Online Retailer charging tax for using IE7

[Bopher]

http://www.techguide.com.au/menu-new...explorer-7-tax

Thought this might be an interesting read for everyone out there.

[d_stilgar]

I saw this. I don't see anything wrong with it. Now, if I were an IE7 user I might be mad enough not to shop there (if I did), but that would be about me and them, not about some basis of principle.

What's good is that they are very transparent about it. They let you know many times that there will be a surcharge for using an outdated browser.

My fear (that I've had for a long time) would be a site like newegg or amazon doing a similar thing but not telling people. I don't want lower or higher prices based on my browser or especially not based on their tracking of my browser cookies and/or purchase history. And I might not know about it if it weren't disclosed.

[Bopher]

True, and they do give you the option to upgrade to a version that is supported without the tax before you are charged for it. I can see the point, but working with the internet so much now I have to ask in my head when people are having trouble, "Why are you still using IE7?" I can defintely agree with the tax. It probably takes a lot of man hours to make sure each page at the site can be seen in IE7.

[Vertigo]

Agreed Stil, I can see their point of view and they did everything right as far as I can tell. The transparency being the big thing. But, like you said - not everyone is as forthright as these guys. I can see this getting into Facebook even, buy credits with IE7? Get taxed (and we're not going to tell you about it).

My guess is, this is going to happen. Someone's going to find out about it. Then it'll cause an overreaction from the government, then Rise of the Planet of the Apes happens...

[Cale_Hagan]

haha, i saw this a couple days ago. made me smile, and chuckle... i even giggled a bit.

[Konrad]

Do the newer IE versions run on obsolete Windows?

I agree with the reasoning behind this tax, especially since Kogan provides links to free upgrades. Agreed, too, that you have to draw the line somewhere unless you want to support every software technology all the way back to MS-DOS modem BBS and telnet.

Having said that, I see this as a very dangerous precedent - how long before they decide it costs too much to maintain compatibility with FF, Chrome, Opera, or lesser browsers? How long before they simply decide IE9 or whatever other browser happens to be most "mainstream" is the only one they'll support? Further, how long before they accept kickbacks from Microsoft (or whomever) for doing this? Really, what this all amounts to is that the business is failing to provide adequate service - it's not the user's problem if the vendor can't afford to maintain virtual advertising or retail space, it's the vendor's problem that they cannot reach a larger market. Unless they provide some cash incentive (to pass their new streamlined tech-support savings onto the customer) then it's something I would personally avoid.

[Bopher]

IE will run on XP. I know the ISP I work for doesn't even touch anything earlier then XP for trouble shooting. Though we do get people with earlier versions and I have to wonder how they were sold internet because Customer Service is suppose to be asking the OS version. I had one a few weeks ago with Windows ME, and before the one with 2000. Had someone asking yesterday what we trouble shoot in 98 and everyone was like, "Trouble shoot to the modem and that is it." I agree I can see some retailers not telling you and the government stepping in to stop issues.

[Snowman]

8 Will run on xp, version 9 was the first to go win 7 and vista sp2 only as well as server software but not very many people run server os in the scheme of things.

[dr.walrus]

Originally Posted by Konrad

Having said that, I see this as a very dangerous precedent - how long before they decide it costs too much to maintain compatibility with FF, Chrome, Opera, or lesser browsers? How long before they simply decide IE9 or whatever other browser happens to be most "mainstream" is the only one they'll support?

The fact that we have a centralised standards body in the W3C and the fact that browsers are finally striving to meet those standards now is why this won't happen.

[AmEv]

And text-based browsers? Are those ever going to go away completely?