Opera to Stop Spoofing User Agent as IE

Anonymous reader writes "The Opera browser will stop spoofing its User Agent (UA) as Internet Explorer. Currently Opera, by default, spoofs its UA to identify itself as Internet Explorer. This is seen, by some, as a move that will bring up Opera's usage stats a bit higher, and will hopefully make webmasters, who develop IE centric sites, more aware of Opera."

Comments

Re:It's a Good Thing(tm)

[Anonymous Coward]

When 90% of the web-using populace is using it, yes there is.

Re:Not likely

[hkmwbz]

"Actually it reinforces my opinion that "flawed stats" are an excuse that allows Opera Fans over-estimate their marketshare by dismissing any emprical evidence that runs counter to their assumptions (just what you did)."

Empirical evidence actually shows that Opera is usually under-counted. There are several reasons for this, such as Opera caching more than other browsers, and other things.

"Opera's issue with stat packages are their problem, not mine, and one I'm glad to hear they are addressing."

Why are you bitching at me? I'm not the one who cited stats from my own site and pretended that they represent the entire world.

Re:Not likely

[hkmwbz]

Slashdot: "This is seen, by some, as a move that will bring up Opera's usage stats a bit higher, and will hopefully make webmasters, who develop IE centric sites, more aware of Opera."

You: "Not likely. Our stats package can supposedly detect Opera's spoofed UA, and I'm still seeing numbers like 0.2%."

Re:Good

[hkmwbz]

"The problem is that Opera fanatics can't stand criticism, and any time someone makes noises like their browser isn't the best in the world, or the company's employees don't walk on water, they get all defensive and claiming to be unfairly treated by others."

This is, of course, yet more nonsense.

You claim that Opera Software keeps whining about things, which was clearly a lie, as demonstrated by my picking apart your claims one by one.

You claim that Opera's fans are nuts, but Opera fans are not the ones who have a terrible reputation online.

You claim that Opera Software put down others, but you have clearly not seen this guy called "Asa", who works for MoFo, and who keeps lying and spreading FUD about Opera in his own blog. You use an interview with Opera's CEO where he finally speaks out after taking a lot of crap from Mozilla for a long time, and you call it "whining".

You prove my point, as you continue to put down Opera, and you conveniently ignore the fact that Mozilla and its fans are well known for low blows against others.

Where do the company's employees get all defensive and claiming to be unfairly treated? Since you claim that this happens all the time, then surely you must have a lot of evidence to pick and choose from!

Your comment about "Opera fanatics" is also odd, seeing as you are the one getting defensive because I pointed out how silly your comment about "whining" was.

Don't throw stones in glass houses. Before accusing an entire group of users of being "defensive", try to not get all defensive yourself when your BS is exposed.