On Thu, Jun 14, 2012 at 5:21 AM, Arun Ganesh arun.planemad@gmail.comwrote:
6% of wikimedia project page views are from IE6/7 - because of the
following:
- IE6 ships default with XP
- Legal users with SP2+ can upgrade to IE8
- If you have 90s era hardware, no SP for you. Can only be solved by buying
some new hardware (or switching to linux)
- IT admins who dont know much about IT and have kept the workforce hostage
through their ignorance. Can be solved if the workforce and boss demands it.
I'd like to reframe these examples.
First, as I understand it, most IE6/IE7 users globally are running pirated versions of Windows. For financial or political reasons, they will not or can not acquire legal versions and thus can't upgrade their browsers.
Second is certain types of Enterprise shops. Before I was hired at WMF, I worked for a company that processes complex financial records for pharmacies participating in a US federal program that reimburses pharmacies for the cost of drugs prescribed for indigent patients. Well over 50% of our users were on IE6/7. This was for two reasons: one is that these pharmacies are in the business of selling drugs, and IT is only a tiny part of their operation. Second is that with millions and millions of dollars passing through a system regulated by HIPAA and other laws, the risk of upgrading is seen as higher than the risk of using old tech.
I don't think we can dismiss IE6/7 users cavalierly.