msn.com blocks non-Microsoft browsers

[Wombat]

The worst part of this was that MS was blocking specific browsers. It wasn't that they were only letting IE in. If you said you were Mozilla, Opera, Konquerer, you couldn't get in. If you lied, the site worked fine. You didn't have to say you were IE, the guys at Opera changed their string by one letter and got in.

Man, put this together with the MSN service (which includes everyone that used to be on Qwest DSL, VERY glad I didn't go DSL) only allowing MS mail products, and they're being real bastards lately.

[Jorden]

Originally posted by Greebe
It's the principle that matters.

It almost sounds like a curse, Mike.
Microsoft and principle

bwurk

[KvHagedorn]

Wait a sec, you're complaining that you can't access MSN? I don't see the problem!

I must admit, those were my thoughts exactly! I never go there, and rarely do I feel like I'm getting a poor "internet experience."

I don't use outlook express for my email though, and I must say I feel left out when I miss out on all those great viruses..

[isochar]

For those of you who use web portals, MSN is the slickest and most robust of them all.

Here are the three biggest:
my.msn.com
my.aol.com
my.yahoo.com

[cbman]

MSN isn't bad... I used to keep www.excite.com as my homepage... but seeing as they suck now... I just use MSN.com or Google.

[KeiFront]

You're right Greebe

It's the principle that matters.

[orangejulius]

Why not make your own portal page?

* Your top10 bookmarks one-click away instead of two.
* No ads.
* Custom content from any site (with <a href="http://www.htmlhelp.com/reference/html40/special/object.html">OBJECT</a>)

Sample page attached.
Loads your favorite bookmarks in the top half,
and MURC FORUMS in the bottom half.

[Victorian]

How odd. Just tried www.msn.com with Opera 5.12 and had no problems at all. Everything loads just fine.

[orangejulius]

Hello Victorian,

How odd. Just tried www.msn.com with Opera 5.12 and had no problems at all. Everything loads just fine.

Microsoft did an <a href="http://www.opera.com/pressreleases/xhtml/20011026.xml">about-face</a> and started supporting OP/NS/MOZ/LYNX after too much bad press.


<small>Nice handle, BTW. Is that your name, or do you like the <a href="http://victorianstation.com/historymenu.htm">period</a>?</small>

[Victorian]

That would explain it.

As for the name, an interest in/a degree in Victorian history.

[Greebe]

Stand up for your principles and VOICE it!... in most cases you will be heard.

[KeiFront]

Funny microsoft said in the yahoo article:

"We do identify the string from the browser, and the only issue that we have is that the Opera browser doesn't support the latest XHTML standard," said Visse. "So we do suggest to those users that they go download a browser that does support the latest standards."


But when I opened the about-face link that orangejulius provided us http://www.opera.com/pressreleases/xhtml/20011026.xml

IE 6.0 didn't displayed the page correctly but opera did.

When I check the page with the W3C validator

http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.opera.com%2Fpressreleases%2Fxhtml%2F20011026.xml&charset=%28detect+automatically%29&doctype=Inline

It said: Congratulations, this document validates as XHTML 1.0 Transitional!

Didn't IE support the latest standards ????