The New Microsoft Edge Sometimes Impersonates Other Browsers (bleepingcomputer.com) 88
AmiMoJo writes: The new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge will impersonate other browsers depending on the site being visited. This is may be done for compatibility reasons, like properly rendering pages or how video will be streamed and played back. When the new Microsoft Edge starts, it will connect to config.edge.skype.com and download a JSON configuration for the browser. One section of the JSON configuration file is called EdgeDomainActions and is a series of rules that specify what browser Microsoft Edge should impersonate when visiting a particular site.
config.edge.skype.com? (Score:2, Informative)
Why does Edge store its data on Skype.com? And why does it have to download this every time you open the browser? Man... software today is absolute worthless spy trash.
Re:config.edge.skype.com? (Score:5, Informative)
"If people built their site with feature detection, instead of user agent sniffing, Edge wouldn't have to do anything special."
Which is hilarious considering every other browser supports this because it was the only way to bust the MSIE browser monopoly.
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Of course nobody ever had a buggy or horrendously slow implementation of a feature they claimed to support. Getting the actual browser version is useful, it's also possible to abuse but feature detection is not a full substitute.
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No doubt but I can reference the exact same hillarity as a counterpoint. Every other browser supports this capability because they had to in order to bust the MSIE browser monopoly... they had to do this because web developers were blocking perfectly capable browsers. As long as developers apply white lists instead of black lists (which they will probably always do) clients need the ability to fib to them.
Re:config.edge.skype.com? (Score:5, Insightful)
I agree Skype is a little odd, but as for the latter, it's most likely to keep it up to date and accurate. It's only downloading a JSON file of sites, which would be compared to a site the user visits locally. You can claim all spying stuff elsewhere, but not in this case.
If people built their site with feature detection, instead of user agent sniffing, Edge wouldn't have to do anything special.
...and here I am thinking WTF, why can't these sites just, oh I dunno... adhere to a standard or something?
(/me ducks and runs, laughing maniacally)
In all seriousness, I think we've reached peak idiocy with having to constantly download an update of which sites have what demands in order to view them... the sooner this feature dies, the sooner we can stop traversing the boundaries of sanity.
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Stop going to broken sites. Problem fixed.
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Re: config.edge.skype.com? (Score:2)
Microsoft will be more and more abusive...? (Score:2)
Links to articles that show Microsoft's VERY poor management. [slashdot.org] One link shows that Bill Gates still manages Microsoft.
Someone responded to that comment of mine with a link to another story: Bill Gates Talked Microsoft Out of Trying to Buy $3.8 Billion Slack -- So Now Microsoft Is Trying To Kill It. [engropartners.com] (Sept. 12, 2016)
I've studied Microsoft since the days of DOS. (The
Re:config.edge.skype.com? (Score:5, Insightful)
It forces people not to block skype.com, otherwise their browser will malfunction.
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I think they are more concerned when other sites (youtube?) started doing it to them.
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They want to keep firewalls open to skype.com. Perhaps they will soon download windows updates from linkedin, hotmail, yammer and github so they must be opened from every corporate network too?
Here is what I got: (Score:2)
We're working to restore all services as soon as possible. Please check back soon.
0Nhu/XAAAAABhP/JzWhp9RoQnGOF6uWK1QkxVRURHRTA3MTAARWRnZQ==
Re: (Score:1)
Ha!
My Pi-Hole blocked my request. Suck it M$.
Re: (Score:2)
Internet Explorer and its unpredictable "quirks" mode is making a comeback.
meh ... (Score:4, Funny)
so what, IE has been impersonating a web browser for years
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I'd say it makes sense to upload domains visited that weren't in the database, but Microsoft runs its own search engine and spider, so there's really no excuse.
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I'd say it makes sense to upload domains visited that weren't in the database, but Microsoft runs its own search engine and spider, so there's really no excuse.
Please tell me it obeys users preferences. If I say to not send data usage to Microsoft, I don't want it to send data to Microsoft! Alas, we're talking about Microsoft, so who knows.
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You want to be sure nothing is sent to MS when you use Edge? Don't use Edge. Problem fixed.
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Well, you use it exactly once: to download Chrome, Firefox, Opera, or something else... then you shut it off, delete all shortcuts, then rack-down local security policy to prevent it from even accidentally opening up ever again... ...and even then I'm not so sure it won't pop up anyway,.
Welcome to the new tiered internet (Score:2)
You people make it so. (Score:1)
These are voluntarily grown monopolies.
Your company creates web sites specifically for a certain browser; or, when your bank requires a certain browser, you submit yourself to this decree rather than complain or move to another bank.
The keys to your prison are in your hands, my friend. Learn to do without, and you'll be free.
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Did Google Sabotage Firefox and IE? (Score:2)
This is probably the reason
https://news.slashdot.org/stor... [slashdot.org]
Did Google Sabotage Firefox and IE? (Score:5, Insightful)
This may be the reason - https://news.slashdot.org/stor... [slashdot.org]
Re: (Score:3)
More likely Microsoft is simply continuing their long established tradition of spoofing the user agent for compatibility. Internet explorer has been doing it since I think version 7.
My guess is that they noticed a few sites have Edge specific hacks that don't work well with the Blink rendering engine, so need to pretend to be Chrome until the sites fix the problem.
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But this is Chromium based? Isn't blink by the wayside now?
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Chromium is the browser. Blink is the rendering engine used by Chromium.
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Probably inevitable (Score:4, Insightful)
This sort of thing is probably inevitable when many web servers deliver different content depending on how the browser identifies itself.
Even servers that are just trying to be helpful are going to cause issues with new browsers, unexpected configurations, etc.
Not to mention Google being suspected of "accidentally" causing issues with competitor browsers on their sites.
Could result in a sort of arms race - the server trying to fingerprint you and figure out what browser you are really using.
Opera does it too (Score:4, Interesting)
Opera has a "browser.js" file that contains patches such as "Pretend to be Chrome on barnesandnoble" whereby it impersonates other browsers to get around pages blocking it with "incompatible browser" errors.
I couldn't find much information on it, except that the file is stored next to your preferences, and that you can turn it off by going to opera://browserjs
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And people then contact the web master and report that it doesn't work. Then Barnes and Noble remove that notice.
An internet where sites are minimal and don't require weirdness that happens to work would be better. There shoulnd't really be a need to send a User-Agent header.
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Is it because Barnes & Noble coded their site wrong, or because they have some cosey deal with Google to muck up other browsers?
Google slow down prevention? (Score:1)
So now Google won't be able to slow down their competitors based on user agent anymore?
good luck coding for this ! (Score:1)
Browsers should not identify themselves at all. (Score:1)
Browsers should not identify them selves in any way whatsoever. They should not report their name, the OS they're running on, the screen resolution, the list of fonts etc. etc. They should simply make a request for a document/resource.
That way sites would have to be written to standards and we'd be a lot better off without the tangled mess of javascript based crap that starts rendering differently depending on what the browser tells the server it is.
When you go to fill up your car you have a standard nozz
What's the fuss about?! (Score:1)
The mere fact that they indicate what they are COMPATIBLE WITH via User Agent String is not news. The web standards don't have a good efficient method for rightfully indicating consumer compatibility scenarios besides UA strings... and if they do, then what are they?!?!?!
Karma for IE only websites (Score:3)
All sites? (Score:1)