As a web developer, I’m faced with clients who use all sorts of technology.  There are people who use outdated version of Internet Explorer, people who demand their site be compatible with Windows 98, and people who still use Netscape Navigator.  I’ve always been a proponent of using up-to-date technologies, and I build things for them as often as I can.

Occasionally, though, I run in to a situation where I need to make things backwards compatible.  A valuable customer might not have the right version of Flash, so the website must still display nicely in their browser.  Building this kind of universal compatibility is frustrating and takes up more of my time than I care to admit.  The simple solution would be to force users to upgrade their systems.  Put a nice splash screen or window on a website with links to the appropriate software.

As a good friend of mine would say, though, that’s rude, intrusive, and a huge breach of ethics to force that kind of compliance.  Still, even I came across such a message.

I was browsing Google for some information on WordPress’ XML-RPC interface so I could build a piece of software for a client.  I found several references to a particular web resource and plugged the URL into my browser.

I was greeted with the screen on the left.

You see, I use Google Chrome for almost all of my personal web browsing.  It’s an up-to-date system, based on the same platforms as Apple’s Safari browser, and performs faster than both Firefox and IE on my machine.  So to come across a “Boycott Chrome” message on a website – one that wouldn’t let me load the message anyway – was frustrating and, frankly, insulting.

I understand the site owner might not like Google.  He might even have a good argument as to why we should boycott their software.  Still, to force that kind of mindset on me is ethically questionable and unjustifiable for anyone who *allegedly* supports open source, community developed solutions (both WordPress and Chrome are open source, community projects).

You never know what you’ll come across when perusing the vast sea of information that is the Internet.  Still, at all times I feel you should have the freedom to sail that sea in whatever ship you choose, be it an outdated version of Internet Explorer, or an open source project like Google Chrome.