TurboTard for the web...

Tue Jan 25 2005 20:16:39 GMT-0800 (Pacific Standard Time)

So Firefox kicks ass. Anybody who's in-the-know has been using Mozilla/Seamonkey/Firebird/Firefox for quite some time and realizes the superiority of said browser. I know I've been using it for at least 5 years [he said smugly]. I fucking hate doing my taxes. It's a bureaucratic bullshit overly-complicated and ultimately retarded process. Fortunately, there are these great little online tools (read: web applications, that seems to be the buzzwerd) that can walk you through a finance-for-dumbasses style wizard to fill in the blanks of some government form, for like $30 or $50. That's cool...I'm a tax tard and I admit it...so I'm willing to pay for the [mechanized] help... Except now. Some TurboTard has decided that unix (eeeewwwwww-nix) browsers (whatever the fuck that is, eh, and who are these eunuchs?) including firefox aren't supported. Except, guess what? They actually are supported! A brilliantly useful summary from the "NetWizard" describes the issue and how to work around it. Stupid stupid stuff on the part of Intuit, great great info on the part of Yakov. In summary: TurboTax has decided to implement some silly ineffective JavaScript to detect the browser version. If they don't see your current browser in a small (read: incomplete) set of mainstream configurations (think Win/OSX with IE or Netscape, yeah, like people still use Netscape), they flip you the bird and tell you to bend over. Fortunately, a little client-side hack with the help of a Firefox plugin clears things right up. I'll be trying this soon. Firefox is Firefox, people. Sure there are going to be teeny tiny differences between Windows and OSX and *nix, but for the most part, the developers have gone WAY out of their way to make sure that the behavior is consistent (not only consistent, but standards compliant). I've been using your product for years now -- why would you try and alienate me now? Who cares what the host OS is? Unless, of course, there's a hidden agenda in there somewhere. Da.