A Browser for All Windows Customers: it’s about and, not or
The topic of what some customers need from a browser saw a lot of attention in headlines (e.g. Mozilla to enterprise customers: "Drop dead") last week. Both Google employees and Mozilla community members alike (link) explained that to support consumers, their browsers cannot fulfill the needs of large organizations. At Microsoft, we believe that all Windows customers should have a great browsing experience, whether they stay at home, go to school, or work in a large organization with managed IT resources. Because all these groups of Windows customers are important to Microsoft, we want to offer our point of view and describe our approach.
Making the Web better for large organizations (with managed IT) is just as important as making the Web better for consumers and developers. People who have read Built to Last will recognize the false choice that others are making and the “Tyranny of the OR” they’re embracing: they can only support consumers OR enterprises, but not both. As Collins and Porras wrote:
[Visionary companies] do not oppress themselves with what we call the “Tyranny of the OR”–the rational view that cannot easily accept paradox; that cannot live with two seemingly contradictory forces or ideas at the same time. The “Tyranny of the OR” pushes people to believe that things must be either A OR B, but not both.
Large organizations provide healthcare (like Landstinget i Östergötland) and online learning systems (like Blackboard Inc.) and government services (like the US Department of Veterans Affairs and the Washington State Department of Licensing) as well as many other important services on the Web. Just as some individuals have unique needs, for example with assistive technologies, some large organizations have unique needs as well.
To meet those needs, we ship updates to five versions of IE across seven operating systems with 14 Service Pack variations to customers in 96 languages worldwide every eight weeks. We do this because it’s what many customers need to fulfill their missions, safely, reliably, and in compliance with the requirements they have.
Imagine a retailer who uses a Web browser at the point of sale, or for customer support. During a holiday selling period their PCs might be running 20 hours a day or more continuously. They simply don’t have time for maintenance – even assuming that the updates have zero impact on the compatibility with the applications and sites they rely on. Now, consider their uptime need with the near perfect compatibility they need with a set of existing, in-use applications.
This is why many Windows customers deploy the Windows Software Update Service (link) to moderate updates and ensure they have time to validate updates. These tools enable customers to have full control in managing and distributing software updates from Microsoft to Windows computers on their network. There are many reasons IE is the most used browser in large organizations; this post (link) discusses some of them, like comprehensive management tools, compatibility, and migration support.
Hospitals, power plants, emergency call response centers, universities, states, and credit unions may choose to stay on a particular browser/operating systems combination for a variety of reasons. Requiring them to run the very latest browser offering – to upgrade software and keep it working at a cadence that doesn’t work for them, just because it’s easier for the software provider– is simply not possible for many of them given legacy mission-critical applications and their limited resources.
Beyond security fixes, these updates that go out every eight weeks include changes both for large organizations and for the consumers who rely on the services of these large organizations world-wide. For this reason, each of the many update packages we ship to IE come in two forms. Both include security, reliability, and compatibility updates as well as updates requested by large organizations (like Adobe, Fuji, HP, Nissan, SAP, or Verizon Wireless, to name a few) that need changes to IE to enable their services to work better for consumers who run Windows. Of the two forms, one of them is for large organizations that need a special, “one-off” fix for an issue that the majority of other customers do not need. An example here might be a power plant that hits a boundary case involving JavaScript interfacing with a legacy control system. The other form is for individuals and organizations that don’t need any of these particular fixes. Over the last year, IE has released about 100 security-based changes (detailed in the release notes with each update). Over the same time period, we’ve made even more changes in IE to increase compatibility, reliability, and performance for the services that consumers, businesses, and large organizations use and provide on the Web.
We deliver these updates on a predicable cadence, working with many people worldwide, to help global customers keep their operations running. Products like Windows and Office have a lifecycle policy (link) that typically runs 10+ years because that’s what these organizations need. As part of Windows, IE honors that 10+ year commitment.
The best way to move the Web forward involves fulfilling the real-world needs of the individuals and organizations on the Web. Sometimes, the needs for stable information infrastructure include Web browsers that are compatible with key systems, are fully updated with respect to security issues, and are not necessarily the very latest version. We respect that the people who run the critical infrastructure of the world must do so without our goals for a modern Web trumping their needs to run their systems under their control.
Providing that option – the ‘and’ rather than the ‘or’ others offer – is key to progress on the Web. We want all Windows customers to have the best experience of the Web.
Many Windows customers work in large organizations. Because we want these individuals to have the best experience of the Web, we work to make it easier for IT to meet their needs. So, we support older versions of IE, and we build deployment, management, and migration tools even as we deliver hardware-acceleration, professional-grade standards support, and innovative approaches to safety (like Application Reputation and Tracking Protection).
People, individually and in large organizations, who use IE on Windows are Microsoft customers. Moving the Web forward for both of them involves and, not the tyranny of OR.
— Dean Hachamovitch, Corporate Vice President, Internet Explorer
Comments
Anonymous
June 27, 2011
I would like the honor to be the first to point out that Microsoft "and" inclusivity doesn't seem to extend to XP users with IE9. Sure, XP is older than dirt in OS years, but it's still widely used. The internet, as a whole, would benefit greatly by having IE9 available to those XP users. As long as XP exists, my websites can never not support IE "quirks" which basically means HTML5 and much other new web goodness is not a practical business decision to me.Anonymous
June 27, 2011
However, if Internet Explorer did not exist, all those web-based services used by millions would be a lot easier to access. As a linux user, I hate it when the DoD tells me to use IE to access something. I'd much rather use Chromium, and have IE just go away.Anonymous
June 27, 2011
Also, the only reason hospitals, power plants, etc, use IE is because it is the default one that came with their operating system.Anonymous
June 27, 2011
@Parrotlover77 Windows XP is in extended support. It is ancient history and people using it should start to face up to the reality that XP will be disappearing fastAnonymous
June 27, 2011
I bought a new PC because the one I had was old, and because IE9 looked blurry. On my brand new Sandy Bridge PC, IE9 STILL looks blurry and I tried all the workarounds - Yes, I tried them ALL, including:
- Turning software based rendering on/off
- Cleartype tuner IMHO you can not be proud of IE9 until you fix the blurry fonts problem.
Anonymous
June 27, 2011
I bought my computerless than 2 years ago with XP included!!! With IE9 you are telling me that my computer is all ready obsolete??? In that case I should get the update to windows 7 free!!!Anonymous
June 27, 2011
@hAI The market should determine that, not the company.Anonymous
June 27, 2011
@hAI The market should determine that, not the company.Anonymous
June 27, 2011
Granger, wrong - again as someone in the top of the industry, the ONLY reason we don't switch away from IE, is NOT because it is shipped with Windows. my goodness really? It is because it is stable, it works so great with all products, it is so easy to test with, and saves Millions when rolling out new software, because you know you have something stable, for a while so you can plan release schedules without having to incorporate other influences such as weekly updates to a not stable environment. Don't guess, ask, IT managers all over love IE. Stable, easy to write for and plan with. And did you say XP? Oh come on, XP? Keep your computers up to date. Even windows only supports SP3 on that anymore. Oh well, peace brother, don't hate, love.Anonymous
June 27, 2011
The market does determine what IE Does. As one of those large companies, I know this, I have sat at tables with them on vid, working out what our issues with say IE8 were, or a recent patch, while we were introducing new Net abilities for our customers, they input it into patches that were part of a full company update. A lot of you don't know what goes on behind the scenes. I am amazed how IE and MS get at the table with companies, sleeves up, solving issues, writing code - resolving issues. Peace.Anonymous
June 27, 2011
Gord: Appeals to authority; at any rate, what industry are you in the top of? Are you honestly of the opinion that Internet Explorer is stable, or that it works great with all products? Do you realize the only reason it would work great is because web designers/developers like me have to put Internet-Explorer specific code in our web pages to MAKE it work, or else lose about 50 percent of our userbase that doesn't care what web browser they use? Also, I don't want to sound like an XP Evangelist, as I said, I'm a linux user, I use Fedora 15 x86. Doesn't it concern Microsoft at all that all their users liked XP better than Vista and Windows 7? Isn't that a sign that users don't like bulky, ugly, slow operating systems?Anonymous
June 27, 2011
I am constantly running into issues using IE9 as my default browser. So often, in fact, that I have to keep a copy of Chrome on my PC just to be able to do things. Gmail and some other google sites don't work with IE9. The Facebook "Movies" application doesn't work with it. I've run into surveys on news sites (like TIME.COM) that don't work with IE9. It's kind of frustrating.Anonymous
June 27, 2011
Granger, sorry, but Win7 is sleek and fast and vastly more powerful and useable than XP. Going from Win7 to XP is like going from XP to Windows 3.11. It's painful. Vista was a problem when it was released. After SP1 it was much better. But there are very few machines that can run XP that can't run Win7. And XP is just bulky, ugly, and sluggish to me now. XP users need to update. XP is over 10 years old. It's ancient. The only people who should be running it are people with 10+ year old PCs who have no desire to upgrade. Unfortunately there are too many of those, and they are the ones holding everyone else back. Users don't like XP better than Win7 (quite the opposite for anyone that has used both). Users staying with XP are just stuck in a rut of inertia. Nothing more.Anonymous
June 27, 2011
Whatever you say about Windows XP, keep in mind, I'm an outside observer. I don't use Windows. At all, ever. Not even for video-games. Companies should never try to tell their customers what to buy. It's not their place. It's like a homeless person giving financial advice. Customers prefer Windows XP. If they didn't, we wouldn't be discussing this right now, because it would be a non-issue. No matter how much slicker, cooler, and-feature packed Windows 7 is, the fact of the matter is the average computer user prefers Windows XP. They are still selling netbooks and laptops with Windows XP. People are going to extreme lengths to rid themselves of Windows 7, to the point where pirating a hacked edition of Windows XP is actually preferable to running a legitimate copy. How does a company see this and go "No, you're all wrong! You actually like Windows 7!"?Anonymous
June 27, 2011
@Granger - "Doesn't it concern Microsoft at all that all their users liked XP better than Vista and Windows 7?" I've got some big news for you - the XP diehards are a minority. A very vocal minority (otherwise we wouldn't even know they exist - just like other minorities), but a very small minority. Sadly, these diehards are the kind of people who get the most attention from their friends/family (which is one of the main reasons people still use XP - I've seen a lot of "this computer came with Vista/7 but my friend-who-knows-a-lot-about-computers told me XP was better and he installed it...what?..no, I didn't pay anything..."Anonymous
June 27, 2011
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June 27, 2011
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June 27, 2011
AntiLuddite: Everyone is happy smiling oh gosh so happy I can't even stand it oh wow I'm getting dizzy haha chinese hackers! Microsoft has slowly been losing stock value since January, and slowly losing market-share since way before that.Anonymous
June 27, 2011
@Too many sites don't work with IE9 "Gmail and some other google sites don't work with IE9." Sure they do. Millions of people are using gmail with IE9 fine. It seems therfore much more likely that you are having troubles with some other piece of software on your computer like a broken IE addon or some malware or adware disrupting your access to Google sites.Anonymous
June 27, 2011
Also, fun quote from Steve Ballmer: “Forty percent of servers run Windows, 60 percent run Linux…” Server operators are generally pretty techie. They represent the subset of society that actually knows what they're talking about. Windows phone 7 is a joke, too. It pales in comparison to Android and to a lesser extent iOS. The only reason that Windows wins on the home desktop market is because they have exclusivity contracts with the vast majority of pc manufactuers. This is occasionally referred to as the "Windows Tax", because most people are unaware of any companies that sell non-windows PCs.Anonymous
June 27, 2011
IE9 works in Gmail if you take IE9 out of Compatability Mode.Anonymous
June 27, 2011
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June 27, 2011
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June 27, 2011
I agree with others above: Fewer people nwould be abandoning nIE for Firefox or Chrome if XP users could upgrade to IE9. Yes, they wouldn't be able to take advantage of hardware acceleration but they'd still be able to get the other benefits. And XP is a workhorse... end of life or not, it's going to be around for a good long time yet.Anonymous
June 27, 2011
It does seem to be an 'or' question and Microsoft is clearly on the side of enterprises. To claim otherwise is an insult. If you were on my side as a consumer I wouldn't have to wait 2 years (!!!) between releases.Anonymous
June 27, 2011
Anti-Luddite: A more up-to-date statistic has Microsoft at 16 percent market share for servers, and linux at 71 percent. The difference is made of BSD and OSX servers for the most part. This is based off of "actual servers", not "registered servers", because most people don't register their server, and how exactly does one register a linux server, anyway? Nobody uses Windows Phone 7, most stores don't carry it because it doesn't sell, nobody has ever uttered the phrase "I really want that new Windows 7 phone", and as a former Windows 6.5 phone user, Windows phone is terrible. My HD2 was destroyed by my boot when I switched back to android. Also, I can say that I have used both Windows and Linux extensively. I used Windows until about 4 years ago, and now I use Linux exclusively on my home computer, but often times am required to fix my windows-using friends computers (it's important to note that I hardly, if ever, have to fix my friends' linux computers unless to inform them that it's a hardware malfunction).Linux is the better environment for the desktop. No, it's not the more popular one. As I said, Windows comes on almost all computers that aren't Macs, and the profit model for a free operating system is hardly one with room for advertising. Microsoft = greedy corporation Linux = computer users who help each other out.Anonymous
June 27, 2011
Whoops, put your name in the name field, as though I were choosing a sender. My bad, stupid texting...Anonymous
June 27, 2011
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June 27, 2011
@Too many sites don't work with IE9 The sites you specifically mention 'not working' with IE9 do work by default. Please try "Reset Internet Explorer Settings" from Internet Explorer Options Advanced tab. Else it might be a problematic add-on. Make sure all add-ons are up to date or use "IEXPLORE -EXTOFF" to test if any are causing problems. Visit windows.microsoft.com/.../ie-9 for further assistance.Anonymous
June 27, 2011
I am sticking with Mac OS and Firefox :-PAnonymous
June 27, 2011
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June 27, 2011
I really think IE9 was a great move in the right direction, with finally investing in standards and all... But this post is pure self-aggrandizement! "Tyranny of the OR"... don't make me laugh! Your competitors manage to release their newest Browser-Versions for a still supported WinXP (not even speaking of OSX and Linux) and you don't want to achieve that? I guess there's pretty big OR somewhere in that...Anonymous
June 27, 2011
Funny...I like frequent browser releases, where rendering issues are actually fixed, it doesn't break backwards compatibility, and does what it should. Rapid release browsers do this. IE does not. IE is a sluggard that barely passes on HTML/CSS compatibility, and just now at version 9 handles javascript the right way. The slow releases are the problem. Enterprise demands slow releases because enterprise software is terrible. Websites should be able to withstand browser upgrades. This is almost never the case with IE. Please, for the better of all of us, stop developing and supporting IE.Anonymous
June 27, 2011
"Enterprise demands slow releases because enterprise software is terrible." Here, Here! The web would be a much better place without Internet Explorer!Anonymous
June 27, 2011
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June 27, 2011
Menus / toolbars are the most intuitive and obvious way to access functions. Also, you can't possibly be saying that Windows 7 and it's asanine "ribbon" interface are anywhere near the user-friendliness/intuitiveness of the default Gnome in Ubuntu, and you're definitely deluded if you think that Windows 7 is prettier than the default Gnome look. Also, Gnome is more customizable. You can't really customize Windows 7 other than changing the basic color. At any rate, that's all opinion based. It's actually pretty difficult to get a Linux based netbook. Google shopping resulted in one refurbished linux netbook on the first page. Find me a couple good Linux netbooks.Anonymous
June 27, 2011
@Timothy Warren "and just now at version 9 handles javascript the right way" Actually IE9 handles javascript a fair way better than Chrome 12 does and about the same as FF5 which is 4 months newer. http://test262.ecmascript.org/Anonymous
June 27, 2011
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June 27, 2011
You're comparing the basic Gnome setup to Aero. How about comparing Compiz Fusion to Aero? You can't really. www.youtube.com/watchAnonymous
June 27, 2011
The day you ship a decent browser for the most used Operating System in the "entreprise" world (Windows XP) you may obtain the right to criticize other browsers vendors. For the time being just stop trying to create new fanboys from the IT world. We aren't stupid, the uproar about the new Firefox policy is due to the fact that we all know that Microsoft decided to let us rot with and old and slow browser and Firefox was the best available alternative.Anonymous
June 27, 2011
When I read the title I thought you were going to make an XP version IE 9 and an XP and Vista version of IE10... Funny how you think "All Windows Customers" are using the latest version of Windows, because that's not my experience, especially with the enterprise customers.Anonymous
June 27, 2011
anyone criticising the lack of IE9 for XP in a post that's about stability might be missing the point, which is that enterprises want to be left to use the thing that's working for them without it running out of support. IE6 is still getting security updates - after years. Other browsers stop being supported after weeks or months. Getting the new and shiny isn't a priority for some people - and if anyone can find me a business that wants to update browsers every six weeks I'll eat my hat...Anonymous
June 27, 2011
As the others do, Microsoft in here for giving a better and secured browse experience, must not expose functionally where for compatibility a simple button on interface would charge directly to the user different settings for work with. Just like in switch to Private Browsing, less checkings available must be in set as "Click and Use". Terms acknowledgements page must to advise what was in left out for this browser experience in a try to make things work faster. As i saw in here is that Internet Explorer do not want to put security in charge to the user, but maybe a configuration setting where it work as switch for "General BrowserInternet Explorer" is my contribution and market idea in here for make things work better. Thanks.Anonymous
June 27, 2011
Hey losers, if you care so much about your customers and do you really want that they run the latest and greatest software, i want to see upgrade from XP/Vista/Seven to Windows 8 with the same price tag like OS X 10.6 and 10.7Anonymous
June 27, 2011
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June 27, 2011
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June 27, 2011
@hAl : Windows XP on my old computer (core2duo e8500 3GBRAM HDD@5400RPM with tons of softwares installed) is faster than Windows 7 on my new computer (core i5 650 4GB RAM HDD@7200RPM with almost no softwares). There's no way XP will be gone soon. So, IE8 will be also there for a long time. Microsoft really should bring IE9 to XP. We'll see with Windows 8, if Microsoft can make it as fast as XP.Anonymous
June 27, 2011
IE8 still has the best UI of all browsers. IE9 took a big step back in this regard.Anonymous
June 27, 2011
I have windows 7 and i hate firefox, google chrome, etc. Lately windows have had a bug with me with the themes like i click on windows 7 basic theme then i click on windows 7 aero theme. It says it failed to change. I clicked on windows classic theme then go to windows 7 aero and it works.Anonymous
June 27, 2011
@AntiLuddite I hope you're joking. First of all, Linux is just a kernel, not an operating system. You will find that the Linux kernel is far superior to the Windows kernel in terms of performance. Same with the *BSD kernels as well. If you're talking about the GNU operating system, then the only argument I can see for not using it is for backwards compatibility with your Windows applications. As for desktop environments, this isn't limited to GNOME. There are plenty of other desktop environments out there: KDE, Xfce, LXDE etc. As for Internet Explorer, I have no idea what you're talking about. Out of all of the browsers I have tried, the only major browser worse than IE was Safari.Anonymous
June 27, 2011
With regards to Microsoft's criticism of Mozilla: Many businesses have the belief that their web browser only needs to be updated every few years. Six months is a long time. If Mozilla says they don't want to support businesses, I can almost see why. I don't see any reason why Mozilla-based browsers couldn't be used at an enterprise level (except for ignorance).Anonymous
June 27, 2011
"We want all Windows customers to have the best experience of the Web." Hey, come on now! Don't give up on Internet Explorer!Anonymous
June 27, 2011
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June 27, 2011
People slating GNOME for not looking pretty clearly haven't spent much time with it. As a poster above said, Compiz Fusion enables a great hardware-accelerated, shiny-looking GUI. I don't see how anyone can stick to just one operating system these days, especially if you're a web developer. I use Windows / Linux, IIS / Apache, PHP / C#, and I'm fond of all them, they all have different strengths (and admittedly weaknesses). Windows XP users should stop whining - you're using an old operating system. If nothing else, upgrade for the added security of Windows 7, in addition to all the great new features.Anonymous
June 27, 2011
O the hypocrisy!! All Windows customers? No wait ONLY Windows 7 customers. XP is not even Windows any more. Wait, neither is Vista considered Windows because IE10 is only being offered for Windows 7. O the hypocrisy!Anonymous
June 27, 2011
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June 27, 2011
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June 27, 2011
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June 27, 2011
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June 27, 2011
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June 27, 2011
But i like GNU´s and windows´ C libraries.Anonymous
June 27, 2011
Sorry: C Standard library, not windows´ C libraryAnonymous
June 27, 2011
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June 27, 2011
@hdmi msmvps.com/.../issue-with-ie9-and-the-exchange-2010-management-console.aspx slow goingAnonymous
June 27, 2011
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June 28, 2011
Wow. I was censored for being unflattering?Anonymous
June 28, 2011
An excellent counterpoint: arstechnica.com/.../firefox-update-policy-the-enterprise-is-wrong-not-mozilla.arsAnonymous
June 28, 2011
"They are considering a fix to be delivered later this year" no rush guys. i'll just avoid ie9 like a bill collectorAnonymous
June 28, 2011
@Claude Wolteche, If you bought your computer two years ago with XP, your computer isn't obsolete. It can still do the tasks it was purchased to do. What it won't be able to do is advance with new platforms/applications.Anonymous
June 28, 2011
And Windows8 will not support IE8 or less or, iirc, even IE9. Who is calling the kettle black? Since when has Microsoft been the bastion of support for all customers?Anonymous
June 28, 2011
@Rob: What MS means is that they'll continue to provide security patches even for old versions, not just the greatest and latest browser from them like Mozilla is doing. That is what this blog post is about, not that they'll make sure each IE version runs on all of their past, present and future OS.Anonymous
June 28, 2011
What sane person uses IE?Anonymous
June 28, 2011
Your biggest mistake with this post is trying to equate windows with enterprise, then saying ie is therefor the browser best suited for enterprise. IE for windows. Fine. I get it. IE for ANYTHING ELSE, not so much. Enterprise level service should include your product on competing platforms, like OS X. Minimally OS X. Having a browser that only runs on one system is not enterprise.Anonymous
June 28, 2011
firefox 4.0 has some bugs , when I open http://www.seriesdvds.com , it's crushed .Anonymous
June 28, 2011
This seems like a joke to me. Although I use Windows, I don't think IE will ever be a browser for me.Anonymous
June 28, 2011
IE9 is the new IE6. Supported until 2020? Well done again, MS, holding back the Internet as usual. I hope web developers in 2020 will curse you all day.Anonymous
June 28, 2011
@IE9 is the new IE6 - An old version of browser holds internet back until it is used by people, not until it is supported.Anonymous
June 29, 2011
My comments don't seem to go through :( People, please realize that Win 7 shipped with IE8, so it's actually IE8 we have to support until 2020. And that, dear Microsoft, is your very own, self-created OR. Though, I have to admit that updating IE became a lot easier over the last few years.Anonymous
June 29, 2011
@Claude Wolteche : forget that. XP is fast and Vista/7 slow. So you're lucky to have XP :) @jader3rd : he'll still be able to do new stuff on the web... just without IE.Anonymous
July 01, 2011
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July 01, 2011
I can still install Firefox 3 despite them being version 200 next month, and it will still work better than IE8 and below in 10 years.Anonymous
July 02, 2011
"An old version of browser holds internet back until it is used by people, not until it is supported." For example, IE 5.01 SP4 on Win2000 was supported until 2010. But in practice IE 5.x was already dying by 2005.Anonymous
July 04, 2011
JFTR: Five IE = 6+7+8+9+10, seven OS = XP/SP3+2003/SP?+Vista/SP1+2008+7 plus two I don't know. This does not cover IE6 on windows 2000 since 2010-06, not even basic security fixes. It also doesn't offer an upgrade path for these boxes (typically with limited RAM), not even for folks willing to pay (not too much) for an upgrade.Anonymous
July 05, 2011
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