zlacker

There are two links to this post on the front page right now. This one, https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/android-building/T4X... , loads fine on my computer and comes up in the "new" Google visual design. It completely fails on my phone (Android 2.3), displaying "Loading..." for a while and then bumping me to the front page of Google Groups with a little message saying I am now logged in (I tried several times). The other link, https://groups.google.com/group/android-building/msg/c0e01b4... , just works, everywhere, but shows the old Groups interface.

This is a really sad state of affairs. If Google can't guarantee that their fancy new Javascript-dependent links won't work everywhere, they should not be used as permalinks.

I really don't care about any arguments people might want to make about the visual redesign, or how to properly implement #! paths, or the extra effort involved in generating resilient URLs, or Google paying special attention to how the Android browser handles pages, or what evil things my phone company might be doing my my data stream, and how that's not their fault, or whatever. Permalinks should work. Everywhere. Period.