> doing something else to cater to Microsoft's backwards problem child
It isn't just old IE that can be a problem in corporate environments. I work on a product used by branch and admin staff in larger UK banks, and where an alternative is used it isn't usually an up-to-date one.
For the largest instance of the app, the most common UA in IE11 (in various compatibility modes for extra confusion) but IE8 is still common enough that we have to care. They seem to have skipped IE9 and IE10 completely. Edge is nowhere to be seen but that is expected as I don't think they've moved beyond Windows 7 for the most part (I still see XP in use). Chrome is in use in some parts of the business, but not the latest: the Chrome versions witnessed in the last month range from 40 (released at the start of 2015) to 59 (much better, only four releases back, but still 6 months old).
Though IE is the main problem, if you have commercial clients who use Chrome/Firefox/other you still need to be careful not to rely on enhancements that haven't been common for some time.
This confirms that the root problem is distribution. Even when you have an "evergreen" platform like Chrome, you can hobble it by requiring deployment through a central IT team. This also opens up attack vectors against the organisation.
Aside: I'd be really interested in whether these browser microclimates ever develop dependencies on old Chrome versions that end up being problematic to carry forward to newer versions.
It isn't just old IE that can be a problem in corporate environments. I work on a product used by branch and admin staff in larger UK banks, and where an alternative is used it isn't usually an up-to-date one.
For the largest instance of the app, the most common UA in IE11 (in various compatibility modes for extra confusion) but IE8 is still common enough that we have to care. They seem to have skipped IE9 and IE10 completely. Edge is nowhere to be seen but that is expected as I don't think they've moved beyond Windows 7 for the most part (I still see XP in use). Chrome is in use in some parts of the business, but not the latest: the Chrome versions witnessed in the last month range from 40 (released at the start of 2015) to 59 (much better, only four releases back, but still 6 months old).
Though IE is the main problem, if you have commercial clients who use Chrome/Firefox/other you still need to be careful not to rely on enhancements that haven't been common for some time.