5 ms·

until it's not longer tied to windows versions, ie will always be a problem

higherpurpose 12y ago
Don't know why you are downvoted but that's true. Windows versions tend to be long-lasting. If Microsoft keeps tying browsers to them, then they will always have browsers that remain behind for 5+ years. And of course the next IE12/"Spartan" will be tied to Windows 10...so this won't change anytime soon apparently.
- mrbig4545 12y ago
  I don't know either, but that's HN for you. meh It's a shame though, because the new IE isn't so bad, but while I have to develop for IE8 it's as good as useless :(
  - eli 12y ago
    Though the only people "stuck" on IE8 are XP users, which is indeed in rapid decline.
    - mrbig4545 12y ago
      True, but after that I'll still be stuck on IE9, and the trend will continue.
      - eli 12y ago
        I think that's called progress :)
        mrbig4545 12y ago
        It would be much better progress if they could use the latest IE on whatever version of windows, rather than being forced develop for the lowest common denominator. Chrome has it right, it's always the latest version, and firefox is better than it used to be, but even then they didn't say "sorry, you need the latest windows to use this version, here, have this 4 year old version instead" It's ridiculous, and I can't think of one valid technical reason for it
        Klathmon 12y ago
        You really can't think of a technical reason? Now I am not involved with IE at all, but i think it's safe to assume that they are most likely using new APIs which are specific to that platform. Now that's not an excuse, as they could write in fallbacks for platforms that don't have this, but it's definitely a valid reason.
        mrbig4545 12y ago
        You really can't think of a technical reason? Now I am not involved with IE at all, but i think it's safe to assume that they are most likely using new APIs which are specific to that platform. Now that's not an excuse, as they could write in fallbacks for platforms that don't have this, but it's definitely a valid reason. it's a reason, but it's not a valid one. if it was then no one would write software that works on older windows versions.
- nly 12y ago
  > And of course the next IE12/"Spartan" will be tied to Windows 10...so this won't change anytime soon apparently. Well, Windows 10 being a free upgrade to 7/8 users should help.
  - eterm 12y ago
    It won't remove the long tail. And telling your clients "We don't support Windows 7, you should upgrade to Windows 10" won't cut it.

Don't know why you are downvoted but that's true. Windows versions tend to be long-lasting. If Microsoft keeps tying browsers to them, then they will always have browsers that remain behind for 5+ years. And of course the next IE12/"Spartan" will be tied to Windows 10...so this won't change anytime soon apparently.

mrbig4545 12y ago
I don't know either, but that's HN for you. meh It's a shame though, because the new IE isn't so bad, but while I have to develop for IE8 it's as good as useless :(
- eli 12y ago
  Though the only people "stuck" on IE8 are XP users, which is indeed in rapid decline.
  - mrbig4545 12y ago
    True, but after that I'll still be stuck on IE9, and the trend will continue.
    - eli 12y ago
      I think that's called progress :)
      - mrbig4545 12y ago
        It would be much better progress if they could use the latest IE on whatever version of windows, rather than being forced develop for the lowest common denominator. Chrome has it right, it's always the latest version, and firefox is better than it used to be, but even then they didn't say "sorry, you need the latest windows to use this version, here, have this 4 year old version instead" It's ridiculous, and I can't think of one valid technical reason for it
        Klathmon 12y ago
        You really can't think of a technical reason? Now I am not involved with IE at all, but i think it's safe to assume that they are most likely using new APIs which are specific to that platform. Now that's not an excuse, as they could write in fallbacks for platforms that don't have this, but it's definitely a valid reason.
        mrbig4545 12y ago
        You really can't think of a technical reason? Now I am not involved with IE at all, but i think it's safe to assume that they are most likely using new APIs which are specific to that platform. Now that's not an excuse, as they could write in fallbacks for platforms that don't have this, but it's definitely a valid reason. it's a reason, but it's not a valid one. if it was then no one would write software that works on older windows versions.
nly 12y ago
> And of course the next IE12/"Spartan" will be tied to Windows 10...so this won't change anytime soon apparently. Well, Windows 10 being a free upgrade to 7/8 users should help.
- eterm 12y ago
  It won't remove the long tail. And telling your clients "We don't support Windows 7, you should upgrade to Windows 10" won't cut it.