Ask YC: Would YC.Newsers try a web service that works only on IE?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=109360

by eusman • 18 years ago

6 65 18 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

If currently a web site doesn't support Firefox/Safari/Opera would you still try it out?

robmnl• 18 years ago

No, I'm on a mac, don't have access to IE.

It's definitely ok to release an alpha that only works in a certain browser, but make sure you tell people, and be prepared to cut some people off.

ivankirigin2• 18 years ago

what, you wouldn't use Parallels just to use windows to use IE to try the service?!

pg• 18 years ago

It's not so much a question of would as could. I'd have to install IE first. And it would take a lot to make me do that.

eusman4• 18 years ago

I suppose this will be the general reaction here. If it's possible we could we have of an insight to YC.news stats of what the majority uses here, I guess Firefox/Safari wins over IE?

davidw• 18 years ago

You are of course in an enviable position... I would hope that most people actually working on a web site use something like Wine to be able to test it in IE.

No way do I use it one minute more than I have to, though.

cstejerean6• 18 years ago

I almost never test things in IE. I'm counting most of the time on the JS libraries I use to be cross platform and defer to a JS guru when some IE only bug shows up. Most of the time one of the many other people that have to look at a prototype will be running IE and report an issue. It's not worth it for me to bother (is it possible to run IE7 in Linux now? IE6 is obsolete).

xirium3• 18 years ago

Running IE precludes an operating system and hardware on which it runs. If you asked about developing for Firefox only then I'd strongly recommend it. This browser can be run on many operating systems. Most importantly, early adopters who are likely to use this browser are more likely to be an early adopter of your service. For the same reason, I'd recommend developing a Firefox plugin rather than an IE plugin.

mixmax8• 18 years ago

>"If you asked about developing for Firefox only then I'd strongly recommend it."

I know that this is a tech site, and that I am probably get modded down for saying this: But that is absolutely ridicolous. Basically what you are doing if you are only developing for firefox is opening a shop where you only let 10% of your customeres through the door. The rest will have to go home, or go to you competition.

I mean, seriously... Business 101 guys ;-)

kajecounterhack• 18 years ago

I would not! Though I could use my IE for Wine, why would I go through the trouble just to visit a site? If they're not going to cater to me as an Ubuntu user, then they can count me out of their target population.

Its like what paul said, except for me, even though I technically "can," I won't go through the extra trouble.

phuego• 18 years ago

If it didn't support any browser than IE, I'd pass. Those guys are digging themselves a hole if it is dependant on IE centric code from day one.

eusman4• 18 years ago

it's not much of being IE centric as to designing an api first and insteaad of losing time on stupid JS/DOM dependancies (things you can fix later for less cost), just get it maybe to most users for whom IE is the internet.

sarvesh2• 18 years ago

Your assumption that it costs less to fix later is incorrect. It will probably cost you more.

bouncingsoul• 18 years ago

If you think your audience is primarily IE users than you can make a decision to just support IE.

But you asked Hacker News. For the people here I'm sure IE is a last choice browser.

cstejerean6• 18 years ago

IIRC there are more IE related JS/DOM bugs than Firefox ones. In FF you also have Firebug which makes development less painful. So why would it help to make an IE version only first? The only reason I can think is if you're using ASP.NET and the funky HTML generation that it and Visual Studio do.

lanej0• 18 years ago

Sure... are you providing the Windows machine to test it? I'll send you my shipping address.

C'mon. What is it, ActiveX, or does the layout just break horribly in a proper web browser?

walesmd• 18 years ago

Probably not. The only time IE gets run is when I need to test a design.

Your service would really have to offer something amazing that I simply could not live without and that there were no competitors.

So far, I haven't found a single service like that.

bayareaguy• 18 years ago

No.

alaskamiller• 18 years ago

Would Y Combinator fund a company that makes a plugin to one kind of mail client?

rokhayakebe2• 18 years ago

xobni or inbox backwards

bootload• 18 years ago

"... If currently a web site doesn't support Firefox/Safari/Opera would you still try it out? ..."

What no Lynx support? No way man. Wouldn't touch it with a pole.

rokhayakebe2• 18 years ago

user pleeeease

pc• 18 years ago

Not a chance.

ivankirigin2• 18 years ago

IE only isn't a web service ... it's crippled desktop software. My last company used an EXTREMELY expensive service called Windchill. It was used because CVS was free, worked cross platform, and relatively bug free. Fractal wrong, so to speak.

Windchill only comes available through IE. That meant that the 1/2 of the company on linux boxes needed dual boot machines to use it.

s3graham• 18 years ago

Nope.

nextmoveone• 18 years ago

if i heard enough about it or it interested me i would try it. but i doubt i would use it, firefox and safari are my browsers of choice .

thorax• 18 years ago

Yeah, if it was cool enough, I'd try it out in IE.

nreece• 18 years ago

Will I try it out on IE, sure! Will I use it on IE on a regular basis, not so sure!

What's the big deal with making it cross-browser, unless you are thinking of a short-cut?

brlewis2• 18 years ago

Sure, why not? IE spits out a lot of warning messages in my gnome terminal, but aside from that WINE seems to be working just fine. What's the URL?

boucher2• 18 years ago

I don't usually try anything out that doesn't work in Safari, unless I have a vested interest in doing so.

Of course, that often means that Google products aren't useable for a year or so after they launch...

dawnerd• 18 years ago

No.

icky• 18 years ago

Nope.

If it were really compelling, I'd turn on the user-agent switcher plugin and pretend to be running IE. ;-)

If you absolutely must target a proprietary platform, make it Flash.

streblo• 18 years ago

no. i don't have IE and i never intend on installing it.

hollerith• 18 years ago

I'd have to install Windows or buy a Mac. And it would take a lot to make me do that.

mightybyte• 18 years ago

Since I don't use IE...no.

initself• 18 years ago

No.

Ask YC: Would YC.Newsers try a web service that works only on IE?

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