Comment by edw519 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by edw519 | Hacker News Reader

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Old idealist geek alert.

I realize that 192% of everyone who ever lived uses Facebook for every possible task 27 hours per day, but every time I read "Facebook", I can't help thinking about AOL in the late 90's..."This is not the way is was meant to be."

We got away from the pseudo-monopolistic controls of AT&T, IBM, the US government, and finally AOL to enjoy the golden days of the world wide web from 2000 to 2005. Oh how glorious it almost was. Then, like self-mutilating OCD addicts on Xanex, we couldn't stand the freedom and quickly jumped to the next most promising walled garden.

FWIW, I used Chrome for the first time yesterday and I love it! No going back to ie or Firefox for me. Can't access Facebook? No problem for me; all I ever wanted was a simple browser and access to the open world.

No, yahoo, I won't use my Facebook id to get my email. No, <insert Website 2.whatever name>, I don't use Facebook. And no Facebook, Twitter, itunes, and the rest of you guys who want to wall us off, I will not use you. (And don't think I'm not starting to worry about you too, Google.)

I know, I know, I still use my Giant Eagle/GetGo frequent buyer card, so everyone on the internets probably knows that I bought aspirin last night, but I'm still clinging to my last little bit of freedom.

Respectfully yours,

The last free hacker standing, clinging tightly to my mouse and keyboard

Co-signed - fellow free hacker.

You're not alone. I realised that Facebook makes it possible for completely non-computery people to share pictures, write notes, have on-line conversations, have a sort-of blog, all in a one-stop shop. When my older niece started to use it I realised that there were half a dozen other facilities that would serve her better, but it's the 80/20 rule. For essentially zero effort she got more than she otherwise could have.

I sigh, but it's the way it is. It's the way it was with AOL, and maybe something will kill it eventually, but it's the way it is now.

I look forward to seeing where it will go, and I hope it's better than anything we can currently imagine.

It probably will.

ADDED IN EDIT:

When I clicked the link I got:

    You are using an incompatible web browser.
    Sorry, we're not able to support your browser.
    Please use one of the following browsers:

      * Mozilla Firefox
      * Safari
      * Microsoft Internet Explorer

I'm using a very old Firefox.

I don't think the page is doing any processing or browser identification. I think it just displays the same static message regardless of how and who visits it.

I don't think the page checks for the browser version. I am using the latest version of Firefox (3.6.13) and still get the same message.

Yes. http://www.facebook.com/common/browser.php is a direct link - and displays from Safari 5.x or FF 3.6.13/Mac

EDIT: So, presumably one could access it from IE as well (not something I can test from here).

The message when browsing with Chrome is "Sorry, we're not cool enough to support your browser. Please keep it real with one of the following browsers:"

That's because that's the page you're directed to when they detect an incompatible browser. This page is probably static.

I've tried Chrome on Mac OS X and found it to be generally faster than Safari but also a bit unstable. Freezing up occasionally etc. It's solid and blazing fast on Windows though.

I'd probably be using Chrome if a) you could open external links in new windows and b) the "loading" indicator wasn't some kind of horrible practical joke.

You can access Facebook fine with Chrome, fwiw.

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