Korean Job Discussion Forums

[myenglishisno]

I've heard a few people (including Koreans) complain about this. Apparently, some of their Korean sites are being made incompatible with Internet Explorer, specifically IE6.

As we all know for some damn reason, Koreans seem to be obsessed with IE6 and design most of their websites to only work in IE despite it being the worst, most dated and most bloatware prone browser on the market.

Do you think Korean websites will start offering support for Firefox, Opera, Safari and Chrome? Or is this just a dream?

[r122925]

I think it's possible, but it will be a long, slow, painful process. The number of sites that only work in internet explorer is simply huge. So even if 90% of the sites change, you'll still have to keep using IE for the other 10%.

Also something really needs to be done about banking/credit card payments. Due to government and bank policies as well as simple resistance to change these all require IE/ActiveX crap. There are plenty of sites that work just fine in firefox/safari/chrome right up until you try to pay for something.

[eamo]

When the government, banking, and Education dept websites get their act together and update then the rest of the country will follow suit.


I'm noticing more and more of my high school students have Google Chrome installed on their laptops........but I still can't convince them that they don't need to go to Naver for every search they do!!


People have a mis-perception about Korea because it's often described as 'the most wired country in the world'..............which it is. But that great broadband infrastructure is in contrast to the very mediocre tech people here use and the prevalence of outdated software.

Very few Koreans are 'early adapters'..........my Korean manager ooohh's and aaaah's when he stands over my computer running Windows 7 and Chrome.....like I'm a real early adapter.....but this stuff has been out for a couple of years now!

He's happy in his XP and IE6 rut. Been there for years and doesn't see any need to change.

[myenglishisno]

Yeah. My students think I'm weird for using Google to do searches, despite 99% of the world relying on only Google to do searches. They also "ooh and ahh" at my Windows 7 screen, Firefox and VLC player when I show them videos.

I think it's just because Korea is so insular. There is Korean internet versus the rest of the world and since that latter part isn't in Korean, most Koreans completely ignore it.

I saw the exact same thing in Japan. Much, much worse actually, as at least Koreans update their hardware. The Japanese don't and actual computers are scant in most workplaces (they prefer the old pen and paper approach which explains the enormous amount of redundancy in Japan and why their economy has been tanking the last few decades). I taught in Japan last year and had to rely on a single, shared computer in a public school with Windows 95 and if I wanted to move something, it was done on 3.44" floppies!

So Korea isn't that bad. I don't even fault them for using XP. I just find them extremely reluctant about adopting software that isn't 'inhouse' (isn't Korean). Same reason why my students believe K-pop is the best music in the world and Korean computer games > all other computer games.

[akcrono]

[myenglishisno]

[Chet Wautlands]

[Swampfox10mm]

It was true that korean sites often favored IE6 until a few years ago, but these days, what Korean sites are you finding that don't work with IE7 or even 8? And IE9 is not bloated -- it's very fast. I've been running it for a while, and have had few problems (and the Compatibility View is much improved).

We really haven't encountered any sites in the past year or two that haven't worked with IE7 on my wife's Korean computer, and she does about everything on that.... gov't stuff, shopping, etc.. I should probably upgrade her to 8 soon, or even 9, but I see little reason. Believe me, if she encountered any problems, I would hear about it!


You're probably seeing so many old XP computers running IE6 because the tech person in charge turned off auto-updating to keep the older computers from getting bogged-down from all of the security measures in newer browser versions (along with other updates Windows added). It's just a fact -- older computers with single-core processors run faster on Windows XP without all of the extra security crap added. Safe? No, but this is Korea, where the god of Ahn Labs V3 -- best computer anti-virus anywhere in the world, bar none (because it was made by a Korean) -- protects all, and past that, they really don't care (sad to say) about school computers.

Many schools still run old single-core Pentium 4 (or even slower) machines, and now they're realizing it's time for an upgrade. They're probably not happy about having to pay for necessary upgrades, so it's easy to blame progress.

This, of course, does not even get into how many of the computers use illegal XP, and Microsoft won't allow them to upgrade past a certain point anyway.

[RobertGR]

Korean websites often rely on ActiveX. The government pretty much requires it for security. Because the ActiveX tends to be dependent on the version of IE it often needs to be upgraded for new IE versions. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SEED)

Where I work they are not supporting IE 9 yet.

[myenglishisno]

I recently installed Chrome with an ActiveX extension and it seems to be working for all the Korean websites that I go to often. I hope this is the solution.

[b-class rambler]

[ThingsComeAround]

Usually this thread pops up.

Korea loves ActiveX because it is easier to code rather than write lines by hand (or even copy-paste) and they get results faster.

Add in the fact that ten, fifteen years ago most people used Windows. Instead of Unbuntu, there was RedHat. And Apple was predicted to crash and burn

The government put in place requirements that all institutions use ActiveX for handling money and secure data transfers.

What's funny now is that most tech-savvy Koreans know of other operating systems, like Unbuntu and obviously Apple. However the personal computer market remains dominated by ActiveX. Ahnlabs must be passing the white envelopes to whatever technology ministry officials (do they even exist?) to be sure things stay the same...

[CentralCali]

They don't have to "pass the white envelope." The local populace seems to pretty well-trained in one aspect of circular reasoning. When I asked the computer guru at my school about something on the school's website, he asked me why I wasn't using IE. I told him, "It's the worst browser on the planet. I use good browsers instead." His response, simply, was, "Koreans like Internet Explorer." Anything I advanced as a reason for other browsers being better than IE was met with the mantra of "Koreans like Internet Explorer."

A: Koreans like IE.
B: Koreans only like the best stuff.
C: Therefore, IE is the best stuff.

Penn & Teller did an episode on that kind of "reasoning".

Want another example? Here you go: Hangul Word.

[b-class rambler]

[ThingsComeAround]

@CentralCali

While I don't disagree with you on most of what you said, if your only source for Korean PC tech is the StarCraft dropout help-desk guy that your school hired, I'd like to tell you he isn't anyone special.

I've heard from the mouths of tech-savvy Koreans that the country is too dependent on Windows. These are people that are familiar with Linux and ex employees of SK.

I'd like to raise your HanGeul Word with GomPlayer. That $#!% has ads built in. ADS???