But if that's the case, isn't that likely because they have internal applications that are IE only? It seems more like a marketing thing--Overcome people's inhibitions by letting them feel like they "only" installed a plugin and are still running IE.
Yes, but you realize that this is a self defeating argument, right? People who aren't using IE had to install the plugin themselves. Doesn't impact people who do use IE, the target market for this Google plugin.
There are a lot of companies using IE-only web apps (if you can call them that) that only work with older versions of Internet Explorer. It's pretty unfortunate.
Of course they are. I would be seriously worried of using M$ products if their developers still used IE for development. That said, I yearn the day that IE is happily buried in its own filth. No later than today I had spend 3 hours fighting unexpected IE behaviour. Sigh..
When will IE allow decent plugin development? Right now you need to jump through hoops, mess with c++ code, compile dll(s) and hope the user will actually install external exe. Insane.
Its pretty common for big companies to have internal apps designed exclusively for various versions of IE, because they can control what browsers their employees use, but this is just plain ridiculous!
When you design and build a web app for public consumption you need to develop for ALL major browsers or risk losing business. These guys are nuts!
No, but for large windows installations based on active directory it's the only one they can easily manage. Other browsers need to provide an MSI installer to make it easy, though after 5.5 years of asking, Firefox still doesn't have one:
It used to be that many companies were stuck with IE because they bought complex products that only support IE (and an older version of IE at that) to manage their business with. Fortunately a lot of the worst of that stuff has gone away. But it's still out there (though in many cases the employees use IE only to talk to BogusLegacyProduct and use Chrome for everything else).
I'd argue that IE is primarily used in corporate settings, when silently upgrading software is a big no-no. Everything has to be tested by the IT/IS department and rolled out in a controlled fashion.
That is the case at my company, over half of the web based applications that we have to use are built exclusively for IE. It is a massive pain, but I do not see it changing any time soon.
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