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July 8, 2008 10:30 PM PDT

Bank of America may finally embrace Firefox

by Steven Musil

The largest bank in the United States has officially ignored the second most popular Web browser--until recently.

A tipster for Networkworld.com pointed out recently that Bank of America's Web site did not list the Mozilla Foundation's Firefox as a "supported browser," even though Firefox now commands almost 20 percent of the browser market. The bank's site lists Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Apple's Safari, and Netscape as acceptable browsers.

Netscape? Even AOL, Netscape's former owner, doesn't support Netscape Navigator anymore.

Of course, Firefox, which was released in 2004 and recently set a Guiness record for downloads in a 24-hour period, still works on the BofA Web site--just not officially. The issue apparently came up when a BofA customer contacted the bank about problems he was having accessing the site using Safari. "Please don't tell me to just use Firefox instead," the Networkworld.com reader told BofA customer support.

Not a problem, according to customer support.

"Please note Bank of America does not support Firefox," was customer service's reply.

When posed with the question of why the No.1 bank's Web site did not whole-heartedly embrace the No. 2 browser's 180 million users, a spokeswoman told Networkworld.com that "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.

"As the usage of Firefox browsers has increased with our customer base, we will be initiating a full support model for Firefox version 2.x in the very near future," spokeswoman Tara Burke told Networkworld.com.

Think "the very near future" will prove to be very soon? Don't bank on it.

Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. Before joining CNET News in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers. E-mail Steven.
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Add a Comment (Log in or register) Showing 1 of 2 pages (33 Comments)
by t26l July 8, 2008 11:03 PM PDT
How backward; note they said they'll support Firefox 2.x, not the spankin-new version 3?
I reiterate: how banckward
Reply to this comment
by Galaxy5 July 8, 2008 11:17 PM PDT
Not that I'd be so bold as to defend BofA, but the security tests for browsers probably takes some time, and is done with an external firm to prevent cheating by the bank, or cutting corners. More security = less risk, and as we know, banks tend to be risk averse.

I'd rather they be a version behind and a platform short rather than supporting a version whose security conformance is not widely tested.
by M C July 9, 2008 12:16 AM PDT
Non-story. I've been using FF to manage my BoA account for ages. Slow news day, CNet?
Reply to this comment
by professionaladventurer July 9, 2008 1:04 AM PDT
Never had any issues using BoA with firefox on my Macbook Pro?
Reply to this comment
by paul.saulnier July 9, 2008 4:29 AM PDT
You know M C, you and others like don't need to add a stupid "slow new day" comment for every article you don't think is exciting enough for you.
Reply to this comment
by YankeePoodle July 9, 2008 7:58 AM PDT
I think they are entitled to their opinion that the above news article is not news worthy, and "Slow News Day" is in a form of telling CNet that they are unimpressed.

Readers do express their opinons. You may disagree with their opinion but I dont think anyone of us here should have a problem with a reader opining.
by t26l July 9, 2008 12:17 PM PDT
In case you're clue-repellent, I'll spell it out for you: This was not a newsworthy article. BofA may not have Firefox on its officially supported browser list, but it works anyway. Zippy.
by menty666 July 9, 2008 5:23 AM PDT
Let them ignore FF, I've been ignoring them and their high fees for years.
Reply to this comment
by EcuadorHomesOnline July 9, 2008 6:07 AM PDT
Why would ANYONE want to use Firefox? It's crapware - buggy, unstable, and insecure. Stay with Explorer if you want to have a good web experience!
Reply to this comment
by The_Decider July 9, 2008 10:45 AM PDT
LOL Thanks for the good laugh!!
by angrykeyboarder July 9, 2008 11:43 AM PDT
There is no "Explorer" for Mac or Linux. And Firefox is great.
by t26l July 9, 2008 12:21 PM PDT
I especially enjoy the security-exploit web experience that I get from Explorer....
by bsarte July 9, 2008 6:37 AM PDT
I am a BoA customer, been using FireFox 2 and now 3... no problems ever...
Reply to this comment
by Penguinisto July 9, 2008 1:39 PM PDT
ditto here... don't get what the hubbub is about. *shrug*
by July 9, 2008 7:04 AM PDT
I have to add my surprise. I do total banking with BofA on line, do all types of transactions there, and have been using Firefox for at least 3 years --- maybe longer. I never even thought about browser problems with the bank, since I never had any problems.
Reply to this comment
by July 9, 2008 7:07 AM PDT
I have to add my surprise. I do total banking with BofA on line, do all types of transactions there, and have been using Firefox for at least 3 years --- maybe longer. I never even thought about browser problems with the bank, since I never had any problems.
Reply to this comment
by manodud July 9, 2008 7:23 AM PDT
Don't they already do? I never used IE for accessing my BoA account online...
Reply to this comment
by angrykeyboarder July 9, 2008 11:42 AM PDT
I've never had a problem with any browser on their site despite what they claim to support. I mostly use Firefox. I was just on the online banking site earlier to day with Firefox 3.
by EnvoyPV July 9, 2008 7:42 AM PDT
BoA sucks. I've been forced to use them for years because of a corporate contract. Fortunately, that's expiring soon!
Reply to this comment
by whizkid454 July 9, 2008 7:44 AM PDT
After using Firefox, I'm never going back to IE.
Reply to this comment
by JokerCPoC July 9, 2008 7:46 AM PDT
How ironic BofA supports Safari which has more trouble than IE and yet BofA doesn't support Firefox which has had no trouble at all.

IE=Microsoft
IE+AOL=AOL+Microsoft
Safari=Apple
Netscape=AOL
Firefox=Open Source(No Commercial backing)

To Me, It sounds like BofA hasn't liked Open Source for some reason.
Reply to this comment
by David Arbogast July 9, 2008 8:21 AM PDT
I don't see it that way at all. If users are running Windows, they have IE. If users are on an Apple, they have Safari. Right there, you've covered most every user online. If users are running anything else, there is a flavor of Safari or Netscape that can be found. To me, it sounds more like they want to cover the necessary bases... and since they write decent code, FireFox works as well. Now, they are going to run FireFox through a lot of regression testing so that that can make their support for it "official."

There is nothign Ironic about it at all. It sounds like a very smart strategy to me, and it has obviously served them well.
by JCPayne July 9, 2008 8:50 AM PDT
Ha... I dropped Bof A sooooo long ago... Soo many other Banks now give you free checking and stuff why stick with BoA.
Reply to this comment
by llungster July 9, 2008 8:55 AM PDT
Add me to the list of users who use FF 2.x with BoA regularly. Never had a problem. As for BoA itself, I've never had a problem with them either - no fees, easy access to ATMs, easy access to branch offices. Works for me.
Reply to this comment
by July 9, 2008 9:23 AM PDT
TD Ameritrade does not support Firefox, Safari, Opera or Netscape. It only supports Internet Exploder.

I know because I work for them and I have to leave my office and go to the public library to use the computers there.

It is not just ignoring other browsers. It is purposely programming to accept only one browser. I can't get anyone to give a good reason.
Reply to this comment
by rcrusoe July 9, 2008 9:25 AM PDT
Same here, I've been using FF since its early beta days. In fact, I selected BOA years ago because I could log in from a Mac or Linux machine.
Reply to this comment
by ricegf July 9, 2008 9:31 AM PDT
I have dropped several companies (remember me, Walmart Discover?) who had "IE only" policies, since IE itself is only supported on Windows. Why would I allow myself to be forced to use an obsolete operating system just to access their product? Competition is sweet!

That said, I've done my on-line BoA banking via Firefox on Ubuntu for several years, and never experienced any problems. Nor do I pay fees for checking. However, I keep my *savings* with ING, since BoA's interest rates on their savings accounts are laughable.
Reply to this comment
by The_Decider July 9, 2008 10:48 AM PDT
If BoA had a clue they would not be supporting any browser. They would write the web site to standards. There is never a reason to write a web site for a browser. Ironically it is much more work to write for a support specific browsers. That is a sign of an incompetent IT shop.
Reply to this comment
by inetdog July 9, 2008 11:50 AM PDT
It is a fact of life at the moment that if you write a standards-compliant website with no per-browser variations in content you will able to do so but will be forced to work at the least-common-denominator level of functionality.

If you want to provide a rich user interface and convenient navigation through use of advanced HTML, JavaScript and Java features (I won't talk about ActiveX controls!!) you find that your standards complaint website does not work with more than half of the browsers currently in use.

Standards-compliant browsers and standards-compliant web sites are still in a chicken versus egg situation right now, although it is improving daily.

Probably the best solution is to write such that the basic site code works immediately with standards-compliant browsers and then add switches for
known quirks of popular browsers (such as IE6.)

Writing directly to the quirks is bad design and I agree with you 100% about that. It happens most commonly when you use Microsoft Web Authoring tools.
by mikeburek July 9, 2008 11:40 AM PDT
They'll get to FF it after they look into that new fangled "customer service" thing other banks talk about.
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Showing 1 of 2 pages (33 Comments)
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