[OPLINTECH] Problems with MySpace

[Nathan Eady]

"Mann, James H." <JMann at gcpl.lib.oh.us> writes:

> Is anyone having problems with MySpace locking up their public
> computers?
>
> We’re not getting a Websense block message, nor is it MySpace IM,
> the reports are that just opening MySpace causes the computer to
> freeze.

I've seen MySpace cause browser crashes.  When it happens, it's
reproducable on a given workstation for a given MySpace page on any
given day, but I haven't tracked long-term reproducability, or
reproducability across browser versions.  

I *suspect* that the problem may be with malformed plug-in content
triggering a bug in one of the several browser plugins MySpace uses,
but I haven't tracked down the specific cause because, frankly, it's
not a real big priority for me.  Browser crashes and hangs caused by
malformed sites have been around since 1994.  If anything, the
frequency of such occurrances has been greatly reduced over the last
ten years, to the point where people now actually view browser crashes
as unusual, which is real progress as far as I'm concerned.

It may also be worth searching bugzilla.mozilla.org for issues
involving MySpace, though searches like that that can be a little
overwhelming and furthemore don't necessarily cover issues that occur
with non-mozilla browsers (though a plug-in issue might occur the same
with any browser that has the plug-in).

(Personally I think plug-ins that share memory space with the browser
and/or run in the same process with it are fundamentally a bad idea,
but that's a whole nother discussion.)

-- 
Nathan Eady
Galion Public Library