Bye by Win XP... Bye bye IE 8 and down?

Destry · 2014-02-25 09:56:47

Yesterday I read this article about the 8 April 2014 being when Microsoft stops supporting Win XP (news to me, but not the rest of the world, apparently). I.e., corporations can continue to use it, but from that day forward they’ll be playing with ticking (exploitable) bombs. (What large corporation would sensibly continue to do that? The next 18 months will be very interesting.)

The first thing that popped into my mind was, “if Win XP is no longer supported, then logically neither is IE 8, the highest “standard” version XP will support, and thus come 8 April the world can arguably stop worrying about IE 8 and down. Forever!”

I tweeted that curious logic and got pointed to this cogent argument for ditching IE 8, which was written over a year ago.

We we’re going to soil our clean markup/css on CSF to support IE 8, but now I’m really not liking the idea. (Mind you many in corporations will probably use this site.)

What’s everyone else’s perspective on supporting IE 8, considering this bye bye Win XP date less than 2 months away?

Dragondz · 2014-02-25 10:14:17

Hi Destry

even if Microsoft drop the support of winXP i doubt that windowsXP will vanish in the few month because it s still 30% of all systems used on the world today! i think it will still be used, it will only stop when a major security issue will be discovered and make it unsecure!

gaekwad · 2014-02-25 10:35:30

I’ve seen increased chatter about IE8, especially since I’ve started using Foundation 5 which drops proper support for IE8. I will stop short of saying that IE8 is not something to worry about because it depends entirely on your user demographic, of course. Have you seen these browser stats breakdowns? I imagine IE8 is a decreasing percentage (within IE browsers) of a decreasing percentage (of all browsers). There’s always IE conditional markup to keep things (relatively) clean and cruft-free.

By the way, I do local tech support in my community – the number of people who think that they require Chrome in order to use Google is alarming. In their mind, IE is Bing and Chrome is Google search.

Destry · 2014-02-25 11:18:06

@Dragondz,

Yeah, well, that’s the whole crux, isn’t it… security.

Hopefully IT professionals in charge of networks in mega-million corporations have at least the ant brain to understand that it’s better to have a plan to migrate off XP, sooner, than to just keep using it like idiots until “a major security issue” is discovered. Imagine how many CIOs will get their heads cut-off for being so stupid, and the press reports of such organizations failings. This is what I meant when I said the next 18 months will be very interesting. Waiting for the disaster is the equivalent of intentionally stepping on a land mine. The boom will happen. You might have strong legs and a big bag of cocaine to keep you awake, but the boom will happen.

I’ll be the first to say that humans are stupid, lazy people. I mean, we continue to race at rat-neck speed to overpopulate the planet, burn up every last drop of fossil fuel, wipe out entire forests and jungles, eliminate critical populations of fish, water lawns and wash cars during droughts, spend billions on a chat app, etc. Humans are stupid. No question. But when it comes to money, which is often what drives stupidity, you’d think corporations might get a clue in this day and age about their bottom line.

So why should web designers continue to pander to the stupidity of corporations (and government) after the “device” that has enslaved them — indeed, that the’ve clung to — is left to rot by it’s provider? I say fuck them! Make them spend some money, be responsible. Maybe by us dishing up websites that are, using an old Zeldman quote, “as plain as an Amish coat”, Microsoft will thank us for helping them sell more modern tech. Vive la resistance !

@gaekwad,

So you know what I mean. People are stupid. Why pander to the govs/corps that perpetuate stupidity by their own actions? Rhetorical.

gaekwad · 2014-02-25 11:31:33

Destry wrote #279222:

So you know what I mean. People are stupid. Why pander to the govs/corps that perpetuate stupidity by their own actions? Rhetorical.

I’ve consciously, rightly or wrongly, worked in easily-removable workarounds for older browsers, so that when my patience runs out I can just hoist out the sticks like KerPlunk and move on. I haven’t yet come to a point of peace that I should non-JavaScript fallbacks for things across the board, I’m still mulling that over. It’s taken me until this year to stop designing for 1024px screens, frankly.

Also: theie8countdown.com

Edit: some more reading

Last edited by gaekwad (2014-02-25 11:32:41)

Destry · 2014-02-25 11:39:11

Yes, thank Zeus for conditional comments. That was a serious tool for dealing with the pain, like morphine. JavaScript, that’s a different argument all together, though admittedly one that has less teeth regarding users having it turned on. What is a growing problem, however, is the amount of JS that website builders use and rely on.

The ie8countdown site is pointless. People won’t just choose to stop using it. It will only happen when orgs switch away from operating systems that don’t support it. And that’s where the second link, IE8 is Going the Way of the Dodo, So Why Support a Dying Species?, is more relevant to the issue. And a comment in that article just gave me a good slap. Specifically this one from Chris Eaton….

IE 8 is the base version supported by Windows 7

Ouch! I had completely overlooked that fact. While XP will remove a lot of the problem, it remains to be seen how much of the newer-older versions of Win OS will still be significant, like in healthcare or in non-profit humanitarian efforts.

Still, we can only hope that if an organization is using XP, they won’t upgrade their tech to what’s already an outdated version (again, stupidity), they’d go to the front of the line to avoid having to do it again that much sooner.

MattD · 2014-02-25 16:29:30

I’m on Windows 7 at my corporate job and they make us use IE8 currently.

philwareham · 2014-02-25 19:20:34

Just put all your IE8 specific rules in a separate stylesheet and link that from within an IE conditional. Then other users don’t get the sullied CSS and one day you can just snip it out if your code in seconds.

For general sites, ie8 still has to be supported for the moment. If your site is tech-industry focused you may able to drop it sooner.

Check your analytics data on browser usage per site then make the decision.

IE8 really isn’t that difficult to support if you are aware of its limitations when you build your sites.

douglgm · 2014-02-25 21:54:26

5% of visitors on my busiest site are currently using ie8 with a handful of people using even earlier versions (ie6?!). That 5% translates to roughly 6000 visits a month. I don’t see myself being able to ignore ie8 quite yet…

tye · 2014-02-26 00:07:15

You will not believe how many large businesses & corporations I encounter who still use ie8 as there main browser – they say the IT dept tells them it would cost too much to upgrade – which I never understood

maverick · 2014-02-28 16:47:45

Destry wrote #279224:

What is a growing problem, however, is the amount of JS that website builders use and rely on.

Yes.

Last edited by maverick (2014-02-28 16:48:39)

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