Never heard of this and highly doubt it
A quick google search will probably turn up lots of discussion forum results where Linux users were talking about the best way to change their user agent and removed about sites that force them to.
In most cases it wasn’t anti-linux, it was the site being programmed to go “the user agent has to match these things or tell the user it’s not compatible with their browser” - but in MANY cases if Windows wasn’t one of the matched things you received that message. Off the top of my head I specifically remember having to change it to pay my cable bill and get to my bank website.
There were also some more subtle cases where shit would not work (most famously the web interface for Office365 when it was new).
So you can doubt, but this is what it was like to run Linux in the 2000s.
More recently (for sure post 2016) I recall having to change it to get the Netflix website to let me play content.
mindlight@lemm.ee 9 months ago
You’re free to whatever opinion you might have but it’s not a secret that Google used to change their search page to a more limited one if you were using Firefox.
Hence people created add-ons to change the User Agent to mimic Chrome when accessing Google.
TrickDacy@lemmy.world 9 months ago
I’m well aware of that. Browser and OS aren’t the same thing. Weird.
mindlight@lemm.ee 9 months ago
I had to check if I was alone on this…I want. First hit on a quick Google:
reddit.com/…/me_every_time_a_web_page_doesnt_work…
So yeah, not alone… this is the hill I’m dying on😁
TrickDacy@lemmy.world 9 months ago
I’ve been daily driving Linux for over 3 years and don’t remember ever seeing it. And as a web developer I know the only way that would happen is if a shitty business decision mandated it.