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Who Is Still Using IE6? the UK Government

Posted by timothy on from the increased-customer-enragement dept.

strawberryshakes writes "The death knell for IE6 was sounded a couple of years ago, but seems like some people just can't let go. Many UK government departments are still using IE6, which is so old — 11 years old to be exact — it can't cope with social media — which the government is trying to get its staff to use more to engage with citizens."

5 of 141 comments (clear)

  1. Re:but... by Joce640k · · Score: 4, Insightful

    New PC, old OS. Microsoft did a really good job locking people into IE. So good that many people still haven't escaped.

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    No sig today...
  2. Let go? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's not about "letting go" - I'm sure it's about the cost of upgrading thousands (tens of thousands?) of systems. Not just the licensing of the software, but also the cost of execution and management of the upgrade, and then the upgrade of all the applications, training on new versions, rewriting an ass ton of security and management policies, and years of churn getting the kinks out of thousands of systems, and the loss of productivity while switching over, and... (I'm sure with a couple more minutes thought I could come up with five other angles of cost).

    The summary makes it seem like they're holding on for sentiment, and that they're shooting themselves in the foot by sticking with tried and true software. The summary hasn't given any voice to the enormity of the task (it's not a simple "derr, click the upgrade button stupid"), nor the idea that this is government money which can and arguably should be used in more critical areas of life.

    Are slashdot editors really this shortsighted?

    1. Re:Let go? by Wulfrunner · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I recognize you! You work for the [insert government here] ITS department down the hall from my office. You and your just adequate, barely competent colleagues are the reason I'm stuck with a brand new, yet somehow still limping, T520 that takes four minutes to start. You are the reason I can't "exceed the level of my cluster". You are the barrier to innovation. The attitude you just espoused is the reason our monolithic organization is stuck in the stone age. How is it that you guys can take five years and one billion dollars to develop an application that is buggy, user un-friendly, doesn't do the job it's supposed to, and cripples the department it's supposed to be helping by eating their entire IT budget. You and your colleagues have never heard of Brooks' law, are complacent, risk averse, and unimaginative. I hate you.

  3. Re:but... by RMingin · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Sure you can. Buy more than 100 seats of Windows 7 Pro, with Software Assurance, and self-downgrade before the initial install. Besides, most 100+ seat businesses use a custom OS image anyways. Easy enough to make it an XP Pro image, if you can find drivers for everything.

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    The preceding comment is my own, and in no way construes an opinon of the Emperor of Mankind.
  4. Blame shit web applications by benjfowler · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The culprit here isn't the desktops, it's the general, rock bottom, dire state of "enterprise" software.

    Truth be told, shrink wrap software is way better put together than the overpriced, utter shite corporate web apps that many government and big corporate users are forced to endure. They are usually written by inexperienced or bored 9-to-5 developers, and get bit-rotten and unmaintainable fast and thus are sheer hell to work on or upgrade.

    As a bored corporate drone myself, I feel the pain. I endure IE6 for using our business apps, and use Chrome for everything else.