Online Retailer Charges A 6.8% Internet Explorer 7 Tax

IMO this is a more than reasonable way of solving their problem.

  • IE7 is outdated and costly to develop for, and it hurts the company's bottom line.
  • Customers who are unable or unwilling to stop using obsolete software should take personal responsibility for the added costs.
  • It beats more restrictive measures like banning people on IE7 from using the site. At least the business gets the money it wants and the customer gets the product he wants at the end.
 
Well-

it is a pretty good idea, if a customer is using a security flawed browser, and it costs you more to process their transactions...
a Tax or fee could be added to force them to upgrade
 
I think its great, if people want to live in the past then let them pay for it.
 
Agreed. Only corporations have this problem. Or perhaps 3rd world organizations or below. I'm perfectly fine with this based on what they are selling. If they are "necessity" items. Like say an organization that bulk sales food on the cheap to 3rd world countries and takes donations to do so or whatever I would disagree with it.

If it is for designer this or that or parts for computers or whatever.. I'm all for it.
 
Aaron11 said:
This is funny, but I kind of think that it's messed up. Most of the people using IE7 probably don't even know what browser they are using. It's just taking advantage of unsuspecting people trying to shop online.
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Then I would tell people to turn on Automatic updates and let Windows update itself to 8 or 9 depending on the OS.
 
ballistic90 said:
My company still has us using IE7 because we interact with a large number of websites from third parties, some of which drag their feet when it comes to updating to the newest IE standards. The tax thing is them trying to be 'funny' and it's pretty irritating, honestly.
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My company has people using all sorts of browsers. I am forced to use IE 7 for a few of the online systems we use. Though do most in Chrome now.
 
DeathPrincess said:
As well as charging people to use older browsers...I'd charge people for using fireturd, or safari.
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dexvx said:
Where's the ancient FireFox tax? Most people using IE6 or IE7 don't know any better. Most people sticking to an ancient version of FireFox actually think its safer because its not IE.
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There's always idiots who like to jump the gun without knowing all the facts.

The issue raised by Kogan isn't primarily about safety. I'm pretty sure Kogan's site will NOT harm their users and SSL encryption takes care of basic user security during transactions.

The issue was time and money, that was being spent on making their site work the same way in IE7.
From the BBC - "Kogan says the company was sick of wasting time ensuring its revamped website worked on Microsoft’s old IE7 browser."
 
commodore said:
There's always idiots who like to jump the gun without knowing all the facts.

The issue raised by Kogan isn't primarily about safety. I'm pretty sure Kogan's site will NOT harm their users and SSL encryption takes care of basic user security during transactions.

The issue was time and money, that was being spent on making their site work the same way in IE7.
From the BBC - "Kogan says the company was sick of wasting time ensuring its revamped website worked on Microsoft’s old IE7 browser."
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I can't blame them, IE7 was the convoluted mess MS released from the pressure Firefox and updated browsers put on them...
 
Take a few minutes to upgrade and avoid paying extra money? Ok, I can do that.

it's 2012 people. If you can't upgrade a browser today (many of which are self updating now FFS, or at least prompt you when an update is available to download...) then you're clearly too fucking stupid to be on the Internet or own a computer. And if what you're running for a system is too old for modern browsers, that is not the industry's fault. No one put a gun to your head and said you're going to keep that obsolete pile of shit from 2001 or else. And if you're working for a business and having this issue, then its somewhere between the beancounters and whoever is responsible for making sure your systems are up to date and properly secure. Maybe they need it drawn out in crayon to see how the expenditure of staying up to date can prevent a more costly situation where your operations come to a screeching halt.

Browsers today may come with more bells and whistles, but they also come with better security and work on updated standards too. The cost of keeping shit on lockdown far outweighs the loss of business and/or downtime due to a breach. I think Sony and their PSN debacle should have been proof enough for that. If not that, I'm sure there's plenty of other cases where being up to date would have saved a lot of time, money, and headache.
 
Ducman69 said:
AFAIK, nothing special is needed for IE9, and besides when Internet Explorer makes up the lion share of your web traffic, then isn't any extra costs associated being a problem of other browsers not adhering to IE standards?
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I'm not sure what you meant to type there, but writing sites to adhere to IE standards is a bad frickin' idea. We've been there. Don't ever wanna go back.
 
Perfectly fine with it. People have to move on at some point or they are holding everyone back. And even for companies using IE7, nothing keeps them from having 2 browsers installed. It's free and effortless.
 
Not that I like programming separate style sheets for IE7, but this is just stupid. "You know what would REALLY help our business? Punishing our users based on the browser they use!"

When it comes to publicity, Kogan: You're doing it wrong!
 
Snufykat said:
Why are they shopping at work?????
I think the tax idea is funny.
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I was referring to people who's job it is to buy things...

I think it's hysterical as well, just not the answer we need to solve this IE7 issue
 
PensFault said:
ALL browsers are vulnerable, what's your point? If you have a retarded iteration policy that indicates any moderate change made requires a new version number, then you realize how the numbers are so high and irrelevant... Way to be brainwashed my marketing bro.
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NO way man! 15 is totally higer than 9 so it MUST BE SUPERIOR!

:D:D:D
 
This is retarded. So you are going to go through the effort to code your site for IE7, then charge those who do use IE7 to use it, but tell them use a diff browser and no fee? No one will pay the 6.8%, and you coded your site for IE7 for no reason.

If you hate IE7, then just have your site detect it and popup a banner saying sorry, to browse this site requires a browser newer than IE7. Way less work.
 
I like it. I would be willing to lay down $20 that the symbols at the bottom of that message take you to the download sites for the various browsers.

Further for those who have never been down under, its an electronics retailer, not a food wholesaler for impoverished third world countries.
 
commodore said:
There's always idiots who like to jump the gun without knowing all the facts.

The issue raised by Kogan isn't primarily about safety. I'm pretty sure Kogan's site will NOT harm their users and SSL encryption takes care of basic user security during transactions.

The issue was time and money, that was being spent on making their site work the same way in IE7.
From the BBC - "Kogan says the company was sick of wasting time ensuring its revamped website worked on Microsoft’s old IE7 browser."
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Are you saying ancient builds of FireFox fully comply with web standards? Last I heard, FireFox 3.0 (and IE8) was required to pass Acid2 and FireFox 4.0 (and IE9) was required to pass Acid3.

So I stand by my reasoning that there are many idiots using ancient builds of FireFox who still think it's faster, more standards compliant, and more secure than the latest version of IE.
 
stiltner said:
I approve of this.

Charge a 9% markup to XP customers also. Its only fair
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And charge a 18% markup for customers still on OSX 10.5 or lower. Cause they're used to paying twice as much for the same shit anyway.
 
ShadowSoldier89 said:
so many attempts to get people off of older browsers either fail or take FAAAR too long

experience isnt an incentive for these people, but speaking to their wallets is, I think this is a great idea, especially as a web developer myself who has wasted entire 8 hour days trying to solve IE7 (and IE8) exclusive issues
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You'll love this. We are dveloping a SAAS product with JS/Jquery/PHP/CSS 3/HTML5. Works great in current and previous FF/Chrome/Opera. Load up IE9 and the entire thing is absolutely broken.

We are so done with MS and already written in the handling to tell you so when you hit the site with IE.
 
Why not just develop for recent browsers, and let users have whatever experience they have on their obsolete ones. Let that be the incentive to upgrade.
 
Zarathustra[H];1038835661 said:
Why not just develop for recent browsers, and let users have whatever experience they have on their obsolete ones. Let that be the incentive to upgrade.
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We developed to CSS/HTML5 standards and shit is STILL broken under even IE9. All the other major browsers? ZERO FUCKING TWEEKS. Not a single line of code tweeking.

Allowing uses to use older browsers won't result in them simply installing current builds of FF/Chrome/Opera. It will result in them calling you up and bitching about it.
 
BTW you shouldn't develop to ANY browser. You should develop to standards. That's the entire point.

It's like you have to write signs in Texas English, or New England English, or Cleveland English. No you should develop to ENGLISH and let everything comply with that standard.
 
*claps*

About god damn fucking time.

You know how often I do tech work on system computers and -NOTHING- has been fucking updated, ever?

And then I spent 4 hours cleaning them, then 6 hours updating every last fucking file, and not only is everything upgraded, everything runs faster to boot.

Companies don't upgrade services because their customers are complete fucking morons, who let the windows update icon flash in their taskbar for -FOUR FUCKING YEARS- (One tech case I did) and didn't update "Because it takes like 30-40 minutes for the computer to do"

People treat computers like they fucking treat cars, they expect to leap on and leap off willy nilly without doing anything to make sure it stays in working order. They bitch and moan when their 10-15 year old PC can't access modern websites. I worked on a laptop last year that had 256MB ram -TOTAL- and the guy called me in cause his computer would "Stall" Whenever he tried to open something like MSN/AIM/Or even a basic webpage. The memory amount was so fucking small I couldn't even fucking start a basic anti-virus on it to do a initial check, hijackthis, fucking hijackthis took -ELEVEN MINUTES TO LOAD-

Let alone I've not seen a fucking -CAR- last fifteen fucking years, yet they bitch and moan that they are "Forced to update" to a new computer. Its god damn fucking infuriating, I wish I could strangle the fucking stupidity out of these people.

So yes, this website gets a giant fucking thumbs up by me, welcome to twenty fucking twelve, enjoy your stay.
 
vertices said:
This is retarded. So you are going to go through the effort to code your site for IE7, then charge those who do use IE7 to use it, but tell them use a diff browser and no fee? No one will pay the 6.8%, and you coded your site for IE7 for no reason.

If you hate IE7, then just have your site detect it and popup a banner saying sorry, to browse this site requires a browser newer than IE7. Way less work.
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Tend to agree with you here... Doesn't make much sense to spend money dev IE7, at which point will they just ban it? If I paid to use IE7 and it didn't work perfect, I would be pissed.

Though they are their own business and can do what ever they want. If this is how they want to make a point then good for them. May it result in what ever comes their way.

I am not even a web dev and I agree completely, devs should be using programing to standards and not browsers... HTML has a standard for a reason.
 
ShamisOMally said:
*claps*

About god damn fucking time.

You know how often I do tech work on system computers and -NOTHING- has been fucking updated, ever?

And then I spent 4 hours cleaning them, then 6 hours updating every last fucking file, and not only is everything upgraded, everything runs faster to boot.

Companies don't upgrade services because their customers are complete fucking morons, who let the windows update icon flash in their taskbar for -FOUR FUCKING YEARS- (One tech case I did) and didn't update "Because it takes like 30-40 minutes for the computer to do"

People treat computers like they fucking treat cars, they expect to leap on and leap off willy nilly without doing anything to make sure it stays in working order. They bitch and moan when their 10-15 year old PC can't access modern websites. I worked on a laptop last year that had 256MB ram -TOTAL- and the guy called me in cause his computer would "Stall" Whenever he tried to open something like MSN/AIM/Or even a basic webpage. The memory amount was so fucking small I couldn't even fucking start a basic anti-virus on it to do a initial check, hijackthis, fucking hijackthis took -ELEVEN MINUTES TO LOAD-

Let alone I've not seen a fucking -CAR- last fifteen fucking years, yet they bitch and moan that they are "Forced to update" to a new computer. Its god damn fucking infuriating, I wish I could strangle the fucking stupidity out of these people.

So yes, this website gets a giant fucking thumbs up by me, welcome to twenty fucking twelve, enjoy your stay.
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Those idiots put food on my table, so god bless them all. If everything ran perfect and never needed repair then a lot of repair people would be out. Just clean it, fix it, secure it give some helpful advice politely and get paid and be happy to be working. I fired a guy once with that kind of attitude it boiled over into rude behavior toward the customer. When repair and it people become rude and elitist is when they lose their usefulness.
 
HisSvt76 said:
Those idiots put food on my table, so god bless them all. If everything ran perfect and never needed repair then a lot of repair people would be out. Just clean it, fix it, secure it give some helpful advice politely and get paid and be happy to be working. I fired a guy once with that kind of attitude it boiled over into rude behavior toward the customer. When repair and it people become rude and elitist is when they lose their usefulness.
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When repair people become rude and elitist is when they lose their usefulness.


Why is there no edit seriously?
 
HisSvt76 said:
Those idiots put food on my table, so god bless them all. If everything ran perfect and never needed repair then a lot of repair people would be out. Just clean it, fix it, secure it give some helpful advice politely and get paid and be happy to be working. I fired a guy once with that kind of attitude it boiled over into rude behavior toward the customer. When repair and it people become rude and elitist is when they lose their usefulness.
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I work on a different pay structure. I bill depending on "Work done" vs. "Time worked"

Babysitting a laptop all day pushing prompts while I play games on my cell phone is not really "work" so I charge very little. Manually cleaning/installing files for 8-10 hours is though indeed work.

Thing is, 100% of my business I get is cause I charge less for repairs then 99% of the tech services out there. While they charge $60 a hour, I charge between $15-30 bucks a hour

Except all my customers firmly believe they are in the "$15 a hour" bracket because they don't have a fucking clue how computer repairs work. Which always ends up in me getting in an endless bitching match with them. If it was just me sitting down and pushing the mouse every 10-30 minutes, I frankly don't care. But almost no fucking PC falls into that bracket these days. Ten years ago, yes, cleaning and maintenance was damn fucking simple, today though its far, far, far more intense and requires you having to manually work through systems inside and out.

And again, all my customers think they are in the $15 a hour" bracket, when more and more of them aren't because their systems are so god damn fucking old, or they never have run any fucking updates in years, which results in shitloads of hours working hard manually cleaning system files, closing exploits etc.

And the customers that complain about not getting into the $15 a hour bracket? Well, if they bitch and moan for 20 minutes, I simply charge them the $15 but I do it on the stipulation I will not service their computers -EVER AGAIN- unless I am paid optimal services. And all of them, ALL OF THEM think they are "Getting a deal" and take it. Guess what, not a single, fucking, one of them has -NOT- had to call me in 5-6 months to deal with new problems, in which I go into my business book, look up their name/address etc, have the signed work order I did in which they refused to pay appropriately for my services, and I very, very politely tell them what they did last time, and what my optimal rates are. And every single last one of these mother fuckers forgets about it, and says I am trying to "Scam them" when I have it -IN FUCKING WRITING- with their fucking signature.

So no, I get reallllllll upset with customers these days. I won't do it to their face, I won't hell or flip them off or whatever, but all of them don't have a mother fucking clue about PC hardware, and all of them, -ALL OF THEM- are the cheapest mother fuckers on the planet, when -NEARLY- all of them I have gone into their homes to work on their PC's/Laptops and they all have -MODERN- stuff like TV's, Stereo's, expensive furniture etc.

Customers when it comes to computers are just the cheapest mother fuckers on the planet, bar fucking none. A car if something breaks, they are -FORCED- to fix it, or -FORCED- to buy a new car or the car just won't fucking run, these same customers will drag fifteen fucking year old laptops kicking and screaming too the ends of the earth, calling me up fucking daily about how "This website is loading slow!" when their fucking browser alone eats up 100% of their ram and want me to "Fix it", and I come down, and I look at the system, and I tell them "Even if I clean it, it will not run faster, you need a new laptop" and I get the "FUCKING SCAM!" speech out of every single one of these god damn IQ drained fucking morons that they need to buy "A new PC/Laptop"

So, excuse fucking me if I have a general hatred for customers these days, just because they put bread on my fucking table does not mean I have to respect these assclowns and their rampant stupidity.
 
HisSvt76 said:
When repair people become rude and elitist is when they lose their usefulness.
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Yep, I agree with this. Although, computers have been generally available at least 20 years now so to some respects it needs to be like any other tool. They got off horse draw carriages for cars. Off of fire for gas and electric ovens, etc, etc.

They don't need to be experts, but they should figure they'll need to upgrade like everything else.

I don't think I'd charge a "tax" or surcharge, but I might make the page unavailable or redirect to a page with links to updated browsers.
 
You guys area acting all high and mighty. Screw that. IE8 won't run on my OS. Windows 98 still works fine for me and I don't have a virus (no AV software, but I don't need it). It's super secure. Why do I have to pay more?! I don't like paying for stuff. That's why my Pentium 200 is still kickin' with 56k and IE5.

Not really agreeing with the way they are doing it (offer suggestions to upgrade - education is #1 in computers). But, think that the message needs to be displayed everywhere. Upgrade. It's free, it's fast, it's more secure... Don't charge for their lack of knowledge.
 
No edit: some people think that their computer runs Windows Explorer 7 or their browser is Windows XP. They don't know the difference. If it works, good. That's all the PC is for. Once it stops working, they upgrade.
 
As someone who's designed websites for Firefox and IE8+, only to find it's competently fucked up in IE7... I totally understand.
 
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