There has been a conversation going on in the forums of the Public Sector Social Media Community of Practice for little while now about the browsers made available to public sector workers. Most folk seem to be running something like internet explorer 6, but there is evidence that much older technology is being used.
This must be holding people back both in terms of being able to make the most of web 2.0 technology as part of the way we work, as well as using social web tools to better engage and increase participation.
To try and garner some more views on this, I have set up a simple survey using Google Docs to try and assess where we are with things, and to see if it is worth setting up a little campaign to get Firefox onto public sector workstations. We can dream…
If you are a public servant, or spend a significant amount of time using public sector IT, do please complete the survey – it won’t take five minutes, I promise.
More fundamentally Dave, there are security implications. I know of several departments still using Internet Explorer v5.5, despite the fact it’s been past its official ‘sell by’ date for several years.
The reality is, the web has moved on. People inside government departments need to use sites which need more modern functionality. Quite simply, IE6 no longer cuts it; and if a network-wide move to IE7 (and all that entails) is a step too far for some IT managers, Firefox is the ideal ‘third way’.
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