The Swedish Opera abandons standards for MS

[mike808@users.sourceforge.net]

http://tinyurl.com/5uf3 or, if you like to type...
ftp://ftp.opera.com/pub/opera/custom/win/bork/ow32enen2656b_bork.exe

From http://www.opera.com/pressreleases/en/2003/02/14/

Two weeks ago it was revealed that Microsoft's MSN portal targeted Opera 
users, by purposely providing them with a broken page. As a reply to MSN's 
treatment of its users, Opera Software today released a very special Bork 
edition of its Opera 7 for Windows browser. The Bork edition behaves 
differently on one Web site: MSN. Users accessing the MSN site will see 
the page transformed into the language of the famous Swedish Chef from the 
Muppet Show: Bork, Bork, Bork!

In October 2001, Opera users were blocked from the MSN site. The event caused 
an uproar among Web users and MSN was forced to change their policy. However, 
MSN continues a policy of singling out its Opera competitor by specifically 
instructing Opera to hide content from users. 

"Hergee berger snooger bork," says Mary Lambert, product line manager desktop, 
Opera Software. "This is a joke. However, we are trying to make an important 
point. The MSN site is sending Opera users what appear to be intentionally 
distorted pages. The Bork edition illustrates how browsers could also distort 
content, as the Bork edition does. The real point here is that the success of 
the Web depends on software and Web site developers behaving well and rising 
above corporate rivalry." 

MSN now allows access to users of Opera 7, but is still targeting and sending 
users of earlier versions a broken page. This treatment is completely 
unnecessary, as the page would look the same in Opera as in Microsoft's own 
Internet Explorer if it had been fed the same information. 

"We are working hard to make sure the Opera browser works well on all Web 
pages, even those that do not follow the Web's standards to the letter," says 
Hakon Wium Lie, CTO, Opera Software. "But it becomes impossible when we are 
targeted and fed distorted pages that don't work in any browser. It's like 
putting a moose in the blender -- a recipe for disaster! Microsoft should clean 
up their act on MSN and their other Web sites." 

For more technical documentation, see the article:
Why doesn't MSN work with Opera? 
http://my.opera.com/dev/discussion/openweb/20030206/

Mike808/

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