Essentee supports the IE No More campaign

Sunday, 16 August 2009 14:35

A group of startups have started an initiative called IE6 No More. They have set up a website explaining why the Microsoft browser must be abandoned to promote innovation on the web. It then provides code snippets that can be added to a website telling website visitors still using IE6 to switch to a modern browser.

It's not a 'I hate Microsoft' move - just IE6 in particular.

Here are the main reasons:

• IE6 does not support CSS v2 (Cascading Style Sheets) let alone CSSv3. CSS enables most designs on the web, and so designers have to do a lot more extra work to get a website to display correctly in IE6.
• PNG images don’t display correctly in IE6, so you can't use them in design work. This limits designs to the 2001 era - no overlays, no graduated masks. You can't take advantage of the colour depth with small file sizes that PNG's provide.
• Security - Just like not updating your virus software can get you riddled with spyware, not updating your browser can be a gateway to attacks. There are even code snippets that will shut down IE6 (can be found on Wikipedia). It’s unstable.

W3Schools report in July that 14.4% of users are still on IE6. For the sites we monitor, the stats range from 6% to 12%. The lower stats are from sites with predominantly a NZ audience, so it might depend on where your visitors are based.

A lot of IE6 users will be those accessing the web from work, where conservative IT departments are reluctant to move to a more modern browser. Microsoft will be supporting IE6 until 2014, apparently due to the number of organisations still using the eight year old browser. But they comment that they would prefer people used IE8 - so why aren't they assisting those organisations to move? Probably a question for another post....<cough>Vista</cough>.

We'll be supporting the campaign by:

• Leaving the decision to support IE6 users to our clients - but building in additional cost for the time if required
• Educating people about the benefits of moving to later browsers
• Where the choice is ours, we will not go significantly out of our way to develop workarounds for IE6, but the sites will degrade gracefully if at all possible.

This would be our approach regardless of what the browser is. Eventually IE6 will be replace by IEx or Firefox x as the oldest most outdated browser out there, so the issue won't go away.

Cloud Computing Explained

Monday, 15 June 2009 13:08

Since 90% of people have never heard of it, I thought I’d post an explanation. Mostly sourced from Wikipedia:

What is it :

A style of computing where the user pays for applications and services provided by an external provider over the internet. They access the services via a browser, and the data …is stored on servers owned and managed by an external provider. The user does not need to invest in physical infrastructure such as hardware, knowledge or expertise but pays for the services they use. Some cloud computing models can be compared to our use of utilities such as power – we don’t all have generators in our back yards.

Why do it:

• Primarily to reduce the capital expenditure involved in setting up computer networks.
• You only pay for what you use
• Low management overheads
• Utilisation rates can increase if server use is spread out (i.e. no peaks and troughs) over time periods
• Reduces barriers to entry and risk associated with investing in upfront costs
• Potentially better performance (speed, reliability, security) for companies who can’t afford specialists to deliver optimum performance networks
• Flexibility in terms of user location and device

Concerns:

• Vendor lock in and questionable ethics may lead to spiralling costs over time that the user is unable to break from
• Can only use services the vendor offers which may be restrictive
• Unable to install new applications at will or in a timely fashion
• Data is stored with third party so privacy and security of data may be at increased risk
• Multiple regulatory environments as ‘the cloud’ spans multiple geographical jurisdictions
• Physical co-location of data may increase risk by association
• Data and services (and therefore operation of users business) reliant on viability of provider organisation

Well known examples:

• Skype
• Facebook
• Microsoft’s Software plus services that offer services such as email and document management, collaboration and CRM tools
• iPhone (for application delivery)
• PayPal
• Google Maps
• Amazon Simple Storage

See this video Explaining Cloud Computing if you want an explanation with pictures.

Some supporters say it’s the way of the future, particularly for small and medium businesses. I suspect they’re right, but I guess we’ll see... remember the hype round Thin Client....