Well, we’ve finally had our first vendor make the unfortunate move to support only Internet Explorer 10 and Internet Explorer 11. What an absolute headache!
Let’s forget about the problems that come up in multi-site businesses built around Microsoft’s Active Directory, and the inability we have to administrate group policies using Windows 7. Let’s also push aside the fact that Internet Explorer’s development is moving down the wrong road – of course, looking 10 years down, it’s debatable whether or not it will still exist.
What really chaps my hide (yee-haw!) is the fact that a well-established (and very large) organization would literally push its clients into an oblivion of new issues, simply to “keep up with the industry.” Yes, that was a quote from their support personnel.
For those of you who don’t know, AdvancedMD is owned and operated by the well-known ADP. The same company that probably cuts your paycheck is the same company that decided we all need Internet Explorer 10.
The current web browser marketshare is owned by Internet Explorer 8. Yes, it’s a little archaic. But hey, let’s get serious here, it’s tried and true. I would go as far as saying Internet Explorer 9 is a trusty reliable, but … That’s as far as I’m willing to go. I’m not even going to give Internet Explorer 10 any positive acknowledgement. It does nothing better than IE9.
For the past handful of weeks, ADP/AdvancedMD has been popping up error messages each time a user logs in, saying that IE9 is no longer supported and that we need to upgrade. In the past, according to their support, they have – very unfairly – locked clients out of their system for continuing use of Internet Explorer 7. I agree with not using IE7, but locking your clients out? Forcing them to upgrade their infrastructure?
You’re ADP, not Microsoft!
Since upgrading to IE10 for one of our medical clients, we have had nothing but problems. On the easier side of these issues, I’ve had to reboot about 12-15 times per day between Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, simply to edit IE10 group policies to my liking. That’s another beef I have, but not for this blog.
Looking at the more difficult trouble I’ve been dealing with, we now have a handful of systems using the most recent versions of Mac OS and Parallels Desktop 9 for Mac, running Windows 7 fully updated, that are now suffering serious video rendering issues. Each time IE10 throws a new popup window into the mix, there’s a high chance that it will come out either entirely as jumbled artifacts, or it will actually appear behind the now-inactive window.
Needless to say, these staff cannot work. And they are the (lucky) individuals responsible for billing and bringing money into the organization. We currently have Parallels working on a fix, but the lost resources (time, money, patience) are not coming without a price.
I must say this, and say it loud. No third-party organization should ever force any of its paying clients into a difficult situation that has the potential to severely affects operations.
Notice I say, “potential.” It’s not that all of our systems are having problems, only some of the more vital organs of our corporate body. The others are fine. But it is not a fair or wise business practice to open the doors for trouble like this, simply because the upper administration of AdvancedMD decided ActiveX and Internet Explorer was the right development road to take.
(I just pinched myself. It really is actually 2014. For a second, I thought it was 1998.)
Let me backtrack here for a second. I forgot to explain the AMD ActiveX controls. They are a fumbled bumbled mess. With such careless testing before launch, their all-in-one “installer application” does not even work on a freshly formatted system with Windows 7 in its most vanilla form. I wish that I could provide you all with a login/password, just so you experienced ActiveX/IE programmers can get a glimpse of how not to do something. And also – for those of you not affected by AdvancedMD’s lackluster support – a good laugh.
When you first load the page, it pops up a number of quick-to-disappear windows. The reasoning behind this? To cause issues with our systems, I think. After you log in, it pops up a few more that instantly disappear. What gives? It’s actually ridiculous, to be honest.
Within a space of about 4 months, they changed their system requirements from supporting only IE9 to supporting only IE10 and IE11. When I speak to them on the phone, they act as if it’s always been this way. We just rebuilt every single system in a multi-site business from Mac OS to Windows, simply to satisfy AdvancedMD in the first place. Now this …
The customer service and support of ADP’s AdvancedMD has been of no help. While fairly polite (aside from the time they hung up on me), they give a very firm, “Sorry, Charlie. That’s just how we do.” They also have no way of communicating with the developers, aside from a suggestion form on the webpage. Doesn’t make sense to me – do the developers have access to every single possible environment in the entire market? They must, because there’s absolutely no way that they could create an application that conforms to an infinite number of possibilities … Unless they used an industry standard!
Alright, that’s really all I’ve got. Believe me, there’s a lot more that I’d like to say, but we will see how this resolution is handled.
Thank goodness for the proper support from Parallels. Without them, we would be absolutely hosed by ADP and AdvancedMD.
Good times. Thanks again, AdvancedMD.
