Not All Clouds Are Equal - Host Analytics and Browser Limitations

Recently I ran into Host Analytics, a 'web-based' SaaS application that makes the claim, "Cloud delivery: a business model aligned to your success" on their home page. What they don't tell you is that the application only works on a PC using Microsoft's Internet Explorer.

To say that I was surprised is a bit of an understatement. It's probably been nearly ten years since I've run into a web-based application that only worked on the PC, and most of those were legacy hold-overs from years before that. But to come across a modern web based application that seems to ignore Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and everything that Apple has done in the past seven or eight years is absolutely mind-blowing.

Only on a PC using IE? Seriously? What year is this?

Even the Wikipedia page on cloud computing lists the following as a key characteristic:

Device and location independence enable users to access systems using a web browser regardless of their location or what device they are using (e.g., PC, mobile phone). As infrastructure is off-site (typically provided by a third-party) and accessed via the Internet, users can connect from anywhere.

While I don't know of other specific examples, I'm sure that Host Analytics isn't the first company to festively decorate their marketing with cloud positioning. And if you found yourself in a political debate with a company spokesman, you would have to concede that technically they do deliver their service in the cloud. But frankly, if I were planning the future of my IT infrastructure, it wouldn't be on an IE-Windows island.