I covered the death of Internet Explorer last week. It turns out that’s not entirely true… oh, it’s dead and unsupported. But its legacy goes on.
First, in Japan, a large number of companies delayed any actions – and a March survey by information technology resource provider Keyman’s Net revealed 49% of respondents saying they used the browser for work.
They said the browser was used for employee attendance management, expenses settlement, and other internal tools. In some cases, they have no choice but to use Internet Explorer because of clients’ systems used to handle orders. Over 20% of these respondents did not know or had not figured out how to transition to other browsers after Internet Explorer’s retirement.
Government agencies are particularly slow to respond. The portal site for information on government procurement and bidding will switch its recommended browsers to Microsoft’s new Edge and Google Chrome on Thursday. But for Japan Pension Service, notices concerning online applications must be viewed in Edge’s Internet Explorer mode. The website of a government-backed mutual aid corporation for private schools still listed Internet Explorer as its only recommended browser.
And Wired dug into this, too — industry analysis indicates that Internet Explorer may still hold more than half a percent of the total global browser market share. And in the United States, that share may be closer to as much as 2 percent.
Why do we care?
I do not have a lot of sympathy for these companies that were appropriately warned. Let me observe that the articles highlighted the flood of calls that are coming into IT services firms now that there is a crisis.
My advice to them would be to charge a premium. Customer bad planning does not make a provider’s crisis. Providers are not a charity. Charge for the service. It’s a good business.