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RE: IE only .gov site

for

From: Hoffman, Allen
Date: Aug 15, 2005 7:40AM

I think an IE-only public facing site might fly on grounds that other
alternatives may not fit into current available deployment strategies
and resources. For example, if a more open site to accomplish the same
tasks were to be cost prohibitive within the available resources of the
USPTO, then maybe this is reasonable. I am skeptical that multi-browser
apps can't be produced however. It doesn't logically flow for me on
technical merit that piloting a single browser system is a good strategy
for piloting--as the "fixing" of the pilot may be prohibitive due to
constraints placed by excluding the multi-browser aspects in the
beginning. If a technical framework is established that only requires
minor add-ons to address other browsers later in the pilot, maybe, but
this would need to be clearly established as the development
methodology. Don't lock in, or lock-out would be my approach to such an
effort. Understanding what portion of the audience might be excluded
from this portion of a pilot would also be important to document, as
that portion might just have the key input needed for success.