Although I don't typically use MSN, I wanted to check their maps today. I went to the main page and "right-clicked" on the maps link, planning to open it in a new tab in Firefox. Instead, I was taken directly to the map site in the same tab without any right click options. At first I thought I had mistakenly clicked the left button instead, so I went back to try it again. Nope. MSN has disabled the use of the right mouse button for Firefox users. I opened up IE and tried it with that. It worked fine, minus the option to open in a new tab, of course. Do the guys at Microsoft really think this is going to make Firefox users say, "Well, I guess I better switch back to Internet Explorer"? All it does is ensure that I stick with using Google Maps and Mapquest. Has Microsoft Press come out with a book called 1000 Ways to Shoot Yourself in the Foot? And is it mandatory reading for all their employees?
Lemme show you a trickity trick. While in the page, Press the TAB<--- key as many times to get to the MAPs & Directions link. On your keyboard, do the SHIFT+F10 combination. Select "Open in New Tab" with an arrow. OR While the link is selected, hit the "right-click" key on the keyboard (the one next to the ALT key on the right). YES, it IS right-click-related I agree. It is stupid. But you can go around ANY restrictions on web pages, so as long as they're not embedded in JAVA Applets or Flash Movies. Got more WEB PAGE - related questions?
This was more a rant than a request. I'm not interested in working around this kind of stuff. I'd rather not frequent a Web site that pulls something like this. It just seems to me that the best way to draw visitors is not by annoying them.
It is not a matter of "supporting Firefox." In order to do something like this, they had to go out of their way to keep Firefox from functioning as it would by default. I think it's funny that Microsoft has to do this in order to compete. They thwart competion and buy second rate software from other companies, and boast like they're innovators. If you want to see something really funny, check out the latest news about Microsoft getting into the security business in the not-too-distant future. I guess they're obligated to do so after buying anti-virus and anti-spyware companies. It seems to me that they'd be better served patching the operating system that puts the welcome mat out for these things in the first place.
There are alternatives to msn's every resource that are simply better in general. I'm not even gonna buy an XBox 360. I'm looking at this through Firefox for Linux on a computer who's motherboard wasn't made by Microsoft's b**** Intel. It's all just as easy and good and even better than stuff that Microsoft puts out. There is absolutely no need to give money to those idiots.
I use Google maps as well. I really like the satellite view. I read somewhere the other day that MSN is going to come out with a satellite view as well, including images at a 45 degree angle also that allow you to see at least a little of the sides of the buildings, rather than a straight view from the top only. I was just checking to see if it was in place yet. Generally speaking, I have no use for MSN either, but I do want to check out their satellite images when they come out.
