YouTube and embedded links

[alison]

A few weeks ago, as they'd been threatening to do for months, it looks as though YouTube stopped supporting Internet Explorer 8, which is the "latest" which those of us who are still lumbered with Windows XP can use.  At least, for the last few weeks I can still get the audio, but just a blank white screen.  That's if I try watching something on YT itself.  OTOH, if I watch a YT video via a link embedded somewhere else, be it on a forum like this one or perhaps a newspaper page, it still seems to work.

 

Without blinding me with cyberspeak, can anyone give me an idea why this is?

 

(And no, I can't use Firefox.  I seem to have an exceptionally overenthusiastic Flash blocker which you're supposed to be able to override at will - except that I can't, at all.  And I don't have enough space to install Chrome as well)

[A frog]

No one is supposed to have XP anymore, Microsoft stopped supporting it almost two years ago (there are no longer any security updates, the longer it is kept the more it will be susceptible to hacking and viruses)

[alison]

Yes, but about 25% of the population do, according to something I read a while ago.  Perhaps that may have gone down to 20% by now, but it's still a significant proportion.  And given my trouble with my new 8.1 laptop, I shall be backgrading to Windows 7 at the first opportunity.

[Picturesinthefirelight]

I still have XP on my laptop. I can't afford to replace it (every time I accumulate some money dd seems to need new pointes) & I detest windows 8 with a passion.

[alison]

So do I.