Unfortunately, yes. The list of reasons leading to incompatibility is long and never complete.

A major difference between a paper catalog and an electronic catalog is that the applicability and reliability of an electronic catalog does not solely depend on the person producing it. There are many kinds of dependencies in terms of hardware and software. The computers used must fulfill a minimum standard to handle the catalog.

A special challenge is the rapid developments within the field of software.  Operating systems, web browsers and other software components undergo a constant developmental process. A rather common problem is that a user installs the new version of software and thereby endangers the operability of the catalog.

This is especially true for catalogs built on the basis of Web technologies. The browsers and components used on the Internet are modified very often and just as often there happen to be compatibility problems.