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Barclays says no to Firefox

theinquirer.net — He ’s running some operating system called Linux and using Fireferret but gets an annoying message from Barclays and Mind Leaders (motto: e-learning that works) telling him to go away and use Internet Exploder. We tried it using Windows XP and Fireferret and got the same result too, as you can see below.

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  • drnmr, on 01/05/2008, -9/+114Just use "User agent switcher" add on for FireFox. It makes your system look like IE7 on Vista.
    • wigren, on 01/05/2008, -1/+51I don't know why you're being buried. I switched the user agent to IE7 and it loaded just fine. I love open source.
    • corevette, on 01/05/2008, -27/+8Firefox > FireFox
      • .Steven, on 01/05/2008, -6/+22Who cares?
      • Aythun, on 01/05/2008, -1/+6Yeah, seriously. I don't know why people have the tendency to capitalize in the middle of the word.
        • tech42er, on 01/05/2008, -0/+6NeiTher do I.
        • RCcola159, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1Well it is two words put together...
          • HonoredMule, on 01/05/2008, -0/+2If only our language had a standard method of determining the capitalization of compound words...
    • sint4x, on 01/05/2008, -1/+60LOL, I found this code in the source:
      < !--[if IE 5] >Note: Clearlybusiness content is accessible to all versions of every browser. However, this browser does not support many basic Web standards, preventing the display of our site's design details. We support the mission of the Web Standards Project in the campaign encouraging users to upgrade their browsers.< ![endif]-- >


      • DestroyFascism, on 01/05/2008, -0/+3Well that's just bullocks then isn't it...(probably written in 2001)
      • duckyinc, on 01/11/2008, -0/+1too bad IE doesn't display it :P (lol at people who think they are using IE now)
    • robojerk, on 01/05/2008, -1/+16The "User Agent Switcher" addon needs a way to list (or flag) domains that should automatically load using the user agent of choice.
      • tempusrob, on 01/05/2008, -0/+4While it doesn't do non-Windows users any good, the IETab extension lets you do that. I know it's not the same thing, but it's close... and it comes in handy for when something really *is* IE-only (like my company's Outlook web access).
      • bowe, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1Good idea, how about a subscription service that updates domains as they are found by other users?
      • Tippis, on 01/05/2008, -1/+4Time to get buried... but anyway, here goes:
        Opera does that out of the box ;)
    • robojerk, on 01/05/2008, -5/+4The "User Agent Switcher" addon needs a way to flag or list domains the should be loaded using an alternate user agent. http://chrispederick.com/work/user-agent-switcher/

      Sorry for double post..
    • ADWestCo, on 01/05/2008, -10/+3or you could use IE tab too
    • muniak, on 01/05/2008, -1/+2https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/59
    • duckyinc, on 01/05/2008, -3/+1The thing is, maybe their website just doesn't work on firefox..
    • clockdist, on 01/06/2008, -1/+1If only it could run ActiveX
  • schestowitz, on 01/05/2008, -6/+82Why not contact the bank and ask /them/ to fix the issue at /their/ end? The average users will be just turned away from Firefox and not know about extensions. The world has more than one Web browser and Barclays should know this by now.
    • LocalDocal, on 01/05/2008, -0/+21Of course Barclays knows it. That's why they have a message telling people to go back to Internet Explorer. The problem is that they don't care.
    • BinaryFragger, on 01/05/2008, -0/+20I once emailed my bank thanking them for supporting Firefox (their online banking website works perfectly with Firefox, without UA string spoofing), and they replied "Thanks for the compliment, but we actually don't support Firefox. We only support Internet Explorer and Netscape 7+"

      I was about to reply explaining that Firefox uses the same rendering engine as Netscape 7, but I didn't even bother.
      • tech42er, on 01/05/2008, -0/+6Well, there could still be differences in what the user sees, even if the browsers render the same. They're just covering their asses.
      • isellmacs, on 01/05/2008, -4/+4It's a common misconception that 'supported' is the same as 'works.'

        For several years I worked, as you might have guessed, selling mac's. During that time I ran into this many times, by skeptical people who didn't understand the difference.

        There is a TON of stuff that 'isn't supported' by the MacOS platform, but DOES actually work if you try it. But if you call up apple, they aren't obligated to SUPPORT it.. as in technical support. Doesn't mean it doesn't work.
  • oobuntu, on 01/05/2008, -2/+116I wouldn't feel safe using internet explorer for anything, least of all accessing online banking! Think i'll steer clear of barclays...
  • oobuntu, on 01/05/2008, -0/+51this article is misleading - this doesn't involve internet banking, but something else http://www.barclays-skills.com/
    The inquirer didn't really bother explaining what it involved, you have to look closely at the screenshot. typical tabloid.
  • martalli, on 01/05/2008, -2/+11TurboTax disallows access with Linux altogether, and recommends for Windows: "AOL 9.0, Firefox 1.5, Internet Explorer 7.0, Netscape 8.0", never mind that FF is now to version 2.0, and NN is to version 9.x (and losing security support). They actually suggest that we do our taxes with obsleted browsers.
    http://turbotax.intuit.com/system_requirements_che ...
    (probably will get through in windows, btw)
    • wolferz, on 01/05/2008, -7/+4congratulations on being completely ignorant of how system requirements are shown and the meaning of the word "minimum."
      • martalli, on 01/05/2008, -1/+2Why should a site which is doing people's taxes accept anything but up-to-date browsers? People who are using the turbotax website *cleary* are on the internet, so they should be able use updated browsers to avoid known exploits. Surely the update from netscape 8 to netscape 9 involved the closure of exploits and vulnerabilities which are likely known to hackers or anyone willing to spend a little time reading through security notices put out by netscape. The same likely ca be said for IE and firefox.

        Minimum requirements should be operating system and browser, but both should be up to date.
  • harlowsmonkeys, on 01/05/2008, -2/+87WTF is a Fireferret?
    • Platinumwolf, on 01/05/2008, -1/+26I believe that Fireferret is what M$ fanboys call Firefox. Either that or it's a mobile version of FF. But I'm fairly certain it's the former.
      • Chirp08, on 01/05/2008, -1/+24or it could be quite literally a ferret on fire, but i dunno how productive that would be as an application..
    • Lyanto, on 01/05/2008, -1/+38The Inquirer likes to make up odd names for companies/products. They refer to Microsoft as "Vole" and, after AMD and ATI merged, called the resulting company DAAMIT. I think they call Intel "Chipzilla". Maybe it's just British humor but I don't find it particularly funny.
      • wellyuk, on 01/05/2008, -9/+20It's too high a level humour for your American ears.
        • SKick, on 01/05/2008, -0/+8You read with your ears? That's ***** up.
      • mrmacky, on 01/05/2008, -0/+11I lol'd at DAAMIT but that's about it :
      • Kypt, on 01/05/2008, -3/+3Its for British Eyes Only!

        Mr. F!!!!!
      • bluesdealer, on 01/05/2008, -0/+5That's interesting because I find The Inquirer pretty ***** hilarious. Not to mention, they're a great source for tech news and insider rumors.

        Let's not forget Apple's title: "The Maker of Reassuringly Expensive Computers."
      • wyrdness, on 01/05/2008, -0/+2I'm British and I don't find the Inquirer particularly funny or well written either. They need to hire some second rate journalists, so that they can fire their third rate ones.
    • iDiggIt42, on 01/05/2008, -0/+4If you're interested, http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2007/1 ... is the first reference to Fireferret I could find on their site.
      • Schneckehaus, on 01/05/2008, -0/+3Iceweasel is a different distribution of Firefox... but who knows what a Fireferret is.
  • socalrob, on 01/05/2008, -15/+9Well it gets done to users of IE all the time. I use IE, I'm perfectly happy with IE for what I use it for, I just get annoyed at any site that would say use X browser or switch to X browser whether it be from IE to Firefox or Firefox to IE. Just let people use what they want and be merry with it.
    • mikelieman, on 01/05/2008, -1/+13That would be a LOT easier if Microsoft followed the rules w.r.t. IE rendering of pages...

    • omgwthlol, on 01/05/2008, -3/+10r u jk
    • Matteos, on 01/05/2008, -4/+2That's Sratastic!
      • Matteos, on 01/05/2008, -2/+1*****.
        "Sartastic"

        I was drinking.
        • HentaiJeff, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1that's alright I think I'll coin a term for that
  • shadus, on 01/05/2008, -2/+28They say no to my browser, I say no to them. I don't need any viruses from running IE thanks.

    I honestly can't remember the last time I hit a site that wasn't a Microsoft site that gave me a hard time about using Firefox.
    • martalli, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1Even hotmail suggests firefox: "The full version of Windows Live Hotmail runs on Internet Explorer 6.0 and higher (make sure you check the system requirements before you install it). The full version also works on Firefox 1.5."
    • maskd, on 01/05/2008, -4/+1If you have common sense, you shouldn't get any viruses from running IE.
    • DestroyFascism, on 01/05/2008, -0/+2What has common sense got to do with invisible I framed hacked web servers that yesterday were fine and now its an IE raping piece of *****? Want the code? I dare you to open it in IE! Question for you is, how are going to tell if it is? FF does!
    • zongamin, on 01/05/2008, -0/+4Why run windows at all then?
      • shadus, on 01/07/2008, -0/+1Because most of the games I want to play don't run in linux, or run unacceptably slower.
  • lololololol, on 01/05/2008, -3/+16DOWN WITH BARCLAYS!
    • omgwthlol, on 01/05/2008, -2/+3YEAH WOOHOO
    • alamlyo, on 01/07/2008, -1/+0WTF? Braclays are *PAYING* for anyone to use mindleaders for *FREE*. Instead of bitching why dont you ask them to pay for some other companys product for you?
  • digitallysick, on 01/05/2008, -2/+3I have the same problem on the bestbuy career site, it tells me that it doesn't support my OS or my Browser, wtf. Go here http://www.bbycommunications.com/careercenter/Stor ... and hit "job search apply now" and you will get the annoying n00b message
    • Ibox, on 01/05/2008, -1/+3Works fine in FF.
    • Branden, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1Works for me. (Firefox and Vista) Can't say anything about Linux or OSX, however.
    • haxor1990, on 01/05/2008, -0/+2works for me firefox and linux(debian)
    • martron3000, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1didn't work for me either using ubuntu linux with firefox2.0 on the retail mgmt, etc. "job search" button, but worked everywhere else.
  • Ramble, on 01/05/2008, -2/+3I use Opera and also use Barclays as my bank, never had any issues.
    • TheSnuffster, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1I use Firefox and Barclays, and never had issues, so i guess its only for the www.barclays-skills.com mini-site, which *maybe* uses an ActiveX control?
    • samichx, on 01/07/2008, -0/+1Yea, Opera is a safe choice for most Linux users when there are genuine inoperable features that Firefox users expect to have. Desjardins Caisse Populaire in Canada experiences the same problem although due to problems with suggesting IE it simply mentions that Firefox may not be the best choice. Angsty teenagers that call in or send an e-mail then can receive a listing including Opera, Safari and IE as safe bets.
  • praveenmarkandu, on 01/05/2008, -2/+9only one thing to do.......FLOOD THEM WITH EMAIL!!
  • baalzebub, on 01/05/2008, -8/+1fsck em and feed em fish heads...
  • dood, on 01/05/2008, -0/+8That was one of the least readable story summaries ever. Bravo.
  • jayb1rd, on 01/05/2008, -18/+3The more people tell me to switch to Firefox, the less I want to use it.
    • Me1000, on 01/05/2008, -0/+7ok,
      how is that relevant?
    • omgwthlol, on 01/05/2008, -3/+3DONT USE FIREFAUX
    • spoonmaniac, on 01/05/2008, -0/+3Then please use internet explorer.
    • maskd, on 01/05/2008, -2/+1Poor guy, I'll digg you up.
    • grenden, on 01/05/2008, -1/+1How do you think Windows caught on so well? Because more and more people were telling their friends how much they liked using it, and urged them to try it. And what do you know, Windows took over the market.
      • jay019, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1Cause it had nothing to do with forcing computer manufacturers to only sell their OS or other shady marketing tactics.
    • omgwthlol, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1firefox is gay
  • omgwthlol, on 01/05/2008, -6/+3Michael Scott
  • Haplo, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1http://johnbokma.com/mexit/2004/04/24/changinguser ... might do the trick
  • jrwr, on 01/05/2008, -1/+3Found this in the source of the page
    Note: Clearlybusiness content is accessible to all versions of every browser. However, this browser does not support many basic Web standards, preventing the display of our site's design details. We support the mission of the Web Standards Project in the campaign encouraging users to upgrade their browsers.
    • shortcircuit13, on 01/05/2008, -0/+4Considering how many IE hacks are part of a typical CSS designer's bag of tricks, the whole "we like web standards, so we use IE" line is quite amusing.
      • DestroyFascism, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1Well for a browser that subtracts when it should add and in that cannot count or does not understand the right margin all to well, need I say more...
  • LightSpeed4, on 01/05/2008, -21/+1***** firefox, ***** browser, i hate idiots who keep saying to switch and can never give concrete evidence, ie does everything firefox does and is faster, no i dont need ***** add-ons
  • ewj1976, on 01/05/2008, -1/+2I use the User Agent Switcher extension for Firefox and access the page just fine.
  • wolferz, on 01/05/2008, -6/+8A lot of financial institutions require IE, even those sporting otherwise very well put together and/or technically advanced sites. For example the Chicago Mercantile Exchange has a technically advanced site but when you go to use their E-quotes real time quotes and charting service it insists that you use internet explorer. Quickbooks online also insists that you use IE.

    I can understand why though. Most computers run Windows, and all Windows computers have IE. Each browser renders pages slightly different and in situations where there could be thousands or even millions of dollars at stake these institutions want to know with as much certainty as entirely possible that the pages display and function EXACTLY the way they were intended. They thus choose to require a single browser and since most people run Windows and every one with Windows has IE making the required browser IE means the vast majority of their clients and customers don't have to download and install another program they may not need for anything else.

    Unfortunately for Linux users it means your ***** which is by percentage a lot fewer ***** clients than if they required Firefox. While linux users might be able to deal with the issue (agent switching) most windows users don't know (or care) what a browser is much less how to download and install it. Asking them to download Firefox will send a not-insignificant percentage of them to Walmart to buy it.

    Still ridiculous for a training site to require it.
    • spoonmaniac, on 01/05/2008, -0/+2That was a lame excuse back in 1998 when all but the simplest developers were using dynamic content . But today with client side scripting accepted and templates being the norm, it is simply absurd and it shows total technical ineptness.

      For a large institution like Barclays to attach its name to such amateur content is just embarrassing.

    • mdwstmusik, on 01/05/2008, -0/+0Amen brother!
    • AutoShovel, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1Several large institutions explicitly test and support non-IE browsers for external users. At one stage at least, Deutsche Bank was one. However in recent times much of what they do in the IT world has been outsourced to India and they tend to prefer Microsoft.
    • zwaldowski, on 01/06/2008, -0/+1That was true a couple of years ago. However, every other web designer under the sun except the ***** that make these websites can create a cross-browser website.
  • mr5150, on 01/05/2008, -2/+2Proof the banks like and want to be hacked.....they insist on IE....LOL

    When your account has no money you can simply say.....well you gave me no choice with my preferred methods of protection on the net. Give me my ***** money back!
    • martalli, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1etrade works just fine with firefox
  • Felix57, on 01/05/2008, -0/+6fire ferret and Internet exploder I'm waiting someone to post the head in hand of shame and disappointment
  • elijahalcantara, on 01/05/2008, -0/+4A lot of banks do this, I still wonder why ...
  • bsdboy, on 01/05/2008, -0/+4Supposedly this is on Apache, not IIS

    iWil:~ iwil$ curl --head http://www.barclays-skills.com
    HTTP/1.1 200 OK
    Date: Sat, 05 Jan 2008 01:55:46 GMT
    Server: Apache
    Set-Cookie: fe_typo_user=70e08aa457; path=/
    Keep-Alive: timeout=5, max=100
    Connection: Keep-Alive
    Content-Type: text/html;charset=iso-8859-1

  • loconet, on 01/05/2008, -0/+13Let's see what I get when trying to access that site (ff/linux)..

    "Please try entering www.barclays-skills.com into an Internet Explorer browser"

    into _an_ Internet explorer browser? Who writes this crap. And so, amusingly enough after switching my user agent to IE on Windows, I was curious about their training courses and sure enough, they have courses on: Linux, Linux Red Hat Technician RHCT, Solaris, UNIX. Ahhh some people still live under a rock it seems. Pathetic.
    • Tippis, on 01/05/2008, -3/+2What's wrong with "an"?
      There are plenty of different IEs out there, so using "the" would be wrong.
      It begins with a vowel sound, so "a" is out of the question as well.
      • loconet, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1Wrong.

        Different versions of a program are not usually talked about as separate instances. That is, you don't use indefinite articles. You don't say "Open the document with a Microsoft Word". You say "Open the document with Microsoft Word" or generalizing, "Open the document with a word processor". In the case of their silly error message, they should have said ". Please try entering www.barclays-skills.com into Internet Explorer". Referring to it as "an Internet Explorer" is almost as bad as saying "The Internets"!. Now, if they attempted to refer to trident browsers (ie. Internet explorer based) it is still wrong! "an Internet Explorer based browser" would be have been "closer" to being right.
  • whisperedlie, on 01/05/2008, -3/+2If you are unhappy with the technical aspects of an online service you use, why not just lodge a customer complaint about it? why does it require you to post a digg article about it? so you and a bunch of other random folks can gather 'round and gawk at it?

    Statefarm.com didn't work on Firefox for ***** until, oh I dunno, mid-last year and I submitted a complaint to them. Imagine this... they sent back a reply they have received similar complains, and a few months later the site was updated. It works fine now. The power of customer demand; learn how to employ it.
    • Euler2718, on 01/05/2008, -0/+2Isn't that the point of digg, so "random folks can gather round and gawk" at things?
    • shortcircuit13, on 01/05/2008, -0/+2But impotent whinging is far more fun than anything remotely productive and confrontational.
  • Moopstick, on 01/05/2008, -0/+2Oddly it renders in IE for Mac.
    http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb99/Moop_stick ...
  • 04TL, on 01/05/2008, -1/+0reading the title, i honestly thought this was about the bait & switch company Barclays...
  • poopypaul, on 01/05/2008, -10/+0retard nerds do this ***** to IE all the time so ***** you i dont want to use faggotfox
  • kd1s, on 01/05/2008, -3/+2It isn't just Barclays. Vonage made a change to their site so that you can only view account activity with IE. I get around that by using a little add on called IE-Tab. It fakes out sites and reports as IE6 and it works just fine.
  • Twee, on 01/05/2008, -0/+4It doesn't work in Safari either. I like Safari a lot more than Firefox. Firefox is ugly on the Mac, including the new 3.0 beta theme.
  • rydog, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1I am pretty sure that this is a limitation of the MindLeaders player. I think it is tied to internet explorer because it uses some windows media player plug-ins.
  • MavRevMatt, on 01/05/2008, -0/+7***** that bank then.
    • jay019, on 01/05/2008, -0/+0lol. i actually thought they were talking about an e-learning site. Maybe i just cant RTFA for *****.
  • osbjmg, on 01/05/2008, -0/+5It's a good thing we have platform independent media like the WWW.. oh wait, what are you doing with the web?
  • Kamujin, on 01/05/2008, -0/+3Yeah, these guys are a joke. But don't feel too bad, we still can't access their Barx app using Vista yet. They are not as much snobbish as they are incompetent.
  • Ev3nt372, on 01/05/2008, -2/+1I say it serves you right! For all of those websites that block IE. When you are on a college computer that only has IE then you are screwed! Any site that bans the use of a certain browser should be boycotted hacked or spammed in some manner.
    • countingthedays, on 01/05/2008, -0/+3What website blocks IE? Honest question, I don't think I've ever seen a site that blocks IE.
  • laaabaseball, on 01/05/2008, -1/+3Dugg for "Internet Exploder"
  • TheWindBlows, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1"It renders to usability" in firefox so most likely the same for other browsers.

    just go in the ' about:config ' search for useragent or for some other browsers changing user agent is an easy to access option

    at the end at ' MSIE/Bypass '
    this will solve most of your problems with sites that block non-IE...
  • moschops, on 01/05/2008, -0/+3This story has nothing specifically to do with Linux - their site behaves exactly the same using Firefox from Windows XP.

    Sure Linux users don't usually have IE to bust out but then neither do Mac users - and the workarounds to get IE on those platforms usually just encourage people to use old and known to be buggy/insecure versions of IE. So shame on Barclays-Skills for not supporting Firefox.
    • DestroyFascism, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1I have to agree, Its like corralling people into the dark alley....
  • evacuee, on 01/05/2008, -0/+0NB, this is just this skills website. The online banking works with all current-gen browsers just fine.
    Not that this makes it OK, of course. Especially with having to use the annoying little gadget to generate an entry code everytime one wants to sign in or set up a new payment.
  • velorz, on 01/05/2008, -4/+1The reason they block browsers like Firefox & fireferret is IE has a built in feature that prevents users from saving copyrighted images off the internet. Firefox does not include this capability nor does Fireferret. It's not a "OMFG We have to stop Fire-(whatever garbage mozilla or whoever else made. haha see i'm biased) It's about protecting their copyrighted images from showing up on every lamo's website in the world.
    • darkmisery, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1Print Screen. Does IE protect against that?
    • polywaffle, on 01/05/2008, -0/+2You honestly think they care about people stealing images? Besides, its just a stupid piece of javascript that can be bypassed real easy by turning it off, or saving the webpage with images.
  • jacks0n, on 01/05/2008, -0/+3Their server's OS is linux too, how ironic.
  • NeoDarkSaver, on 01/05/2008, -0/+4well... barclay says no to firefox, we say no to barclay!
  • DestroyFascism, on 01/05/2008, -1/+3Barclays says "we love Microsoft so much that we bought shares". There is no way they will advertise or use any other company...
  • BluAardvark, on 01/05/2008, -3/+1Buried because the author couldn't be assed to call the products by their proper names.
  • commentbot, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1Here's the solution for these evil sites: http://report.dreamhosters.com
  • gbudavid, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1I use the IE tab extension on Firefox and it works just fine.
    • TheWindBlows, on 01/06/2008, -0/+2on windows.... try it on Mac or Linux tell me you get the same results without some hassle ...
  • shadowflame, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1This is why I bank with Natwest - they don't care what browser you use, they don't care what OS you use. It just works
    • Philluminati, on 01/06/2008, -0/+1Shame when you go into the Branches they're run by idiots. Why must we make sacrifices?
  • remakeru, on 01/05/2008, -1/+1This somehow feels good... really... I'm tired of "use firefox" messages on so many websites... ;)
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