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Onedrive is slow on Linux but fast with a “Windows” user-agent (2016)

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Re: Onedrive is slow on Linux but fast with a “Windows” user-agent (2016)

#351

Post by wisebit »

dboreham wrote: post #331
wisebit wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've always found it fascinating that Windows/Microsoft error messages seem to have some kind of UUID (Error #c101a053 is one I found on my search history from 5 years ago), but you _can't look them up by UUID_ on the MS help pages or even online (and sometimes they don't seem to even be unique). I've always wanted to know what they do with these numbers.

I've used that technique in products I built. Not speaking for MS but in my case the UUID was either written into some server log (to hopefully be used to diagnose the problem if reported), or matched diagnostic statements in our source code (so the problem could be diagnosed in conjunction with the code). Using a unique identifier helps prevent the kind of confusion caused when 3 different developers all decide that…

Right, I expressed myself poorly. Maybe I meant just an ID? My gripe was just that I expected that to index a knowledgebase of error messages, but the one I mentioned, for instance, isn't even documented.

Re: Onedrive is slow on Linux but fast with a “Windows” user-agent (2016)

#352

Post by jacquesm »

wernercd wrote: post #349
jacquesm wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, you're telling me Microsoft is unable to tell the difference between code that doesn't work (the 'old' code) and code that does work (the 'new' code), and that to be safe they are returning the non-working code as a fix for potential problems that do not appear to exist? If there is anything that would be more damaging to Microsoft than calling them malicious it is probably calling them incompetent, that's their…

Of course MS is unable to tell the difference between code that works and code that doesn't... on an unsupported platform. Incompetent? "MS: We support Platform X, Y, Z." ... "Mob: MS must be malicious or incompetent because they aren't testing and pushing new code to Platform 9 3/4" Unsupported. Means exactly that.

Well, from where I'm sitting a server should just do what it does for everybody without shipping different code to 'unsupported platforms' in order to make those platforms work worse. It either serves up the same to everybody or it contains code to support some platforms and blocks others.

A 'best effort but unsupported' isn't an option, it reminds me of the SMB days.

Either you support a platform outright, you send out the same code to everybody or you disable the platform completely. Other options are sufficiently gray to count as ways to coerce people into making a platform switch, and the MS rep seems to be pushing in exactly that direction.

" For the best experience, we recommend the operating system listed in this article. "

Right.

Re: Onedrive is slow on Linux but fast with a “Windows” user-agent (2016)

#353

Post by jacquesm »

emodendroket wrote: post #344
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I struggle to consider that Microsoft is really that inept as to only be able to design it that well. I mean, do they do any testing at all? Across the browsers and platforms accessing their sites? Seriously, white-listing?? I don't buy it.

It seems most likely that they do testing on exactly the browsers and operating systems they say they support and no other platforms and do not want to expand the list because they'd have to provision more environments and do more testing.

I'd buy that if it sent out the exact same code that it would without that UA. But it doesn't.

Re: Onedrive is slow on Linux but fast with a “Windows” user-agent (2016)

#354

Post by rwallace »

ajford wrote: post #101
plgs wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"thanks for reporting this, I'll pass this to the tech team" It's not something they can say. The product is unsupported and the "tech team" won't care.

Doesn't mean they can't file the issue. Then the team just checks the box on their ticket solution that says "WONT FIX" or "NOT SUPPORTED" and moves on with their lives. Customers would feel respected, the workaround would be found and used, and no one would feel ignored. It would leave a customer happier than telling them they don't warrant interest.

Personally I'd be happier being told honestly I don't warrant interest, unsupported platform, I need to look elsewhere, than being strung along with false impressions.

Re: Onedrive is slow on Linux but fast with a “Windows” user-agent (2016)

#355

Post by kristianp »

Symbiote wrote: post #295
glogla wrote: post #6

I have to admit, the whole exchange is pretty funny: > Hello, Onedrive for Business open is very slow on Linux (Chrome/Firefox) but with very fast with a "Windows" user-agent. > Hi DL, As Office 365 for Business services(e.g. SharePoint Online, including OneDrive for Business, Exchange Online) are not supported on Linux as shown below, for the best experience, we recommend the operating system listed in the article.…

My manager and I rejected OneDrive when we were comparing different services, because it was slow and unresponsive. I didn't think to try it on Windows, so we chose a competitor. Linux users are a small minority, but I suspect they have well above average influence in what IT services are purchased.

"Linux users are a small minority, but I suspect they have well above average influence in what IT services are purchased."

Not really. If you're deciding on a vendor for a bunch of Windows users, you would test it on windows.

Re: Onedrive is slow on Linux but fast with a “Windows” user-agent (2016)

#356

Post by tzakrajs »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #210
emodendroket wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm guessing (especially when you consider that OS X is in there) that it has more to do with the support burden and small number of people using Linux as a desktop OS than trying to get people to buy Windows.

So they make it run buggy in order to reduce the support burden??? Surely that makes for more support calls. I'd have much more respect for them if they just came clean and said "we hate linux users, if you want to use that OS don't use our products because we try our best to make them not work on linux". Look at what they did with Skype for example. At least then we'd know not to try their stuff.

Microsoft doesn't need to spend money making the Linux desktop-experience suck, it has done so on its own for well over a decade.

Re: Onedrive is slow on Linux but fast with a “Windows” user-agent (2016)

#357

Post by flukus »

dvfjsdhgfv wrote: post #155
glogla wrote: post #6

I have to admit, the whole exchange is pretty funny: > Hello, Onedrive for Business open is very slow on Linux (Chrome/Firefox) but with very fast with a "Windows" user-agent. > Hi DL, As Office 365 for Business services(e.g. SharePoint Online, including OneDrive for Business, Exchange Online) are not supported on Linux as shown below, for the best experience, we recommend the operating system listed in the article.…

It may be funny, but at the same time it's great to see this kind of feedback directly from the customers to the company. If someone listens up there, sooner or later they'll realize there is more money in the subscription business than in one-time OS purchases, and they will put the money where the mouth is.

> If someone listens up there, sooner or later they'll realize there is more money in the subscription business than in one-time OS purchases, and they will put the money where the mouth is.

I think MS is nearly a decade ahead of you there.

Re: Onedrive is slow on Linux but fast with a “Windows” user-agent (2016)

#358

Post by JshWright »

jacquesm wrote: post #353
emodendroket wrote: post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems most likely that they do testing on exactly the browsers and operating systems they say they support and no other platforms and do not want to expand the list because they'd have to provision more environments and do more testing.

I'd buy that if it sent out the exact same code that it would without that UA. But it doesn't.

What don't you buy? They test with a certain set of supported platforms. If a client isn't one of those (whitelisted) platforms, then they may send out a bunch of inefficient polyfills so they know XYZ functionality exists, even if it's slow.

Re: Onedrive is slow on Linux but fast with a “Windows” user-agent (2016)

#359

Post by flukus »

kristianp wrote: post #355
Symbiote wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My manager and I rejected OneDrive when we were comparing different services, because it was slow and unresponsive. I didn't think to try it on Windows, so we chose a competitor. Linux users are a small minority, but I suspect they have well above average influence in what IT services are purchased.

"Linux users are a small minority, but I suspect they have well above average influence in what IT services are purchased." Not really. If you're deciding on a vendor for a bunch of Windows users, you would test it on windows.

They were deciding on a vendor for a bunch of browser users, not windows users.

Re: Onedrive is slow on Linux but fast with a “Windows” user-agent (2016)

#360

Post by skissane »

fnord123 wrote: post #312
erikpukinskis wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If a user agent change makes the software slower for a platform then that's not exactly an accident so somebody must have had the intention to make it run buggy That's not necessarily true. For example they might be doing polyfills that are slower than the native windows implementation. I feel like I'm seeing a lot of this kind of thinking everywhere. The canonical example for me is lately is "he voted for Trump/Hi…

Microsoft has a history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AARD_code

You are talking about something Microsoft did in the early 1990s. It is very likely that most or even all of the people involved don't work for Microsoft any more. No company is ever going to be perfect, but I honestly believe that today's Microsoft is a much better corporate citizen than 1990s Microsoft was. (And, with the AARD code, while they shipped it turned on in the beta, it was disabled in the final release – which suggests to me that someone in charge at Microsoft had second thoughts about this even back then.)

If 1990s Microsoft did something seemingly anti-competitive, it probably was intentionally anti-competitive. If 2010s Microsoft does something seemingly anti-competitive, while it still might be by intention, I'm more inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt and presume it is the unintentional side effect of an innocent (even if misguided) decision.

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