Microsoft touts Internet Explorer for businesses in face of Mozilla claims

Microsoft has used Mozilla's comments that it doesn't care about business users to tout its work at supporting both enterprise and individual users of the many versions of its Internet Explorer browser.

Firefox product manager Asa Dotzler said that Mozilla is not interested in meeting the needs of companies using its browser after complaints that its 13-week development cycle is causing headaches for IT staff.

Dean Hachamovitch, Microsoft's corporate vice president for Internet Explorer, said in response that the company actively supports multiple versions of its browser to ensure that all users are fully supported.

"We do this because it's what customers need to fulfill their missions safely, reliably and in compliance with the requirements they have," he said in a blog post.

"Making the web better for large organisations is just as important as for consumers and developers."

Hachamovitch added that Microsoft does this to make life easier for IT managers in organisations supporting large numbers of users by offering a wealth of updates and new functions.

"Many Windows customers work in large organisations. Because we want these individuals to have the best experience of the web, we work to make it easier for IT to meet their needs," he said.

"So we support older versions of IE, and we build deployment, management and migration tools even as we deliver hardware acceleration, professional-grade standards support and innovative approaches to safety."

Despite the drum beating, IE has not always had the best reputation in the browser market. Issues of security surfaced throughout 2010, which forced Microsoft to proactively encourage users to ditch IE6.