A note to techno-geeks

An interesting thing I have noticed is that almost all the Cyber Cafes (a.k.a. Internet Cafes) I have used are running IE6 on Windows XP. I suspect the cost of upgrading to Vista, or the cost of new hardware to support the upgrade, are limiting factors. Actually, both are probably an issue - their computers are adequate for XP and browsers, but they sure ain't the latest technology going. 15-inch CRT monitors are common.

I am using Apple's MobileMe for my travel email and calendar and Google Docs to compose blog posts. MobileMe won't run at all and asks to upgrade IE6 and Google complains that IE isn't supported, although Docs appears to work. Sometimes there is FireFox or Chrome installed; sometimes the system is open and I can install Chrome (FireFox seems to have a bug when using Google Docs where it gobbles cpu cycles) and in such cases nobody has ever complained of me doing it. When the system is closed, the operators have not been open to installing FireFox or Chrome and sometimes they are confused by the request - like they have never heard that there is in the world another browser besides IE.

The point is, if you are creating a web app that you want used around the world, you need to either support IE6 or maybe include messaging to encourage installing something other than a newer version of IE; perhaps listing options with links to the appropriate web sites. If you don't support IE6 or use specific messaging to explain the options to Cyber Cafe operators, your app is out of play.

Another interesting thing I discovered is that hosting a domain is massively expensive in Nepal: supposedly around 30,000 Nepal Rupees a month (about $400 USD). So, their workaround is to create simple web sites on blogspot.com, which is free.