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Hotmail Doesn't Work With Linux Firefox 2.0

Posted by kdawson on from the whoa-there-big-feller dept.

An anonymous reader tips a column up at freesoftwaremagazine.com in which the writer discovers that the latest UI enhancements that Hotmail has recently introduced don't work with Firefox 2.0 under Linux. The writer concludes that the webmail interface has been artificially limited by basic user-agent sniffing. The solution is simple enough — spoofing the User Agent that Firefox reports.

8 of 396 comments (clear)

  1. It doesn't work with the PS3's browser either by Highroller · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It doesn't work with the PlayStation 3's (non-Linux OS mode) browser either.

  2. This seems desperate... by Nemilar · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Not only does this wreak of desperation on the part of Microsoft, but I have to wonder how in the world they thought this wasn't going to come out? Or they just didn't care?

    "It's our email service, you have to use our browser." Fair enough - you've already driven these users away from your browser, now they're going to go ahead and move their email accounts, too. You're just alienating further those who have already realized that the Microsoft way isn't necessarily the best way.

    And hey, Microsoft - people tell their friends about better services. Your competitor's services. How do you think Firefox is spreading so fast? It ain't 'cause of no "Where do you want to go today" commercials. I'm betting Gmail is going to see a nice surge in new accounts because of this.

    --
    Nemilar http://www.techthrob.com - Visit Me!
    1. Re:This seems desperate... by Chemicalscum · · Score: 4, Interesting
      Yes if Microsoft is prepared to to use this deliberate ploy to degrade the usability of Firefox on Hotmail, then it raises the question what is MS likely to do if they manage to acquire Yahoo.

      This sort of behaviour could prove to be counter-productive for Microshaft (I normally disapprove of silly joke name calling of MS, but this is a case where they deserve that epithet). If I worked for Google, I would be carefully documenting this anti-competitive behaviour of MS in web services, in order to build up an anti-trust case against MS's takeover of Yahoo.

  3. When did this happen? by Thelasko · · Score: 2, Interesting

    My fiancée uses Hotmail and has never complained while checking her account on my Ubuntu 64-bit machine. It even worked with the new design (windows live hotmail). I was always amazed when she did so because I figured my computer would burst into flames if it ever went to a Microsoft site. Did this just happen? Like this week?

    --
    One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
  4. C'mon People - Start Using Those GMail Invites Up! by pandrijeczko · · Score: 2, Interesting
    So Firefox has problems with Hotmail? So what's the problem?

    I've sent 20+ Gmail invites to Hotmail-using friends of mine complaining about endless spam, the slowness of it and the sudden removal of POP3 support. Not one of them since has ever sent me an email from a "hotmail.com" email address.

    So start using up those 99 Gmail invites you can send out to "the great unwashed" - once they see Gmail, they won't go back and then Hotmail not working with Firefox won't be a problem any more because Hotmail will be dead.

    --
    Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
  5. Re:Hotmail? by seasunset · · Score: 2, Interesting

    There are alternatives to Hotmail. There are none to the iPhone (so far). Only if you consider the iphone as a good underachiever or are very tied to media spin. The review above linked is, well, brutal, but is quite on the spot. I have a Nokia E61a, and on most functionality and even leisure it compares very well against the iphone (not on trendiness, that I give you), and, mind you, the E61a is older than the iphone.

    There are many alternatives to the iPhone, depending on the viewpoint, some of them are better and are around for long
  6. Re:You geeks... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Geek: A performer at a traveling carnival who swallows various live animals and bugs.

  7. Re:Kind of Misleading by tixxit · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This sort of thing is totally unacceptable. First, it might even be illegal as abuse of Microsoft's monopoly (yes, Hotmail 'works' on Linux, but it works better under Microsoft's OS). Second, there is no excuse for this. Last I checked, Gmail and Yahoo mail work perfectly fine, with all functionality, on Windows, OS X and Linux.
    First) IANAL, but I doubt it is against the law to provide better versions of software/websites to Windows users than Linux, even if they have the ability (since that describes 95% of commercial software out there). Perhaps they just really want to screw over that tiny market of Linux users using Hotmail still. More than likely, the Hotmail developers are using a Whitelist of user-agents they know to work correctly, of which they didn't include linux+firefox for whatever reason (not 100% working, incompetence, malice, etc).

    Second) Yes, Gmail and Yahoo work perfectly fine, so perhaps you should be using Gmail and Yahoo! (not yelling, just spelling Yahoo! correctly ;) If Microsoft chooses to cripple Hotmail in another OS, the only person that is hurting is them. I'm not going to switch operating systems for a feature in a free webmail service. I can much more easily just switch my webmail service. Ad revenue speaks louder than words.