I know what you're asking about that headline: "Is he trying to tell us that the nation's second largest bank does not already support the world's second most popular Web browser?"
Bingo, that's it exactly. BoA does not support Firefox, at least not officially and at least not today. That's not to say Firefox doesn't work on the BoA Web site -- it does, by and large, I am told -- but it is not listed as one of the three "supported browsers" on the bank's FAQ page. (The three are Safari, Netscape and ... uh, I forget the third.)
So Firefox may be newly listed with the Guinness Book of World Records, yes. But with Bank of America? Not so much.
The matter was brought to my attention by a Buzzblog reader who had contacted BoA technical support about an issue he was having while trying to bank online using Safari. Wanting to preempt any suggestion that he simply switch browsers, the reader wrote in his e-mail to BoA: "Please don't tell me to just use Firefox instead. That is not an acceptable answer, not after the ... site has officially supported Safari for so many years."
He needn't have worried, as the BoA support agent replied:
"Please note Bank of America does not support Firefox."
Guess not.
So I turned to Mozilla to see if this sort of disrespect remains common these days, despite all of the hoopla surrounding Firefox.
"As far as we know, the situation you describe is pretty unusual," says Johnathan Nightingale, whose title, speaking of unusual, is Human Shield. "Most major Web sites, and certainly major banks, have been officially supporting their Firefox users for years. However, it's not something we track very closely. We know that many Web sites will support multiple browsers as a matter of principle, to respect and enable their users' choices, but that for the rest, support comes with market share."
Which only makes the situation even more puzzling.
"Our latest market share numbers show Firefox totaling 19% (Net Applications, June 2008), close to 30% in Europe; and having more than 180 million active Firefox users," Nightingale says. "That's pretty hard for any major site to ignore, especially when 'supporting Firefox' usually just amounts to using open standards. Supporting Firefox is really just supporting the Web."
So, Bank of America, why is it that you hate this World Wide Web and its 180 million Firefox users?
"Bankofamerica.com does work for most versions of Firefox, and we do routinely conduct testing with new products and releases for the site," assures Tara Burke, a BoA spokeswoman. "However, there is a process that we go through to 'officially support' a browser type and version, which includes in-depth functional and regression testing cycles."
And that brings us back to the headline on this post, which, alert readers no doubt gathered, contained foreshadowing of a somewhat happy ending.
"As the usage of Firefox browsers has increased with our customer base," Burke continues, "we will be initiating a full support model for Firefox version 2.x in the very near future."
What does "very near future" mean? She wouldn't say, on the record, but off the record she did convince me that very near means very near.
As for what took so long, well, that's anybody's guess -- as is when they'll get around to supporting Firefox 3.0.
Welcome regulars and passersby. Here are a few more recent Buzzblog items. And, if you'd like to receive Buzzblog via e-mail newsletter, here's where to sign up.
What does Cisco have against Quebec? (Answer: silly contest rules.)
Attrition.org nails another nitwit ... this time with Monty Python's Holy Grail.
"I have a lost laptop horror story for you."
Kellogg's and LEGO team up to teach kids to choke.
Court rejects music industry's wild promo CD copyright claim.
Can early tornado warnings create Darwin Award winners?
The REAL sticking point between Microsoft and Yahoo!
This Year's 25 Geekiest 25th Anniversaries.
Top 10 Buzzblog posts for '07: Verizon's there, of course, along with Gates, Wikipedia and the guy who lost a girlfriend to Blackberry's blackout.
When not blogging, I am a Network World news editor and write the 'Net Buzz column.
The opinions expressed in this Weblog are those of the writer and may not represent the opinions of Network World.
|
|
2.x
That's classic business thinking. Well, 2.x market share has been increasing for months. I guess it will be pretty high soon!
Never mind that most new Firefox users just Google for Firefox then install it, and what they're going to find now is 3.0.
RE: BofA support for Firefox....finally!
By the time they get to supporting Firefox 3, Firefox 4 will be out.
Good thing my bank supports Firefox already.
"We don't support the Mac"
Sadly, this is more commonplace than you may realize. I was booking a flight on Delta.com last month, and a bug in Delta's website prevented me from completing the sale. I called Delta tech support, and was eventually passed on to one of the site's developers. He asked what browser I was using. Firefox 3. "Sorry, we don't support Mac browsers." Um, Firefox runs on Windows. "Oh, well we only support the most popular browsers, Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator." Netscape? What is this, 1996? Firefox is the second most popular browser with 40% of the market. The new version just had 8M downloads in the first day. "Really? We'll look into it, but for now you need to use IE." Which I did, and completed the sale. I wrote a follow-up letter to Delta support, and received an email stating that Delta.com doesn't support Mac browsers! Here we go again...! ;-)
The same with Citizens Bank
Citizens Bank, one of BOA's major competitors in the northeastern US, also does not 'officially support' Firefox, although they do support Netscape. Since the frameworks are basically the same, I have had no problems using Firefox with their on-line banking site. But talk about being behind the times. I called up their customer service just to notify them earlier this year that Netscape is no longer being supported or developed, and that they really need to get their act together and start supporting Firefox. But I can understand why they are slow to adopt... it is only the 2nd largest web browser in the world when it comes to market share.
I've used firefox for ever on BofA
?
I've used FF forever on BoFA as well
I've accessed Bank of America for several years using Firefox...all manners of Firefox including various beta versions and have never had a problem. In fact, until I read this article, I never knew that they never supported the browser!
Firefox forever
I've been banking online with B of A for ~5 years, nearly all of it on Firefox with no idea that they didn't support it. Who knew!
They don't support Vista, either
If you try to use BofA's program to use virtual credit card numbers, you will note this warning:
"At this time, the downloadable version of Virtual Account Numbers is not compatible with Windows Vista, Microsoft's new operating system upgrade. We will provide a solution soon. Until then, for those using Vista, the online launch version of Virtual Account Numbers is available."
Perhaps someone should tell them that Vista isn't so new anymore?
Who cares? Geeze, get a life
Who cares? Geeze, get a life Firefox fanboy.
Here's why you should care
Firefox has been in production for something like 5 years now, which in Internet-years is an Age of Man.
If a bank -- no let me rephrase that, one of the largest consumer banks in the world -- doesn't support Firefox, and still lists Netscape as one of its officially supported browsers, it makes you wonder what other 5-year-old technologies they're not exactly current on. See M.Coleman's post below for more in this vein.
Considering the speed at which crackers, malware and virus authors, and spammers are working to undermine the security of the Internet so as to steal your money, it's a reasonable cause for concern when you see something like this. At a bank.
Post new comment