Browser Envy

[dallas_marks]

After several years of browser boredom, the race for the fastest and most standards-compliant browser is heating up. This month, Microsoft made a splash at SXSW with the formal release of Internet Explorer 9.  Mozilla released Firefox 4, also to great fanfare. Google updates Chrome frequently.  And Apple continues to release its Safari browser, currently on version 5, for both Mac and Windows.

I'm generally pretty quick to update the browsers on my home computers.  But updating at the office is a different story due to application compatibility issues.  SAP BusinessObjects is no different than other web-based applications - browser versions must be validated by the vendor, sometimes with accompanying patches.

A list of supported browsers is available in the supported platforms document, which can be downloaded from either the SAP Community Network site or the SAP Support Portal.  For example, you can view the latest revision (February 22, 2011) of the SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 3.1 SP3 supported platforms here. On the Mac, XI 3.1 SP3 currently supports Firefox 3.0, Firefox 3.5, Safari 3.2.x, and Safari 4.0.3+.  For the PC, it's Firefox 3.0, Firefox 3.5, IE 6.0 (SP2/SP3), IE 7.0 and IE 8.0 (using compatibility mode).

It's important to work with your organization's system support staff to insure a new version of a browser isn't pushed out to users until fully tested and supported by SAP.  Although nothing formal has been announced, we should expect to see an expanded list of browsers supported when SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence 4.0 goes into general availability (GA) later this year. SAP executives have also indicated that the full SAP BI suite will be mobile by the end of 2011 (Web Intelligence on a tablet - SWEET!).  This implies mobile browser support for Apple iPhone/iPad, the RIM Blackberry Playbook, and Android tablets like the Samsung Galaxy Tab and Motorola Xoom.  It's also reasonable to expect that SAP will either add additional browsers and versions to the XI 3.1 SP3 supported platforms document after rigorous testing or release a service pack later this year to broaden browser support. Remember that as of June 2010, XI R2 is no longer on patch support and may not work properly with the latest browsers.

In the meantime, keep your user's SAP BusinessObjects experience trouble-free by sticking with supported browsers.  But don't stop having fun with the latest browsers at home.