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Comment by wensing | Hacker News Reader

I'm an upgrade laggard, I feel your pain. All of the comments saying that you have no right to complain can be summarized as "If I don't understand why someone is doing something, they must be wrong."

I guess we've entered the age when browser choices have become moral decisions. Why it shouldn't be your own choice as to what browser version you run is beyond me.

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"I guess we've entered the age when browser choices have become moral decisions."

Yes, it is immoral to waste web developers time by holding onto an old browser.

I insist that the developer is immoral for aiding and abetting his laggardness by continuing to support his ancient technology. ;)

Old and unsupported browsers are also exploitable, and exploiting a machine doesn't just hurt the person who owns it, since the machine is then used to spam all the rest of us.

> I guess we've entered the age when browser choices have become moral decisions

For webdevelopers, they just as well may be. These older browsers can be a reason you can't use newer technologies like websockets or css animations, or have to use fallback libraries.

But the person that suffers is the visitor. That should therefore be their own choice.

Sheesh - I bet many of these developers also think you should have the right to do whatever you want with your body as long as it doesn't harm anyone else ... but an outdated browser (?!): NO!!

That's not true at all. Many developers are forced to waste their time supporting old browsers, or omitting features, because they still have significant market share. The good news is that FF 3.6 is nearing 1% market share so the support will soon stop.

http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser_version-ww-daily-20120728...

Expect to see lots of problems with FF 3.6 by the end of the year. Especially once developers stop using the FF specific CSS selectors: -moz-

The only immoral thing I see in this story is that they forced the update. In my country, it is illegal to modify data of one person's computer without its implicit or explicit agreement. Of course, "data" is a general term that include programs. BTW, because of these legal restrictions, engineers cannot inject virus-killer virus on your computer, even if it's for your own good and would benefit everyone, etc. I therefore don't see how an application editor can possibly justify a forced update.

I suggest we henceforth call this the Nightly Build Sect.

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