Comments on: Is the IE6 Petition News? http://boakes.org/ie6-petition/ A place for words and data that I publish (for the benefit of persons unknown). Sun, 29 Apr 2012 16:09:17 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: Dan Frydman http://boakes.org/ie6-petition/comment-page-1/#comment-61876 Dan Frydman Mon, 02 Aug 2010 22:18:30 +0000 http://boakes.org/?p=1263#comment-61876 Hi Rich, back again and now I'd say that yes, the response from the government is news. They've said no - they won't recommend an upgrade on the basis of cost and that a well patched version of IE6 is just as secure as an install of IE8. Thought you might like to see the Guardian's take on the story (among others): <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/pda/2010/jul/30/internet-explorer-6-uk-government" rel="nofollow"><strong>Government rules out upgrading IE6</strong></a> Hasn't made it back to the BBC News website - I think their tech budget has been cut. It's not what it used to be... Hi Rich, back again and now I’d say that yes, the response from the government is news. They’ve said no – they won’t recommend an upgrade on the basis of cost and that a well patched version of IE6 is just as secure as an install of IE8.

Thought you might like to see the Guardian’s take on the story (among others):

Government rules out upgrading IE6

Hasn’t made it back to the BBC News website – I think their tech budget has been cut. It’s not what it used to be…

]]> By: Dan Frydman http://boakes.org/ie6-petition/comment-page-1/#comment-38678 Dan Frydman Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:18:32 +0000 http://boakes.org/?p=1263#comment-38678 I'd agree - it wasn't front page news by any means - I didn't think it would get picked up by the BBC, but would be a fringe issue on geek / web design sites and twitter. I wonder what kind of support other more deserving petitions would get. For the record, I didn't approach the BBC, I sent an email to a journalist at cnet.com who had written a post about the death of IE6. I thought he might like to do a follow up piece. He forwarded it to their writer who dealt with browser issues and he interviewed me on Monday night. The article appeared late on Monday night. I thought we might be lucky to get 1000 people to sign it by the end of the week (I mean, really lucky), but I think someone at the BBC technology desk must subscribe to the cnet feed and got it from there. Was it newsworthy in and of itself. Probably not. Was it topical on February 2nd? Absolutely. Would it be as topical today? No. Right time, right place, right wording, right audience. That kind of overlap is so hard to achieve and I have to be honest that it was a pure fluke that it came together as it did. I'm off on holiday now, so hoping it will go through 6000 by the time I come back :) I’d agree – it wasn’t front page news by any means – I didn’t think it would get picked up by the BBC, but would be a fringe issue on geek / web design sites and twitter. I wonder what kind of support other more deserving petitions would get.

For the record, I didn’t approach the BBC, I sent an email to a journalist at cnet.com who had written a post about the death of IE6. I thought he might like to do a follow up piece. He forwarded it to their writer who dealt with browser issues and he interviewed me on Monday night. The article appeared late on Monday night.

I thought we might be lucky to get 1000 people to sign it by the end of the week (I mean, really lucky), but I think someone at the BBC technology desk must subscribe to the cnet feed and got it from there.

Was it newsworthy in and of itself. Probably not. Was it topical on February 2nd? Absolutely. Would it be as topical today? No.

Right time, right place, right wording, right audience. That kind of overlap is so hard to achieve and I have to be honest that it was a pure fluke that it came together as it did.

I’m off on holiday now, so hoping it will go through 6000 by the time I come back :)

]]> By: Rich http://boakes.org/ie6-petition/comment-page-1/#comment-38609 Rich Wed, 03 Feb 2010 23:44:48 +0000 http://boakes.org/?p=1263#comment-38609 Hey Dan, is my secret IE6 fanbois petticoat showing? No I'm no fan :-) I'm in a better position than most to see and understand IEs flaws and I agree the petition is a good thing. My observation was only that the BBC had the time to report on the petition when it had just 44 signatures. The BBC is funded by license payers who have no choice but to pay the license fee, because the government says so. If BBC News starts reporting non-events in order to promote them so that they <em>then</em> become news, something has gone very wrong - especially if the reporting is used to subvert a democratic process, such as the petition system. Hey Dan, is my secret IE6 fanbois petticoat showing? No I’m no fan :-) I’m in a better position than most to see and understand IEs flaws and I agree the petition is a good thing.

My observation was only that the BBC had the time to report on the petition when it had just 44 signatures. The BBC is funded by license payers who have no choice but to pay the license fee, because the government says so. If BBC News starts reporting non-events in order to promote them so that they then become news, something has gone very wrong – especially if the reporting is used to subvert a democratic process, such as the petition system.

]]> By: Dan Frydman http://boakes.org/ie6-petition/comment-page-1/#comment-38608 Dan Frydman Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:04:49 +0000 http://boakes.org/?p=1263#comment-38608 Good point, but the BBC is good at spotting trends and they saw that the pieces were falling into place. I was very lucky, but ultimately this is about Microsoft IE6 and government IT departments. The news now is the public response. 5200 signatures in 48 hours shows some groundswell of opinion. Twitter is full of it. News outlets go for it and journalists are emailing for interviews. In their opinion it's news. The Beeb IS the tool for public sector marketing in the UK. If you like IE6 that's up to you of course ;) Good point, but the BBC is good at spotting trends and they saw that the pieces were falling into place. I was very lucky, but ultimately this is about Microsoft IE6 and government IT departments.

The news now is the public response. 5200 signatures in 48 hours shows some groundswell of opinion.

Twitter is full of it. News outlets go for it and journalists are emailing for interviews. In their opinion it’s news.

The Beeb IS the tool for public sector marketing in the UK.

If you like IE6 that’s up to you of course ;)

]]> By: Chris Samuel http://boakes.org/ie6-petition/comment-page-1/#comment-38563 Chris Samuel Tue, 02 Feb 2010 20:02:47 +0000 http://boakes.org/?p=1263#comment-38563 Hi Rich, I think the fact that Google have said they're going to phase out support for IE6 is more interesting.. http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2010/01/modern-browsers-for-modern-applications.html cheers! Chris Hi Rich,

I think the fact that Google have said they’re going to phase out support for IE6 is more interesting..

http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2010/01/modern-browsers-for-modern-applications.html

cheers!
Chris

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