Click to return to iNEWS ARCHIVES page
Week of August 21, 2009 • Issue No. 049
This Week in the iNews:
▲ LUNCH & LEARN ON BUSINESS VALUATIONS
▲ SOME GOOD TAX NEWS
▲ TECH TIP WEEKLY – Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) and the Future
▲ Lunch & Learn Series Program – Business Valuations
Please join us for our upcoming Lunch & Learn Series Program on Business Valuations at noon on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 in the Prangley Marks, LLP lunch/conference room, presented by Leslie N. Prangley, III, CPA, CVA, and Harold A. Marks, CPA, CVA.
Please contact mripley@pmcpa.com or call (616) 774-9004 to reserve your spot.
Complimentary lunch, program and parking provided.
Seating is limited.
▲ Some Good Tax News
From the desk of John E. Mack, as of 8/11/09
Senator Grassley has introduced S. 1381 (the Small Business Tax Relief Act of 2009).
Key provisions of S. 1381 include the following:
-Expand the expensing election to $500,000
-Increase the number of C corporations that pay the lowest rate
-General business credits would no longer be limited by the individual AMT
-A five–year carry back for general business credits
-Net operating loss carry back for five years
-Manufacturer’s deduction - 20% for flow through businesses
While this legislation is not moving tomorrow, it sets an important marker as Congress moves forward, particularly if there is going to be another stimulus bill, or as a means of somewhat offsetting the increase cost to business of heath care.
▲ TECH TIP WEEKLY – Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) and the Future
Microsoft’s official position on whether or not to upgrade a PC’s browser belongs to the person responsible for the PC, not Microsoft --- that means you!
And Microsoft has publicly set the date for “killing” IE6 and dropping all support for Windows XP as April 8, 2014 (Windows XP and IE6 both originally shipped in October 2001.)
Many PC owners, both individuals, corporations and other large organizations, have held back with any upgrades of IE6 (to IE8) since to them if it (IE6) appears that it works fine and doesn’t seem to cost them anything, why change.
The fact of the matter is that many web developers note that IE6 functions in a way thoroughly inconsistent with other browsers, even including later versions of IE. What this means is that to add IE6 support to a web site can add days, weeks, or months to the development time of a web application; and added costs which causes other problems as well to the developers, and to the users.
One solution would be for Internet sites to stop supporting IE6, which would then bring cause to IE6 users to upgrade to IE8; but general consensus seems that that is not going to happen.
And Microsoft maintains its determination to have users choose their own browser, which in part is a move made under pressure from prior federal and state antitrust settlements.
So where does that leave IE6 users?
With the (extended) timetable Microsoft has announced to drop all support for IE6, and Windows XP, there are many more years left to put off the upgrade. But, with the increased security features of IE8 and the upcoming release of Windows 7 later in 2009, to continue to keep IE6 may eventually cause more problems than it will be worth.
Even though the old adage of, “if it ain’t broke, why fix it” usually seems true, in this case you will have to be your own judge.