It's a good idea to create a new browser that updates automatically every few weeks like chrome rather than IE, which normally can't update automatically because of corporate policies.
IE 11 has automatic updates, check out its "info" dialog! Though I saw several corporate PCs where the admins turned the autoupdate off.
Older IE got updates through Windows Update. The last IE version for WinXP was IE 8.
If IE 12 doesn't come with a transparent IE compatibility mode and just starts a IE 11 window, corporate admins will probably set IE 11 as default browser.
So developers of enterprise websites are stuck with IE 11 and its almost finished but a bit broken HTML5 support for years to come :(
It would be really nice if all browsers had an expiration date. If they haven't been updated in 12 months, they simply cease to operate in any way except to update themselves.
In which case I nominate you to field the billion support calls from people confused why their "Internet" is broken. No rather just silently update it.
But then corporations will simply disable automatic updates for PCs under their control. Don't underestimate the stubbornness of corporate IT departments!
Yes but... I used to work for a large financial institution that wouldn't let any of us do anything to our computers so we were all stuck with outdated IE that didn't update itself automatically
As a web developer, the reason for the problem is irrelevant. If your users are using an older browser, it doesn't matter why; you still have to support it. You and they probably have little influence over changing the policy.
It's a good idea to create a new browser that updates automatically every few weeks like chrome rather than IE, which normally can't update automatically because of corporate policies.
If IE is there primarily to access the corporate intranet and other work-related sites, as usually seems to be the case in this kind of environment, then that stability is a feature, not a bug.
The last thing you need as a sysadmin for an organisation with thousands of members is someone who thinks they know better "upgrading" their browser to a new version that no longer works properly with critical business sites/apps, has unknown or at least untested-by-IT security issues that therefore may or may not require mitigation at corporate tooling level, and so on. This is particularly true if, as almost invariably seems to be the case, that individual won't be the person who takes the flak when something breaks, violates regulatory compliance, creates a security problem, etc.
I doubt there is a single organisation anywhere in the world that has IE locked down at corporate level, yet where any legitimate business purpose would be better served by having browser software updated every few weeks.
I've heard once or twice that, after one of the IE-related antitrust cases, Microsoft has been imposed a pretty heavy official procedure to release a new version of IE, that contributes to the slowness of the release cycle.
If that's real, I wonder if this fork could have the additional benefit of circumventing this procedure.
