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The Internet Software Apache

New Apache Mod: Microsoft-Free Fridays 27

Posted by Hemos from the compile-it-in-and-have-fun dept.
cygnusx writes "This Apache mod is great for laughs -- but given the number of people who use IE, I can't see too many webmasters adopting it."
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New Apache Mod: Microsoft-Free Fridays More

New Apache Mod: Microsoft-Free Fridays

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  • Hrmm... (Score:3)

    by joq ( 63625 ) on Monday July 02, 2001 @03:00AM (#114750) Homepage Journal
    It's funny but unless it's a non commercial site, someone would have to be off the rockers to use it. Money is money any way you look at it whether it's from an IE (l)user or other. Easy way as well is to just use fix your httpd.conf like so:

    BrowserMatchNoCase "MSIE" cocksucker
    <FilesMatch *>
    Order Deny,Allow
    Deny from env=cocksucker
    </FilesMatch>

  • Two lines of mod-rewrite could do the same thing..
  • It's like writing an mp3 player into the kernel. Sure, you could go the easy way, but it so much more sexy and likely to make it on slashdot as a complicated module.

  • but *friday* (Score:2)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Hi. I wrote the module. I admit to being largely ignorant to Apache-anything, but AFAIK there isn't any configuration directive that says, "Only on Friday, do ."

  • Thanks for checking for Opera! (Score:3)

    by weave ( 48069 ) on Monday July 02, 2001 @08:41AM (#114754) Journal
    Beings that Opera can disguise itself as the other big user agents, it's a nice touch that your module doesn't exclude opera users! :)
  • It's actually a quite simple module.
  • This has an advantage over a version in mod_perl in that it would use very little memory. On the other hand, mod_perl takes 1mb Apache processes and turns them into 15mb Apache processes. No thank-you.
  • mod_perl [apache.org]? It's more advanced than anything I've done personally, but apparently mod_perl makes it pretty easy to embed Perl code into your Apache configuration files. I don't see why you couldn't use that mechanism to block a given user agent on a given day of the week, if that's what you really wanna do...

  • Smart Tags are in the IE6 Public Preview (read: beta) and is in all Release Candidates of Windows XP/IE6
  • I suppose you could use Rewrite cond, but you'd still have to create the result file, as I don't see a way to do that in mod_rewrite.

    Doing it as a module is probably a lot less overhead, than reading the directive and expression, then displaying the result.

    Don't know how useful it is, but it's pretty cute.

    Dave
  • "Opera users are already excluded from many web sites, due to the User-Agent problem and the javascript implementation."
    I agree with you on the javascript part, but... excluded from pages?

    Could you give an example please?
    I never experienced being excluded, because of using Opera. And I don't even use the latest version [opera.com].
  • Aaah, thanks. Those are good examples of excluding visitors allright.
    I think about converting the parking spaces in front of my house to 'Toyota-free' zones.
    That'll teach 'em!!!
    Oh wait... it won't. Oh well.
  • This is actually a good example of a basic apache module. I wrote a module a while ago and this is what the basic principle looks like. Using this as a template it would make writing apache modules super easy.

    It shows how to acces things in the headers_in, and how to write messages. Thus cookies are part of the headers in also, so it would be easey to modify to read the cookies.

    I don't want a lot, I just want it all!
    Flame away, I have a hose!

  • "In support of freedom of choice in browser software, this web site is Microsoft-Free on Fridays. Please use any browser except MSIE to access this web site today."
    Well, I would assume "freedom of choice in browser software" would include my choice to use MSIE. But it apparently doesn't work that way.
    Come on, that's just ridiculous.

  • Anyone using this on their server is cutting off their nose to spite their face. Banner ads have enough trouble displaying and anyone rejecting IE eyeballs at their site is rejecting a large percentage of the Internet that day and insuring that advertisers won't pay full rate. No one owning a store would tell people

    Non-commercial sites would probably do OK with this, but note that some people running Apache Linux servers may not be browsing with a non-MS browser and you might be pushing them away from using open stuff. Is it really that open, then?

  • This just looks like a neat little project, plus its funny =)

    I don't know why they did it as a module, but as a person who has never bothered to read through the apache docs, this little file could serve as a good teaching tool, or in-class programming example.

    Hehe. I like.

  • Okay, it's funny, and ought to be on the front page. :) But do you really want to exclude IE users from your site, when you consider that MANY of them (corporate users) have no choice whether or not to use IE?

    I happen to think that alot of Linux people are arrogant and stuck up, but I don't exclude them from my sites, even one day a week.

    While you ponder your answer, I'll be hard at work on some javascript that boots Konqueror users to microsoft.com.

  • Re:Re:Thanks for checking for Opera! (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I agree with you on the javascript part, but... excluded from pages?

    Could you give an example please?

    Certainly. Try to do online banking [cibc.com] at CIBC without telling Opera to lie about its identity and you're presented with the following:
    Browser Information

    We've designed PC Banking to work with the versions of Netscape browsers (4.06 or above) and Microsoft browsers (4.01 SP2 or above) that support 128-bit encryption. Trial versions of these browsers can be downloaded to locations in Canada and the U.S. only.

    Please contact your Internet service provider if you are not sure it supports the use of these versions of Netscape and Microsoft browsers or if you need assistance with upgrading your browser.

    Once you've successfully upgraded your browser, you can connect directly to CIBC PC Banking at www.pcbanking.cibc.com or select "on-line banking" from the CIBC homepage and start your on-line banking.

    Please select one of the buttons below to download the latest version of the Netscape or Microsoft browser.

    This despite the fact that Opera (5.11 in this case) manages the claimed-lacking 128-bit crypto, and if you tell it to lie about what it is things work fine.

    Try visiting Toyota Canada [toyota.ca] without having Opera lie about its identity and you're immediately treated like trash. Have Opera lie about its identity and everything works fine.

    I've encountered a number of sites that do this. These just happened to be two convenient examples.

  • Is it really that open, then?

    The Web will never be open again if M$ succeeds in getting away with it. Through illegal activity (as confirmed by the appeals court), M$ has managed to demolish the browser market. Now, with the Smart Tags, they're starting to do what everybody expected them to do when they gain a browser monopoly -- take the control of the Web away from the general population, and try to control it themselves.

    Since the courts are evidently too timid to treat M$ the way a criminal should be treated (and the Justice Department probably will be as well), then the only way to restore normal competition in the browser market to the benefit of consumers and an open Web is to ensure that IE does not get used any more. Any means of persuading the general public of this is certainly legitimate. I just think we need another six days in the Microsoft-Free Week.
  • Opera users are already excluded from many web sites, due to the User-Agent problem and the javascript implementation. You can change your User-Agent, true, but it's buried in the configuration menus...it should really be on the taskbar.
  • Uh, I don't know if this is because you're using a different version, or maybe this is some obscure joke I'm not getting, but so far as I'm concerned it *is* on the taskbar (and the default is to pose as IE5)
    Molf
  • That's cool, but I think it should be shunning away Netscape users instead. I understand most Linux users use Netscape...but it's a pretty weak browser. The internet has standards and MSIE is the only browser that comes close to supporting those standards. Have you seen the wonders of CSS2? There's so much potential out there that's going to waste because web designers have to cater to the lowest common denominator (read "Netscape"). Instead of using a style sheet to present the layout of the site, designers are forced to use god-awful tables (which aren't even meant to serve layout purposes) and ugly frames. We should be discouraging Netscape use until they get around to supporting the latest standards (or in version 6's case, making that browser stable enough to run for more than a minute and not eat your computer in the process).

    "Genetic engineering lets us fix god's horrible, horrible mistakes...like German people."

  • I don't know if he started it, but Dave Winer promoted Microsoft-Free Fridays [userland.com] in response to Microsoft's SmartTags [manilasites.com] (which are still in Office, and will will surely end up in Internet Explorer at some point).

  • The internet has standards and MSIE is the only browser that comes close to supporting those standards.

    "The wonderful thing about standards is that there's so many to choose from."

    There's quite a difference between supporting the standards, and creating new ones that only you can support, and then suddenly you're the only game in town.

    "We've upped our standards, so up yours."
  • Did you not see the humor in the article? Do you seriously think someone would use this who is trying to make money on the net? I am an avid IE user. I am saddened that Netscape was ruined by Microsoft's tactics but IE is still a better product and therefore I use it. I also see the humor in this mod. And I see value in it. Maybe not for excluding IE users, but for a good example how an Apache mod works. Good job to the authors.

    Note: I happen to have Netscape on my RedHat box. I use it when I have to (ie download a file) but as for surfing I use IE on a Windows box. Why? Nothing sucks more than moving the browser window or resizing it and watching the goddamn page reload. Or not being able to handle a redirect back to a dynmically generated page. Or displaying no page when a careless web developer forgets to close a TD tag. There are many areas where Netscape really stinks it up. This may have been fixed in Mozilla. If I ever get a stable build I'll give it a shot. (providing they have taken out all those custom buttons that make the whole browser look like Netcenter.)

  • You want code.....

    Partial code you shall get...

    Time Dependend Rewriting (Its based on time... days would be simple) -http://www.engelschall.com/pw/apache/rewriteguide /#ToC20

    Browser Dependend Content - http://www.engelschall.com/pw/apache/rewriteguide/ #ToC25

    Both taken from "A Users Guide to
    URL Rewriting with the
    Apache Webserver" circa pre 2000
  • I'm talking about just the basic standards...the latest versions of html, xhtml, and css for starters. They're the foundation that everything else is built upon. And MS and Netscape are equally responsible for creating new "standards" for their browsers. But a good browser should also support the W3C standards. Netscape 4.whathaveyou fails miserably at that. I will however, give them an A for effort with Netscape 6, since it has probably the best CSS support I've ever seen. But I've never gotten it to run for more than a couple minutes on any platform without choking, and shortly thereafter, dying. If they kept up with standards instead of whining about the big, bad MS I'd probably be typing this in a Netscape browse right now. MSIE 5.5, on the other hand, has tons of support for the latest Consortium standards and it's functional (call me picky, but I tend to like that in a browser).

    Ultimately I prefer to use the most stable and attractive browser out there. I'm not a hardcore Linux fanatic who shuns anything remotely linked to Bill Gates. But on the same token, I'm not a drugged-up MS drone drooling over WindowsME. I don't worry about being hip or stickin' it to the man. If Bill Gates gives me something that's functional and helps me see the true potential of the Web, then I'll gladly give him money. I like to use what works, and for the moment that would be Internet Explorer. Now if Netscape ever gets version 6 to run without exploding (and, please god, slaps some CSS3 support on it...drool), I'll gladly switch over to Netscape.

    "Genetic engineering lets us fix god's horrible, horrible mistakes...like German people."

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