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| Google and Mozilla prepare for version 100 browser problems |
Since Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge are close to version 100, some websites may crash.
Migrating to version 100 over the next few weeks may cause errors or compatibility issues for some sites that don't want to read 3-digit user agent strings.
Google, Mozilla, and Microsoft are busy anticipating bigger problems. For months, the company has been warning about the next 100 release, which is due out in March for Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, followed by Mozilla Firefox in May.
Mozilla and Google are running experiments to test the site and report crashes. The rather small list of issues currently includes notable sites affected by HBO Go, Bethesda, and Yahoo.
Errors include "Browser not supported" messages, website rendering issues, crawl errors, 403 errors, and more.
A team of web developers explained in a Mozilla blog post: When the browser released version 10 for the first time 12 years ago, when the major version number changed from 1 to 2, a number of issues were discovered with the user agent analysis library.
Similar to the famous year 2000 bug that made the year 2000 indistinguishable from the year 1900 on some computers, browsers have different string formats for user agents.
Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox can disable some websites
Some parse libraries may contain errors that ignore the major three-digit version numbers.
Although there are concerns that some sites may be down. However, there is still work to be done behind the scenes to make the transition to version 100 smooth. Just like it did 22 years ago to avoid the millennium problem.
Developers can enable private tabs in recent versions of Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Mozilla Firefox. This is to test the site.
There are also plans for general themes. Mozilla says it will fix broken websites or temporarily freeze the main version of Firefox at 99. When the crash is widespread and uncontrollable.
Google's backup plan is to flag major versions freezing at 99. Microsoft has not specified their backup plans.