Saturday, June 16, 2007

IE7 can't handle basic HTTP authentication with RSS

So, it turns out that rather than take advantage of the IE codebase that can already handle HTTP authentication (one of the most basic methods of authentication in the wonderful world-wide web), Microsoft insisted that IE7 use their new RSS "platform" instead.

So not only did Microsoft reinvent their own fucking wheel, but they did it so badly that they don't support part of the HTTP spec from 1999. How much time and money do you suppose Microsoft fucking burned to create this sorry-ass "platform" for reading RSS? Just about every language out there already has an API to deal with XML (and ATOM, which the "platform" simply translates into broken RSS) and they insisted on creating their own. Then, unsurprisingly, they fucked up part of the core technology that their browser has supported for years.

Now, you can preview a feed that uses HTTP authentication in IE7 just fine. Even a browser as fucked up as IE7 supports HTTP authentication. The feed then renders in the browser, since it has its own ways of parsing and displaying RSS. Once you try subscribing to the feed, remember...subscribing in IE7, it leaves the browser itself and then the "platform" takes over. Because of this, any HTTP authentication you've already passed using IE means shit at this point. Another application has taken things over, and it doesn't know a fucking thing about HTTP authentication.

Let me summarize this, just in case anyone got fucking lost on the way through that last paragraph: IE7 does not support RSS, it uses Microsoft's RSS platform. Microsoft's RSS platform, which has its sole purpose of retrieving markup over HTTP, does not support HTTP.

I think someone in Microsoft either has a fantastic sense of humor, or Microsoft just can't fucking understand this new "internet" shit people keep shoving at it.

Labels: ,

Sunday, June 03, 2007

Microsoft and IE fuck Windows gamers

Holy hell, I haven't posted in a while...

Anyway, a post by a gamer entitled Top ten things that are wrong with Games for Windows - Live caught my eye because of a new and curious way that Vista fucks users (well, all IE7 users, but Windows XP users can at least downgrade).
2. It's Vista only for now. No XP.

Sorry rest of the world. Since you need to be in a game to run GFW - Live, you won't be using GFW - Live on Windows XP. That's because the major launch titles, Shadowrun and HALO 2 are exclusive to Windows Vista. (Note that Shadowrun is cross-platform and will be available for XBOX 360 also).

Funny thing, though. You can't use the "Game Advisor" which is a main link promoted on almost every webpage on the Games for Windows website. It gives you an error message if you are using Vista: "Windows XP Game Advisor requires the use of the Windows 98/ME/2000/XP operating system and the Internet Explorer 6 browser."

I’m confused. Do you or do you not want me to run Vista?
This, in particular, strikes me as amusing. In order to play the games, you have to run Vista. But you can't access shit online, since they haven't made their sites work in IE7 yet.

Now, at first, I figured some third party jackasses just didn't look at their market when making the site. But then I checked the bottom of the page and saw © 2006-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Microsoft doesn't support their own browser, or their own operating system. Both versions of which, they have starting lubing up and forcably shoving up the asses of their own customers, without seeing whether or not they wanted Microsoft to fuck them with something bigger and harder to take.

Fucking priceless.

Labels: ,