I remember back in the day when I was on the UE team for Citibanks c2it, a now defunct Paypal competitor, how we bent over backwards to secure our application without annoying and discouraging our users. We used to debate endlessly the minutia of browser support and security but the mandate was always the same. Support all browsers and get people using the software at all cost. Some who have met me may remember my joke about our support model being one where we had to design and code to support the users who found a computer in a ditch, connected it to the interwebs and wanted to apply for a Citi card or service. I was half-joking.

The wheel has turned and Paypal has abandoned the old web standby that we should build to support all browsers or at least degrade gracefully. In short, Paypal will block the service from users that are still using outdated browsers. It was rather surprising to me to read this but I think there must come a time when we must cut loose from outmoded concepts and technologies for the best interests of our users, our businesses and our practice.

Your thoughts?

Link to BBC Article
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7354539.stm