Getting Your Company to Migrate from IE?

RunningFerreT asks: "With all the recent warnings and recommendations on migrating from MSIE, I have come across a serious problem. The company for which I work doesn't want to, even after being informed of all the exploits and problems with Internet Explorer. Having the boss 'try out' Firefox isn't working: a single site looks bad, so IE must be better. Has anyone had success in convincing management types to switch from IE, to another more secure, standards compliant browser? If so, how did you get the job done?"

Comments

I must ask...

[HaloZero]

...which site? And do other sites render worse in IE than they do in Firefox?
As for migrating from IE, I've never had a problem encouring people. The built-in popup blocker is almost an instant 'OK! I'm converted!'. This may or may not be helpful: http://texturizer.net/firefox/faq.html

Perhaps, distribute a company-wide email, linking to a download for Firefox (put it on a local server, first, link to that, save Moz the bandwidth. ;) and give the end users the option to switch. The upside? They get to waste an hour of company time moving into a new browser. :-p And less work for the ITS guys.

Web Standards

[Will2k_is_here]

Remind your boss that the reason the sites look so terrible in non-IE browsers is because the sites do not conform to WWW standards. By insisting IE continue to be used indicates Microsoft should dictate what websites should look like, not the Internet inventors themselves. Surely he or she can agree that Microsoft should not be given that power. Thus, sticking to IE is not a solution, rather it contributes to the problem.

Re:Web Standards

[lateral]

Surely he or she can agree that Microsoft should not be given that power. Thus, sticking to IE is not a solution, rather it contributes to the problem.

Asking your boss to be part of a geek crusade is *not* going to swing it, not if they're any good at their job. You're not setting out how this change will provide any benefit to the company they and you are paid to represent. You're effectively saying if your boss switches and then an utterly huge body of millions of other users all do the same at around the same time then all the websites that already look OK in his current browser will continue to look OK in this other browser you think is better. I appreciate your argument is subtler than that but I'm sat at home and can afford to think that way. If I was at work and I was your boss I wouldn't.

L

Firefox 1.0?

[DRue]

I've tried getting my mom to switch countless times, always with problems. My current plan is to wait for Firefox 1.0, and then make her switch again.

At work, many people use IE - but nobody has to. I'm also plannign on moving everyone at the office to Firefox once it hits 1.0. It's hard to get the PHB's to agree to something that's not 1.0 :)

Label it as IE

[David_Bloom]

I pretty much maintain all the computers in our high school's publications room.

I just installed Firefox, then deleted the IE icons and then created new ones that had the IE icon and said "internet explorer" but whose link went to Firefox.

No compliants, no spyware since.

ISV's

[adamshelley]

We need everyone in our industry to switch. All of the ISVs and vendor extranet type applications require IE. We cannot switch from IE until the functionality provided by these companies is compatible with mozilla or moved from the browser based application. It'd be nice to have them only load IE for the specific app but trust me: users are stubborn. An extra click or two would cause them too much pain and suffering.

Outlook Web Access = IE, != Anything Else

[sam_van]

Unfortunately, the "this website looks funny" issue may not be the only issue. Instead, "my webmail is crippled" may be a more visible issue, particularly for the PHBs in the group.

At several of the organizations I've been involved with over the last couple of years, remote email (and calendar and discussion and ) has been via Outlook Web Access. Funny enough, usability tanks regarding attaching files, spell check, moving emails, preview panes, etc.

IMHO, it is not the internet at large that's the issue with browser shifts; it's the intranet.

Re:Easy.

[Anonymous Coward]

Works for me at home with my sister

OK, as a rule, when someone is asking a question about workplaces and bosses and corporate policies -- answers regarding "Here's what I did for my mom / my sister / my grandma..." tend not to be super helpful.

How I did it

[Aliencow]

I had all customer service agents switched to Firefox in a weekend, all they use is the UPS website to check tracking numbers, so the rest of the stuff they do is usually not business related so they don't complain. Have a few java apps, they work well, one required me to install Java 1.5.0 (Err I mean Java 5!) instead of 1.4.2 because it was running dog slow in Firefox with 1.4.2 ....

Imported Favorites and settings...made IE hidden..
2 or 3 users are special cases and they really need IE for some IE specific ActiveX crap but that's it...

I spent 5minutes clearing spyware in the past 6 weeks.

What I've found...

[chuckcolby]

Okay, I've not faced this specific problem yet. Most of the companies I deal with in my consultancy are willing to at least beta the idea and put up with some funny looking websites, as long as functionality isn't lost. So far, the tests are going well.

In any event, when faced with a similar situation, I generally follow this tack:

1. Write a memo (I'm better with the written word than the spoken word - additionally, the written word has a date on it) that clearly, unemotionally lays out the advantages/drawbacks to whatever I'm proposing. If you're fairly good with the written word, you can weight your bias, if you're so inclined. Even without bias, you can mention stuff like the TRUE costs of fighting a vulnerability (computer/worker downtime, multiplied by the number of users, estimated cost in your salary per instance, etc).
2. Submit the memo, and don't get offended if your idea is not taken. Even well reasoned, compelling arguments are not always enough. Keep in mind that we're focusing on base hits, not home runs.
3. Time is on your side. There will only be more vulnerabilities. This does not mean you should be happy with new vulnerabilities, but they are only serving to bolster your case. Hopefully you've made management aware of the associated costs of dealing with IE vulnerabilities. Keep in mind that management understands cost and benefit. They don't respond to features and feelings. Do a really good job of showing how the cost and benefits outweigh the inconvenience, and you'll usually have a green light.

Anyway, I hope this helps.

Re:Why isnt there an IE skin?

[m0rph3us0]

Here it is.

I've used it many times. Switch the icon for Firefox to IE. Install Luna. Done.

How about creating mod_noie?

[kherr]

Let's stop IE at the webserver. Someone needs to create mod_noie, which returns a page to download FireFox and/or Mozilla if it detects the user is using MSIE. Warn the user they have an insecure browser that's hurting the internet and they need to upgrade.

It worked for Microsoft to squelch DR-DOS, didn't it? Turnabout is fair play.

Re:IE - Safari problems

[spitzak]

Huh? The Mac version of IE probably works with fewer sites than Safari. Macintosh IE has nothing to do with the Windows IE that all sites are "designed for".

It's all about money

[Kevster]

Total up your costs for coping with IE's problems for each of the past several years, extrapolate that for the next few years, and compare all this with the costs of migrating to Firefox (or the browser of your choice). Show them the graphs of total money spent from five years ago to five years from now, and make it clear how much money you would have (or will) save by making the change.

If you can't show the financial gain for the change, it doesn't make business sense. Period. Better = costs less overall. Period. "Less trouble for the tech guys" doesn't cut it. Neither does "but Firefox is more standards compliant!"

Re:Easy.

[Brandybuck]

1999 Free Software Advocate: It's not fair! I don't have a choice of browsers!

2004 Free Software Advocate: Don't give them a choice and they won't be able to use IE!

Re:Easy.

[nickos]

And then when they next use what they think is IE they'll say "Oh Wow, Microsoft really improved their browser".

No, the best way is to make users aware of the problems with IE, and then show them how Firefox fixes those problems. The fact that open source coders respond to security flaws faster than coders who work on proprietary software is also an advantage.

How Managers Work

[turgid]

Remind your boss that the reason the sites look so terrible in non-IE browsers is because the sites do not conform to WWW standards.

PHBs don't think like that unfortunately. They think, "Microsoft is everywhere so it is the standard. Everything else is broken or not good enough." When one of their PHB friends talks about how cool moving over to Firefox was next time they are out playing golf instead of working, you'll get a memo telling you about this great new thing that he's found and insisting that you try it out and have it installed on his machine. Next thing you know, a committee will go away and do a cost/benefit analysis and within 12 to 18 months a document will be written recommending that it becomes corporate policy to only use Firefox. Three to four years later it will become policy, you'll get to install it, but it'll be a 2-year-old version full of bugs and security holes and lacking modern standards.

Do you know anybody decent in Legal?

[0x69]

Find somebody decent in the Legal Dept. Quietly express concern that, expecially now that the U.S. Goverment has gone on record against using security-swiss-cheese IE, you might face professional liability - similar to an electrician who'd been pressured into doing something clearly dangerous that caused a fire.

Played right, this approach probably has a better chance than any other of getting a no-appeal "IE is banned" rule from on high.