[tame3902]

In the past Vivaldi used their own user agent string and they ran into a bunch of issues. And they are a chrome derivative! They had to default to the chrome user agent. Here are the examples they cite in their announcement of the decision:

"On Google.com if you present a Vivaldi user agent and arrive via a redirect, the search text box will be misaligned

On Google Docs if you present a Vivaldi user agent you will receive a warning

On Facebook’s WhatsApp web interface if you present a Vivaldi user agent, you cannot enter the site and are advised to switch to one of our competitors

On Microsoft Teams (chat and collaboration website), presenting a Vivaldi user agent will stop you from being able to use the website

On Netflix, presenting a Vivaldi user agent results in a suggestion to install Silverlight to play videos… yes… really… Silverlight!"

(https://vivaldi.com/blog/user-agent-changes/)

[hellcow]

When these mega-companies block new competitors it really ought to be seen as collusion. Google, Facebook, and Microsoft certainly have the resources to test and approve the occasional new browser.

[brookst]

They don’t even have the resources to test the most common browsers on every scenario of every page of every application, let alone fix every issue such testing would find.

[wyre]

Big if true