5 ms·

They're probably just user agent sniffing for non-Chrome browsers. I see this plenty when using Firefox or Safari. That said I wonder if all the State and DoJ

They're probably just user agent sniffing for non-Chrome browsers. I see this plenty when using Firefox or Safari. That said I wonder if all the State and DoJ investigations about anti-competitive behavior will force Google to stop promoting their own browser on their properties.

scumbert 7y ago
The sad thing is when Google websites refuse to work on Edge Chromium. Switch your user agent to match Chrome's, you're all set.
- Santosh83 7y ago
  Out of curiosity, which sites are these? Do they also similarly break with Firefox or other non-Chrome browsers or only MS Edge?
  - cpeterso 7y ago
    Google Stadia was one example: https://www.trustedreviews.com/news/why-stadia-access-blocked-on-microsoft-edge-3966491 https://www.trustedreviews.com/news/why-stadia-access-blocke...
  - scumbert 7y ago
    Non-Chromium derivatives are blocked as well, yes, but neo-Edge is a Chromium derivative.
- smnrchrds 7y ago
  Same with Firefox.
  - scumbert 7y ago
    They shouldn't be blocking Firefox either, but let's be clear-- Chromium Edge makes even less sense given it's a "cousin" of Google Chrome.
- zzzcpan 7y ago
  I wonder why Microsoft isn't doing that, they could just use Chrome user agent for all Google websites.
- deelowe 7y ago
  Which websites?
kc0bfv 7y ago
I agree. Perhaps the old user agent sniffing, from that recent age when Edge was NOT Chromium, is still mostly in place. This seems like the more likely reason to me.
- ocdtrekkie 7y ago
  These are new changes. Edge based on Chromium has been available for over a month publicly and in beta much longer. And these examples have just happened, and been introduced in the past week. Google is actively writing checks for the new Edge and implementing new scare tactics claiming their nearly identical browser that gives them data on you is more secure.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
enitihas 7y ago
To be fair, even Microsoft does UA sniffing for their own products. I remember there being a post on HN about onedrive website not working in Firefox, but working with a different user agent.
- wkey 7y ago
  What is UA sniffing mean in this context? :)
  - lostgame 7y ago
    User Agent sniffing. :)
TsomArp 7y ago
I don't get why promoting your product would be an anti-competitive behavior. Anti-competitive behavior would be not letting Edge users use google or gmail.
- enitihas 7y ago
  Yup, search for "Google Chrome" on bing and a loud Edge promotion awaits you.
- oblio 7y ago
  It's anti competitive for the same reason auditing companies are not allowed to have consulting arms or if they do, they should not both work for the same customer at the same time. Channel 1 (auditing) vs channel 2 (consulting). At least in theory. There's a conflict of interest at the heart of the issue. Google offers a service which is supposed to be neutral (search) and then on top of that it also sells another (ads) which is at odds with search. Good search results should bring the best result but ads are a way to bypass that with cash. Microsoft had the same problem with Windows (level playing field) + Microsoft made apps on top of Windows (which didn't want a level playing field).
  - lallysingh 7y ago
    That's a conflict of interest, not anti-competitive.
sebazzz 7y ago
The user agent is equal to Chrome with "Edg" (not a typo) appended: > mozilla/5.0 (windows nt 10.0; win64; x64) applewebkit/537.36 (khtml, like gecko) chrome/76.0.3800.0 safari/537.36 edg/76.0.167.1 Certainly not an accident, unless they tried to save one byte by not checking on the full "Edge" token.
- lallysingh 7y ago
  Very well could be an internal project/component name in MS.
  - cpeterso 7y ago
    Microsoft's purposely changed Chromium Edge's User-Agent string to say "Edg" [sic] instead of "Edge". They wanted to give sites a way to identify Chromium Edge without accidentally treating it was the old Trident Edge (whose User-Agent string says "Edge"). No one would have written User-Agent string sniffing code that searches for "Edg" instead of "Edge" before Chromium Edge was released. Thus, Google sites are explicitly targeting Chromium Edge because the only way to differentiate Chrome from Chromium Edge is for the server is to search the User-Agent string for "Edg". If they just searched for "Chromium", then Chromium Edge would be successfully match.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- jmcphers 7y ago
  They serve this UA on purpose to some sites to prevent being detected as the "old" Edge (which was not Chromium-based).

scumbert 7y ago

The sad thing is when Google websites refuse to work on Edge Chromium. Switch your user agent to match Chrome's, you're all set.

Santosh83 7y ago
Out of curiosity, which sites are these? Do they also similarly break with Firefox or other non-Chrome browsers or only MS Edge?
- cpeterso 7y ago
  Google Stadia was one example: https://www.trustedreviews.com/news/why-stadia-access-blocked-on-microsoft-edge-3966491 https://www.trustedreviews.com/news/why-stadia-access-blocke...
- scumbert 7y ago
  Non-Chromium derivatives are blocked as well, yes, but neo-Edge is a Chromium derivative.
smnrchrds 7y ago
Same with Firefox.
- scumbert 7y ago
  They shouldn't be blocking Firefox either, but let's be clear-- Chromium Edge makes even less sense given it's a "cousin" of Google Chrome.
zzzcpan 7y ago
I wonder why Microsoft isn't doing that, they could just use Chrome user agent for all Google websites.
deelowe 7y ago
Which websites?

kc0bfv 7y ago

I agree. Perhaps the old user agent sniffing, from that recent age when Edge was NOT Chromium, is still mostly in place. This seems like the more likely reason to me.

ocdtrekkie 7y ago
These are new changes. Edge based on Chromium has been available for over a month publicly and in beta much longer. And these examples have just happened, and been introduced in the past week. Google is actively writing checks for the new Edge and implementing new scare tactics claiming their nearly identical browser that gives them data on you is more secure.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]

enitihas 7y ago

To be fair, even Microsoft does UA sniffing for their own products. I remember there being a post on HN about onedrive website not working in Firefox, but working with a different user agent.

wkey 7y ago
What is UA sniffing mean in this context? :)
- lostgame 7y ago
  User Agent sniffing. :)

TsomArp 7y ago

I don't get why promoting your product would be an anti-competitive behavior. Anti-competitive behavior would be not letting Edge users use google or gmail.

enitihas 7y ago
Yup, search for "Google Chrome" on bing and a loud Edge promotion awaits you.
oblio 7y ago
It's anti competitive for the same reason auditing companies are not allowed to have consulting arms or if they do, they should not both work for the same customer at the same time. Channel 1 (auditing) vs channel 2 (consulting). At least in theory. There's a conflict of interest at the heart of the issue. Google offers a service which is supposed to be neutral (search) and then on top of that it also sells another (ads) which is at odds with search. Good search results should bring the best result but ads are a way to bypass that with cash. Microsoft had the same problem with Windows (level playing field) + Microsoft made apps on top of Windows (which didn't want a level playing field).
- lallysingh 7y ago
  That's a conflict of interest, not anti-competitive.

sebazzz 7y ago

The user agent is equal to Chrome with "Edg" (not a typo) appended: > mozilla/5.0 (windows nt 10.0; win64; x64) applewebkit/537.36 (khtml, like gecko) chrome/76.0.3800.0 safari/537.36 edg/76.0.167.1 Certainly not an accident, unless they tried to save one byte by not checking on the full "Edge" token.

lallysingh 7y ago
Very well could be an internal project/component name in MS.
- cpeterso 7y ago
  Microsoft's purposely changed Chromium Edge's User-Agent string to say "Edg" [sic] instead of "Edge". They wanted to give sites a way to identify Chromium Edge without accidentally treating it was the old Trident Edge (whose User-Agent string says "Edge"). No one would have written User-Agent string sniffing code that searches for "Edg" instead of "Edge" before Chromium Edge was released. Thus, Google sites are explicitly targeting Chromium Edge because the only way to differentiate Chrome from Chromium Edge is for the server is to search the User-Agent string for "Edg". If they just searched for "Chromium", then Chromium Edge would be successfully match.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
jmcphers 7y ago
They serve this UA on purpose to some sites to prevent being detected as the "old" Edge (which was not Chromium-based).