Do you have a PC running Windows XP? Do you use Internet Explorer 8 on said PC? If so, Twitter has some words of advice – move it or lose it.
Twitter Support tweeted out today that they’re currently looking into a problem where Tweets aren’t posting in Internet Explorer 8. They kindly suggest that users currently affected by the problem move to another browser.
We’re investigating an issue with Tweets not posting in IE8. For now, you may want to migrate to another browser: http://t.co/lsK9hFPb
For some users, moving to another browser is easier said than done. As The Next Web points out, Internet Explorer 8 is the latest version of Microsoft’s browser that’s available to folks still using Windows XP. The browser also spawned some of the best ads to come out of Microsoft:
Unfortunately for some people, Internet Explorer is all they ever knew. The Internet is not the living, breathing creature that we all know and love to these users. For them, it’s just something that should work without any input on their part. Rarely do they ever realize that their refusal to change is what leads to these predicaments in the first place.
That’s why Twitter suggests those users check out Browse Happy as it contains links to all the latest browsers from all the major vendors. Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Opera are offered up alongside Microsoft’s own Internet Explorer. The site links to the latest versions of each browser so that users know they’re getting the most secure version yet.
Windows XP users who are affected by the current outage should check out any of the other browsers available to them. Internet Explorer 9 may be unavailable, but the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox and Opera are all available to Windows XP users. All three browsers support Twitter and everything else you could ever hope to do on the Web.
Of course, the problem won’t truly go away until we can phase out Windows XP from all major markets. Many people refused to upgrade to Windows Vista and still haven’t upgraded to Windows 7. This rift in Windows users can only lead to more problems as Microsoft drops support for Windows XP altogether.
Windows XP users should take Twitter’s suggestion as not only a call to change browsers, but to finally upgrade that operating system. You don’t even have to buy a new PC anymore. The spread of tablets and other mobile devices ensures a few years of compatibility before hardware manufacturers create the next great thing that makes every prior device obsolete.