Re: Back to Being a Luddite (Oh Well)

DSL, the transmissions contain so much more bytes. Some sites won't
> even allow old browsers to access them; they tell you to get a new one > and even let you download it on the spot.

Yes, some software/web developers are idiots. I am always amazed at how much bad code is written and gets sold.

As an example, I tried to get on to the new CW TV network website (the > one replacing WB and UPN). My PC didn't have the latest Flash so I > couldn't get on. Why was that so important to them to require that?

This is just bad business sense. Why keep out potential customers with artificial barriers such as this? I guarantee the web site geek just got carried away with some "cool graphics" and if marketting understood what this meant to real people trying to surf the site it would not work that way.

I submit the bells and whistles aren't necessary and a waste of > machine CPU cycles and bandwidth. But businesses and even government > agencies want super fancy screens and the industry wants to sell ever > more powerful CPUs, routers, servers, etc.

Again, I think it's the technical folks who are behind much of this. Sure, they make sure the boss has the latest browser and it works great for *him*, but screw any actual customers who might not have the latest and greatest. If the real business people understood that I think things would change. And, some businesses do seem to get it, and their web pages work on almost any browser. Really smart ones have pages that work well with lynx. ;-)

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it's easier than to > transmit a virus because browsers today are sophisticated and execute > programs sent over from web site ("java applets"?). Several times > while merely surfing what should've been legitimate web sites -- not > downloading or "running" anything -- the virus alarm kicked in because > of an attempt to send over hostile code. Further, a subsequent run of > spyware software (ad-aware) detected manipulations.

A lot of what ad-aware catches is cookies. While cookies are a concern for privacy reasons they are mostly innoucuous and used to keep state information from one visit to the next of a particular website. Applets are more of a concern, and good web site design will not require them.

I'm angry at the Internet community for constantly demanding more and > more power in browsers. Web developers can't wait to use the latest > bells and whistles yet browsers of ten years ago (ie IE Vers 4) were > more than adequate to display information from a website. Developers > are so snobby about this they won't even allow users with old browsers > to get on.

I tend to agree. Web designers like to try every new feature they can, but forget their target audience in the process. It's easy to get carried away and forget that not everyone has, or wants, the most up-to-date browser. The ones that really bug me are the web sites that say I need to have IE. That's beyond stupid. Even Microsoft isn't that parochial.

Bill Ranck Blacksburg, Va.