Internet Explorer required: Your comments

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: GIBBS & BRADNER
09/20/05

Dear networking.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* Backspin columnist Mark Gibbs received lots of reader feedback
on how the FEMA's Individual Assistance Center Web site required
people filing claims to use Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6.0
* Links related to Gibbs & Bradner
* Featured reader resource
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Today's focus: Internet Explorer required: Your comments

By Mark Gibbs

Last week's column
<http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/2005/091205backspin.html>
discussing how the Federal Emergency Management Agency's
Individual Assistance Center Web site required people filing
claims to use Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6.0 generated a lot
of feedback.

Reader Gary McMillian wrote that this obsession with Internet
Explorer isn't restricted to FEMA: "The [Department of Defense]
insists on [Internet Explorer] to submit invoices through their
new Wide Area Work Flow [ WAWF
<http://www.acq.osd.mil/scst/wawf.html> ] system. At some point
in the future [the original deadline has passed], if you don't
use WAWF [and Internet Explorer] then you won't be able to
invoice the [Defense Department] and receive payment for work
done."

But that's not all. McMillian continued: "To add to the insult,
the group responsible for payments, the Defense Finance and
Accounting Service, requires [Internet Explorer] to access their
invoice inquiry system."

He agrees that legislation is required to keep the federal
government from mandating use of a particular vendor's browser.
Me, I think this requirement should extend to all federal and
state government departments as part of a larger strategy that
makes government information and services as widely accessible
as possible to Internet users.

But not all readers agreed. David Gray wrote, "I'm not a big fan
of government, but as a Webmaster and developer, I have to
disagree with your comments regarding government requiring
[Internet Explorer]. What would you say if they postponed having
a Web site to make sure it was compatible with the 10% to 15% of
the other users? I'm sure you'd complain that they don't have a
Web site!"

Having a Web site is a big step forward and, disregarding the
question of whether the content is really useful on these sites,
the elephant-in-the-room-sized issue is why is the FEMA site
browser-specific? We're talking about filling out forms, not
presenting exotic multimedia content.

A possible answer is that FEMA, like the Copyright Office, uses
a back-end system (the Copyright Office uses Siebel) that
doesn't integrate with anything but Internet Explorer. I can't
imagine how or why this limitation exists, but it shows a
remarkable lack of foresight on the part of any department that
uses such restrictive infrastructure this late in the game.

Even so, Gray saw this glass as half full: "This is government.
Be happy that they even have a site available!"

I also got a note from reader Wonko the Sane (so he claims) that
pointed out: "You don't have to go back far in Internet history
to know that all the Requests For Comment
<http://www.ietf.org/rfc.html> , which are in truth the de facto
standards of the Internet, must be submitted in plain text - the
lowest common denominator - so that any word or text processor
can read them."

He continued, "the fact remains that plain text is the rule. If
the basics are good enough for the Internet itself, they should
be good enough for everybody else."

Wonko pointed out that "increasing numbers of computer users are
moving to open standards such as Linux, and those institutions
who insist on going with the proprietary flow will alienate a
growing number of customers."

Going back to Gray, he also raised the issue that we live in a
democracy "in which the majority rules. And since 85% to 90% of
users use [Internet Explorer], I'd say [the government is]
catering to the majority for a change."

I must again disagree. A crucial goal of government should be to
provide service to the greater good, which is, in fact, an
objective that it embraced a long time ago.

In pursuit of this goal the government mandated Universal
Service for telephones and provides services in more than just
English, despite English being the majority language. It also
mandated provision for handicapped access despite the majority
being able-bodied.

So when it comes to Web browsers, the majority are not defined
by having IE6+ but through being HTML 4-compatible. Moreover,
don't you think in the litany of world-class screw-ups that
characterized the government's response to the New Orleans
disaster, the fact that this Web service didn't exist before the
flood shows just how disconnected FEMA has become from the job
it was supposed to be capable of doing?

Your answers to <mailto:backspin@gibbs.com>. PS. Check out (
Gearblog <http://www.networkworld.com/weblogs/gearblog/> ).

The top 5: Today's most-read stories

1. McAfee, Omniquad top anti-spyware test
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<http://www.networkworld.com/nlgibrad7353>

4. The rise of the IT architect
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlgibrad7170>

5. Volunteers rebuild Gulf Coast communications with wireless
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_______________________________________________________________
To contact: Mark Gibbs

Mark Gibbs is a consultant, author, journalist, and columnist
and he writes the weekly Backspin
<http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/gibbs.html> and Gearhead
<http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/gearhead.html> columns
in Network World, as well as the Gearblog blog
<http://www.networkworld.com/weblogs/gearblog/> . We'll spare
you the rest of the bio but if you want to know more, go to
<http://www.gibbs.com/mgbio>. Contact him at
<mailto:webapps@gibbs.com>
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by HP
FROM THE NETWORK CORE TO THE NETWORK EDGE

Traffic management becomes critical as your network
infrastructure expands to support different types of traffic and
users. Most traffic management solutions have serious
limitations: too expensive, difficult to use, and overly taxing
on bandwidth. However ProCurve Networking by HP addresses these
requirements, overcomes the limitations of other solutions, and
gives you valuable insight into LAN performance. Click here to
download HP's Traffic Management Whitepaper
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=115433
_______________________________________________________________
ARCHIVE LINKS

Gibbs archive:
http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/gibbs.html

Bradner archive:
http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/bradner.html
_______________________________________________________________
FEATURED READER RESOURCE

IS IT THE NETWORK OR THE STORAGE THAT'S THE PROBLEM?

Midsize and larger businesses often find their IT topology has
become a complex mix of servers, networks and storage systems.
Many of these companies also route long-haul traffic over
fiber-based networks - metropolitan-area networks, WANs and
private optical networks. Who's responsible when a
storage-related problem occurs on a fiber network? For more,
click here:

<http://www.networkworld.com/nlgibrad7172>
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