[litek]

This is terrific link bait. They've probably checked their stats and figured the exposure is well worth the few missed sales they might encounter.

[mkmcdonald]

The "development time" metric is superfluous nonsense perpetrated by lazy, loud-mouthed developers.

Here's a baseless graph that John Resig of jQuery fame included years ago in a speaking session: http://i.imgur.com/1OOcg.png.

Developers are inundated with "ugh; IE sux" propaganda, but the complaints are rarely quantified beyond "my site breaks in IE".

[jacobr]

So it's blogspam from LifeHacker linking to Kogan's linkbait...

[lukevdp]

yep - this sort of PR is nothing new for Kogan either

[planetguy]

Yeah, it's a way to flatter the rest of your customer base, who now get to feel superior for using a different browser. "Hey everybody, I use Chrome, aren't I wonderful?"

Further suggestions to let us elite middle-class types feel superior to others:

1. Extra 25% surcharge for anyone who shows up at your cafe wearing Crocs

2. Anyone driving up to your hotel in a Pontiac Aztek has to pay a fifty-dollar uglification fee

3. If a fat person shows up at your store, employ a security guard to stand around going "Ha ha! Fatty fat fat fat" until they leave.

[phoboslab]

Bad analogies.

It would be reasonable to charge extra for anyone who enters a shop with a beautiful wooden floor wearing spikes on their shoes. Spikes induce extra maintenance costs - so does IE7.

[TazeTSchnitzel]

No, that's ridiculous. This is like taxing the disabled because they cost more money.

[epmatsw]

That's equally ridiculous. Not upgrading your browser is a choice, being disabled is not.

[TazeTSchnitzel]

Not really. Most people using IE7 probably didn't choose it, their IT department chose for them.

[nasmorn]

True but if there was some department disabling people, we would look very differently at disabilities I guess.

[tripzilch]

So then the IT department chose for them not to be able to use a certain online shop. If the online shopping is work-related, then it's the IT department's job to facilitate this and upgrade the systems. If the online shopping is not work-related, you have the option to do it in your own time, with your own browser on your own PC--the same situation as people that do not spend their working hours surfing the web (because they might not have office jobs).

[slowpoke]

Entering a shop wearing spikes is a choice. Being disabled, in contrast, isn't.

[TazeTSchnitzel]

Most people aren't forced to wear spikes by their company.

[freehunter]

Most people aren't forced to browse the web by their company.

[hammock]

Another (and more realistic) analogy would be a retailer adding a surcharge to your total when paying by credit card.

[mayneack]

That's illegal in most states/violates all credit card agreements for the vendor.

(but still a valid comparison)

[damian2000]

Not illegal in Australia, where kogan is from. Unfortunately there's no limit on the amount a merchant can charge for payment/card fees. For example, I believe the most popular taxi charge company here (CabCharge) charges a 10% fee when paying by credit card.

[bcowcher]

I do believe the RBA was going to investigate this [1]. If they do anything about it is something else entirely however..

[1] http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/reserve-bank-is-investigati...

[mayneack]

In the US. My bad.

[RandallBrown]

But places can just offer s "cash discount" and it ends up being exactly the same. All the gas stations around me charge 10 cents more for credit cards and it's infuriating.

[molmalo]

How about a discount to cash then? Its the opposite, buy has the same result.

[mayneack]

Most common (in the US) is just a minimum credit card purchase.

[jack-r-abbit]

Many gas stations here (in California anyway) still offer a slightly lower price for cash customers.

[koide]

In Europe many get away with it.

[ktizo]

I guess the major economic difference is all those suggestions would lose you money, whereas this will probably help their sales while slightly cutting their costs.

[Devilboy]

4. All sarcastic comments get -5 starting karma