[TYPO3-core] System and browser requirements

[Jigal van Hemert]

Hi,

On 5-5-2014 23:48, Philipp Gampe wrote:
> Windows 7 allows to downgrade to IE8 (for XP compat).

Which shows that Microsoft considers that to be situation that customers 
like to use.

> It is unrealistic that we support windows version over their full lifetime
> with the lowest possible versions.

This was a major reason to release 4.5 LTS. Even though updates for 
Windows had installed newer IE versions many companies and corporations 
sticked to IE6 for some reason. The original end date of 4.5 support was 
set to approximately the same date when Microsoft would end the extended 
support of XP and thus IE6.

> TYPO3 CMS is a web application and therefore is uses modern web standards.

TYPO3 CMS is enterprise level CMS and therefore needs to consider the 
situation in larger organisations.

> Even Microsoft reduces the functionality for their product Sharepoint if an
> older browser like IE8 is detected. Target version is IE9+ and older
> browsers need extra ActiveX (via Office 2013) plugins to fully work.

It can also be read as: "Even Microsoft supports older browsers like IE8 
with an extra ActiveX component to make sure Sharepoint works for IE8".
Microsoft supplies tools to exclude newer IE versions from upgrades [1].
For larger organisations other tools can manage updates: "Organizations 
that use an update management solution such as Windows Server Update 
Services (WSUS) or System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) do not 
need to deploy the IE10 Automatic Update Blocker Toolkit. WSUS and SCCM 
allow organizations to fully manage deployment of updates released 
through Windows Update, including IE10." [2]

> Lets drop IE8 and support IE9+ only. This will be much less maintenance
> effort for use.

It would also be easier to drop support for older PHP versions. With LTS 
releases of operating systems these versions are used for a longer 
period and thus we have to support them too (remember the efforts it 
took in 6.0 to make the class aliasing work in PHP 5.3?)

I also would like to support only recent versions of software, but TYPO3 
CMS is not marketed as cutting edge technology but as stable, enterprise 
level.
I'm sure the release team will reach a wise decision in what to support 
for which release.

[1] 
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/search/DownloadResults.aspx?q=Toolkit%20to%20Disable%20Automatic%20Delivery%20of%20Internet%20Explorer
[2] 
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2013/01/30/ie10-automatic-update-blocker-toolkit-available-for-windows-7.aspx

-- 
Jigal van Hemert
TYPO3 CMS Active Contributor

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