# Why does Hotmail Look Different on FreeBSD?



## knightjp (Aug 19, 2022)

I have a Hotmail account that I access from time to time. It was my first ever email address. 
I use Firefox on a Windows PC at work and Firefox on a FreeBSD machine at home. Why do both the interfaces look different?


This is what it looks like on FreeBSD


And this is what it looks like on the Windows PC. And its just Hotmail. Other site all look the same on both machines. 

I prefer the interface on the Windows PC. All emails with pictures and stuff render well. On FreeBSD, I have to click and allow the media to be downloaded.

Any ideas? Theories?


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## zirias@ (Aug 19, 2022)

The first screenshot shows an _older_ design I think. I've seen both designs with Microsoft web apps.

One theory would be that they _try_ to examine the `User-Agent` header and their server-side code gets confused by the one Firefox on FreeBSD sends...

In that case, look for some "user-agent switcher" extension and try a value for "Firefox on Windows".


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## knightjp (Aug 19, 2022)

zirias@ said:


> The first screenshot shows an _older_ design I think. I've seen both designs with Microsoft web apps.
> 
> One theory would be that they _try_ to examine the `User-Agent` header and their server-side code gets confused by the one Firefox on FreeBSD sends...
> 
> In that case, look for some "user-agent switcher" extension and try a value for "Firefox on Windows".


How do I do that?


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## zirias@ (Aug 19, 2022)

A quick web search.... Or just use this extension: https://addons.mozilla.org/de/firefox/addon/uaswitcher/

edit: or maybe do your own web search, I just realized _this_ extension wasn't updated in a long time, but there are several alternatives.


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## eternal_noob (Aug 19, 2022)

Didn't know Hotmail is still alive. Iirc, it was replaced by Outlook in 2013.


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## mer (Aug 19, 2022)

This is interesting.  I don't use hotmail but a lot of websites are designed with specific things like fonts and sizes, so even on Windows, make it use the same font and sizes as the FreeBSD and see what it looks like.


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## Grzegorz Wiktorowski (Aug 19, 2022)

The first interface I receive using directly:

https://outlook.live.com/owa/?layout=light

or changing in Firefox configuration the header string to imitate old IE (as far as I remember).

Added a little later:

I dug the recipe out. Check on about:config page the value of general.useragent.override.


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## Grzegorz Wiktorowski (Aug 19, 2022)

eternal_noob said:


> Didn't know Hotmail is still alive. Iirc, it was replaced by Outlook in 2013.



@hotmail.com, @windowslive.com and @live.com domains are still alive.


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## mer (Aug 19, 2022)

Grzegorz Wiktorowski said:


> @hotmail.com, @windowslive.com and @live.com domains are still alive.


probably because it's easier to keep old domains alive than force users to migrate.


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## richardtoohey2 (Aug 19, 2022)

Slightly off-topic but the Hotmail back-end originally ran on FreeBSD.


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