DOS ain't dead

> > Now the string is "xChaos_Arachne/5.1.95;GPL,387+ (www.glennmcc.org)".
> > Anyone knows why does it not have any DOS mentioning? Like Arachne 1.70
> > had?
> >
> > Arachne loses much of its charisma without the ability to leave a DOS
> > footprint in internet stats.
>
> If it is soooo Biggg issue I could fix it. Some months ago I was adding
> higher VESA modes to arachne and I have zipped the sources ready for
> build...

- Charisma is something one has to care about. So it would be better for Arachne to be able again to leave this DOS footprint in internet statistics.

By the way, the Ray Andrews version does not have DOS in its string too: "xChaos_Arachne;A4e;1q:20/5.1"

As an off-topic, "higher VESA modes" means Arachne is going to be able to handle more than 1024x768?

> > Now the string is "xChaos_Arachne/5.1.95;GPL,387+ (www.glennmcc.org)".
> > Anyone knows why does it not have any DOS mentioning? Like Arachne 1.70
> > had?
> >
> > Arachne loses much of its charisma without the ability to leave a DOS
> > footprint in internet stats.
>
> You can use any useragent string you want.
>
> On the Options/Internet settings setup page
> you can choose to masquerade as any of several existing browers.
>
> Keep Arachne's original User-agent string
> Masquerade User-agent as Links browser on Linux
> Masquerade User-agent as Lynx browser on Linux
> Masquerade User-agent as Mozilla SeaMonkey on Linux
> Masquerade User-agent as Mozilla FireFox on Linux
> Masquerade User-agent as Lynx browser on DOS
> Masquerade User-agent as DosLynx browser by Fred Macall
> Masquerade User-agent as MSIE v7.0
>
> Or make you own custom string by adding the 'UserAgent' line into
> arachne.cfg
>
> UserAgent Xchaos_Arachne (DOS 5.1.95 custom_useragent_string)

First, my personal opinion:

It is great that it is possible to choose a user agent string, but for many reasons it is better to have a preconfigured user agent string mentioning DOS. And after that any user may and can do whatever he/she can and is aware of.

Several explanations why I have this opinion:

Software, social ideas, fashion, etc spread is very much based on partisanship. Partisanship is based very much on the sense of, let us call it, specialness - the specialness of both the phenomenon (software, social ideas, fashion, etc) and the followers. It is one of the foundations of Linux or Apple success. A web browser without a fully authentic and preconfigured user agent string is "sexless" and not special - who is going to know I or whoever used a DOS web browser? And without the capability to leave a special footprint as a proof, much of the fun is dead. No specialness - no partisanship. And more than that, partisanship is social, so if it is only me and those few who know it is possible to choose a string can have user agent string with DOS mentioned, then again - much of the fun is dead.

Nowadays general public encounters DOS and DOS soft mostly either in form of embedded systems or hobbyism. Hobbyists discover a software piece as it is and they are mostly sheer end users - and of after DOS generations. Like me, I discovered Arachne many years ago, but it is only now that I found out it is possible to choose a user agent string. So obviously a safer choice would be to have a preset user agent string with DOS mentioned.

> > Now the string is "xChaos_Arachne/5.1.95;GPL,387+ (www.glennmcc.org)".
> > Anyone knows why does it not have any DOS mentioning? Like Arachne 1.70
> > had?
> >
> > Arachne loses much of its charisma without the ability to leave a DOS
> > footprint in internet stats.
>
> Well, I found the string in http.c
>
> //!!glennmcc: Sep 10, 2008 -- configurable useragent string
> char useragent[120];
> ptr=configvariable(&ARACHNEcfg,"UserAgent",NULL);
> if(ptr) sprintf(useragent,"%s",ptr);
> if(!ptr || strlen(useragent)<10)
> sprintf(useragent,"xChaos_Arachne/5.%s%s (www.glennmcc.org)",VER,beta);
> //!!glennmcc: end
>
>
> What do you suggest to add?
> As you can see it's configurable...


Is this better ?

xChaos_Arachne (DOS /5.1.95;GPL,387+)

That's the new UAS in this fresh compile of core.exe v1.96;GPL;387+

http://glennmcc.org/arachne/ardosuas.zip

> > Now the string is "xChaos_Arachne/5.1.95;GPL,387+ (www.glennmcc.org)".
> > Anyone knows why does it not have any DOS mentioning? Like Arachne 1.70
> > had?
> >
> > Arachne loses much of its charisma without the ability to leave a DOS
> > footprint in internet stats.
>
> Well, I found the string in http.c
>
> //!!glennmcc: Sep 10, 2008 -- configurable useragent string
> char useragent[120];
> ptr=configvariable(&ARACHNEcfg,"UserAgent",NULL);
> if(ptr) sprintf(useragent,"%s",ptr);
> if(!ptr || strlen(useragent)<10)
> sprintf(useragent,"xChaos_Arachne/5.%s%s (www.glennmcc.org)",VER,beta);
> //!!glennmcc: end
>
>
> What do you suggest to add?
> As you can see it's configurable...

I know what it should be: web stats programs should be able to see "DOS" word in the user agent string, the way they see "Windows NT 6.1" or "Linux i686" in user agent strings of major web browsers. But how it should be achieved - those with C programming experience should know it better.