deliberately crashing ancient computers (was: Re: A mighty fortress is our PKI)

Jerry Leichter leichter at lrw.com
Thu Jul 29 07:19:52 EDT 2010


On Jul 28, 2010, at 11:04 AM, Jonathan Thornburg wrote:
>> http://www.crashie.com/ - if you're feeling malicious, just include
>> the one line JavaScript that will make IE6 crash, maybe eventually  
>> the
>> user will figure it out. (Or maybe not).
>
> Please stop and think about the consequences before using something
> like this!  People who are still using IE6, Windows 95, etc, are
> usually doing so for reasons which make sense in their lives....
I agree 100% with the statement that deliberately crashing other  
people's computers is inappropriate.  Don't do that.

But the reasons you give for why there are still IE6 installations out  
there (low computer literacy, slow connections, etc.) aren't quite  
right.  Apparently there are many internally-developed applications at  
companies that are IE6-only.  Often, these were developed by outside  
consultants for customers who have no internal development staff.   
These things keep the business running, and replacing them would be a  
large expense that the companies involved are not in a position to  
incur.

One of the biggest and most visible of such applications was the one  
that the national realtor's organization used to allow its members to  
get access to listings.  They resisted doing anything about that for  
many years.  (I understand that within the last year or so, they  
finally had to respond to complaints from their members and redo the  
site.)

It will be many years before these internal applications disappear.   
They are in a class similar to embedded systems, where replacement of  
working stuff is almost never done, and support obligations on  
long-"obsolete" software run for decades.  Microsoft would love to  
forget that IE6 ever existed - what was once their way of dominating  
much of the Internet has turned into a millstone around their necks;  
but they can't.  (Analogies to The Ring of Sauron come to mind....)

An interesting "benefit" that some of the businesses with IE6-only  
internal software are finding is that, if they keep their employee's  
machines IE6-only, their employees are increasingly unable to access  
most Internet sites.  Talk about perverse incentives....

                                                         -- Jerry

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