I was trying to send my Christmas e-card today and got an "unsupported browser" error on my proton login page: https://account.proton.me/login fortunately the direct url still seems to work for the moment. https://mail.proton.me/u/**/inbox My mac is a 2012 model, and i'm still sort of stuck using it for various reason, including my disenchantment with the current state of affairs with the way Big Tech is going these and all that, and the lack of easily accessible alternatives. At the moment I'm on an old esr version of firefox, and now both firefox and my version of white star(a fork of pale moon) both give the same message about unsupported browser. this isn't the first problem i have encountered, though it is certainly part of a trend i am experiencing, and i expect some day soon, Big Tech will make my computer obsolete. You got to give them credit for making quality stuff during the late Jobs era at Apple; they built some good hardware. Also i got to pat myself on the back for taking care of my stuff and not buying a new tech junk every year(actually i do that too). Anyway, my computer still runs fine, so no issue there(though replacing is on my mind more and more these days). However the real problem i'm trying to address right now seems to be the degradation of my web experience. I'm noticing it more and more every where online, and i don't expect it to get any better until someone starts writing new software for old computer(is this unrealistic?). The Web is supposed to be "open a free"[1a-e], though it seems like more and more platforms are asking me to shell out $bucks$ just to visit their site, first and foremost, requiring me to buy a new computer because they don't support my OS. More accurately, fewer and fewer(actually none now) modern browsers support older OS'es, and redesigning the wheel and designed obsolescence seems to be taking over The Web. IMHO, it is hard to find stories on this because i guess most people just buy a new computer, I guess i am just weird(or cheap) for choosing to continue to use my old mac. I do also dabble some in Linux; I'm current favoring MX, though I have all sorts of good intensions to find a better distro - i'm not sure if one exists though? Actually, I'm not so much into tech these days(never was really aside from college), and I don't have infinite time to spend chasing every tech/security news story, though i do like to browse the front page and HN occasionally and keep up with things somewhat, and basically I kind of get the sense that new stuff isn't really all that exciting, and also not repairable, or involves some funky crypto scam or other FOMO thing. And so my world continues to get smaller and smaller, and things become more difficult, but somehow i continue to find solutions. It also helps that i live with my parents. As far as doing my business online, nowadays it seems pretty much all browsers are either Chromium(google), WebKit(apple), or Gecko(firefox) under the hood, and none of those projects seem to support an OS older than 4 years[2a][2d]. I guess forgot Edge(microsoft)... Actually Edge is now Chromium[2b]. Just for clarity I'm calling Blink and V8 Chromium here for simplicity, and the distinction is irrelevant to my complaint[2c]. Maybe it's 5 years lifetime not 4; need to check... ..Apparently there is a new version of White Star, and it's now merged back with Pale Moon[3a]. Maybe i should try it out before spending more time on my Big Tech woes web manifesto... ...Apple-Securty-Agkh... ...sys-prefs, boots, loads protonmail, signing in... ...Works! Hey, i guess i'm still above water - though definitely on thin ice, i hope everything remains All-Good and O.K. over there at Pale Moon for awhile. ;) ...Well, I could probably go on about the end of the world and the rise of the machines, and maybe i will some time after i get my notes together, but for now i don't have time: I need to go do my chores. That is all for now. Take Care! p.s. I am glad there are still people out there who care about computer&software preservation. Best of luck in the new year everybody. It is maybe not sinking yet, though the ship is in distress. The good news is solutions exist? Though it's a complex problem i guess? unfinished thoughts: why all the FOMO? why not more different browser engines? is it a problem with licensing? source: [1a] https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2021/09/14/tim-berners-lee/ [1b] https://home.cern/news/news/computing/30-years-free-and-open-web [1c] https://webfoundation.org/2019/03/web-birthday-30/ [1d] https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/07/the-man-who-created-the-world-wide-web-has-some-regrets [1e] https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/world-wide-web-launches-in-public-domain [2a] https://medium.com/@jonbiro/browser-engines-chromium-v8-blink-gecko-webkit-98d6b0490968 [2b] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Edge [2c] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromium_(web_browser) [2d] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_browser_engines [3a] https://dbsoft.org/whitestar.php [...] https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/developmenttalk/half-global-population-lives-less-us685-person-day [...] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_income [...] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_average_wage [Tim Berners-Lee] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee [WWWF is no-longer]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wide_Web_Foundation [official defunct] https://webfoundation.org/