Opera Software has released a new version of its Opera 7 Web browser with just one tweak--it turns Microsoft's MSN Web site into gibberish that was inspired by the Swedish Chef from "The Muppet Show."
The "Bork Edition" of Opera 7 isn't designed so much to win over new visitors as to make a point about how browsers and Web sites should work together. It is Opera's response to what the company alleges are dishonest tactics by Microsoft to make Opera look like it is displaying pages improperly when people view MSN.
The Swedish Chef's dialogue was famously incoherent, and included the phrase "Bork, bork, bork!"
"This is a joke. However, we are trying to make an important point," Mary Lambert, desktop product line manager at Opera, said in a statement. "The success of the Web depends on software and Web site developers behaving well and rising above corporate rivalry."
Earlier this month, Opera said Microsoft was sending its browser a faulty style sheet, which determines the presentation of graphics and text in a browser window. When people using Opera 7 browser software visit MSN.com, published by Microsoft, some of the site content is obscured, Opera Chief Technology Officer Hakon Lie wrote in a posting to the company's Web site.
"Opera 7 receives a style sheet which is very different from (that used by) the Microsoft and Netscape browsers," Lie wrote in his explanation. "Opera 7 is explicitly instructed to move content off the side of its container, thus creating the impression that there is something wrong with Opera 7."
After an initial denial, Microsoft said it did send different style sheets to different browsers, and defended the practice. "We have different style sheets and different code for various browsers," said Bob Visse, director of marketing for MSN. "That's something we do to try optimize the experience for our users."
--By Matthew Broersma, source: news.com (CNET)
Article can be read here.
just looks so luscious, don't you agree. (Only on a white background I guess)
