[Intrepid] Hotmail reply functionality no longer working after hotmail's last upgrade

[Jean-Paul]

Binary package hint: firefox-3.0

If using hotmail, the reply functionality no longer works. If you hit the reply button, you get to see the screen, but the text area is not editable. Neither can the previous mail (to which the current mail is the reply) be seen at all: the text area is blank as well. See screenshot for an example.

It might be a fault with hotmail; However, hotmail in combination with FF3 on windows Vista works flawlessly.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 8.10
NonfreeKernelModules: fglrx
Package: firefox-3.0 3.0.3+nobinonly-0ubuntu2
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: firefox-3.0
Uname: Linux 2.6.27-7-generic x86_64

[bo malone (bo-malone)]

i can replicate this bug with the exact same settings, in a 32bit environment. this also affects any new messages that are being created, so the problem lies with the text field itself. subject line and to/cc lines are unaffected by this bug.

[Lars Bratthall (larsbratthall)]

Confirming bug on amd64, Ubuntu 8.04 Server - 64 bit, Firefox3.0.3 as updated by Ubuntu. Functionality does work on IE6 on XP. Seems MS does not test on common browsers.

Additional info:
When logging in to Hotmail, Hotmail warns that the browser version is not supported. It wants me to "upgrade" to, for example, Firefox (sic!). ==> Maybe MS is disabling functionality for browsers reporting their version as something MS have decided they do not support?

[Lars Bratthall (larsbratthall)]

Workaround:

Type about:config in the address field in Firefox

Edit the string General...Vendor (I know I am forgetting something in the middle here) from: "Ubuntu" to "Firefox".

This seems to cause Firefox to report its full set of version-describing strings differently to sites it is connected to.

Close Firefox completely.
Restart firefox
Log in to Hotmail again. You will notice that Hotmail is no longer complaining about unsupported browser version. (Note: This is a Hotmail bug. Please do report your experience with this to Hotmail.)
The text field is now working again.

However, this woraround has some unpleasant side effects: In statistics based on web metrics, there will be an increase of Firefox as vendor, and a decrease of Ubuntu as vendor.

[Jean-Paul (jeanpaul145)]

The workaround works for me, so it is probably a Hotmail bug, indeed.
This also explains why it works on windows; There, the string must be set to "Firefox", and not to "Ubuntu".

However, asking the Hotmail people to add the "Ubuntu" String to their list of recognized browsers is like asking Satan to repent, I'm afraid :)

[confusedwithhotmail (daydreamin13)]

I've checked a whole bunch of other sites and have tried all of the suggestions and none of them have worked for fixing the hotmail issue of not being able to reply to messages. Are there any alternative solutions?? I'm a beginner with Ubuntu still and am just trying to struggle through the various processes that are needed for everything! Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[confusedwithhotmail (daydreamin13)]

Wow ok never mind, it just randomly started working, so I guess I did something right :D

[bo malone (bo-malone)]

lars' fix worked for me, i didnt even have to restart the program. i still really hate the fact that it's no longer reporting ubuntu though.