Hmm… your browser is not officially supported

I am coming out of the bloggers block and I do not want to be hit by it again. Hence I am writing anything that comes to my mind, just to keep me going (self explanatory?). Those who know me in person would know that I am a gadget freak and that my computer would always be equipped with genuine versions and latest updates of the software that I am using. In addition to this I am also a beta tester for Microsoft, Symantec, Kaspersky, Adobe and many other software firms out there. So here I am, writing about an episode from my life as a Beta Tester.

Microsoft had released a beta version of Internet Explorer 8 (IE 8) a couple of months back and I have been using the same ever since. Since we're talking about one of the most popular browsers on the web, which a lot many of the people had downloaded, installed and tested.  However, some of them (including myself) has encountered unexpected problems because IE8 doesn't support several important web services, including Yahoo Mail. In fact, you may manage to log in using the "Emulate IE7" function but, the compatibility issues still exist. There were problems in accessing Gmail with the first release, however this has been fixed with the latest build and even the New Gmail themes would work in IE8.

I am not a great fan of Webmail as I am very much satisfied with the comfort and convenience offered by Outlook. However, I use the New Yahoo Mail as my secondary email. Now let's see what happens when trying to access Yahoo mail with IE 8. The new Yahoo Mail states that it supports IE 6.0 and newer, Firefox 1.0 and later and Safari 2.0 and later, on Windows 2000, XP, Vista or later and Mac OSX or later.

Since it says that IE 6.0 and later is supported, this would obviously mean that later releases, including IE 8, are also compatible. Well, they're not. When trying to access Yahoo Mail with IE 8, I got the well-known error: “Hmm... your browser is not officially supported. The all-new Yahoo Mail hasn't been tested on your browser. You can choose to continue, or simply go to Yahoo Mail Classic.” I finally managed to get inside Yahoo Mail with the emulation active and it worked pretty fine. Each time I want to check my mails in yahoo, I have to undergo this. Thankfully, I do not have to emulate IE7, I just need to click on Continue.

So, in case you're currently considering updating your Internet Explorer browser to version 8, just think twice if you're addicted to Yahoo Mail. Or just wait a while until Yahoo officially support IE8 Beta.

May be I should do some alpha testing too…