diff --git a/src/hb-common.cc b/src/hb-common.cc
index 64e77d434..4c1a9a8d5 100644
--- a/src/hb-common.cc
+++ b/src/hb-common.cc
@@ -667,7 +667,11 @@ parse_float (const char **pp, const char *end, float *pv)
   float v;
 
   errno = 0;
+#if defined (_MSC_VER) && (_MSC_VER < 1800)
+  v = strtod (p, &pend);
+#else
   v = strtof (p, &pend);
+#endif
   if (errno || p == pend)
     return false;