Netscape 4 shows wrong user agent

Could this affect global web stats?

[Hester]

I've noticed that the user agent string I get from using Netscape 4.78 on Windows XP appears to be incorrect - the Windows version should be 5.1, not 5.0. Using Firefox or Opera, I get the right version number.

Netscape 4: Mozilla/4.8 [en] (Windows NT 5.0; U)

Opera 7.54u2: Opera/7.54 (Windows NT 5.1; U) [en]

I just wondered if this would be seen by web stat sites and programs as a different version of Windows (98?). If so, then those stats will be wrong.

Note also that Opera 7.54u1 showed the "u1" suffix in its user agent string, but there were complaints that it threw out browser sniffers not expecting any characters after the version number. I am now on Opera 7.54u2 which (as shown above) no longer shows the suffix. But that means it's impossible to check for this browser version. You might have the original 7.54 or it might be 7.54u2 (or u3 or u4 if they are released).

[encyclo]

Windows NT 5.0 is the equivalent to Windows 2000, so yes the stats program will list the operating system incorrectly. But as Netscape 4.8 is a rare beast, and even rarer running on Windows XP (the only people who use that combination are web developers) it won't make a huge difference.

I'm confused as to why you would need to detect the difference between patch levels on Opera 7.54. Is there a particular bug you need to correct?

[Hester]

I'm confused as to why you would need to detect the difference between patch levels on Opera 7.54. Is there a particular bug you need to correct?

No, but someone might need to test for them perhaps. What if there's a rendering difference? (Note: Opera aren't releasing version 7.55 as that was a test version, nor 7.56 as they are now concentrating solely on getting version 8 Final out.)

[g1smd]

I can't micro-manage to different patch levels like that.

It's already too much of a headache to try Mozilla 1.7, then IE 5.5, and NS 4.8 for each site.

[Hester]

I just discovered IE5.0 also gets the user agent wrong (Windows 5.0).