Application Software Development

Just when I thought the browser wars were pretty much a thing of the past, they are heating up again.  Web application development is difficult enough without having to worry about what version of what browser a client may be using.  

We just upgraded a couple of machines to IE 8 and guess what?  IE 8 is not compatable with our web based CRM!  IE 7 and FireFox 3 work fine, but in IE 8 the search fields are not input capable.  IE 8 provides for a “compatablity mode”, but hey that doesn’t work either.  I was wondering if Google Chrome would work, but in Chrome, the search fields don’t show up at all; the field labels are repeated. 

I was thinking about trying Opera, but stopped because how many web browsers do I really need on my machine any way?

In order for web applications to continue to flourish and expand, there has got to be adherence to standards by both application developers and software companies.  There are so many other applications that could be developed and expanded.  But what do we do with IT solutions?  Both vendors and developers shoot themselves in the foot by delivering applications and software that “stops working”. 

What's the business impact?
- Increased support costs.
- Increased applications development and testing time
- Less confidence by the user community of “IT not  being able to do anything right”.
- Less time and money to develop new applications.

As a reformed, application developer, maybe I should retitle this post “The Return of the Angry White Guy.”  I think instead, I’m going outside and shouting, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore”.