big brother yahoo
It is amusing -- or not, depending on your viewpoint -- that clicking on a
video clip at yahoo.com from a standard etch install is met with a page of
error messages, starting:
We have checked your operating system: It does not meet our
minimum requirements
If you are having difficulties, please upgrade or switch your
operating system.
Note that the Iceweasel tab on which this friendly info is displayed gets
labelled "Universal Player"!
It continues:
We have checked your Internet browser: It does not meet our
minimum requirements
If you are having difficulties please try to upgrade or switch
to a different browser.
Please view a list of supported browsers and links to download
the latest versions...
<Recommended Browsers List>
Delighted by this irrisistable invitation, I clicked and got:
Which browsers are recommended?
Yahoo! is available on most modern browsers, but things will be
smoother if you're using an up-to-date version of a mainstream
browser. We recommend the latest versions of these browsers:
Windows Macintosh
Mozilla Firefox Mozilla Firefox
Microsoft Internet Explorer n/a
optimized for Yahoo!
Microsoft Internet Explorer n/a
n/a Apple Safari
Opera Opera
So it looks as though they are objecting to Linux per se, rather
than to the browser.
Going back to their "Universal Player" announcement -- yes there is more --
it continues:
Yahoo Video requires the following components to provide an
optimum video experience. To download these free software
applications, click the links below and follow the on-screen
instructions.
Without all of these components, it's possible that certain
videos will not play.
And if they don't play, surely that is my affair, not theirs to censor
the page first...
Anyway, they certainly know how to endear themselves to us.
--
richard
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