It might not be IE6 stable, but better than running nightly.
Treating security as an absolute is rarely useful because very few things are completely secure. No browser will be completely secure for the foreseeable future.
Microsoft is offering IE11 extended support until at least 2025, so I wouldn't bet on that.
Why has it taken so long for corp America to move off of IE? There are so many other better alternatives.
I still sometimes have flashbacks of having to design around and support IE6. /shudder
Oracle EBS uses NPAPI (AKA Java Plugins AKA Java Applets). Chrome dropped support for NPAPI years ago, and since then we've been using IE to whenever we need to use Oracle EBS.
I understand that the latest version of Oracle EBS might now support the cutting-edge technology of Java Web Start to continue to deliver their 1990's era grey-blah UI's with shitty layout. I don't even care to ask about upgrades.
Negotiating with the bean-counter types that have enabled Oracle to put it's slimy tentacles into every critical area of the business is a dreadful, thankless task. I expect it will keep running, at its current version, long after I leave or retire. At some point, I expect employees will need to spin up VM's to open IE to use the f-ing thing-- perhaps they can set it up in their "forever" dream OS, Windows NT with IE4?
But even if we could use the "latest version" a quick google image search for "Oracle EBS screenshots" shows that UI-wise, not much has changed. Maybe they got rid of the insipid flash-light icon? I didn't want to get too stressed by looking closely.
In two years the C-level/VP responsible has long since taken the golden parachute and his successor is stuck with the bill.
Also, any sort of internal IT stuff is exclusively seen as a cost center by the MBA bean counters. Stuff like employees leaving due to outdated IT isn't something quantifiable in impact unless you have entire departments walking away at once.
In some cases this was off the shelf software from vendors who had gone out of business. In other cases it was software built in house that would require a complete rewrite to modernize.
All of this software was tightly integrated into processes that were critical for the company to operate. While the cost of replacing the old software was a consideration, the biggest concern was the potential disruption to operations.
If a software change reduced productivity or even worse caused work to stop entirely, it meant millions in financial impact.
1) Sometimes companies go out of business or stop supporting\updating things. If you build critical processes around these outdated tools, it can be very difficult to change.
2) Users aren't savvy enough to know when to use Chrome, Firefox or IE. Some aren't even savvy enough to call things the correct names (looking at you Mozzarella Foxfire). So they just settle on on a lowest common denominator.
Granted, this is the same codebase that has an element on their login page named "acceptCredintials", so... that's the starting point.