Google Serves Old Search Page To Old Browsers 152
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.
Re:Yes (Score:5, Interesting)
That is why I am still on 12.17. Works well and does get security updates occasionally. For the very few pages that do not work, I can always use FF.
Slashdot Beta (Score:5, Interesting)
The last remaining problem I had with beta.slashdot was its turning up in google results. I solved that with Firefox redirector [mozilla.org] and this rule:
Include pattern ... *-beta.slashdot.org* ....... $1.slashdot.org$2 ...... Wildcard
Redirect to
Pattern type
Re:Yes (Score:2, Interesting)
You can get the old Gmail back: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/15049?hl=en
I use it because it loads much faster than the standard page.
Re:Yes (Score:2, Interesting)
I use PrefBar all the time to switch User-Agent on Mozilla (Palemoon).
I vastly prefer the old-and-busted Lynx-style Google Image Search. If I'm looking for an image macro of a cat, I want the sidebar with the URL that actually goes to thefuckinglolcat.jpg, not have to page through some link farm's 5000-line-long malware-ridden SEO-optimized clickbait link or a random gigantic forum thread to find the image I'm actually looking for.
With the current GIS (and "current" web browser, even with Javascript disabled), it sucks because it takes me to the page that hosted the image; a page that may not even hold the image at all anymore. With User-Agent set to Lynx, I get the two-frame view, and I can pop the image (whose plaintext URL appears in the right-hand frame) popped open in another tab long my browser has even started loading the "content" in the big left-hand frame.
Please, Google, do continue to not "improve" the experience for "older" browsers. I've had all the UX "improvement" I can take.
Re:A solution to a problem (Score:5, Interesting)
That sounds about right. I tried netvibes for a few months after iGoogle went away and finally just gave up and use Awesome New Tab in Chrome. Unfortunately, you can't make Awesome New Tab the home page. You can make it come up automatically when you start Chrome, but not when you click the little house.
I've stopped missing iGoogle like I used to, but I'm still kind of pissed.
Seriously, it was a dick move that iGoogle went away. The problem with the igHomes and the netvibes is that they can't integrate all the google services as well as google. On the bright side, with all my futzing with iGoogle replacements and unsuccessfully trying to recreate iGoogle, I've come to understand more clearly how much of Google services' functionality comes from them invading my privacy. So now I use Epic browser and startpage.com and actively seek to thwart google wherever I can, at least in regard to my participation in its "business model". Sometimes, I use Tor browser just to be a dick to people who want to upskirt my private life. Not that there's anything interesting in my private life, but apparently, there's something there good enough that Google was willing to give me all sorts of free shit just to get a peek at my undies. Fuck them.
I came to understand that when somebody gives you something nice for free, and they're not related to you in some direct personal way, you should be suspicious as hell and look for the catch before putting out your hand. Of course, many of you have long understood this, but I had to get hit over the head with it because I'm a little slow.
Re:Yes (Score:2, Interesting)
> Why is it a terrible idea to do google searches in the clear? Who honestly gives a shit?
Even if no one gives a shit, the more encrypted traffic becomes the norm rather than the exception the more secure we all are. Kind of like how high gun ownership rates improve the safety of non gun owners too (well, at least the white ones).