The company I work for is still using a way outdated version of IE. I’m wondering why don’t they update it? Does it cost money? Or is it just a lazy IT department?
Why should they? Does everything work the way it always did?
How outdated? What operating system? Windows XP only allows up to…IE 8? 9? I think 8.
The main reason for why you should is security. Outdated versions of IE are incredibly insecure and prone to attack. The main types of users who do not update their browsers are usually companies, which means that hackers still aim for these loopholes as companies have a lot of sensitive information. Since companies are usually widely networked, all it takes is one compromised computer to open up gateways to the others.
The reason why companies do not update their browsers is because they don’t want to pay to update their software and they don’t think a breach will happen to them. A lot of companies still use outdated online work programs that can only use specific versions of Internet Explorer to work (as they make use of particular bugs native to that release that were fixed in later IE versions). Updating IE will break the program that they may have specially had made, which means they would need to hire another programming team to fix all the problems in their software so it’s compatible with IE again. It could be something as integrated as a workflow helper program or as small as “Well Company X’s online billpay system only works with IE7 and they’re a main vendor so we won’t upgrade IE”
Same reason lots of companies still use Windows XP. Their programs work specifically in XP and they’d rather have security holes than pay a team to update their software. Also, it does cost a lot more to upgrade a computer OS, and takes a lot more time. But it’s the same basic reason why. Time and money.
No. A large portion of the Internet is useless to me because my browser isn’t supported by various websites.
I did not know this. (I’m not sure what version of IE we are currently running either. I just know it’s outdated.)
My work computer was upgraded from windows 2000 to xp in 2011. Several of our systems only work with ie 6. It kind of sucks. At least I was able to download chrome for my other Internet activity!
When you update one component, you often find it requires updating another. Then the other program isn’t available anymore, and you have to find something else. Then the something else won’t work with your OS, and you have to upgrade that, but the new OS requires more RAM. But your computer can’t address more RAM, so you have to get a new computer. Then you have to re install all your programs and some won’t work with the new hardware, and you have to get a replacement. Then you have to throw out the data that you used with the old program because the new one isn’t compatible. Then you have to retrain the user because just about everything they ever used is different and they don’t understand why.
If a simple upgrade becomes a complex and expensive proposition, and all you want to do is get some productive work done but you can’t, it tends to discourage upgrades.
If half the internet doesn’t work, you are almost certainly on IE6. That was at or near the height of IE’s domination and business wrote all kinds of hacky activex based programs. But any company who uses IE6 to browse the general internet is incredibly foolish. Even if some specific apps still need IE6 your company could install firefox or chrome for general use and browsing of all other sites.
(bolding added). This. If your company has legacy systems that don’t work with newer versions of IE (or with other browsers) that would be a pretty strong reason for not upgrading, at least not until they have updated the legacy system.
Unfortunately, in some companies legacy systems can be essentially a black box, because the people who wrote them are long gone, and current IT staff do not have good documentation. So the choice is more likely to be keeping status quo, or dumping the legacy system for something totally different. That can be a huge undertaking, for which your IT department may not be equipped with staffing or money.
Roddy
IT guy here. In our case, we don’t update because of the many state and federal websites we are required access that don’t play well on newer versions in addition to the vendor sites. We have no control of them other than requesting that they update please. Pretty please.
We do allow users to install Netscape for sites that have to have something newer than the officially supported IE.
I get the why, but it still sucks.
No argument from me. At least it seems like they should allow you to install a different browser for other work (assuming that being on the internet is part of your job 
)
Roddy
Forget updating browsers, just using IE should be grounds for being able to sue them for distress.
But for other browsers, well, a lot of them went from sensible, nice looking interfaces to garbage a while back.
In a large organisation that uses a lot of browser-based systems, managing the browser version can be a complete nightmare.
We’re currently on IE8 where I work - we want to move the IE10, but it’s hard - some of our software suppliers support it. Others say “try it - it will probably be OK”, and a few say that we won’t be able to use their systems with IE10 - even when we’re in a position where everything looks OK on paper, we still have to test everything - as a result, we’ll probably migrate to IE10 around about when IE12 is released.
The latest (and last) version of Netscape is 7.2, which was released in August 2004.
Have you considered upgrading to Firefox and Chrome, to replace IE?
Netscape? Really?
Well, I guess since Netscape is far from widely used, it may be targeted less by malicious scripts? Seriously though, all support ceased for Netscape in 2008. It’s dead, and it’s been practically dead for a decade now. Perhaps allow a browser that makes sense and actually keeps up with web standards and security features.
Or you could get them setup with Compuserve, I think it has a gateway into the internet.
This!
My job is to , well,…work. That means doing what my customers want, doing it TODAY, and getting it to the customer tomorrow. Any change , even a minor one, to my computer is likely to cause a complete and total inability to produce any actual work.
Maybe a simple browser upgrade will take 10 minutes. But maybe I’ll have to call a computer technician, who will spend half a day taking my computer apart and putting in a new chip of ram, which may or may not work with the CD drirve, so he’ll have to find new drivers and install them, which may or may not cause other problems,etc etc.
In the meantime- I lose a full day of productive work, I have irate clients complaining, and the company loses money.
I never, never use the word “upgrade”. For me every change to my system is a downgrade.
Then, if I am lucky, after a week or two of training, the downgrade gradually becomes a new routine, and enables me to climb back up to the level of productivity I had before.
My job is to produce work for my clients, not screw around with new versions of stuff that is irrelevant to the needs of my clients.
Oh, pleeeeze!
Upgrading to a current web browser in an organization shouldn’t be difficult. Should be easy to determine if it fits with the corporate system image. Then send out a simple cheat sheet to all employees on how to do it and you’re done. If an internal web app breaks, then get on the case of the programmer who failed to create a standards-compliant app.
Or at the very least allow for installing a second web browser.