Re:37signals to Drop IE6 Support
by maxklein on Thursday July 03, 2008 @01:22PM
(#235380)
You know, I do not write software for Windows 2000. They are about 10% of my market, but I don't bother testing on 2000, because I choose to focus on the XP and up market. Nobody even questions this policy or finds it controversial. Why should a website not also decide to focus on 90% of its users so that it can make a better product?
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Why should a website not also decide to focus on 90% of its users so that it can make a better product?
Because some people just don't want to leave a dime from every dollar on the table. That's all.
If you really think this, then you have no experience running commercial software on multiple platforms. The time spent making software compatible across platforms is way more expensive than the money you gain from selling on that platform.
For example, I have some shareware I sell. Brings me about $3000 a month. When I took Windows 2000 off the list, revenues dropped to about $2700 a month. However, about 50% of support requests could now be replied with "Platform not supported" because I could finally use new APIs that were only available on XP.
Your idealistic dreamy eyed attitude will be tempered by experience at some point.
Re:37signals to Drop IE6 Support
by pchristensen on Thursday July 03, 2008 @04:38PM
(#235635)
Unless it costs $0.25 to grab that dime.
Because some people just don't want to leave a dime from every dollar on the table. That's all.
But at some point, if that dime has to come at an increase of 20% or 30% in effort, it stops being worth it.
Right. A good argument. Which you have to convert into a convincing argument with metrics. In the absence of other metrics, eyeballs wins.
Re:37signals to Drop IE6 Support
by cstejerean on Thursday July 03, 2008 @02:07PM
(#235434)
if only the math were that simple. Chances are that focusing on 90% of the market != 10% decline in revenue.
If the time you save from ignoring an expensive 10% of your customers lets you grow your total market by 12%, you're into profit.
And that's exactly why some people want every eyeball they can get. Because they don't know.