HN Explorer

Google Ends Support for Lynx Browser

102 points by zhenyi ↗ HN
Accessing google.com in Lynx now shows:

  Google
  Update your browser
  Your browser isn't supported anymore. To continue your search, upgrade to a recent version. [Learn more]

24 comments

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stefanos82
Seems like elinks is affected too...bummer!
ryao
I wonder to what extent visually disabled internet users are affected by this, since I can imagine at least some of them using lynx with an on-screen reader for a terminal emulator.
duskwuff
Not to any meaningful degree. Lynx (or other terminal-based browsers) would be an extraordinarily poor choice of browser for a non-sighted user, as it lays text out visually in the terminal (e.g. using color and indentation to distinguish between types of text) and does not provide accessibility cues. Those users are much better served by standard GUI web browsers.
ChrisArchitect
Suggest changing title to something along lines of "Tell HN: Accessing google in lynx now shows unsupported"

Maybe, like in 2019 when a similar submission got traction, you'll be able to get it restored.

(I am no longer able to use Google with Lynx https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21626995)

ChrisArchitect
Related discussion earlier this year:

Google begins requiring JavaScript for Google Search

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42747092

TorstenK
When resources are an issue, this does matter. I use to store previous Lynx/ Links search results in history lists, to allow browsing within local files later. Creating such lists with Firefox is a mess. (This browser tends to block my Thinpad for hours.) Really sad. Google was a key to the internet. Torsten
samtheDamned
maybe this is a knee-jerk reaction but I don't see any good reason for this. At it's core Google's job is to take an input and list outputs. The marketshare of people using lynx is small enough that whatever advertising or ai extras they want to squeeze in won't be meaningfully impacted by not working on lynx.

Edit: corrected spelling error

salted-fry
I just tested changing user agents in Chrome - setting UA to a random string like "fff" gets a search page, but setting it to "Links" or "Lynx" gets "Your browser isn't supported anymore" - which is to say, this doesn't look accidental, but more like these UAs are specifically being blocked.

EDIT: Forging user agent in Links (with links -http.fake-user-agent) gets a usable homepage, but the results page just sends you to a turn-on-your-javascript page.

extraduder_ire
My impression is that support for less common browsers and other unusual uses of google products has survived due to pet interest by individual googlers and not any sort of widespread policy.
eimrine
Google loves to search the result with a real URL but since I make any click on that result Google replaces it with some referral link. For example, if I want to open the result not from my connection but from Tor I need to clean each link by hand or even type it from scratch. I am sure this ban was made for poisoning UX for console guys too. What a pity I didn't know I could search from console browser and having more easy life.
userbinator
I wonder if an Invidious or Nitter-like solution will be coming soon, as no doubt me and countless others, although still a minority, are now truly motivated to do something about it.

These bastards have truly ruined what's left of the open Internet. Google, FUCK YOU!

RAM-bunctious
I don't feel it's particularly controversial to think that Javascript shouldn't be a requirement to use the internet. This is one step towards making that the case.
anon1395
Seems like they are cracking down on people who use Google without JavaScript.
maltelandwehr
This is more about requiring JavaScript that blocking specific browsers. I think all the new LLM labs (plus all the tools offering SEO services for LLM-based search and answer engines) finally reached a limit of scraping that Google no longer can sustain.
flaptrap
The most efficient way to search is to read the text. Waiting for images to download and then admire them cannot improve that. It looks like Google has lost relevance and is telling us, again.
hulitu
> The most efficient way to search is to read the text.

"Maybe for you"

> Waiting for images to download and then admire them cannot improve that.

"It does improve the way we track you"

> It looks like Google has lost relevance and is telling us, again.

They just got patted on the back by regulators in US so they don't give a fsck.

SnuffBox
I noticed this the other day as I (previously) used an old Firefox UA to get a more simple, streamlined legacy interface. I don't know why they did this.
xacky
Internet Explorer versions below 11 are getting the message too. Impacting those who use legacy Windows versions.
hieloz
whoogle search is affected now.