• UK Government to stick with IE6
    65 replies, posted
[quote="The Guardian"]The government has ruled out scrapping the use of Internet Explorer 6 on department computers, saying it will persevere with the bullet-riddled browser despite its high-profile vulnerabilities. Responding to an online petition with more than 6,000 signatures urging government departments to upgrade away from IE6, the government said such a move would be "a very large operation" potentially at "significant potential cost to the taxpayer". "It is therefore more cost-effective in many cases to continue to use IE6 and rely on other measures, such as firewalls and malware-scanning software, to further protect public sector internet users," reads the statement. The petition, set up by Dan Frydman, director of Inigo Media, launched the day after Google announced it would be phasing out support for the Microsoft browser after the company's corporate network was broken into by Chinese hackers using a vulnerability in IE6. The (pre-election) cabinet office signalled its intention to stick with IE6 in January this year, despite governments in both France and Germany advising people to stop using it. Frydman responded to today's government decision on his blog, expressing disappointment that the possibility of an upgrade across any department was ruled out so off-handedly. "What I was looking for was a recommendation to upgrade away from IE6," he says. "A recommendation isn't hard, it's cheap and easy and isn't an admission of guilt. It puts the onus on the government departments to modernise, to innovate and to take care of [on] their own. "There's not a chance that we can always get what we want. Sometimes we just need to get what we can. Recommending the move would have been great. Not recommending it is short-sighted and diminishes ambition just at the time when we need it." Microsoft sought to play down IE6 security shortcomings in a blog post back in January, days before releasing a patch to solve the issue. In the meantime, the Twittersphere is keeping the heat on the browser nearing its 10th anniversary.[/quote] [B]Source:[/B] [URL]http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/pda/2010/jul/30/internet-explorer-6-uk-government[/URL]
Well as long as it's for use within their network I don't see any harm in it.
Yay, my government is saving money.
You'd think by now that there'd be some cost effective way of upgrading a mass amount of computers for a low cost.
[QUOTE=WeekendWarrior;23756791]Yay, my government are dipshits. :downs:[/QUOTE] *The old government. [quote]The (pre-election) cabinet office signalled its intention to stick with IE6 in January this year[/quote]
[quote]Responding to an online petition with more than 6,000 signatures urging government departments to upgrade away from IE6, the government said such a move would be "a very large operation" potentially at "significant potential cost to the taxpayer".[/quote] As we all know free browsers totally cost money to install oh wait no they don't.
[quote]the government said such a move would be "a very large operation" potentially at "significant potential cost to the taxpayer".[/quote] How? because someone can't go around with chrome or firefox on a usb and install it over a few weeks or something.
I hate my country
[QUOTE=markg06;23756802]As we all know free browsers totally cost money to install oh wait no they don't.[/QUOTE] It said it will be a 'very large operation' meaning there could be hundreds or thousands of computers. No one is going upgrade all of them for free.
the British government is terribly in debt as it is edit: £903.0 billion. (or 62.2% of National GDP) – Source: Office National Statistics [1] (page updated June 18, 2010) This kind of thing DOES cost a lot of money. If they can cut costs, good for them. even if it does come with some risks
and how hard is it to download firefox or any other web browser?
[QUOTE=starpluck;23756826] No one is going upgrade all of them for free.[/QUOTE]Is it really that hard to install a browser
I would do it. £0.05 a computer.
[QUOTE=krakadict;23756837]and how hard is it to download firefox or any other web browser?[/QUOTE] It's not just that, it's taking a group of computers out of service for a few moments, out of alot of services that are incredibly busy and don't exactly have spares hanging around. Then a computer technician has to spend their time installing software on thousands of computers, rather than doing their normal job, meaning they'd either have to bring somebody else in to cover, or hire somebody to do it all. Then they have to configure department-specific roles and setting to the browsers (Intra-net, content blocks, ad blocks, script blocks, etc) to thousands more computers. So yes, it's a big deal and can be expensive. Would you seriously expect that half the service workers know how to set up and configure software? Alot of service workers I know can use a computer, but not install/configure anything on a computer.
Teach computer users what to do. They just need to switch to a different browser, like chrome or firefox right? It's not that hard to do that... (correct me if im wrong) [editline]01:42PM[/editline] [QUOTE=MrEndangered;23756948]It's not just that, it's taking a group of computers out of service for a few moments, out of alot of services that are incredibly busy and don't exactly have spares hanging around. Then a computer technician has to spend their time installing software on thousands of computers, rather than doing their normal job, meaning they'd either have to bring somebody else in to cover, or hire somebody to do it all. Then they have to configure department-specific roles and setting to the browsers (Intra-net, content blocks, ad blocks, script blocks, etc) to thousands more computers. So yes, it's a big deal and can be expensive. Would you seriously expect that half the service workers know how to set up and configure software? Alot of service workers I know can use a computer, but not install/configure anything on a computer.[/QUOTE] Oh... Nvm then :colbert:
Is it really that big a problem if they stick with IE6? Serious question.
[QUOTE=starpluck;23756826]It said it will be a 'very large operation' meaning there could be hundreds or thousands of computers. No one is going upgrade all of them for free.[/QUOTE] Then you send an email around going "yeah we're changing browers, we'll put the exe on for you just double click it and press next then it'll be done" and it's not like it's a super hard job installing a browser
[QUOTE=MrEndangered;23756948]It's not just that, it's taking a group of computers out of service for a few moments, out of alot of services that are incredibly busy and don't exactly have spares hanging around. Then a computer technician has to spend their time installing software on thousands of computers, rather than doing their normal job, meaning they'd either have to bring somebody else in to cover, or hire somebody to do it all. Then they have to configure department-specific roles and setting to the browsers (Intra-net, content blocks, ad blocks, script blocks, etc) to thousands more computers. So yes, it's a big deal and can be expensive. Would you seriously expect that half the service workers know how to set up and configure software? Alot of service workers I know can use a computer, but not install/configure anything on a computer.[/QUOTE] Plus some specific web based stuff will only run on IE6
[QUOTE=markg06;23757033]Then you send an email around going "yeah we're changing browers, we'll put the exe on for you just double click it and press next then it'll be done" and it's not like it's a super hard job installing a browser[/QUOTE] Urm, no. Like I said, all browsers need to be installed and configured for the needs of a department, you can't let people with varying experience with computers do it, since the techie will be spending all their time correcting configs. [editline]01:52PM[/editline] [QUOTE=mike;23757054]Plus some specific web based stuff will only run on IE6[/QUOTE] Also this, thank you Mike.
That's how China hacked Google. Wonderful idea.
Hooray for browsers released BEFORE 9/11.
[QUOTE=Llivavin;23756800]You'd think by now that there'd be some cost effective way of upgrading a mass amount of computers for a low cost.[/QUOTE] It's not the upgrading, it's the licensing fees, they are pretty expensive for just one and you need a looooot more than one. What's free for home users isn't free anywhere else. Licenses for Google Earth cost like $400 or something.
[QUOTE=starpluck;23756826]It said it will be a 'very large operation' meaning there could be hundreds or thousands of computers. No one is going upgrade all of them for free.[/QUOTE] I would assume that there is a worker for each computer, let them do it. It's pretty hard to fuck up installing a web browser.
Its fine to keep the most virus ridden browser around... You just dont tell people like its a achievement...
I'll be laughing my ass off when some hackers get into the computers trough IE6 [QUOTE=POLOPOZOZO;23757384]It's not the upgrading, it's the licensing fees, they are pretty expensive for just one and you need a looooot more than one. What's free for home users isn't free anywhere else. Licenses for Google Earth cost like $400 or something.[/QUOTE] Its not like they can't use a free browser, like FF or Chrome.
[quote]"significant potential cost to the taxpayer".[/quote] We have these idiots running our country? Upgrading Internet Explorer (Or any other browser for that matter) is free. Someone said something about the time and that costs, no it wouldnt. They will all be running on Client-Server networks so basically upgrading the servers browser means all the nodes would have the upgraded browser. How do I know its a client-server network? I don't, but it would be sure as hell a security risk for it not to be.
[QUOTE=James1o1o;23757603]We have these idiots running our country? Upgrading Internet Explorer (Or any other browser for that matter) is free. Someone said something about the time and that costs, no it wouldnt. They will all be running on Client-Server networks so basically upgrading the servers browser means all the nodes would have the upgraded browser. How do I know its a client-server network? I don't, but it would be sure as hell a security risk for it not to be.[/QUOTE] We need to make you prime minister. Clearly you know more than anyone else and all the people in the government don't know what they're talking about. [/sarcasm] I hate it when people come along and start criticising an organisation when they have had no experience of working in it and just make blind assumptions.
How to do this: 1. Make an exploit that installs Chrome on infected PC's and uninstall IE6. 2. Email link to all staff. 3. Exploits uses IE6 loopholes to infect PC's and complete task. 4. Job done, free and quickly.
[QUOTE=SCopE5000;23757920]How to do this: 1. Make an exploit that installs Chrome on infected PC's and uninstall IE6. 2. Email link to all staff. 3. Exploits uses IE6 loopholes to infect PC's and complete task. 4. Job done, free and quickly.[/QUOTE] Well volunteered.
Well, if its not broken, don't fix it, right?
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.