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October 2008 JUST BROWSING Have you downloaded Google's slick new Chrome Web browser yet? Or the latest version of Firefox? Or perhaps you're test-driving one of the beta versions of Microsoft's next Internet Explorer upgrade. Heck, are you even using the current version of IE, which celebrates its second birthday this month?
The Web browser wars are heating up again, giving Web users a variety of choices in the tools and features they can use to surf from site to site. The latest browsers offer significant improvements in speed, security and compatibility. But some government tech shops have been slow to deploy even the latest versions of the tools to the staffs they support. And that means that many working at .gov e-mail addresses are experiencing a very different Internet than the one most citizens use. Utah turns out to be a good example. Data gathered last month by David Fletcher, the state's chief technology officer, and Bob Woolley, Utah's chief technical architect, show that a large percentage of government folks there are still using Internet Explorer 6, even though Internet Explorer 7 is now the dominant Web browser. In fact, Microsoft is close to releasing its next iteration, IE8, beta versions of which are already in circulation. One reason so many Utah state employees are still using IE6, Fletcher said, is that some critical applications -- such as the state's payroll system -- do not work in the newer browsers, and it is not easy to run IE6 and IE7 on the same computer. (Fletcher personally uses a workaround that lets him use IE6 via a tab in the free, open-source Firefox browser. Here's one such Firefox extension you can try -- but this obviously is not an easy-to-explain or easy-to-deploy solution for an entire enterprise.) CONTINUED BELOW
Dependencies on systems that require IE6 or even older versions "establish what is at present a de facto standard based on old technology," Fletcher and Woolley wrote in a recent report for the group that oversees the state's technological architecture. Fletcher also pointed out to me that Utah, like most other governments and large institutions, has not broadly deployed Vista, the most recent version of Microsoft's Windows operating system. He speculated that some of IE7's rapid take rate in the world at large comes from home users who have bought new PCs with Vista and the latest browser pre-installed. Fletcher said the state is pushing its payroll system provider and other vendors to upgrade the Web versions of their applications to work in the newer browsers, most of which were designed to comply with generic Web standards. Those standards, established and updated by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), aim to make it easier for users to have a common experience on any given site, no matter which tool they choose to view it. The standards also make it easier for developers to make pages and online tools that they can be confident will work on most people's computers. The spreading browser wars have already meant a dramatic shift in the mix of available Web-reading tools. NetApplications, a company that sells tools to Web developers and online marketers, is one of many services that try to track and measure the browser mix. Its market data, like others, shows that Microsoft is still clearly the dominant browser provider, with most IE users (nearly two-thirds) already having switched up to IE7. However, Microsoft's once overwhelmingly dominant share has shrunk to less than three-quarters of the overall browser market, with nearly 20 percent of Web browsing now being done with Firefox. Fletcher and Woolley saw a similar mix when they looked at which browsers external visitors to the Utah.gov Web site were using. While about 80 percent the site's visitors used some version of IE, 15 percent were on Firefox. That compared to the much lower 6 percent reach for Firefox on the government desktops that the state's Department of Technology Services supports. At Governing, we see similar patterns among our predominantly government online audience. Internet Explorer accounted for about 73 percent of the visits to our Web site last month, and IE6 accounted for about a third of all those visits. That's a noticeably higher rate of visits with IE6 than that browser's 25 percent market share would have led us to expect -- and perhaps another sign of that venerable old browser's staying power on government computers. The shift to IE7, IE8 and Firefox is going to create pressure on Web designers and developers, both in government and in the companies whose products they use, to make sure online services work with all the new browsers and the global Web standards they support. And that pressure will only increase as BlackBerrys and other handheld gizmos create growing interest in accessing online services on a complex variety of mobile devices. So if you think sorting out your browser choices are complicated now, wait until the mayor or governor asks about accessing office systems on his new iPhone. LIFE IS 'TWEET' By the way, I thought to check in with Fletcher and Woolley on my browser war questions because they had mentioned their research on the subject on Twitter, a "microblogging" service that some use to stay in touch with personal and professional contacts in short 140-character messages. The messages -- or "tweets" -- are kept so short so that they can be delivered via the Web, mobile text message or other means, depending on the recipient's preferences. Governing's Ellen Perlman explored the public communications possibilities of Twitter in a column on the L.A. Fire Department in December. Fletcher and Woolley are among a handful of government techies I am "following" on this service, as I noted in a recent Blog post that used my collected Twitter comments to sum up the highlights from last month's meeting of the National Association of State Chief Information Officers in Milwaukee. If you're a Twitter user too, or if your department or agency is using it to communicate internally or with the public, please show yourself. You'll find me here.... FOLLOW THE MONEY The current financial crisis is having dramatic effects in the states and localities -- from tax revenue to the bond market. In the months ahead, fiscal realities will constrain many governments' ability to respond, just as some citizens will need public services more than ever, and when public investments might be sought to help offset the private sector's downturn. With those realities in mind, Governing will soon launch a new monthly e-mail newsletter to track issues related to state and municipal finance -- from revenue trends to budgeting practices to the challenges of managing benefits and other long-term obligations. Subscribe today. DEALS Raytheon will provide an APCO Project 25 radio system for public safety agencies in five eastern Idaho counties as part of a multimillion-dollar contract awarded to Teton Communications to implement a standardized wide-area interoperable communications system. Rhode Island's Department of Children, Youth and Families and the state's Family Court have contracted with VisionWare for the company's MultiVue Identification Server for client identity matching across agencies. CivicPlus will develop and host Web sites and provide its content-management system for Cloverdale, Calif.; Emeryville, Calif.; Fort Myers Beach, Fla.; Hyattsville, Md.; Mineral Wells, Texas; Morrisville, N.C.; Morro Bay, Calif.; New Smyrna Beach, Fla.; and Sturgis, S.D. A video security system composed of Cisco’s Video Surveillance Manager, Proximex' Surveillint system and Agent Vi's video analytics software will be deployed by Amtrak to protect its Los Angeles and Oakland maintenance yards. The Texas Department of Information Resources has awarded a network-security master contract to Northrop Grumman, allowing public-sector buyers to purchase IT security services from the company. The contract is potentially worth $1 million over four years. The Phoenix-based Salt River Project has contracted with Tyco Electronics Wireless Systems to upgrade the utility’s existing 900 MHz EDACS communication system to an Internet Protocol-based v900 MHz OpenSky system. The Florida Department of Transportation will implement Autodesk's AutoCAD Civil 3D software, enabling engineers to access and integrate existing data from across the department to develop roadway designs. The South Dakota Bureau of Finance and Management has selected Perceptive Software's ImageNow document management, imaging and workflow software for implementation in its human resources, benefits, worker's compensation and classification/training departments. Deals are updated daily on Governing.com's technology news page
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