IE still top Web browser for feds after 15 years

Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser remains the only web browser used by employees of the General Services Administration 15 years after its launch, according to an agency spokesperson.

The Web browser celebrated its 15th anniversary Monday and continues to be the most popular browser in the world despite competition from Mozilla's Firefox, Apple's Safari and Google's Chrome, among others. Internet Explorer also remains the only Web browser used by the General Services Administration, the federal government's chief purchasing agency and often the leader for innovation within the executive branch.

"Each agency can decide for itself, but there is a floor of safety features that need to be included," said a GSA spokesperson on the government's policy, adding that for GSA, Internet Explorer is the only approved Web browser.

The Bush administration began a governmentwide movement toward standardizing the applications and desktop configurations used by federal employees, a trend that has continued under the Obama administration. One byproduct of that shift was the outlawing of non-IE browsers at some federal agencies.

Last year, State Department employees used a townhall meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to request access to Firefox. Applicants for federal grants also complained that the website the government uses to process applications is only compatible with Internet Explorer.

The Office of Management and Budget did not respond to a request for information on browser preferences across the government, but it is believed that Internet Explorer dominates at all but a few small federal offices. Microsoft is slated to begin beta testing the latest version, Internet Explorer 9, next month.