Google blocks Windows Phone from Maps, limits Gmail
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sat 5th Jan 2013 14:53 UTC
Talk, Rumors, X Versus Y And so this situation is starting to get ridiculous - and consumers are, as usual, caught in the middle of it all. Google has just blocked Windows Phone devices from accessing Google Maps on their phones. In addition, it also seems Windows Phone users are now restricted to the basic HTML version of the mobile GMail website. While understandable from a defensive perspective - Microsoft's extortion scheme targeting Android device makers and all that - it's still a massive dick move that only hurts consumers. Update: the media attention has worked - Google is backpedalling, and will remove the redirect. "We periodically test Google Maps compatibility with mobile browsers to make sure we deliver the best experience for those users. In our last test, IE mobile still did not offer a good maps experience with no ability to pan or zoom and perform basic map functionality. As a result, we chose to continue to redirect IE mobile users to Google.com where they could at least make local searches. The Firefox mobile browser did offer a somewhat better user experience and that’s why there is no redirect for those users. Recent improvements to IE mobile and Google Maps now deliver a better experience and we are currently working to remove the redirect. We will continue to test Google Maps compatibility with other mobile browsers to ensure the best possible experience for users."
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Lennie
Member since:
2007-09-22

I'm sorry, I don't think it has anything to do with the method.

The problem is the webdevelopers, they should build stuff which 'degrades'. If you do that, some features will not be enabled, but things don't break.

But you should first understand why it exists and how it is supposed to be used:
http://vimeo.com/16326857 23:13

Reply Parent Score: 2

lucas_maximus Member since:
2009-08-18

I'm sorry, I don't think it has anything to do with the method.

The problem is the webdevelopers, they should build stuff which 'degrades'. If you do that, some features will not be enabled, but things don't break.


I understand perfectly why it exists. However you are expecting a lot of "web developers" a lot of who are designers doing their bit or simply don't care/don't know any better about doing it properly.

The same could have been achieved with a simple "developer" mode and checking for a particular JavaScript property to see if it was available, it is no different than a debug mode in some IDEs such as VS.

What you are expecting just simply doesn't happen, I would suggest you browser thedailywtf.com for how pretty much every good idea in Software Engineering can be abused.

A lot of senior developers at my place are great at writing SQL Stored Procedures and Optimizing Databases but are clueless to how to write a standards compliant webpage.

The fact is that unless the browser makers make it extremely difficult to use these hacks and experimental features outside of a "developer mode", they will continue to exist. Unfortunately they would break the web if they did.

BTW IE 10 has removed support for the IE comments hack, which is good IMHO.

I don't expect the situation to improve. All I can do is try to tell my Juniors to do things properly and hope they get the message when I reject their code on review if it doesn't work cross browser (which is part of our peer review process before test).

Edited 2013-01-09 23:58 UTC

Reply Parent Score: 2