Why can't I launch a web page in Internet Explorer from another browser?

Question

I've got a client that has some legacy sites on their intranet that can only run in Internet Explorer. They have IE on all their PCs, although other browsers are used within the company. They also have no funding to update the sites, and have used workarounds like browser-specific desktop shortcuts and IE Tab to access the sites. However, they were asking if there was some way to create website links that would force the pages to launch in Internet Explorer only, no matter what browser was being used originally. My immediate response was 'no', and digging around the internet has confirmed this, but I'd ideally like to tell them WHY it isn't possible. Can anyone shed some light on this?

Answer 1

Allowing websites to access PC data and invoke programs would be a major security risk.

The HTML standards define how web browsers should behave when presented with standard markup. Executing a program on your computer (in this case, Internet Explorer) is clearly not a function of a web browser and the means of doing so is thus not defined via HTML.

You may be able to accomplish what you're looking for by writing/installing some add-ins or plug-ins to Chrome/Firefox, augmenting the standard functionality of those web browsers. Just note that if you go that route, you'd be potentially creating a security vulnerability.