Belgian Government Workers Ordered to Drop Firefox and Return to IE6

The government of the Walloon Region has ordered its local administrations to ban the use of Firefox on their networks, beginning today. It seems that the reasons are related to security and compatibility concerns and the recommended browser is Internet Explorer 6.

The eight-year-old Internet Explorer 6 represents around 25% of all browsers in use today, despite not being compatible with many modern web standards, and large websites such as YouTube slowly dropping support for it. The people who are wondering why IE6 is still so popular might find an answer in the latest decision of the Walloon Public Service (SPW), which chose it as the default and only browser allowed on its networks.

As Data News (French) informs, the order that required all SPW workers to uninstall Firefox before September 28 invoked unnamed security reasons. That's a bit strange, given that according to Secunia, IE6 still has some 22 unpatched vulnerabilities, with some moderately critical ones dating back to 2004. Leaving Firefox versus Internet Explorer comparisons and debates aside, even Microsoft admits that Internet Explorer 7 or Internet Explorer 8 are surely better browsers than IE6.

So, why weren't they chosen by the SPW instead? In general, browsers are trying to keep up with and support new technologies, but as it seems, in SPW's case, it is the other way around – the code of their internal applications used for accounting and budgeting is so old that is only supported by IE6. "A network of around 9,000 PCs requires a minimum of order and forces us to reduce costs and ensure an optimal compatibility with the chosen standards," Thierry Bertrand, Director Software Solutions and Projects in SPW, commented (translated from French).

Ironically, this decision also conflicts with the administration's own declaration of regional policy, which states that "at the Walloon level, the Government commits to promote and use, wherever possible, open standards and open source software." In this respect, the SPW noted that the decision was not final and that in the following months, it would study the alternatives more closely in order to choose the most optimal browser for its network.