Browser Wars!
I was sent a very interesting link earlier, which shows just how far the browser wars have come. Microsoft has launched a competition in Australia, offering up $10,000 AUD to the person who can find the location of said cash by following the clues, in a DaVinci Code kind of way. The catch? Well, you have to be using their browser to see the clues, and their very latest one at that. If you're using anything other than IE8, then you will get a message saying something like But you'll never find it using...
. Thing is, even Microsoft doesn't even seem to be too sure what browser you are using. I tested the site out on a variety of browsers both on my Linux laptop and work Windows PC. The results of how well it recognised various browsers are below:
| Linux (Suse 10.3) | Windows XP | |
|---|---|---|
| Firefox 3 | that browser | old Firefox |
| Konqueror 3 | that browser | n/a |
| Opera 9 | that browser | that browser |
| Safari 3 | that browser | boring Safari |
| IE 6 | that browser | n/a |
| IE 7 | n/a | Windows Internet Explorer 7 |
| Chrome 2 | that browser | tarnished Chrome |
So if you're using any browser on Linux, Microsoft seems unable to read the basic information in your header requests to determine you browser. Not a great sign for a company that is meant to be making a killer browser! It's even funnier when it suggests you download the latest IE. Hell, if they can install IE8 on Linux, I'll eat my socks, with ketchup! Of course, all of these humorous points fade into the background compared to one gaff of theirs. Apparently, there is a bug that presents itself if you download the compatibility mode pack from their update site that then incorrectly identiies your browser as IE7, rather than IE8. As most people who use IE do so because they don't know anything better, what are the chances then that they will specifically not download that pack from automatic update? Probably slim! There is more information on the competition here.
