IE8-beta-logo.png

[Oct 6, 2009 Update: IE is certified with EBS 11i; see this article.]

[Sept 11, 2009 Update: IE8 is certified with EBS 12; see this article]

Brace yourself: another browser is coming.  It looks like Microsoft is gearing up for an imminent release of Internet Explorer 8.  Neither Oracle E-Business Suite
Release 11i nor 12 have been certified with IE8 yet.  Our latest tests of the IE8 Release Candidate drops have shown that there are a number of important compatibility issues that need to be resolved.

How Will IE 8 Be Rolled Out?

Microsoft plans to update IE8 via Automatic Update, Windows Update, and Microsoft Update sites in the same manner as their rollout of IE7.  Microsoft states:

IE8 will be available for users on the following platforms:


  • Windows Vista 32bit and 64bit

  • Windows XP SP2 and above

  • Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2003 SP2 and above

The IE8 update will be released as the highest priority update for each operating system. For Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, it will be listed as Important. For Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, the update will be listed as High Priority.
Delivery of IE8 via AU will begin after we make IE8 available from the Microsoft Download Center.

Microsoft has just announced that they’ve made the IE8 Blocker Toolkit available to desktop administrators.  The IE8 Blocker Toolkit allows desktop administrators to prevent end-users from being automatically upgraded to IE8.  For full details,
see:

IE 8 Compatibility Issues Exist with the E-Business Suite

For emphasis, I’m going to repeat that neither Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i nor 12 have been certified with IE8 yet.  Our latest tests of the IE8 Release Candidate drops have shown that there are a number of important compatibility issues
that need to be resolved.  In other words, if your EBS end-users upgrade to IE8 before these compatibility issues are fixed, they will experience issues with Apps 11i or 12.

Therefore, it is imperative that your Apps users stay on IE7 until we announce our certification of IE8 with the E-Business Suite.

What If You Upgrade to IE 8 Before It’s Certified With Apps?

If you don’t need to access Apps 11i or 12, there won’t be any problems with upgrading to IE 8.  If you attempt to access the E-Business Suite, you will experience compatibility issues with IE8.

For now, Oracle Support engineers will try to reproduce any reported IE compatibility issues with IE 7, not IE 8.  If issues can be reproduced with IE 7, then Oracle Support will provide a workaround or log a bug, as appropriate.

If you experience issues that can only be reproduced on IE8, you will be advised to downgrade your browser to IE7 if you need to access the E-Business Suite.

Outlook for IE8 + E-Business Suite Certification

We’ve been working with the IE8 Release Candidates already, but there are some issues that have been slowing this browser’s certification with both Apps 11i and 12.  Internet Explorer 8 changes its rendering and handling of web pages in a number of
important ways.  This directly affects its E-Business Suite compatibility.

Perhaps more importantly, our extensive set of automated regression tests for the E-Business Suite are built with HP Mercury WinRunner, which is not compatible with
IE8.  This means that all of our E-Business Suite products need to be tested with IE 8 manually, instead of with our automated testing tools.  These manual tests will take more time to complete, naturally.

I don’t have firm schedules for our IE8 certification yet. You’re welcome to monitor or subscribe to this blog for updates, which I’ll post as soon as soon as they’re available.

Which JRE Versions Are Certified With Which Browsers?

This depends on your Windows operating version and the browser that your firm has deployed. Various combinations of Windows XP, Windows Vista, Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) 6 and 7, and Firefox are now certified with JRE 1.5 and 1.6. To review the new
minimum certification levels, see:

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