Today I opened YouTube in Internet Explorer on a Microsoft Windows Vista
computer. The "full screen" button in YouTube's JavaScript (?) video player
was greyed out, and I couldn't watch videos in full screen mode. At the top
of the website, a narrow banner recommended Google Chrome.
Is there a reason that Google/YouTube won't do full-screen video in Internet
Explorer? I wondered whether Youtube/Google was diminishing compatibility
with their competitors' web browsers to give their own web browser an
advantage in the market. Maybe the full-screen button was greyed out because
I did something wrong, maybe something to do with Vista not being supported
any more (is it?), or maybe there's some other reason for YouTube's lesser
functionality on Internet Explorer.
Any thoughts? Has this happend with others' Internet Explorer, Safari,
Firefox, etc? Are there laws (which countries/etc?) that restrict or
prohibit preferential treatment like this might be?
Although not exactly the same, it reminds me of Microsoft's HTML situation:
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/03/17/opera_ceo_microsoft/
