Developing technology based services that are to be used by many clients should follow guidelines about who are the intended users of that service.
For example, developing a web-based service that works well when using one web browser that only a minority of web users use to browse the web is frustratingly narrow-minded.
Similarly, developing web-based services that work well only on the web browser used by the majority of web users, and completely ignoring alternative browsers used by a minority of web users is equally obtuse.
Developing web services that work well only in Internet Explorer for Windows is acceptable when the main community of users of that service are business users; they're already using Windows, and Internet Explorer already comes with. However as soon as a web service is developed for use by a community at large, for example the academic community, thought has to go into what web browsers people use. In other words, give people alternatives in case they don't use the browser you'd prefer them to use.
In business communities and/or environments, it is easy to dictate what is required. In academic environments, it is less easy to do this.
It is acceptable that only the majority browser is required to use a service that is used for budget information and decisions. It is not acceptable to require one browser on one operating system in order to use one web-based service or another.