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Microsoft's OneDrive Web App Crippled With Performance Issues On Linux and Chrome OS (theregister.co.uk)

Posted by msmash on from the microsoft-loves-linux dept.

Iain Thomson, reporting for The Register: Plenty of Linux users are up in arms about the performance of the OneDrive web app. They say that when accessing Microsoft's cloudy storage system in a browser on a non-Windows system -- such as on Linux or ChromeOS -- the service grinds to a barely usable crawl. But when they use a Windows machine on the same internet connection, speedy access resumes. Crucially, when they change their browser's user-agent string -- a snippet of text the browser sends to websites describing itself -- to Internet Explorer or Edge, magically their OneDrive access speeds up to normal on their non-Windows PCs. In other words, Microsoft's OneDrive web app slows down seemingly deliberately when it appears you're using Linux or some other Windows rival. This has been going on for months, and complaints flared up again this week after netizens decided enough is enough. When gripes about this suspicious slowdown have cropped up previously, Microsoft has coldly reminded people that OneDrive for Business is not supported on Linux, thus the crap performance is to be expected. But when you change the user-agent string of your browser on Linux to match IE or Edge, suddenly OneDrive's web code runs fine. The original headline of the story is, "Microsoft loves Linux so much, its OneDrive web app runs like a dog on Windows OS rivals".

114 comments

  1. Microsoft, crippled by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    'nuff said

  2. Let's cause problems by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Everyone on Windows change your user agent to say Linux.

    1. Re:Let's cause problems by Narcocide · · Score: 1

      Not that anyone on Windows could figure out how, but it would be hilarious if it happened.

    2. Re:Let's cause problems by SharpFang · · Score: 1

      Edge/12.10136 (Linux)

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      45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
  3. Microsoft == dumbass by mykepredko · · Score: 0

    I would presume that Microsoft knows about this problem and really I would think that the OneDrive Program Manager should be hopping up and down demanding the problem is fixed.

    In my company, we have Linux (Ubuntu with some Mint recently), Windows (primarily 7, avoiding 10 like the plague as much as possible), Mac OS, & ChromeOS - using Dropbox for sharing data right now but will need a better solution over the next few months.

    Thanx for the article,

    OneDrive for Buisness != Not my Business

    --
    Mimetics Inc. Twitter
    1. Re:Microsoft == dumbass by cheater512 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      More likely the Program Manager is saying "Good work guys! It works perfectly."

      There isn't any legitimate reason for the useragent to be screwing it up like this.

    2. Re:Microsoft == dumbass by ColdWetDog · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The job ain't done until Linux won't run

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    3. Re:Microsoft == dumbass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, we too have > 60% of engineers running Linux (and a majority of employees are engineers). Unfortunately IT is not among those, so they go with products with questionable Linux support (Skype for Business is next on the list, though it seems a usable Linux client was at least a hard requirement for once - we will see how usable it will be in the end).
      On the plus side, office365 works better from Linux than the self-hosted Exchange ever did, whether you use the web interface or IMAP (even though the IMAP implementation is till very crappy), so I can't complain that much.
      I just don't see why Microsoft insists on shooting themselves in the food instead of fixing such simple issues. A company that wants to win customers should distinguish between "not supported" and "we don't give a shit about your problems".

    4. Re:Microsoft == dumbass by Bert64 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Because it's not a bug to fix, if they're checking the user agent string and explicitly throttling performance then this clearly must be intentional sabotage to try and make competing platforms look bad.

      --
      http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
    5. Re: Microsoft == dumbass by TheMeuge · · Score: 1

      Why in the world would you be using a 3rd party service? Putting together a Synology box is trivial, and it can back up to most cloud services with client-side encryption. You get storage space that's limited only by your hard drive space and the freedom and security of your own cloud service.

    6. Re:Microsoft == dumbass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because it's not a bug to fix, if they're checking the user agent string and explicitly throttling performance then this clearly must be intentional sabotage to try and make competing platforms look bad.

      Or to work around platform specific issues. Have you tested all the functionality to make sure everything works properly with a change of user agent string? Nothing is broken?

    7. Re:Microsoft == dumbass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nobody uses OneDrive for business. Anyone who is serious uses Box.com.

    8. Re:Microsoft == dumbass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Actually OneDrive is a PoS in general. We have it at work, and when it comes to the sync client, I have to go around to each computer for every user and do this to get it working the first time (Relevant post here):

      1. Kill all instances of any Office application.

      2. Clear out any office related credentials saved in the Credential Manager.

      3. Go to %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\ and delete the "Spw" and "16.0\OfficeFileCache" subdirectories.

      4. Launch some other office program (Word / Excel / etc.) and have the user sign in.

      5. Open OneFrive (Office365) in the browser, and start the sync process from it.

      Then it works, even after a reboot. What's worse, it's the recommended method for fixing this issue: as seen here and here. By a Microsoft mod of all people, in 2015!!!!

      That's really fun to have to do over and over. But of course they can't fix a problem that prevents the damn sync client from working. Oh no, apparently they are too busy breaking it on purpose to have a working product.

      Well at least I know why it's broken now.....

    9. Re:Microsoft == dumbass by RuffMasterD · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I tested. Suddenly my laptop battery life became comparable between MS Edge and competing OS/browser combinations, thus breaking compatibility with MS benchmarks. When I contacted MS about the issue, Steve Ballmer became mad and threw a chair at me. That cause hardware problems, from which I am still recovering. Then their lawyers sued me for defamation, violating their EULA, assault with intent to kill, and lost profits resulting in the layoff of thousands of workers. Posting AC for obvious reasons. Long story short, use Edge on Windows.

      --
      Human Rights, Article 12: Freedom from Interference with Privacy, Family, Home and Correspondence
    10. Re:Microsoft == dumbass by SharpFang · · Score: 1

      It seems it's not active throttling, just fallback to failsafe set of features; it's not the issue of specifically "Firefox+Linux", it's the general "Other".

      Instead of feature detection, they sniff the UA string and upon failing to find a "supported browser" serve code for "unsupported" which is woefully unoptimal.

      So, not evil, just lazy and incompetent.

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      45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
    11. Re:Microsoft == dumbass by paulatz · · Score: 1

      If you were using windows you would get it not throttled, but covered in ads. The "choice" is yours.

      --
      this post contain no useful information, no need to mod it down
    12. Re:Microsoft == dumbass by zeugma-amp · · Score: 1

      So, not evil, just lazy and incompetent.

      Typical Microsoft then. Why do it right when you don't have to?

      --
      This is an ex-parrot!
    13. Re:Microsoft == dumbass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What about a special debug mode for "unsupported useragents"?

  4. What would you do? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    If you are a professional programmer and were asked to do this, what would you do?

    I wouldn't do it.

    1. Re:What would you do? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      If you are a professional programmer and were asked to do this, what would you do?

      I wouldn't do it.

      It is Microsoft programmers that we are talking about. Had they had integrity and a conscience to begin with, they would not have joined Microsoft.

    2. Re:What would you do? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you are a professional programmer and were asked to do this, what would you do?

      I wouldn't do it.

      Do what? Use OneDrive? Or ruin its reputation?

    3. Re:What would you do? by epyT-R · · Score: 0

      A professional is someone who is paid for his work. If I didn't do what was asked of me I wouldn't get paid and I would not be a professional.

    4. Re:What would you do? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why do care so much about a label? My sense of ethics overrides any superficial garbage like that.

    5. Re:What would you do? by goose-incarnated · · Score: 1

      If you are a professional programmer and were asked to do this, what would you do?

      I wouldn't do it.

      You do what Mel did. Read the story of Mel.

      --
      I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.
    6. Re:What would you do? by SharpFang · · Score: 1

      "Ordnung ist Ordnung" ceased to be a valid devence since Nuremberg.

      Professional doesn't take an unethical job.

      --
      45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
  5. Now "fixed" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Interestingly, after the "oversight" was made public the issue is "fixed" by Microsoft.

    See the first comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13932226

    1. Re:Now "fixed" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh come on, it was ONLY Chrome and only on Linux. That was the only platform that they had issues - and frankly, it sounds like a bug in Chrome.

      (Seems there is the "old" prefech and the "new" prefech. The bug is Chrome/Linux was incorrectly getting the Old Prefech, which cased terrible performance. It's not especially clear WHY the terrible performance and hanging - Safari/Mac uses the old prefech code as well without the noticeable hangs.

      Lets give them the benefit of the doubt and assume it was an oversight, not an "oversight", okay?

      That performance fell so badly with the old prefech system with Chrome/Linux suggests there's a bug in Chrome (Safari on Mac didn't suffer from the performance issues.)

    2. Re:Now "fixed" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      A bug in Chrome? Fixed by a change in the user agent string to make the browser look like Internet Explorer or Edge?

      You don't belong on the internet. Go back to your job at Radio Shack.

    3. Re:Now "fixed" by fisted · · Score: 3, Funny

      Lets give them the benefit of the doubt

      Again?

      --
      CLI paste? paste.pr0.tips!
    4. Re:Now "fixed" by CrashNBrn · · Score: 1

      Which is quite possible, considering that Blink was forked from WebKit ~4 years ago, and use separate JavaScript engines: Chrome's V8 v Safari's Nitro.

    5. Re:Now "fixed" by im_thatoneguy · · Score: 2

      Go back to your job at Radio Shack.

      Speaking of potential Radio Shack employees... changing the user string is a perfectly plausible fix.

      Let's say you have a bug that creates an expensive UI watch thread. When you change your user agent the UI library will deliver the wrong version of the javascript that either is in a different commit that doesn't have the bug or the script fails to execute on the 'wrong' platform, raises an error to the console and dies (and no longer wasting resources). Sometimes a javascript thread crashing and being killed speeds up a website. You lose some piece of functionality you didn't realize the website was trying to provide and your experience greatly improves. That's the entire concept behind adblockers: trim superfluous javascripts to improve privacy and performance.

    6. Re:Now "fixed" by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      there's a bug in Chrome

      Yeah, it dared to tell Microsoft that it was Chrome. If it had just shut up and pretended to be Edge then nothing would have happened.

    7. Re:Now "fixed" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wrong, it was changing the UA string to change the operating system, not the browser. Chrome/Windows was unaffected -- so please, tell me again how it was making it look like Edge or IE that fixed it, rather than the operating system in the UA string?

      Besides, it's a bug, for fuck's sake, when other browsers handled the same html without issue (safari on mac got the same HTML but processed it without complaint), it is a bug in Chrome.

      What SHOULD have happened is Chrome/Linux would be slower than Chrome/Windows as it didn't get the new preload system, but it should not have hanged. The fact it hanged is the bug in Chrome, the fact it wasn't as fast as Chrome/Windows is the issue under discussion.

      Please, try again and actually READ and THINK about what's happening, rather than just jumping on the circle jerk the first thing you see. Then, maybe, you can be trusted with something more than looking at Facebook.

    8. Re:Now "fixed" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Changing the UA string is changing the UA string. It gives no fucks whether it's to change the browser reported or the OS. The fact that it was based on OS (not browser) is even more telling. MS can't even hide behind the vague defense that it only works with browser X quirks.

      The browser/OS cares not what the web server is sending. If changing the UA string 'Fixes' the problem, then the 'problem' lies with the web server, not the browser.

      That's why people TEST FUCKING THINGS. Or are you going to suggest that MS with all their money can't be bothered test their 'system agnostic' web server, with you know, other systems? Clearly you have no concept of just how much money they have to spend on ignoring "little details" like this.

      Please try again to LOOK at what's happening here.

    9. Re:Now "fixed" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Changing the UA string is changing the UA string. It gives no fucks whether it's to change the browser reported or the OS. The fact that it was based on OS (not browser) is even more telling.

      Feature recognition is based on the combination of both browser and operating system. This has already been explained in TFA, on Reddit and in other articles.

    10. Re:Now "fixed" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      fixed after a year because it is so fucking hard and expensive to find a Linux distribution to test with.

    11. Re:Now "fixed" by Narcocide · · Score: 1

      Well, first of all, it's a plausible fix but only for really badly-written javascript. Even back when it was necessary sometimes, it was still ill-advised to serve a different copy of the page to every browser. You're much better writing browser-agnostic code. Yes, they do have a common denominator of functionality that makes that possible if you're competent. Second of all, even if true, all this proves is they wrote ONE case for IE and broke everything else on purpose. In summary, your argument just takes the conversation back to square one: they obviously bungled this on purpose. It's that obvious to everyone who's actually done browser compatibility that they're forgetting to mention it, which is why you missed out on the significance.

    12. Re:Now "fixed" by Narcocide · · Score: 1

      Yea, but UA string matching/parsing IS NOT "feature recognition." Feature recognition is done by testing individual functions and objects for known behaviors. Be really careful about being a non-coder reading reddit posts by novice coders and thinking that means you know stuff about how code works.

    13. Re:Now "fixed" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Besides, it's a bug, for fuck's sake, when other browsers handled the same html without issue (safari on mac got the same HTML but processed it without complaint), it is a bug in Chrome.

      The same HTML? What you are claiming is that two requests to the server that are identical except for the user agent string result in identical responses, and the browser will process those identical responsed differently depending on the user agent string previously sent to the server. Not very likey, the Chrome developers would need to have a very twisted kind of logic in their browser to make it respond like that. It is MUCH more likely that the server generates different HTML for different user agent strings.

      It has been at least 10 years since I worked on an ASP.NET site, so my knowledge is out of date. At the time Microsoft claimed you could develop in a browser independent way, with better results for more capable browsers (they had a nice term for that which I forgot). Of course IE was more capable than any other, according to them, while in fact it lagged behind the other major browsers in the support web standards. I looked into how the differences were handled and found they didn't use a simpe mechanism available in IE to load IE specific style sheets but generated browser specific HTML that was of poor quality for browsers not made by MS. I remember feeding HTML generated for IE to Firefox and getting better results than with the HTML generated for Firefox. To me it seems that the same kind of thing might still be going on. Perhaps their bad behaviour towards standards and competition then has become part of their platform at such a fundamental level that they still haven't got rid of it, or perhaps they are not so nice nowadays as they claim they are.

    14. Re:Now "fixed" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unless you're not using any third party JS libraries, you might think you're writing browser-agnostic code but the browser-specific portion is actually implemented in the JS library.

    15. Re:Now "fixed" by SharpFang · · Score: 1

      Are you sure?

      Firefox/FreeBSD anyone? Or not sending UA string at all? Or Lynx/MS-DOS UA string?

      TFA claims it was just a failsafe/fallback for "Other/Unsupported". I'm honestly curious.

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      45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
    16. Re:Now "fixed" by im_thatoneguy · · Score: 1

      Hey just to rub it in here is the official Microsoft statement on the bug.

      Edgar explains that it needed to detect the browser being used because not every browser supports prefetching. While a technique it used worked with Safari on Mac, it hung for Chrome on Linux.

      "The second technique does not hang on Safari on Mac, but it does on Chrome on Linux. We will definitely ensure that more Linux testing is done."

      What do you know, it was a compatibility issue where different solutions were used on different browsers and changing your User String would result in a different code path working better.

  6. What if you were a shulb here on an H1-B? by pteddy · · Score: 0

    And you really didn't want to have to go back.

    1. Re: What if you were a shulb here on an H1-B? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      (rimshot) hahahahaha!

    2. Re:What if you were a shulb here on an H1-B? by ls671 · · Score: 1

      Well if you were a schlub, it could make sense that you do just the opposite instead. So it the case you mention, slow windows machine down instead and pretend it was a mistake if found out.

      --
      Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
    3. Re:What if you were a shulb here on an H1-B? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And you really didn't want to have to go back.

      Then you would do the needful, dear.

  7. Only the beginning by johanw · · Score: 2

    The next step qill be that it becomes deadlow if you're still using XP or windows 7, and show a popup that for a decent performance you ned to downgrade to winspam 10.

    1. Re: Only the beginning by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You work for Microsoft, right?

    2. Re:Only the beginning by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The next step qill be that it becomes deadlow if you're still using XP ...

      If you're still using XP, you deserve all the grief you get.

    3. Re: Only the beginning by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well at least I guess we don't have to ask what you've been smoking.....

    4. Re: Only the beginning by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well SURE, if your users are less familiar with better operating systems, interfaces, and customer respect. And most telling, if your users are (as MS counts on) willing to go with a default mentality of embracing "shiny & new" because anything prior is "old & busted". So yes of course they're going to love it :D They don't know any better!

    5. Re: Only the beginning by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Windows 10 rocks at our organization. Users love it.

      Yeah, I really love UAC that can't be turned off. It really helps me in my development job when you have to use Visual Studio with Run as Administrator privileges to do anything useful - which means that you then lose access to all network shares. Sure, there are registry hacks to fix that, but they get undone after every Windows update. Yeah, I really love Windows Updates rebooting my machine whenever it wants. Too bad if I lost all my state while just getting up to get another cup of coffee.

      Users love Windows 10? Why don't you fuck off.

    6. Re: Only the beginning by Archfeld · · Score: 1

      You are not a user, you are a developer. Users at the place I work for don't require Administrator to do anything, don't install anything, they just login answer email and use the programs that are installed and fully supported by the IT dept. Their machines reboot at night when it is scheduled by IT just like they always have. I've found that they don't even know what version of OS they are on as long as the stuff they need for day to day work functions, e.g. email, and the apps that are put there as part of the software push. Most of them are very happy with Windows 10 because they got shiny new hardware with it and it is faster than their old stuff was. The small slice of developers and QA folks that do require additional access have been less than happy in many cases, some even valid, though some of the grief is just M$ haters, who are gonna hate no matter what...

      --
      errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
    7. Re:Only the beginning by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It's still better than windows 10.

    8. Re: Only the beginning by ls671 · · Score: 1

      Nope, at a 3 letter agency obviously. He never said that his organization was using windows 10, just that "users" loved it.

      --
      Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
    9. Re: Only the beginning by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If your computer reboots whenever it wants then you have an incompetent IT department who hasn't set up centralized patch management. That's not the fault of the OS - the only time it's going to reboot is during updates, which you can schedule. The most recent update also has "Active Hours" that lets you prevent exactly the behavior you describe.

      Explain how running Visual Studio as administrator loses your drive mappings. VS2012, VS2015, and now VS2017 has never done that to me. Do you mean accessing a shared drive from within VS? If you need to access Shared drives from VS your doing it wrong...

    10. Re: Only the beginning by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      "M$ haters who are gonna hate no matter what", are you serious, you have to be kidding, Seriously, there is so much to hate about M$, as a piece of shit privacy invasive pack of ass hats, there is no need to bother with "no matter what", there are plenty of reasons to well and truly loathe that pack ass hat.

      In this case, the claim is poor little M$ could not afford to buy one Linux computer to test it before putting it out, way beyond their tiny little budget, pity the poor softies. There are plenty of reasons to hate M$, none need to be made up.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    11. Re: Only the beginning by Archfeld · · Score: 1

      I can't argue the multitude of reasons to hate M$, but the fact that a free service they are offering doesn't play well with their competitors products, and that they did not spend enough money to ensure that it did seems a bit over the top. That they bothered to even ensure/provide that it functioned at all seems sort of a good thing, let alone tuned it to run well. Do you think Chrome(google) or Apple is less invasive on the privacy side ?
      As for "could not afford to buy a Linux computer", I've never seen one myself either. Plenty of intel/amd hardware running Linux, lots of Solaris, Tandem, DEC, IBM, CRAY, and even some RedHat branded hardware, but never a Linux computer.

      --
      errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
    12. Re: Only the beginning by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are not a user, you are a developer.

      Developers use computers too, use operating systems too, use web browsers, word processors etc. too. Developers are users too. Not average users, not the largest catgory of users, but users who use their computers and software more intensely than most others. If they complain about the usability of software their complaint is as real as that of any other user. This "shut up, you don't count, you're not a user" mentality is pretty offensive.

  8. In fact the appears to hate chrome on linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I stumbled upon that problem this morning. I switch to firefox to use the OneDrive for business and it was as fast as the one in IE in my Windows virtual desktop.

  9. I love it when I RDP to a production db server by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And see an icon for the Windows store on the desktop!

  10. Re:Looks like Trump isn't going to reform H1Bs! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... which means new rules have to be in place for that batch of applicants or another year's worth of visas will be handed out under the existing guidelines.

    Why's that? What's really stopping them from interrupting the program part-way through the year? If it's a harmful program (which it is, without doubt) then it seems perfectly reasonable to stop it at any time, regardless of whatever guidelines, timelines or deadlines may have been in effect. If this inconveniences some foreigners, so be it. That's not America's problem.

  11. That's illegal, please shut MS down by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    .. it's as simple as that, close MS, donate all the assets to the public domain. done.
    No illegal behaviour should be tolerated.

    1. Re:That's illegal, please shut MS down by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A rather piss poor attempt at baiting /.

  12. Logic? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I don't know much about this cloud stuff, but there must be a shitload of these online storage services, and for some reason Linux users had to choose Microsoft.

    1. Re: Logic? by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 1

      They likely have a job at a real company that is not located in their mother's basement. I used Google docs for a bit. I didn't want to, but that's how they do things at that company.

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
  13. Same old same old by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

    Same old Microsoft, same old thugs, nobody should forget that.

    --
    When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
  14. homily by SadOldTechie · · Score: 2

    "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity". Not to say MS aren't often malicious ( or "competitive"), but having used a pile of their software today I can certainly say there's much that's badly written.

    1. Re:homily by johanw · · Score: 5, Funny

      History taught us that if one deals with MS, it should be "Never attribute to stupidity that which is adequately explained by malice".

    2. Re:homily by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity"

      I love how people will use this stupid fucking quote to explain away any nasty shit, no matter how blatantly obvious it was deliberate.
      Please explain to me how this could possibly be an accident. You're the second poster to pretend this was somehow a mistake.
      Oops...my fingers slipped and I accidentally typed "if (userAgent != MS) socket.throttleLikeAMoFo();" in exactly the "wrong" place.

    3. Re:homily by rickb928 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Actually, I deal with an internal web app that does something similar, poor performance with diffing agent strings being presented, between IE9/11, Chrome, Safari, and Firefox browsers hitting it and getting very very different experiences.

      The cause is attempts at code optimizations, some not done well at all. Despite their best efforts, none of our tech teams can blame some grand conspiracy with Microsoft, since no motive exists for this.

      But our users find evidence when IE works so much better than, for instance, Chrome. Until a month ago, that is, when the JVMs got to be working properly, and woot, now IE is the slog despite working just as before, and Chrome is blazingly fast. Now it's a grand conspiracy to kill IE use at the enterprise level.

      Ya can't win, ya know. whatever you do, if the browsers get different performance results, you're doing it deliberately, because there is some reason...

      More reason to avoid web programming. Servicing is still a sweet spot around here.

      --
      deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
    4. Re:homily by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Web programming is the 'only' universal programming. Anything else is vendor lock in.

      The days of "only works in IE" have been over for a very long time now (in internet years).

    5. Re:homily by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But one does not necessarily preclude the other!

    6. Re: homily by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 1

      That works on a case by case basis, but when taken as an aggregate ... NO COMPANY is as incompetent as Microsoft would have to be to be deemed malice free. See also the Halloween Documents on ESRs site.

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
    7. Re:homily by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity".

      Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by bribery.

      There, FTFY.

    8. Re:homily by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Actually the correct quote reading MS would be : "it's malice"

  15. Google MyDrive by neoRUR · · Score: 1

    I think the same ting happens when using Google Drive on Windows.

  16. Meet the new MS... by bazmail · · Score: 4, Insightful

    .... same as the old MS.

    Drop OneDrive and use something that doesn't disrespect your choices.

  17. Re:That's because ONLY apps can app apps! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Still boring.

  18. Old news by scumdamn · · Score: 2

    This issue was discussed on /r/linux two days ago and it was fixed yesterday.

    1. Re:Old news by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      So what you're saying is record time for a Slashdot post.

  19. Use OneDrive behind Endian Firewall or IPCop Proxy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I have searched and tried a lot of thing to get onedrive to work behind endian or ipcop without success.
    By any chance any one here has achieved this or at least has some good suggestions?

  20. Re:Looks like Trump isn't going to reform H1Bs! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is offtopic, to say the least, but you're shocked? Seriously?

  21. Flying the Antitrust Buffet by ytene · · Score: 2

    Microsoft have plenty of experience at being subject to judicial oversight and investigation, so the chances of any smoking gun being found in this specific case seems completely unlikely.

    However, if anyone actually captured reliable evidence that a change in the User Agent string could generate such remarkably different outcomes, then there is a question to answer here. Adjusting the performance of one product [their Cloud offering] to favour another Product [the combination of Windows and Edge] would appear to fall pretty close to the definition of "tying", something that Microsoft have direct experience of - they were fined, for example, for tying Windows Media Player to Windows - so it would be interesting to see what could have happened had the outage been more widespread or prolonged.

    I think this sort of activity is becoming more widespread with time, not less. Despite the protections apparently afforded us by the law, we see far more bending of the laws than ever before. It's as though we've entered the "Scooby Doo Era" - "Yes, and I would've gotten away with it, too, if it wasn't for you pesky kids!!!"

    To which I'd add, "Nice work, kids..."

  22. What's the plan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... Microsoft's OneDrive web app slows down ...

    What's the plan, Microsoft: Give shitty service so paying customers will buy Windows? They seem to be depending on vendor lock-in but cloud storage is standardized and that lock-in, technically doesn't exist. Any business that wants to spend the time and data allowance, can change to a competing vendor. The real target seems to punishing their Office 365 customers for not using a Microsoft browser: Has Microsoft gotten so arrogant, they insult the people giving them money?

  23. Well, surprise-surprise! by Doloresanto · · Score: 1

    What else were you expecting from an ill-bred company?

  24. Can't be! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Microsoft LOVES Linux!

  25. so, i wonder if there are perhaps some more datapo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So if you have say 100 users and 3 use linux then would you devote 50% of your resources to service those 3 users? Just curious if somehow there might be a difference in servicing the Linux os vs. Windows os? So if it's also not supported then why the complaints.

  26. Give back to Caesar what is Caesar's.. by jimtheowl · · Score: 2

    and to Microsoft what is Microsoft's.

    This should not be a surprise and is nothing new.
    Don't expect Microsoft to look at anyone's interests but their own.

    1. Re:Give back to Caesar what is Caesar's.. by lucm · · Score: 1

      Can you name a company that looks at anyone's interests but their own?

      --
      lucm, indeed.
    2. Re:Give back to Caesar what is Caesar's.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can you name a company that looks at anyone's interests but their own?

      Oh yes. Google, Facebook, Apple and, whatever jimtheowl says, Microsoft. Nosy buggers the lot of them.

    3. Re:Give back to Caesar what is Caesar's.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Isn't in Microsoft's interest to make One Drive work with other operating systems?

    4. Re:Give back to Caesar what is Caesar's.. by jimtheowl · · Score: 1

      Most do. I did not infer otherwise.

    5. Re:Give back to Caesar what is Caesar's.. by jimtheowl · · Score: 1

      It can be argued that it is working, albeit in a way to make it appear that Windows is working better.

  27. Similar experience with Microsoft Outlook by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've experienced this with Outlook. When using a non-Microsoft browser, e.g. Firefox, certain options do not appear. Changing the user-agent makes them magically reappear and they work just fine.

    1. Re:Similar experience with Microsoft Outlook by lucm · · Score: 1

      I also have weird problems with outlook.com on non-Windows machines.

      --
      lucm, indeed.
  28. Not unexpected by Lead+Butthead · · Score: 2

    Microsoft LOVES Linux!

    ... specifically, M$ loves to have it disappear.

    --
    ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
  29. the last straw came by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The last straw came when it tried installing Windows 10. It mistook the 'x' in the Linux logon prompt as the trigger to launch the self-launching installer.

  30. Re:Looks like Trump isn't going to reform H1Bs! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Trump hate is always on topic here.

    New Nintendo console? IT SUCKS BECAUSE TRUMP
    Apple moving production to US? TRUMP'S MAKING MY IPHONE MORE EXPENSIVE
    Uber lies about revenues? LOLOLOLOL ALTERNATIVE FACTS
    IPV6 adoption hits 10%? NO ONE CARES. HEY DID YOU GUYS SEE JOHN OLIVER DESTROY TRUMP LAST NIGHT?
    Day one discovered in Linux? I'LL PATCH RIGHT AFTER I TELL EVERYONE ABOUT THE LATEST RUSSIA CONSPIRACY THEORY

    Trump Derangement Syndrome is a sad thing to watch. (sorry, "sad!")

  31. Everything old is new again... by emag · · Score: 1

    This isn't the first instance of this. Look at any OWA instance or ASP(.net) site. Limited functionality when being honest about the browser, enhanced (working) functionality when you claim to be a Microsoft browser. So they reused old code...

    --
    "The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." --H.L. Mencken
    1. Re:Everything old is new again... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We must remember history of Lotus vs M$. Lotus would crash on MS DOS systems which caused Lotus' userbase to go downhill. That killed Lotus and their programmers went home jobless crying.

      DOS is ain't done until Lotus won't run.

  32. Re:Looks like Trump isn't going to reform H1Bs! by Narcocide · · Score: 1

    You haven't been watching the news lately, have you? Basically here's what happened a couple weeks ago when they tried to stop it: We found out that the only force less stoppable than Trump is Microsoft.

  33. Just Fucking Trust Us! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just Fucking Trust Us!
        -- Satya Nadella

  34. Re:so, i wonder if there are perhaps some more dat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    javascript is write once run anywhere, regardless of OS.You didn't read the article, changing the user-agent from Linux into Windows would make Linux machines connect to OneDrive without problems. Probably another anti-trust lawsuit coming to Microsoft. This dirty tricks should stop, not just Microsoft but all other tech giants.

  35. Why release such crap? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What I do not understand is why release something that is obviously not ready to work on these platforms? It does seem Microsoft wants to push its services and applications across OS platforms. But this proves its implementation is not there to do it well. Apple to some extent has failed with iCloud too so its not just Microsoft that fails at this.

  36. Why is this even news? by Torp · · Score: 1

    People have no long term memory, or believe the marketing drones?

    Everything Microsoft puts out is made to give an advantage to Windows, even if it seems alternative OS friendly.

    Do you think the Linux subsystem is available out of friendliness? On the contrary, it's there so people can migrate their Linux stuff to Windows. I bet there are minor subtle incompatibilities that are easily fixed but then make your stuff windows specific too.

    --
    I apologize for the lack of a signature.
  37. Hahahaha by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So much for the M$ loves Linux adverts they ran just a short while ago... seems that well has run dry, eh?

  38. Re:so, i wonder if there are perhaps some more dat by knorthern+knight · · Score: 1

    > So if you have say 100 users and 3 use linux then would
    > you devote 50% of your resources to service those 3 users?

    I know this is Slashdot, but please RTFA. Microsoft *DELIBERATELY* *WENT* *OUT* *OF* *THEIR* *WAY* to add UA-parsing code which then slowed down non-MS users. They actually expended additional effort to sabotage non-MS users.

    --

    I'm not repeating myself
    I'm an X window user; I'm an ex-Windows user
  39. yup, as bad as it sounds by mbaGeek · · Score: 1

    Microsoft greatly improved the smb protocol between Server 2008r2 and Server 2012. Increased performance of smb and encryption are also selling points Microsoft hammers to encourage upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10.

    BUT now that I've shown my "Microsoft certified professional" bias, I actually read the article: this was within a web browser, and most damning = "But when you change the user-agent string of your browser on Linux to match IE or Edge, suddenly OneDrive's web code runs fine. "

    So this really is as bad as it sounds - ...

    --
    It ain't what they call you. It's what you answer to. http://mylyceum.us/
  40. An app for file transfer?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    WTF, a storage service that requires users to run a special client application? What's wrong with rsync or scp?

    I don't care how well or badly it's written. If it's needed at all, your service isn't chosen.