UK Benefits Claimants Must Use Windows XP, IE6

First time accepted submitter carlypage3 writes "Benefits claimants in the UK are being forced to use Microsoft's now obsolete Windows XP and Internet Explorer 6 software. The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) states that its online forms are not compatible with Internet Explorer 7, 8, 9 and 10, Safari, Google Chrome or Firefox. As if that wasn't unnerving enough, the Gov.UK website says that users cannot submit claims using Mac OS X or Linux operating systems, either." (Note: as we noted not long ago, it's not just the DWP that's stuck using IE6.)

Comments

I honestly don't understand why....

[Red_Chaos1]

...we even still have this problem. Seriously, stop being short sighted fuckwits. Stop using vendor specific code. Start using shit that passes the W3C validator. Problem fucking solved. Imagine that! There is absolutely no excuse for any webpage out there to require a specific browser or browser version, short of being able to meet current web standards.

Re:I honestly don't understand why....

[Kjella]

Actually according to TFA it works with a few other browsers from the 2004 era, but only on Windows. The real summary here is "We haven't done anything to upgrade this system in the last 10 years" and the world moved on, which will happen from time to time. If it was 1990 it would be totally reasonable to ask for documents to be submitted in WordPerfect format, in 2013 it's not. If your maintenance budget is $0, this is eventually going to happen regardless.

Re:I honestly don't understand why....

[KiloByte]

If your maintenance budget is $0, this is eventually going to happen regardless.

They do have a maintenance budget, but any penny spent doing actual maintenance is a penny your cronies can't pocket.

Re:I honestly don't understand why....

[Opportunist]

Simple. It's because of how things run in public services.

They decided they need that kind of software. So someone, most likely someone with limited IT knowledge but a lot of knowledge of the process involved, sat down and wrote the specs. You may rest assured that it included everything this bureaucratic process needed, but lacked everything from the IT point of view, like compatibility with different browsers or the ability to upgrade and update to keep current with technical development.

The whole mess got into a public bidding and unless something important stood in the way (like, say, the nephew of someone important needing a job), the cheapest offer got called.

Now, these specs come with a catch: You can't simply amend them when you realize "Oh, gee, we should have...", no such luck. You open yourself to lawsuits from those that didn't get the contract, and since changes later invariably will increase the bill, their claim would be that they could have delivered for that price (especially if their offer was lower/better in some way). So even if you notice that something is missing, you DO NOT change those specs. EVER.

It's also near certain that they neither have the source code nor an agreement that the company doing the job agrees to hand over the details if someone else should get to update the system.

Denmark used to have that issue as well

[MindPrison]

Not many years ago in Denmark, they had that issue as well.

Even with the banks you had to use IE(some version), otherwise you just couldn't pay your bills.
I'd say they did us a favor, because it taught a lot of people to get "off the system" instead of being dependent on it.

The narrower your choice as a citizen becomes, the more need for freedom you'll have (Geez, I might want to hold back on the booze, starting to sound like Yoda here)...;)

Re:The contractor should be fired and billed

[Luckyo]

Yes, because you know, the people who are in need of benefits are known to be geeks, and love to learn new IT systems.

or the other way

[Anonymous Coward]

The corollary to Hanlon's razor is that stupidity and malice are indistinguishable -that's real life.

Re:I agree, totally wrong

[Opportunist]

The short sighted conservative has spoken.

Allow me to ask you a question: What do you think would happen if we do what you suggest? You then have a lot of people who don't have a job, have no chance to get one, have no money and need it for food and shelter, or they die.

You have money.

Take a wild guess what happens next.

Re:No they aren't

[jedidiah]

...or someone who has modern machines in their local public library.

A system that requries IE6 in 2013 is a disgrace. It doesn't matter who is supposed to use it, or where, or how few people are actually expected to use it.

Your snark ignores the fact that this isn't just about Mac users. It's about ANY ONE that has a modern Windows configuration.

Re:Actually this is a good thing

[amiga3D]

I don't know how their system works but years ago when sites demanded xp and ie for use I would tell my browser to lie to them. I set my user agent string to XP and IE although I was actually running linux with konqueror and 8 times out of 10 the site worked fine. Some I had to do from work since they actually used something specific to the systems they demanded.

Re: Actually this is a good thing

[b4dc0d3r]

I understand you take exception to this generalization because of your experience. Do you think you are representative of the granny population? Or are you an exception to the generalization?

Any blanket statement will have outliers, including this one, and I find it odd to find replies like these modded up - I'd rather see actual stats on how many grannies are tech savvy rather than a single anecdote with 3 people who also have mod points agreeing.