While Microsoft has recently unveiled the all-singing all-dancing arrival of Internet Explorer 9 at Las Vegas, we at ftopia have made the decision to support IE6. That’s right, Internet Explorer 6, circa 2001! You may have thought that it was dead by now, like some do and some others would like it to be! But bear with us, because there is method in our madness.

When we started the ftopia service we took the decision to support IE7 and onwards, mainly because IE6 lacks many of the advanced capabilities of more modern browsers, and it seemed at the time as though IE6’s share of the browser market was in decline.

Since our primary market is made up of SMB’s and independent professionals, we also assumed they would all be using modern browsers. In general it is only medium and large companies that still use IE6, as the cost of migrating can be prohibitive and they often utilise custom apps that have only been tested on IE6.

However, it seems that we now have a lot more medium-sized businesses than we expected, and even individual departments from large enterprises. For a number of these, Internet Explorer 6 support is a must. We’ve also realised that many smaller businesses share files with larger companies, and in order for them to fully reap the benefits of using ftopia, they must be able to offer account access to all their customers.

For these reasons we will soon be offering support for Internet Explorer 6, and while this perhaps appears to be an unusual move, it may actually give us an advantage, as we will be one of few comparable services to offer this feature.

If you have any views on this decision we would love to hear them. Do you agree that IE6 support will provide greater access, or do you feel that we should be investing more in support for newer browsers such as Android?

Up till now, signing into ftopia has been done through a username. This allowed users to pick their own personalised name, and to log into several different accounts independently of the others.

However, we eventually found that these abilities have become liabilities. Having to remember two or more usernames and two separate passwords can be a pain at the best of times. It also meant that you would have to sign out and then sign back in again every time you wanted to switch from one account to the other.

Users also had to type in the subdomain for their account before they could log in. For casual users who are not IT-minded this was not always something that came naturally, and could become a frustration that prevented them from signing in quickly. With a username-based login system, this was however a necessity.

We want ftopia to provide a simple user experience that is easy to use for even the least technically minded person, and that means chasing down and eliminating any redundant processes that get in the way. Less is more, and removing clutter from the user interface aids communication in the same way that deleting sentences can sharpen up a blog post.

Our new email-based login process means that users with multiple accounts can quickly switch from one to the other without the need to log out and in again. It also means that users can log in directly from the ftopia home page, without the need to first type in the subdomain. And finally, it removes the need to define at sign up and remember when signing in this unnecessary piece of information. We hope that this change will make your experience with ftopia simpler and easier.

Now it’s time to think about the next step with respect to authentication, like using OpenID. We’d love to hear your views on these changes.

We are very happy to be supported by Microsoft through a global program like BizSpark. Being sponsored by Microsoft is recognition of the relevance of our offer and its potential in our market. Moreover, this partnership and the privileged access to the Microsoft sales and technological resources will enable us to accelerate our growth, still preserving our advance.

François-Pierre Le Page, Founder and Managing Director of Mobilegov France S.A.: “Security is often viewed as an obstacle in the use of PC applications. At Mobilegov however, we believe it to be a facilitator by supporting the adoption of SaaS services by companies” declares  “This partnership reaffirms this belief, as it will allow our customers to combine identity-based security with the simplicity of use of the online storage spaces offered by ftopia”.

A value-added offer for the professional

ftopia provides collaborative sharing spaces and file storage online. Particularly useful to SME’s as well as to professional organizations and free lancers, ftopia makes it possible to exchange any document efficiently and easily with remote third parties or colleagues, in a safe and simple way – without the need for IT assistance.

The integration of these solutions will therefore make it possible for the professional user to create virtual spaces protected by two-factor authentication, while being freed from traditional tokens, key fobs etc., which are expensive to purchase and difficult to manage. Moreover, the joint solution will be available in SaaS mode, without requiring new IT investment or software installation on the users PC’s or laptops.

Safety is a legitimate concern of any individual or organization in adopting SaaS solutions. At ftopia, we have made it an essential element of our product development strategy. We are very pleased about this partnership with Mobilegov whose unique authentication technology will provide unrivaled protection to our customer’s data