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Now Google is blocking Windows Phones from accessing maps.Google.com
- SanjayUttam 14y agoI'd be curious to see what happens if you change your user-agent header...
- rbanffy 14y agoWhen you change it to something else (I did to Android 2.3, WebOS) it worked. When accessing with a WP7 user agent string ("Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; MSIE 9.0; Windows Phone OS 7.5; Trident/5.0; IEMobile/9.0; SAMSUNG; SGH-i917)" I was redirected to www.google.com. Looks like an innocent mistake, however. Or they decided they wouldn't support IEMobile 9.
- jongalloway2 14y agoWait, how does that look like an innocent mistake? It used to work, they changed some code, and now they're blocking users with a specific useragent.
- kenjackson 14y agoIt's Google. Of course it's an INNOCENT mistake. If Microsoft had done it, it would be a mortal sin against humanity. Google has even come out and said that mobile Google Maps is only for WebKit engines. The open web is no longer about web standards apparently -- it's about one specific rendering engine.
- jacquesm 14y agoIt goes even further. At the top of my google docs spreadsheets there is now some scary language saying I should upgrade to chrome from my unsupported (but perfectly functional) browser.
- mitchi 14y agomeanwhile, some people are using lynx :p
- xentronium 14y agoThose horrible notifications that reappear every time you refresh the page are my very own source of annoyance with google. I have a 23" display and I like zooming into all pages to see text clearer. Now, google is the only internet company that decided to show me a big red box with "Your browser's current zoom setting is not fully supported".
- ZeroGravitas 14y agoI remember when it was Opera that people cared so little about that they regularly banned it, purely by accident. Not a good place for Windows Phone to be. http://www.alistapart.com/articles/msn/ http://www.alistapart.com/articles/msn/
- sergiotapia 14y ago"Not a client side problem. I just ran it through a network capture. (see here[1] ) Google is 302 redirecting anything with a WinPhone user agent to the main page. This may be a bug rather than an intentional thing, but it's Google's bug to be sure." Source: http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/15yx0a/after_microsoft_complains_that_google_is_blocking/c7r47v8?context=3 http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/15yx0a/after_mic... [1] http://i.imgur.com/Hfum6.jpg http://i.imgur.com/Hfum6.jpg --- And update here: http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/4/3836510/windows-phone-8-users-unable-to-access-google-maps http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/4/3836510/windows-phone-8-use... Seems this is 100% intentional from Google. What the fuck? I was completely blindsided by this, I couldn't imagine a huge company like Google doing this at this scale.
- ams6110 14y agoWell... it's their service. And you're not paying for it. Seems to me they can offer it any way they want. I don't know if it's a good move on their part, that's a different question.
- danilocampos 14y ago> Well... it's their service. And you're not paying for it. Seems to me they can offer it any way they want. It doesn't so much work that way for Google in 2013. They must be above reproach. Using their dominant leverage in one business to fiddle with competition in another would invite much unwanted government scrutiny – however chuckle-worthy the irony might be, with Microsoft now the aggrieved party.
- AnthonyMouse 14y agoWindows Phone has a very small market share. If we discovered that people running Opera on Maemo (if there even is such a thing) are getting the same behavior, would it surprise anyone? Would anyone even object? They don't have an obligation to support tiny platforms that would cost more to support than they're worth just because Microsoft is very loud to complain about anything they do. Or subject users to a crashy experience because the site doesn't need Webkit to load but still needs it to not crash. Any more than Microsoft has to make officeupdate.microsoft.com support Firefox on Mac rather than just redirecting it to office.com like they do now.
- nthitz 14y agoIs it just me or has the other hacker news submission on this story with much more discussion disappeared?
- jamesgagan 14y agoif you mean this one, it's just moved down: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5010891 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5010891
- nthitz 14y agoIndeed that's the one. Given its current points and submission time I really don't understand the HN sorting algo sometimes.
- kenjackson 14y agoIt was likely flagged. Anti-Google stories don't do well on HN. There's a very strong bias against anti-Google stories, but a strong bias for anti-MS stories.
- paul9290 14y agoDon't know about you, but as web dev/designer who codes html emails and websites, I curse Microsoft on a daily basis! Thankfully ie6 is no longer and issue and there are many frameworks that making building websites for ie7/8 along with the others a snap. Wish there was something for html emails cause i was just cursing microsoft and wishing they'd hurry up and go extinct.
- kenjackson 14y agoYou do realize that IE6 is more than 11 years old. Microsoft wishes everyone used IE10 probably more than you do. Do you curse Apple because of Safari 1? Which is actually newer than IE6? Microsoft's greatest fault here is that they haven't been able to get people to upgrade their OS fast enough. An odd reason to curse them. And an odder reason still to flag their articles and push Google articles. I get that everyone will have some bias, but the amount of bias doesn't seem justified, IMO.
- brudgers 14y agoI'm not saying this isn't new, but I've had a WP7 phone since June 2011; I've never been able to access a Google map on it.
- majormajor 14y agoHuh. The ad-supported third-party gMaps app still works on my WP7.5 Lumia. Not sure what I'd gain by using it in the browser.
- lawdawg 14y agoYou don't get to whine about it when something you never use stops working.
- jsilence 14y agoMaybe Microsoft should put some funding into OpenStreetmap.
- allerratio 14y agoThey already support OSM. You can trace their aerial photos from bing which is the best material you are allowed to trace in many regions. See wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Bing
- manojlds 14y agoThere is no need for Google maps or anything else as there is Nokia maps / Here maps
- SeppoErviala 14y agoI haven't tested WP8 devices but the default browser on WP7.5 didn't support pinch gestures so google just displayed a page saying "Your device is not supported".
- petrel 14y agoAgain a open case of abusing Monopoly. Google keep forcing the users as it want and everyone says, its a free service and can be bent as Google want. It forces to use Google Plus for may services, forces to log in to Google to install chrome extensions.
- dansul 14y ago>forces to log in to Google to install chrome extensions Is there a legitimate reason for this?
- jxi 14y agoYes, some extensions use identity API's.
- glogla 14y agoIt's more that you can install "extensions" just fine, but need to be logged in to get "web apps". In reality, both are Chrome ran code, but there's the distinction there. You can however install basic extensions like adblock or ghostery without logging into Chrome. (It won't help you on the anonymity standpoint of course, because every Chrome has unique id that's recorded when you log into any google service) It's the "we require login to access any google docs documents if you use chrome, but don't need it if you use other browser" that's more annoying than web apps in my opinions.
- jxi 14y agoI would hardly call blocking an unsupported mobile OS from loading a website monopolistic. It's like blocking OSX apps from running on Windows even though it might kind of "work". It would tarnish Google's reputation if people tried to use it and see how broken it is/will become since nobody is developing for it. It's a much better solution to just block it outright.
- taligent 14y agoActually no. The smart solution is to try and support it perhaps with a degraded experience. Or perhaps Google is planning a future rebranding to Android Maps.
- HannibalLecter 14y agoThere is no rule that says you have to freely support your competitors. There is also no rule that says you must be a dick about it. Do no evil? This approaches the threshold.
- gillianseed 14y agoIt's certainly an interesting development, Microsoft has been gunning for Google by any means, fair or foul: http://readwrite.com/2013/01/03/googles-ftc-settlement-is-an-epic-fail-for-microsoft http://readwrite.com/2013/01/03/googles-ftc-settlement-is-an... Now it seems Google is doing pay-back by crippling Microsoft's Phone efforts by not offering their services on them. I can't feel sorry for Microsoft in the least, it seems like finally they are subjected to 'what you reap is what you sow'.
- jgroome 14y agoI feel like it's the customers who are being punished, not so much Microsoft.
- glogla 14y agoYes, but it's Microsoft customers who implicitly agree with Microsoft policies like pressuring OEMs to not sell computers without Windows Tax, or the whole Secure Boot debacle.
- spiralpolitik 14y agoBe careful for what you wish for as it looks like other non WebKit browsers will be caught up in all this. Under this remit Firefox OS/Boot to Gecko for example would be blocked from using Google Maps. Regardless who the victims are its a bad move for anybody who believes in open web standards.
- taligent 14y agoSo by your warped logic Google users also agree with Google policies like deliberately invading your privacy (ignoring Safari DNT) and acting in a grossly anti-competitive manner by abusing FRAND patents (which they thankfully got told off for this week).
- sbuk 14y agoGoogle's statement: The mobile web version of Google Maps is optimized for WebKit browsers such as Chrome and Safari. However, since Internet Explorer is not a WebKit browser, Windows Phone devices are not able to access Google Maps for the mobile web. Microsoft's response: Internet Explorer in Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 use the same rendering engine.
- ch0wn 14y agoGoogle, however, doesn't provide the same version of Google Maps for desktop and mobile.
- sbuk 14y agoSo instead of not providing any service, why not offer the desktop service with caveats, or stop just supporting one rendering engine.
- taligent 14y agoSo I take it Mobile Firefox and Opera will not be supported either ?
- guard-of-terra 14y agoThey seem to not understand the word "optimized". On that they base their attempts to harm, hurt and destroy the Web. It's time to mourn the Google we looked up to. It no longer exists. What we have now is Microsoft and another Microsoft.
- marshray 14y agoSo in other words, maps.google.com is not a website, it's a hostname that serves data over HTTP to some limited set of proprietary applications. Are they really trying to screw up interoperability on the web like some two-bit banking website in 1999 that only worked with Internet Explorer? Does Google not understand that they have more to lose than anyone if retaliatory User-agent sniffing screws up the open web?
- compilercreator 14y agoRelatedly, see also the Youtube access blocking on Windows Phone http://www.wpcentral.com/youtube-access-and-windows-phone-microsoft-throws-down-gauntlet http://www.wpcentral.com/youtube-access-and-windows-phone-mi...
- outside1234 14y agoAnd it begins. It's clear to me that Google is the next Microsoft now -- cue chokeholds on competitors, starting with maps on iOS and WP.
- emehrkay 14y agoI guess we're forgetting how expensive it is to officially support IE. When Windows phone first launched it came with some sort of IE6/7 combo and was, of course, another nightmare from Microsoft for web developers. If it were up to me, I wouldnt have my developers waste the effort on a browser/device that doesnt matter. However, I have not targeted the newest version of mobile IE, it is on my list, I have read that it is magnitudes better than what they originally shipped.
- zimbatm 14y agoWhere's the proof that this is some sort of "retaliation" ? As far as we know it could be an update to GWT that introduces the change.
- recoiledsnake 14y agoI agree there's no proof of retaliation and the article is going a little overboard with jumping to conclusions but why would an update to GWT cause a site to redirect user strings with "Windows Phone" in them to google.com ? Anyway Google has come out with a statement saying that only webkit is supported on mobile for maps.