My Tech Support Rant - web development
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Before I get started, Firefox is my preferred browser. There is no need to convince me how much more nifty it is than any versions of Internet Explorer.
Although losing it's market share, Internet Explorer is still the close majority browser, mainly because most internet users bought a Windows machine and have never heard of Firefox. But it's still got the market share, keep that in mind.
If you are going to build a website, you want to consider this fact. Do not build it around Firefox just because you like it. And do not try to convince the thousands of IE visitors to your site that they must download Firefox to view your site properly. This is terrible service for the end user.
If you want to convince the internet world 1 person at a time to convert to Firefox, you've got a long road ahead of you. Besides... just let Mozilla do that for you. They have a marketing budget, and they're doing a good job already.
Now.... In our school district, we use Internet Explorer 8. This is not like a business or a home where you are responsible for your own browsing. These things are policy, voted upon, discussed in board meetings, that kind of stuff. We base our security around 1 browser, because it's easier than 2. We're locked down tight. Why? Because when a minor accesses porn on YOUR network, it's YOUR fault. The law gets a little uptight when you're dealing with children and porn.....
Again, don't convince me how secure Firefox is, I'm right there with ya. It's just the job of doubling down on your security system with double the browsers, if that makes any sense. And with budget cutbacks, more to manage is just out of the question. I don't know the ins and outs of it, but that's a summary of why.
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So anyways, I was on the phone today with Tech Support at UEN.org, Utah Education Network's website. They had a webcast page that would NOT load with any version of Internet Explorer. They were trying to tell us to install Firefox because the "security features on this site were vulnerable with Internet Explorer".
After wasting my breath about how I love Firefox too but this is absolutely not an option for us, the 18 year old just wasn't understanding. He continued to try to sell me on Firefox.
I pointed out that a "logical" website construction would be friendly to Internet Explorer, the majority of browsers, whether he or I like it or not. He AGAIN tried to convince me how cool Firefox was and it was secure, blah blah blah. I could sense the Mozilla poster hanging in his cubicle. I then tried to explain the "mind frame" of Internet Explorer users and that installing Firefox would be a completely different internet experience, just to view their stupid website.
He said it's just like updating Flash or Java. I replied, Yes... and I have to help about 50% of these teachers to do just that - update Flash Player. Most users don't understand that either.
I told him that I knew it wasn't his decision, and it's not his fault, but I asked if he could just see that it's not wise to cut out the majority internet browser. He couldn't.
In the end, teachers now have to go home after hours, install Firefox, and watch archived sessions of the webcast training they missed during the day.
For the 3rd time, I use Firefox almost exclusively, so if you're like that punk and didn't catch that the first 2 times, don't try to convince me. Plus, if IE8 was so vulnerable, my wife wouldn't be able to do her online banking with it.
UEN is afraid somebody will hack in and watch a !&$*#$! webcast. Alpha numeric passwords for this stuff, seriously? You're talking to people that have their passwords on a Post It note stuck to their monitor.
That is my rant. Thanks for listening.