User-agent string changes

Re:User-agent string changes by Strom on Saturday November 22, 2014 @10:28AM (#8645713)

I think the more interesting bit is that the new UA value contains all the alternative browser strings as well.

  Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; WOW64)
  AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko)
  Chrome/36.0.1985.143 Safari/537.36 Edge/12.0

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Re:User-agent string changes by JBiserkov on Saturday November 22, 2014 @10:31AM (#8645722)

I also read like a history of web browsers: first there was Mozilla, then Apple made WebKit (actually KHTML), then Google created Chrome and ... there will always be a bleading Edge for you to cut yourself :-)

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Re:User-agent string changes by mpyne on Saturday November 22, 2014 @10:38AM (#8645740)

Actually, KDE made KHTML (for the Konqueror web browser), which was then used by Apple to create and evolve WebKit, and you know the story from there. But KHTML wasn't just a code name for WebKit, it actually came from outside Apple.

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Re:User-agent string changes by Svip on Saturday November 22, 2014 @10:41AM (#8645745)

But KHTML always referred to itself as 'KHTML, like Gecko' to ensure people sniffing for Gecko would be displaying the same HTML for KHTML as Gecko. This is why 'Gecko' remains in all major browsers.

Edit: Apparently Internet Explorer also has 'like Gecko'.

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Re:User-agent string changes by WorldWideWayne on Saturday November 22, 2014 @10:46AM (#8645755)

Actually, first there was NCSA Mosaic which came out almost a full two years before Netscape Navigator. The first 6 versions of IE were also based on Mosaic.

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Re:User-agent string changes by jcr on Saturday November 22, 2014 @11:29AM (#8645876)

There were web browsers before NCSA Mosaic. I a lot of people get the history wrong due to essentially marketing claims.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_browser

>''The first web browser was invented in 1990 by Tim Berners-Lee. It was called WorldWideWeb and was later renamed Nexus.''

>''In 1993, browser software was further innovated by Marc Andreessen >with the release of Mosaic, "the world's first popular browser"''

Note the word "popular" in the claim. It was mostly true due to Mosaic being popular, but it was also intentionally misleading.

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Re:User-agent string changes by lclarkmichalek on Saturday November 22, 2014 @10:47AM (#8645759)

But what UA did Mosaic use?

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Re:User-agent string changes by acdha on Saturday November 22, 2014 @12:36PM (#8646078)

Here's what the current Mosaic-CK (http://www.floodgap.com/retrotech/machten/mosaic/) uses:

NCSA_Mosaic/2.7ck9 (X11;Darwin 14.0.0 x86_64) libwww/2.12 modified

Homebrew users should be able it install it on OS X easily:

brew install mistydemeo/formulae/mosaic-ck

(https://github.com/mistydemeo/homebrew-formulae/blob/master/...)

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Re:User-agent string changes by teddyh on Saturday November 22, 2014 @12:20PM (#8646026)

I actually have a working binary here…

User-agent: NCSA_Mosaic/2.7b6 (X11;Linux 3.2.0-4-686-pae i686) libwww/2.12 modified

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Re:User-agent string changes by lifthrasiir on Saturday November 22, 2014 @10:58AM (#8645799)

"NCSA Mosaic/#.# (platform)" or "NCSA_Mosaic/#.# (platform)", apparently.

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Re:User-agent string changes by WorldWideWayne on Saturday November 22, 2014 @10:56AM (#8645790)

Looks like they used something along the lines of "NCSA Mosaic V# (OS/Machine info)".

I'm wondering if the last one listed on this page is correct though:

    NCSA Mosaic/1.0 (compatible; NCSA Mosaic; AmigaOS 5.9; FuckYou ver.0.9.3)

From http://www.webuseragents.com/browser/ncsa-mosaic/ncsa-mosaic...

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Re:User-agent string changes by TazeTSchnitzel on Saturday November 22, 2014 @10:59AM (#8645802)

I think "FuckYou ver.0.9.3" is some obscure (possibly joke) browser claiming NCSA Mosaic/1.0 compatibility, note the "compatible;", like IE pretends to be Mozilla. That specific string is only found on webuseragents.com:

https://encrypted.google.com/search?hl=en&q=FuckYou%200.9.3#...

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Re:User-agent string changes by Kiro on Saturday November 22, 2014 @12:39PM (#8646090)

Not sure if you're aware but all browsers do this.

http://www.useragentstring.com/pages/Browserlist/

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