Inability to work out how to deploy later versions of IE and push out compatibility view lists using group policy (I'm no windows networking expert but this has to be possible right?)

in this particular case, the company is global and has a fixed load set for their computers/notebooks. the last version was compiled together around 5 years ago.

when you have to support multiple thousands employees, having a stable environment is key. upgrading becomes an expensive and slow process.

the next load set at that company is currently in testing for the last 9 months (!) and will upgrade to ie9 and office 2010 - both will be around for a few years to come, their extended support periods end in 2020.