It's Up To Us.
If it weren’t for computer game manufacturers ruthlessly pushing the boundaries of technology, – computers wouldn’t be where they are today. Just when you buy a new video card, it’s out of date… Every time a technological standard is set, someone moves the fence just a bit further out. It might be frustrating as a consumer, -but in actuality we all win because of it. If you want to play the latest and greatest game, you have to get the latest gear.
Video cards cost hundreds of dollars, -web browsers are free. But all too often there is no reason to upgrade because web app programmers spend countless hours making their web apps reverse compatible. As an industry, we need to start giving people more reasons to upgrade, -and less excuses to stick with leaky old browsers. We need to make our web apps a driving force to get people to upgrade their browsers, the same way games make people update their hardware.
The lost time, and energy supporting legacy systems is holding our industry back.
I completely agree in principle, but gamers are tech-savvy and, in most cases, want to spend money on their equipment, not just because they are forced to do so. In this way, the gaming industry has it made.
On the other hand, the value proposition of switching to a new web browser is much less obvious for a lot of people; in this case, the non tech-savvy. If they can’t access your application due to browser requirements, they’ll probably just use a competitor’s product. The access problem is perceived as yours, the producer, not theirs.
“If they can’t access your application due to browser requirements, they’ll probably just use a competitor’s product. The access problem is perceived as yours, the producer, not theirs.”
Agreed. With the abundance of web applications / websites on the market nowadays this is true more than ever. Optimize for the users on the latest-and-greatest, but prepare to support those on the not-so-latest-and-greatest as well.
Geof, and Josh, I think it’s great that their are lots of options on the market. There will always be someone catering to the people on old browsers, – and that’s the way it ought to be. I still would like to see more developers abandoning the old browser support to see the amazing things that can be done without the legacy users. If someone comes out with an amazing new app that only works on the latest browsers, – it will drive upgrades, – and make the whole internet a better place.