Web sites know your OS, right?

I’m no programmer but I’ve seen demonstrations of web page code that allows a web site to detect your operating system, browser version, and other details that annoy privacy nutters.  The sites can then (if they feel like it I suppose) use that information to tailor the web content to suit the client (eg, why show me a “Get Firefox” badge if I’m already using Firefox).

Microsoft probably knows a thing or two about this kind of stuff.  Which is why it would be nice if they could detect that I’m browsing their site from a server and probably not interested in the Silverlight Beta.

This wonderful lag-inducing graphic comes gracefully sliding down your screen… well I guess thats what it is supposed to do because when you’re bouncing through a couple of RDP sessions to manage a server there is nothing graceful about the way it breaks apart as it slops down your screen.

Want to try the beta? Where is the option to choose “No your site is already slow enough over RDP sessions, I don’t want you to make it even slower.”

It is no small irony that this Silverlight Beta offer has not appeared even once on any of my Windows XP computers.