Is Internet Explorer 9 an "evergreen" browser? What about IE 10?

Asked 28/1, 2013 at 4:22 Answered 30/1, 2016 at 19:25

Solved internet-explorer browser internet-explorer-9 internet-explorer-10

Chrome and FF will silently update to newer versions and I've read that MS did an auto-upgrade for folks on IE6 & 7 to IE8 and from IE8 to 9. Has Microsoft stated whether or not 9 and 10 will be pushing out regular (weekly/monthly) silent updates or is it going to be similar to what they did to bump people from 6 & 7 up to 8?

Undersell answered 28/1, 2013 at 4:22 Comment(3)

Probably more fit for superuser.com – Diagnostic 28/1, 2013 at 4:30

Where did you hear that Microsoft auto-upgraded IE6/IE7 users to IE8? Old IE versions are largely used in companies that build applications integrated with specific IE versions and would break if IE just silently upgraded. – Sulph 28/1, 2013 at 4:34

Sorry I didn't cite a source: pcworld.com/article/246496/… – Undersell 28/1, 2013 at 6:35

The latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari are evergreen browsers, i.e. they automatically update themselves silently without prompting the user.

Microsoft started moving toward evergreen browsers as of IE10, the first major Internet Explorer release after Microsoft made the announcement it sounds like you are referencing. Through Windows Update, Microsoft automatically updates users to the latest version of Internet Explorer supported by their version of Windows: up to IE8 on Windows XP, up to IE9 on Windows Vista, while IE10 requires Windows 7. Technically, a user on Windows 7 with IE9 (provided they have a local admin account, automatic updating enabled) would be upgraded to IE10, but that doesn't make IE9 an evergreen browser; Vista users stuck with IE9 cannot upgrade.

Regardless, we are now most definitely in a new age of the web, where developers don't have to worry about supporting ancient browsers and can actually use the new features coming to the web platform. For what it's worth, I drew a line in the sand with a web application at Intel to only support evergreen browsers, and it makes me very happy to say so, having gone through the dark ages of supporting oldIE myself.

Bemock answered 27/9, 2013 at 21:28 Comment(5)

I would not consider IE9 as an evergreen browser, there's too much standing in the way of updates. I am not able to update because i am missing a service pack or something, which i am unable to install. I'm stuck on IE9. Even if i try to manually install IE10+ it complains about the missing service pack. – Grandson 19/5, 2014 at 7:41

I was at my doctors office a few months ago, and I noticed they had windows xp running. I asked why in the world they haven't upgraded, and they said the medical software company has different licenses for each version of windows and it was a 10k$ program, so they didn't care to upgrade any of their computers. People have their reasons for not upgrading, however, I think that licenses for software based on OS should be illegal because it forces people to keep things like our medical records on highly insecure computers – Fasciate 7/4, 2015 at 17:54

@EricWooley That is an issue in the pre-Windows 10 world. Since Windows 10 is evergreen, app makers cannot tie people to a version; but rather to feature-support. Plus, between you and me, if you are a medical office where doctors make money that looks like social security numbers, and you cannot spend $10K within a 10-year period on technology, technology is not the issue here. Its a people-issue. – Neustria 30/1, 2016 at 19:36

@phil That was one example, and it is still going to be an issue until every old computer is running something evergreen. Next problem OS on the list: Android. – Fasciate 3/2, 2016 at 21:27

IE is categorically not an evergreen browser. Edge is. – Dissolve 12/1, 2018 at 23:10

By "Evergreen browser", I mean a browser whereby only the latest version is supported by the manufacturer and most apps that support it. That said, no version of IE is evergreen. However, Microsoft Edge is evergreen.

To illustrate, if you have a bug or serious-issue, even in the immediate previous version, no developer nor browser-maker will fix it, IF it works fine in the latest and the browser is "Evergreen". You have to update it. On the opposite end, in like 2014, if you have a bug that occurs in IE 9 but not IE 10, the bug still has to be fixed, since both versions were within Microsoft's date of support (at that time). Microsoft or the developer responsible for the bug had to deal with multiple version of the same browser.

"Evergreen browser" has nothing to do with auto-update. That is just an updating strategy

Neustria answered 30/1, 2016 at 19:25 Comment(0)

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