[BLOG] US Firm Offers its Customers a Free Computer to help them move from IE7

[CrimsonShade]

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It's a well-known fact that before Internet Explorer 8, Microsoft's self-developed browser had quite an established reputation for being both insecure, with many bugs and vulnerabilities; and for being very flippant on HTML standards and breaking websites that, under official HTML guidelines, should work perfectly on all browsers (and usually did, on everything EXCEPT IE). However, since IE8 Microsoft has upped its game; and every Internet Explorer version since has been improving both in terms of standards-compliance and security.



Unfortunately, in the attempt to secure the browser, one of the fixes in recent Windows Internet Explorer versions removed the ability to use ActiveX tools within Internet Explorer. For some businesses, this is unacceptable, because developers in the last decade often developed web-based tools such as account management and business productivity tools that these businesses make strong use of, that took advantage of ActiveX - so these tools not only don't work in other browsers, but now won't work with modern IE systems either. With many of these businesses having strong reliance on these tools and unable to replace them with a modern version that doesn't need the legacy baggage, many businesses are forced to stick with old Internet Explorer versions - and usually, the highest they can go is Internet Explorer 7. This means despite all the recent work by Microsoft to improve Internet Explorer, some businesses are still using a version that's insecure and doesn't respect internet standards; and web developers still have to adapt their websites accordingly if they plan to let these businesses see their work.



Many of those web developers state that in some cases, just giving those businesses whole new computers would be cheaper than supporting IE7 - software now five releases out of date. Now one business is putting their money on the table to test the theory. NursingJobs.us has determined it is cheaper to buy each customer using IE7 a brand new computer running a “modern” browser rather than making its slick new site IE7 compatible. The company is a recruitment site for nurses and medical employers, based in Microsoft’s home state of Washington; and following a new website launch, the company has told it users they'll get a better experience using their new site, which has been revamped for mobile and tablets, on modern computers, devices and browsers.



“Some of our clients are still stuck with IE7 so we decided to make a bold offer, one that initially seemed crazy to us but now makes a lot of sense,” says a blog post the site.



“We are offering to buy a new computer with a modern browser for any of our customers who are stuck with IE7. We determined that it would cost us more to support a browser from 2006 in 2014 and beyond than it would to help our clients upgrade their legacy hardware.”



NursingJobs.us reckons IE7 makes up 1.22 per cent of its traffic.