade thanks to microsoft's backwards compat support in newer IE's. I'm hopeful that IE9 will get adopted more quickly than IE7 and IE8 did.

acdha 15y ago

That's only the most recent version of Flash and that assumes that a) it hasn't been disabled by the kind of conservative-bordering-on-ossified IT groups which still use IE6, b) the user has permissions to install the update, and c) the user reboots when prompted. Flash updates are still a problem unless you use Chrome.