Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google 'discourages' users of old browsers

bbc.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 117 posts

Re: Google 'discourages' users of old browsers

#21

Post by judk »

melling wrote: post #17
afafsd wrote: post #9

I'm using Firefox 3.5, and a helluva lot of stuff doesn't work properly any more. For instance, I notice that reddit broke a few weeks ago and I can no longer vote or comment. Why? I have no idea. "Why don't you just get a new browser?" you might ask. Because new versions of browsers don't work on OS 10.4. "So why don't you upgrade your OS?" Because as far as I can tell, no upgraded OS that will work on this machine…

Sorry man, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of a few nerds.

Saving money by using an long-life PC is not a "nerd" thing.

Re: Google 'discourages' users of old browsers

#22

Post by jasonkostempski »

tracker1 wrote: post #20
afafsd wrote: post #9

I'm using Firefox 3.5, and a helluva lot of stuff doesn't work properly any more. For instance, I notice that reddit broke a few weeks ago and I can no longer vote or comment. Why? I have no idea. "Why don't you just get a new browser?" you might ask. Because new versions of browsers don't work on OS 10.4. "So why don't you upgrade your OS?" Because as far as I can tell, no upgraded OS that will work on this machine…

Just a few suggestions... first: post to a local mac user group forum near you. second: consider a virtual machine or dual-boot to a linux OS... I don't know what programs you use regularly that tie you to OSX, and can understand the need for them, that said, there are options that are available to you.

And certainly don't throw it out. Take out the hard drive and sell it. If it's a working Mac of any kind, you can usually get a fair amount for it.

Re: Google 'discourages' users of old browsers

#23

Post by kijin »

afafsd wrote: post #9

I'm using Firefox 3.5, and a helluva lot of stuff doesn't work properly any more. For instance, I notice that reddit broke a few weeks ago and I can no longer vote or comment. Why? I have no idea. "Why don't you just get a new browser?" you might ask. Because new versions of browsers don't work on OS 10.4. "So why don't you upgrade your OS?" Because as far as I can tell, no upgraded OS that will work on this machine…

> So I'm stuck in a bind, with no other option than to throw this (perfectly good) machine out completely.

No, you're not. The next logical question would be: "So why don't you get a different OS?" There are dozens of FOSS OS's that will work just fine on your machine.

Apple is well-known for its rapid cycles of planned obsolescence, and technical users have no excuse for not knowing this. Either you keep buying their products on their schedule, or you say goodbye to their ecosystem. If you do neither, you have nobody to blame but Apple and yourself.

Why should Reddit keep supporting a Firefox version that was EOL'ed over three years ago and is known to be grossly insecure, just because Apple and you disagree about which Apple devices Apple's OS should support? That's a problem between Apple, Mozilla, you, and nobody else.

Re: Google 'discourages' users of old browsers

#24

Post by tracker1 »

userbinator wrote: post #4

Google has started showing old versions of its search page to people using out-of-date versions of some web browsers. On the other hand, many of the people using older versions of browsers would probably be the same ones who don't like the changes Google's made to its pages. As someone who regularly uses various browsers (including text-based), I have a very strong opinion on this: I've noticed the "you must use brow…

I've been doing web application development since the mid-90's... If you think browser discrimination is new, so are you. NN4 and IE4 were so different from each other it wasn't funny. And by the time IE6 was released it was a godsend. Four years later, it was crap... by the time MS finally picked up development there was far better.

Just the same, pushing to abandon anything before IE9 is a hard sell... but when your mobile users are crossing 40% of traffic, it's an easier thing to do. Mobile devices take more time than some older browsers... just the same, developing for them is easier.

Re: Google 'discourages' users of old browsers

#25

Post by chrisfosterelli »

growse wrote: post #3

I'm on the latest chrome (v37) on Ubuntu, and I'm getting ye olde schoole Google for omnibar searches. If I hit google.com and then type a search in the page, I get the current Google layout. Weird.

I'm on Chromium 36 on Ubuntu, and see the current Google layout through omnibar searches.

Re: Google 'discourages' users of old browsers

#26

Post by mwfunk »

judk wrote: post #21
melling wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry man, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of a few nerds.

Saving money by using an long-life PC is not a "nerd" thing.

Once it stops getting software updates, its life is effectively over- that long-life PC's life ended years ago. People keep going with old hardware for different reasons.

If they enjoy the challenge of maintaining old machines past their expiration date and don't mind dealing with the annoyances, then that is a total geek thing for sure (not that there's anything wrong with that). People doing this understand and accept the challenges of doing this, and usually don't go around complaining about it.

If they can't afford a replacement, there's always the "just put Linux on there" option, but it's unfortunate that they can't just get a new machine. This rarely seems to be the case in these discussions though, at least on HN.

The most common non-nerd reason for clinging to unsupported hardware seems to be self-defeating stubbornness or cheapness, where the person feels a compulsion to keep it going "for the principle of the thing", where it's almost like they're doing it out of spite. If they want to do this to themselves, fine, but it doesn't make it any less self-inflicted.

Re: Google 'discourages' users of old browsers

#27

Post by burgers »

afafsd wrote: post #9

I'm using Firefox 3.5, and a helluva lot of stuff doesn't work properly any more. For instance, I notice that reddit broke a few weeks ago and I can no longer vote or comment. Why? I have no idea. "Why don't you just get a new browser?" you might ask. Because new versions of browsers don't work on OS 10.4. "So why don't you upgrade your OS?" Because as far as I can tell, no upgraded OS that will work on this machine…

I'm not sure what the possibilities of your particular system are, but GNU/Linux systems, i my opinion, do a a fantastic job of letting all kinds of systems use the latest and greatest browsers. I remember running Debian on a tangerine clamshell iBook a couple years ago.

https://www.debian.org/ports/powerpc

Looks like even the latest Debian 7 is supported.

https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/powerpc/release-notes

Re: Google 'discourages' users of old browsers

#28

Post by radmuzom »

vonklaus wrote: post #14
userbinator wrote: post #4

Google has started showing old versions of its search page to people using out-of-date versions of some web browsers. On the other hand, many of the people using older versions of browsers would probably be the same ones who don't like the changes Google's made to its pages. As someone who regularly uses various browsers (including text-based), I have a very strong opinion on this: I've noticed the "you must use brow…

I think HN self selects for a bunch of corner cases that are atypical to the problem google is trying to correct for. People who have refused to update due to dislike of a certain OS, browser configuration, have extensions that limit functionality or otherwise knowingly don't update their browser for a specific reason based on technical understanding or aesthetic choice are the corner cases. Obviously, there are just…

It's not that people refuse to update. At work, we have not yet upgraded from XP so nothing above IE8 works here - you are not allowed to install any software on your own so no Firefox. If news sites, where the primary content should be text and maybe a couple of images, don't work because they require all kinds of fancy "modern web" features - then it is not a problem with users but a problem with the developers of the website.

Re: Google 'discourages' users of old browsers

#29

Post by vonklaus »

radmuzom wrote: post #28
vonklaus wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think HN self selects for a bunch of corner cases that are atypical to the problem google is trying to correct for. People who have refused to update due to dislike of a certain OS, browser configuration, have extensions that limit functionality or otherwise knowingly don't update their browser for a specific reason based on technical understanding or aesthetic choice are the corner cases. Obviously, there are just…

It's not that people refuse to update. At work, we have not yet upgraded from XP so nothing above IE8 works here - you are not allowed to install any software on your own so no Firefox. If news sites, where the primary content should be text and maybe a couple of images, don't work because they require all kinds of fancy "modern web" features - then it is not a problem with users but a problem with the developers of…

while i respect that you personally are constrained in this respect, support for XP has ended. Chronologically, google inc was founded ~3 years before XP was released and it wasn't mainstream on inception. So the point being when XP was released like 13 years ago, it enjoyed mass audience. Now there have been several iterations of windows and according to mores law 10 years forward see more innovation than the preceding 100. So I would allege, that it is actually absurd that you could be angry that the site you are using is degrading a little less gracefully than you would hope to put pressure on you and your company to use something that was created recently. Conversely, I wouldn't fault the phone company if my Nokia brick phone wasn't fully supported, while I loved playing snake, times change.

Re: Google 'discourages' users of old browsers

#30

Post by icantthinkofone »

userbinator wrote: post #4

Google has started showing old versions of its search page to people using out-of-date versions of some web browsers. On the other hand, many of the people using older versions of browsers would probably be the same ones who don't like the changes Google's made to its pages. As someone who regularly uses various browsers (including text-based), I have a very strong opinion on this: I've noticed the "you must use brow…

"I've noticed the "you must use browser X, Y, or Z" trend become more prevalent over the years..."

I believe what you are actually seeing is the opposite of "Don't use IE". Instead they are saying "Use anything but IE" (best viewed in Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Opera). And that's good advice.

Post reply on HN