I use an old XP machine for email so as not to clutter up my main machine. But now I can no longer send replies via the groups.io page. When sending the message it no longer goes through and I only receive a “{"DraftID":26752611}” reply. But replying through the digest I receive via my email (use Yahoo for these types of sites) sending messages is successful.
Somewhat unrelated to this there is the “Your Browser is No Longer Supported” that occasionally pops up when bringing up a webpage. This XP computer is using the last version of the FireFox browser that can be used under this system. The computer has some issues trying to support other later browser variants. So one has to look at an upgrade to a later OS. But this computer also has a multitude of older software that will not work with later operating systems unless upgraded.
Solution?
1. Buy new computer with recent operating system: ~$1000.00
2. Purchase new software to work on new operating system: ~$2800.00
Nearly 4 thousand dollars expenditure just to look at a single website? I think not.
Problem here is that the people who design websites simply let those who have older systems fall through the cracks. The young puppy programmers are not willing to learn legacy systems. That serves as a good reflection on how companies nowadays distribute their respect for customers. Not everybody is on the bleeding edge of technology for many reasons.
It’s interesting to note that some actual vary good and professional organizations have coded their websites to honor older browsers when they send out probes to see what the client has. These are people who really care for their website visitors. I have also experienced some companies who will offer a XP patch for their upgraded software if requested.
Fundamentally things are working well with this older machine except for the occasional “surprises” like the one that has now occurred with groups.io.
I realize that there are many people out there who enjoy a brisk encounter doing “scientific experiments” to accommodate website changes but I simply don’t have the luxury of a lot of time to do so. When something works well I simply stick with it. And I’m not about to jump through a dozen hoops just to satisfy a variant introduced by just one website. I do understand the aspects of technical progress but it has been my impression to have companies concentrate on “neat, new & nifty” advances purely for profit/stockholder motives is one of the issues doing damage to many people out there from a user and cost standpoint.
Greg
