689405 - [adobe.com] Flash Site Sniffs for "Firefox" Instead of "Gecko", Claims Flash Does Not Work with SeaMonkey

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Web Compatibility :: Site Reports, defect)

Description

[David E. Ross]

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:6.0.2) Gecko/20110902 SeaMonkey/2.3.3
NOTE:  "Advertise Firefox compatibility" is disabled.  

I went to <http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/> to get the latest version of Flash Player.  When I selected the "Download now" button, I got the same page.  Effectively this is an infinite loop.  If I tried this while spoofing Firefox, I was able to download a stub installer.  Thus, there is invalid sniffing at the Adobe Web site.  

I reported this problem via the Adobe forum for Flash.  There, I was advised to file an Adobe bug report.  I did so.  The bug report was closed as a problem that could not be reproduced.  I just now tried the site again and still get the same problem.  

In the bug report closure comment, Adobe asserted "Adobe Flash player do not support SeaMonkey. Could you please use the browse mentioned in system requirement."  Their system requirements at <http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/systemreqs/> indicate Flash works with Firefox 3.0 and above.  

Someone within the Mozilla organization needs to communicate with Adobe to inform them that Gecko is Gecko.

Comment 1

[Rich Gray (:rbgray)]

GIG, but I wonder if Flash player is sensitive to profile differences between FF & SM?  The download page might be "legitimately" (spit) treating unsupported browsers differently.  I must admit I'm not up on plugin transparency between FF & SM.

Comment 2

[Chris Lawson (gone)]

As far as I know, all the NPAPI code is exactly the same across all Gecko browsers, and plugins don't really know anything about other profile data. This is laziness on Adobe's part.

Comment 3

[Chris Lawson (gone)]

David, do you have a link to the bug report you filed in Adobe's database?

Comment 4

[David E. Ross]

Re comment #1:  The Flash test page at <http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/> indicates that Flash is properly installed and working correctly.  According to the Adobe Web site, there are only two current versions of Flash for Windows: one for Internet Explorer and one for all other browsers.  Somehow, I would think SeaMonkey falls into the category "all other browsers" along with Firefox.  

Re comment #2:  I think this is more a case of ignorance than laziness.  

Re comment #3:  The Adobe bug report is at <https://bugbase.adobe.com/index.cfm?event=bug&id=2980423>.  I tried to update the report to cite this bugzilla.mozilla.org bug report and to describe my success in testing Flash at <http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/>, but apparently updates are not processed once an Adobe bug is closed.  My discussion in the Flash forum about this is at <http://forums.adobe.com/thread/905003>.

Comment 5

[Chris Lawson (gone)]

The geniuses manning their forums are ignorant; their web designers are lazy ;)

Thanks for that link. I commented there (and I'm not quite sure why you couldn't; might wanna try that again).

Comment 6

[Karl Dubost💡 :karlcow]

No issue with a SeaMonkey UA.