6 ms·

It's a fine way to run. data based decision based on the cost of support and the amount of traffic.

by serge2k 11y ago

jacquesm 11y ago
It is extremely rare that the cost to support a browser outweighs the economic importance of those using those browsers. If it is then you are probably too small an entity to matter anyway, but as soon as your IE6 users are numerous enough that you can assign a percentage to the population you would probably be well advised to simply serve them rather than to attempt to force them to upgrade, if they haven't done so yet they either have very good reasons or you won't be able to convince them anyway.
- tracker1 11y ago
  I am working at a Fortune 100 financial company currently, IE8 support is already retired, and IE9 in the next month or so. This being a numbers based decision.
  - jacquesm 11y ago
    I suspect that the demographic make-up of the customer base is a huge factor in this. Location and age, predominantly.
    - tracker1 11y ago
      Location yes.. mostly U.S. customer acquisition. As for age, skewed towards middle/older demographic, but that's true of most financial companies. That said, more mature users are more likely to be using an iPad (with a current OS) than any version of IE.
- vdaniuk 11y ago
  >It is extremely rare that the cost to support a browser outweighs the economic importance of those using those browsers. Citation please. Are you really sure this applies to modern front-end web app with reasonable complexity?
  - jacquesm 11y ago
    I don't need to 'cite' what I can see with my own eyes from the stats of my payment services provider. Browsers are very easily released, they take a very long time to die. This is one reason why I tend to keep things simple, this vastly reduces the amount of resources required to make something work on a lot of different platforms and browser combinations. Of course if your web app relies on all kinds of sexy stuff then you're going to have to convince yourself that those people don't matter.
    - vdaniuk 11y ago
      >I don't need to 'cite' what I can see with my own eyes from the stats of my payment services provider. Your original statement was broad and general, not qualified. Your anecdotal evidence is not sufficient to support this claim. In the context of the discussion about supporting IE 8,9 and 10 and using your terminology flexbox (which IE 8-10 doesn't support) seems to be "all kinds of sexy stuff" and "not keeping things simple". Right, got it. http://caniuse.com/#search=flexbox http://caniuse.com/#search=flexbox
      - jacquesm 11y ago
        Suit yourself. One thing I do know: if you are serious about commerce you can't afford to lose customers that you've spent a lot of money to acquire it tends to wreak havoc with your spreadsheets.
        chris_wot 11y ago
        If I was running a train ticketing system or an old ATM, I guess I'd keep supporting OS/2. If the cost of supporting old browsers was more than the profit you make, then that spreadsheet will show a different story.
    - serge2k 11y ago
      > I don't need to 'cite' what I can see with my own eyes from the stats of my payment services provider You could be a liar, idiot, troll, or just really love IE. Why would anyone take your word for it.

It's a fine way to run. data based decision based on the cost of support and the amount of traffic.

by serge2k 11y ago

It's a fine way to run. data based decision based on the cost of support and the amount of traffic.

It is extremely rare that the cost to support a browser outweighs the economic importance of those using those browsers. If it is then you are probably too small an entity to matter anyway, but as soon as your IE6 users are numerous enough that you can assign a percentage to the population you would probably be well advised to simply serve them rather than to attempt to force them to upgrade, if they haven't done so yet they either have very good reasons or you won't be able to convince them anyway.

tracker1 11y ago
I am working at a Fortune 100 financial company currently, IE8 support is already retired, and IE9 in the next month or so. This being a numbers based decision.
- jacquesm 11y ago
  I suspect that the demographic make-up of the customer base is a huge factor in this. Location and age, predominantly.
  - tracker1 11y ago
    Location yes.. mostly U.S. customer acquisition. As for age, skewed towards middle/older demographic, but that's true of most financial companies. That said, more mature users are more likely to be using an iPad (with a current OS) than any version of IE.
vdaniuk 11y ago
>It is extremely rare that the cost to support a browser outweighs the economic importance of those using those browsers. Citation please. Are you really sure this applies to modern front-end web app with reasonable complexity?
- jacquesm 11y ago
  I don't need to 'cite' what I can see with my own eyes from the stats of my payment services provider. Browsers are very easily released, they take a very long time to die. This is one reason why I tend to keep things simple, this vastly reduces the amount of resources required to make something work on a lot of different platforms and browser combinations. Of course if your web app relies on all kinds of sexy stuff then you're going to have to convince yourself that those people don't matter.
  - vdaniuk 11y ago
    >I don't need to 'cite' what I can see with my own eyes from the stats of my payment services provider. Your original statement was broad and general, not qualified. Your anecdotal evidence is not sufficient to support this claim. In the context of the discussion about supporting IE 8,9 and 10 and using your terminology flexbox (which IE 8-10 doesn't support) seems to be "all kinds of sexy stuff" and "not keeping things simple". Right, got it. http://caniuse.com/#search=flexbox http://caniuse.com/#search=flexbox
    - jacquesm 11y ago
      Suit yourself. One thing I do know: if you are serious about commerce you can't afford to lose customers that you've spent a lot of money to acquire it tends to wreak havoc with your spreadsheets.
      - chris_wot 11y ago
        If I was running a train ticketing system or an old ATM, I guess I'd keep supporting OS/2. If the cost of supporting old browsers was more than the profit you make, then that spreadsheet will show a different story.
  - serge2k 11y ago
    > I don't need to 'cite' what I can see with my own eyes from the stats of my payment services provider You could be a liar, idiot, troll, or just really love IE. Why would anyone take your word for it.