Bad IE
What effect has it had on you?
Today the BBC are running with a story that Internet Explorer, the most popular browser in the world, isn’t secure! And we’ve been recommended to start using a different browser!
The thing is most people won’t pay any attention to this and continue as normal using what came with their machine.
What does that mean for us at MediaSnackers? As we train clients with IE 6&7?
I can tell you that most of our clients don’t have access to the technology to change their browser choice. We used to stipulate that Firefox is installed on all machines – ‘well done’ I hear you cry. However that created a problem. Even though, we felt we were training on a better platform, the problem arises when people return back to their regular Windows desktops and are stuck, as our tutorial tips and techniques guide them only though FF. We simply have to train on the platforms that our clients are using. We know there’s better browsers out there. But when the clients IT team states ‘IE only’, you’ll see how so many peoples hands are tied with regard to using any viable alternative.
Where people have administration rights to add and remove software, the sad fact is ‘most people’ don’t. Its amazing that people spend so much time on their machines, but won’t ‘surf’ for the best method of ‘surfing’. The net savvy of us, are not, by any measure in the majority!
In the case of my dad, he wouldn’t know how to find and install a different version… and he largely doesn’t care about any vunerabilities either. He logs on, and it either works, or it doesn’t, and if it doesn’t, then he’ll turn it off and turn it back on again.
Just like the rest of the world will do.
I’m wondering what other people think about this News Story. Do you care? Has it scared you into changing your browser? Or has it given you ammunition to have another go at your IT department in the hope of getting a better browser installed?
December 17th, 2008
Mark,
I tried to use Chrome recently and to be honest hated it as the usability was awful (couldnt type in to hotmail etc & viewed site wern’t updated)so went back to IE.
Personally I’ve never had an issue with IE but would be curious to know which you would reccomend as an alternative?
The BBC article states 0.02% are risked so is that enough to wory about? I remember when they brought out the new £20 to be copy proof but then had to do it again as someone copied it. Basically, if people want to, there is always a way I guess?
December 17th, 2008
To be honest rather than being a major concern for users this should be a wake up call to Microsoft. One of many wake up calls they have ignored. Whether they admit it or not they have a duty of care but sadly they normally hide behind their zero liability terms and conditions. However, we all run our businesses using these pieces of software and they are our window to “the cloud”. Huge amounts of private and privileged data is communicated through their browsers every minute of every day. Sooner of later there is going to be a scandal like this that sees Microsoft in court and a court may not agree with Microsoft’s claim of zero liability.
K
December 18th, 2008
@ Matt: FireFox sounds like a good bet to me, and you’re right, 0.02% is almost invisible. Most people will not have a problem. However IE is targeted by most viruses, so unless you are extra vigilant at keeping up on the tech news and software updates and virus software, then it might be a good idea to run FF on your machine as well. I run 3 browsers. IE <– can’t turn off, because msn messenger always jumps to it for hotmail. FireFox: which is great for debugging website builds (which I do a lot of) and Chrome for general everyday stuff and training, because it doesn’t crash (within reason). Hope this helps – Mark