Yahoo: update your browser or get switched to basic email

[ZortMcGort11]

http://www.cnet.com/news/yahoo-upgrade-your-browser-or-be-switched-to-basic-email-service/

Yahoo: Update your browser or be switched to basic email

by Richard Nieva

After June 5, users running old browsers will have to use a version of Yahoo Mail that doesn't have spell-check or chat.

Yahoo on Thursday told users of its email service that they'll need to use the most recent iteration of their web browsers, or else they'll be automatically switched to a more bare-bones version of the service.

Specifically, that means upgrading to the two most recent versions of Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome, and Safari by June 5. If users don't want to make the switch, the'll only be given access to Yahoo's Basic Mail, which does not include spell-check, integration with Yahoo's Messenger chat service, or customizable themes.

Yahoo notes that people running IE 8 -- a browser that is now 5 years old -- will be most widely affected.

The company said the reason for the switch was to improve safety and security. "We understand that this policy update may be frustrating for some affected users," Jeff Bonforte, Yahoo's senior vice president of communication products, said in a blog post.

Security has been top of mind for website owners as cyberattacks become more prevalent. And Yahoo's email service has suffered some black eyes from security issues. When news was disclosed of the "Heartbleed" bug -- a severe security vulnerability that affected much of the web -- Yahoo, including properties like Yahoo Mail and Yahoo Sports, was one of the biggest sites to be majorly affected.

And in January, the company had to reset some users' passwords after an attempted hack on its email service, though Yahoo said the target of the attack was a third-party database, and not Yahoo's own servers.

I have a yahoo email account which I rarely use.... so maybe this will actually be a good thing, since I don't particularly care for their bloated, non dial-up friendly menus/animations and such.

On June 5th, if they change it to something similar to basic Gmail (HTML only), then that would be nice :-)

Yahoo email classic used to be swell. Why don't they use that?

I'm still able to log in with SeaMonkey 1.1.19 and javascript turned off, but It looks terrible and everything is all messed up :-(

Fastmail.fm and Google (basic html) work fine with my antique browser.

Edited May 9, 2014 by LostInSpace2012

[Tripredacus]

Woah. The new Yahoo mail is really buggy and annoying. Maybe I will just install an old browser to see what it looks like.

[ZortMcGort11]

@Tripredacus

Yeah it's pretty buggy alright. Why I hardly use it. Just have it for emergencies LOL.

We understand that this policy update may be frustrating for some affected users," Jeff Bonforte, Yahoo's senior vice president of communication products, said in a blog post.

Frustrating?

No, this might be an improvement! Frustrating is the email service you guys already provide. Bare bones would make it less frustrating in my opinion :-)

Edited May 9, 2014 by LostInSpace2012

[Flasche]

@Tripredacus

Yeah it's pretty buggy alright. Why I hardly use it. Just have it for emergencies LOL.

 

We understand that this policy update may be frustrating for some affected users," Jeff Bonforte, Yahoo's senior vice president of communication products, said in a blog post.

Frustrating?

No, this might be an improvement! Frustrating is the email service you guys already provide. Bare bones would make it less frustrating in my opinion :-)

 

 

Agreed. Sometimes it just makes me wonder why people think, that more bloat = better.