Zen and the Art of Software Maintenance
At our house we have three Toshiba laptops running XP which are in constant use because we're old and don't have enough other things to do (except garden.)
The alternative OS when these laptops were new was Vista and we didn't want that so we had XP specially installed.
We have some reasonably sophisticated software running on these laptops.. I have Adobe CS3 on mine.... and they handle it adequately.
I reckon there must be millions of other users doing the same.
And Yes, we use IE8.
To upgrade our operating systems we'd need more RAM in order to use our existing quite satisfactory software and our present machines won't take more RAM.
So we really can't run these computers on anything but XP or (God forbid) Vista.
And why would we go and buy new ones when these function perfectly?
I reckon that people like us are a sizeable part of visitors to commercial websites.
(I seem to buy from amazon.com on a daily basis.)
They say that Newtonian physics owes its structure to the popularity of the (recently invented) clock and that generations of computer programmers structured their software the way General Motors structured its company.
Some people even believe that the present generation of quantum physicists think the way they do because of the way data is stored on computer discs.
No doubt Bill Gates considers himself a powerful force in the world but I wonder whether the person who decided on the formula for IE9 realised that they were directing the thought processes of generations yet unborn?
The way our Toshibas are holding up we'll probably will them to our great-grandchildren.
You know, I've tried all the other browsers but I really don't like them because Microsoft has brainwashed me into liking IE.
I'm sure there's something philosophical in that.
