Just adding a few comments — because I like to dispell myths and educate on the topic. Obviously, as the developer of this site, this topic is of primary importance to me. (What my visitors are using on their computers.)
In no particular order:
- More and more people are becoming technically-proficient these days, but the fact is that this web site caters to "everyday folks", not "gearheads". (Gearhead is a term of endearment, as I consider myself one!) Everyday folks tend to care much less about having the latest technology on their computers, and care more about the content of the Web sites they visit. So you're not going to find a large percentage of people using Lynux, the latest Windows OS, the latest browser versions, etc. And you're also going to find a lot more people using Microsoft Windows Explorer, because it comes pre-installed on their PCs. Many people don't experiment with installing other browsers because they don't want to "break" anything on their PC. Even getting people upgraded to the latest version of IE can be a difficult prospect.
- The majority of people out there only upgrade their OS (for example, to Windows 7) as part of a new computer purchase. Most people don't have the knowledge or desire to upgrade their OS. This is not just Lottery Post users -- this is true about the majority of all computer users, not matter what web sites they visit.
- So, regarding the subject of this forum topic ("LP Users favor Win XP over Vista and IE 8 over Firefox-why?"), it is not a matter of "choice" for most people. They have something installed that works for them, and until something they really want to use won't work on their computer, they probably won't change.
- A huge amount of Internet traffic -- and usage at Lottery Post -- is done from work. Businesses tend to be very slow in upgrading all their worker's computers, so they will tend to have old browsers like IE6 or IE7, and they will tend to use Windows XP. If you look at the OS/Browser mix on the weekends vs. during the week, you will see a much higher percentage of Vista and Win 7 users on the weekend, because most people are at home. Home PCs tend to be upgraded sooner than work PCs. (Doesn't everyone complain about their PC at work?)
With all that being said, a few recommendations:
- Internet Explorer version 8 (not IE7 or IE6) is a good browser that will work well on most Web sites, and certainly on Lottery Post too. More importantly, IE8 is a very secure Web browser (regardless of IE's reputation), and NOT upgrading from IE6/IE7 to IE8 would be a bad idea. In other words, if you are using IE6 or IE7, you are leaving your computer open to a variety of security issues. Avoiding the upgrade to IE8 is an absolutely terrible idea. If you're worried about it, have a relative or friend who has some computer knowledge do it for you. And while they (or you) are at it, configure Windows Update to automatically install all updates. If you see the little "Windows Update" icon popup in the lower-right corner of the screen, always click it and immediately install all recommended updates.
- IN ADDITION to upgrading to IE8 (every Windows computer should have IE8 installed, no matter what), also install a non-IE Web browser. Here are the ones I support at Lottery Post, in order that I personally like them:
- Google Chrome. My favorite non-IE Web browser, for four main reasons: (1) It's the fastest Web browser available. It will make your Web browsing experience orders of magnatude faster than other browsers. (2) I love its simple interface -- not clogged up with a million toolbars, buttons, plug-ins, menus, etc. The tabs at the top takje up very little room, and are wonderfully implemented -- you can do things like dragging tabs out of the window, drag a tab into a different Chrome window, etc. Great stuff. (3) It's a very secure browser. Chrome is "sandboxed", meaning web sites do not have any way to access the underlying OS. (4) It's very stable. Each tab that's open is completely isolated from the other tabs in the computer's memory, so if a poor web page crashes the browser, only that one tab will die, and the others will continue running fine.
- Firefox. Firefox is the world's second-most popular Web browser, behind only IE. Compared to other browsers, it's not as good or fast as it used to be, but it's still better than IE in many respects. Firefox used to be considered the "fast" browser, but it's really in the middle of the pack now. Chrome, Safari, and Opera are all faster. Firefox's big advantage is the tremendous number of add-ons available to customize the browser. (At the same time, people need to be careful not to install too many.) It also tends to support many more of the latest web standards than IE does, but so does every other non-IE browser. So this is not the advantage that it once was. Firefox is definitely not the most secure browser. In fact, IE8 almost always gets better security ratings.
- Safari. Apple's Safari browser uses many of the same programming code that Google Chrome does, so it is very similar in terms of how it renders pages, and it's very quick. Safari tends to have the best support for the latest web standards of any browser. But that's something that programmers tend to care more about than end users. Many people using PCs may be a little turned off by the Safari interface, which is purposely made to look and behave more like a Mac than a PC. Others may see it as a positive. It's one of those subjective things that everyone seems to have a strong feeling about.
- Opera. Opera is such an enigma. On one hand it has great performance and is very innovative with its interface. But on the other hand, Opera is the black sheep that knows that it does many things differently, but doesn't care. From my perspective (and the perspective of many web developers), Opera can be very frustrating, because it can be a little buggy with some features. From a user's perspective, most web pages around the Internet will work fine, but there will be pages here and there that just don't function correctly. Many times that's because the web developer failed to test the page using Opera. I don't dislike Opera however -- it's very, very good at many things, and very fast.
A special note to people still using Windows 98 or Windows ME:
Yes, I know there are still some of you out there. I feel bad, because most of the Internet doesn't work correctly with IE5 or IE5.5, which is probably what you're using.
Because your operating system is so old, you can't even upgrade to a non-IE browser in most cases.
However, last year I did a lot of work and testing to figure out a viable upgrade route for you, and I wrote a big article about it in the Help forum. https://www.lotterypost.com/help/195898
The short answer is that you can install Opera, and still have a pretty good web experience, even with your computer that really belongs in a museum.
The most important thing for Win 98/ME users is thatyou should absolutely, positively avoid using any version of Internet Explorer. (The "blue E" on their computer.) Micrsoft has stopped patching security holes for your version of IE, and hackers and bad web sites can very easily get your personal information. You should read the article in the Help forum and choose one of the upgrade paths.
I hope this was helpful!
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