(See this follow up article: Guess What? Fox News is Responsive to the Linux Community.)
This will be a short web log post. Try to view the Video page at foxnews.com from a Linux system using any browser and see what happens. http://www.foxnews.com/video/index.html
I see these results. The first is Firefox on Linux the second is Opera on Linux.
Up until recently there was no problem viewing video content on Fox News Video web pages. Apparently some Microsoft and Apple Only types have taken over the video content pages for Fox News. I for one would appreciate it if these large organizations would stop trying to pretend that Microsoft and Apple are the only games in town.
Please alert each person you know in the Linux community to take action and send foxnews.com polite messages or make polite phone calls about this. We are likely to get more results being polite than trying to rip off their heads and puke down their bleeding necks. Here is how to contact them:
- Phone calls in the USA: 1-888-369-4762
- E-mail from anywhere: foxnewsonline@foxnews.com
I have already sent my e-mail:
To: foxnewsonline@foxnews.com
Date: 04/25/08 11:52 pm
Dear Fox News Online,
I am seriously disappointed that you choose to deny me access to your video
content because I only use Linux operating systems. Please change to a video
format that will work across all operating systems and most web browsers.
There are proper ways to do this and you were doing it well in the past. But
you choose to do otherwise. I appreciate your working to make it where all in
the Linux community will once again be able to view your video content. Thank
you for fixing it as I am sure you will.
Oh yes, I have a web log article about it. I have included this message there:
http://blog.eracc.com/2008/04/25/does-foxnewscom-hate-linux-users/
Gene
--
Micro$oft - Convicted Monopolist, restrictive licenses, limited choice
GNU/Linux - No monopoly possible, Open Source, FREE, lots of choices
Use GNU/Linux - http://www.distrowatch.com/ (I like Mandriva)
http://www.eracc.com/ - Linux preloaded computers
Edit Sat Apr 26 06:21:12 UTC 2008: It appears I am not the only one to notice this and I am a bit late to the game: Fox News Videos at MozillaZine Forums
lilricky, I did contact Maven Networks as well as Fox News. See my comment: http://blog.eracc.com/2008/04/25/does-foxnewscom-hate-linux-users/#comment-74 Since Fox hired Maven they both need to be made aware of the problem. Just telling Maven may not be enough.
Edit: regarding your question about why I don’t “go after” ABCNNBCBS about things like this. I rarely, if ever, visit such blatantly biased sites for my news. I like Fox because they give both sides on most current news and leave the decisions to me about what to think. Since they are one of my primary sources of centrist news I would like them to fix problems with their site like is shown here. If you really are wondering about my “leanings” then look at the RSS feeds I have chosen for my company web log at the right of the page. Then decide where I stand.
[...] Does foxnews.com Hate Linux Users? [...]
[...] from a Linux system using any browser and see what happens. http://www.foxnews.com/video/index.html
http://blog.eracc.com/2008/04/25/does-foxnewscom-hate-linux-users/ see here for the entire story on Fox [...]
Edit: clean up ping-back formatting and name
Works fine for me! No user agent switcher or similar. (Ubuntu Hardy Heron with Firefox 3 beta 5)
You are a bit late to the fray on this one “compton”. Perhaps you should read the follow-up article as is recommended at the top of this one.
This comes as a surprise? Fox is a very biased station. They are against anything not making themselves money. (Microsoft pays them off, Linux doesn’t) They are constantly wrong and report like they are not. Think back to their report on Anonymous they called us a group of 15 year olds with too much free time and “hackers on steroids”. Seriously, where do they get the right to accuse us of using steroids, and the DoS attacks unleashed by Anonymous were technically Cracking, not hacking.
@Anon-o-moose
Actually you should read the follow-up article to this one before you spout aspersions about Fox News over this. See the follow-up here:
http://blog.eracc.com/2008/04/28/guess-what-fox-news-is-responsive-to-the-linux-community/
If you do not read the follow-up (which is linked at the very beginning of this article) then you are not seeing the whole picture. Basically you have little idea of that which you speak regarding Fox News and Linux.
[...] remember – be polite. Like with Fox. But not like with Foxconn. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)But Do They Try [...]
[...] they have decided to seriously disrespect the Linux community. Read this to see what I mean: http://blog.eracc.com/ Gene (e-mail: gene at eracc dot com) — Mandriva Linux release 2007.1 (Official) for i586 Got [...]
[...] UAS. I posted two followup comments on my company web log to someone that mentioned it there: http://blog.eracc.com/ Gene (e-mail: gene at eracc dot com) — Mandriva Linux release 2007.1 (Official) for i586 Got [...]