Google Serves Old Search Page To Old Browsers

Rambo Tribble writes: In an apparent move to push those using older browsers to update, Google is reported to be serving outdated search pages to said browsers. The older pages lack features available on the newer versions, and this policy compounds with the limits announced in 2011 on Gmail support for older web clients. As a Google engineer put it, "We're continually making improvements to Search, so we can only provide limited support for some outdated browsers." The BBC offers a fairly comprehensive analysis.

Comments

Yes

[fisted]

Yes! Where? I want it!

Re:Yes

[Anonymous Coward]

You could have Opera fake your User Agent header in order to masquerade as an older browser, but the Opera team dropped that and every other feature that made Opera remotely useful when they decided to turn Opera into a rewrapped version of Chrome.

A solution to a problem

[king neckbeard]

So, I can get good old Google back by spoofing IE6?

Other solutions?

[Kludge]

But you will miss out on all the bloated javascript bullshit if you spoof an old browser.

If only getting rid of slashdot beta were that easy....

Re:Other solutions?

[J'raxis]

I have NoScript enabled on Slashdot, too. Only way this site is remotely usable, just like Google nowadays.

"Please don't throw me in the briar patch!"

[J'raxis]

This is supposed to motivate me to upgrade? Right now, on the rare occasion I use Google,* I have JavaScript completely disabled to make Google (search, image search, and news) actually work the way I want it to in my browser. If they're going to help with this by serving me their older---read "cleaner, simpler, faster"---search page, I say, thanks, Google!

* Google alternative. They use the Google index but don't track their users.

There are several problems with this

[rudy_wayne]

Google says: "We encourage everyone to make the free upgrade to modern browsers -- they’re more secure and provide a better web experience overall."

Bullshit.

First, this simply is not true. Beginning with version 29 (which is now 3 or 4 versions out of date already), Firefox completely fucked up their browser and turned it into unusable garbage. Newer is not better. Newer is demonstrably worse. If I wanted a shitty browser with extremely limited configurability, I'd use Internet Explorer.

Second, you should be able to view any web page using any browser released in the last 5 years. If something doesn't work properly it means you are putting too much fucked up bullshit into your webpage.

Re:Imperial Fools!!!

[viperidaenz]

So take the "stop paying" option. If you don't like it, don't use it.

Re:Anti-Trust

[lgw]

IE has been decent since 9, and good since 10. No reason not to use it these days. I like the UI better than the latest from FF or Chrome, though I hear good things about Pale Moon - need to try that soon.