======================================================================== THE GRIPE LINE: ED FOSTER http://www.infoworld.com ======================================================================== Tuesday, August 24, 2004
LATEST WEBLOG ENTRIES ======================================================================== * No IE? No Can See * Citibank Rejects Phishing Report As Spam * New Frontiers in Frustration ADVERTISEMENT -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- IP - A Rallying Cry For more than two decades, IP has been a rallying cry for simple, functional, and standard data communications. Learn how IP Telephony can improve your business. http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=847E8F:2B910B2 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- NO IE? NO CAN SEE ======================================================================== Posted August 23, 11:45 PM Pacific Time One thing that's always irritated those who don't choose to use Internet Explorer is finding a website that requires IE. Such complaints seem to have grown all the more passionate now security concerns are driving more users to consider IE alternatives. When a reader made a passing remark in a recent story ( http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=847E83:2B910B2 ) about not being able to register his product at 3Com's website because he was using a Macintosh, a number of readers chimed in. "I'll second this," wrote one reader. "The (3Com) product registration page doesn't work with Opera 7.5 or Firefox .8 on Windows 2000. As a longtime professional web developer, this is an utterly asinine and unnecessary design choice and just one more reason to avoid 3Com, which is too bad." Readers noted some other pages where using browsers other than IE seemed to be a problem. "I was recently trying to buy air tickets with Cathay Pacific for my Mom," wrote one reader. "No, can't do, because I am not using IE. Anything else gets bumped out. I don't even get to see airline routes. I went to Singapore Airlines -- they did say (only) IE and Netscape, but they actually happily accepted Mozilla." And, while it's perhaps not a big surprise, another reader recently wrote to say he was having trouble accessing some parts of Microsoft's site without IE. "Microsoft is trying to control what browsers people use access the Microsoft knowledge base," he wrote. "When using IE, clicking on 'Advanced Search' will bring you to the advanced search options page. When using Mozilla Firefox, clicking on this same link will bring you back to the basic knowledge base search page. So Microsoft is quietly hiding content and features from non-IE users of the knowledge base." Since I use Firefox myself, I checked this reader's gripe when he first wrote me about it a few weeks ago. Sure enough, from Microsoft's "Search the Knowledge Base" page ( http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=847E96:2B910B2 ), I was unable to get to the advanced search page using Firefox. However, I checked again yesterday, and I can report this behavior has changed. Now with Firefox I can't even get to the basic knowledge base search page on Microsoft's site, much less the advanced one. Oh, well, maybe keeping its knowledge base safe from prying eyes is Microsoft's idea of heightened security. What other websites have you seen that won't let you use your browser of choice? Write me at [EMAIL PROTECTED] ( mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ) ( mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ) or post your comments ... For the full story: http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=847E7F:2B910B2 CITIBANK REJECTS PHISHING REPORT AS SPAM ======================================================================== Posted August 22, 11:57 PM Pacific Time Citibank seems to have supplanted eBay/PapPal as the favorite company for phisher scam artists to impersonate. Perhaps this reader gripe suggests one of the reasons why. "I got a spoof e-mail from what was supposed to be Citibank, an obvious spoof phishing for my personal financial information," the reader wrote. "Trying to be a good doobie, I go to the Citibank website and get the e-mail address for forwarding the spoof so Citibank can track it down. I take the time to copy out the e-mail header information -- all the links they are trying to make me click. I spent a good half hour writing a clear e-mail to help Citibank stop the creeps from stealing personal information from people like my own brother-in-law that got scammed from one of these phishing e-mails." The reader then forwarded the e-mail with all headers and links to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ( mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ) as instructed on the Citibank website. "Guess what ... the e-mail bounces back from them because they tell me it is spam," the reader wrote. "Stupid morons, of course it is spam! I'm forwarding them the spam that I got. Why would they bounce spam at that address ... For the full story: http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=847E80:2B910B2 NEW FRONTIERS IN FRUSTRATION ======================================================================== Posted August 21, 11:02 AM Pacific Time Are software publishers bound and determined to test the limits of customer frustration over copy protection? You'd think so, because every week seems to bring reader reports of yet another company that's found yet another way to treat its customers like outlaws. The crux of many reader complaints is how the software publisher handles users who have exceeded their allotted number of re-installations. "I installed the $40-$50 program PDF Converter from ScanSoft," wrote one reader. "Then I upgraded the processor, and the system kept rebooting spontaneously. So, after two more reinstalls, I got a different motherboard and reinstalled PDF Converter for the fifth time. Oops. Install failed because apparently five installs exceed the number of permitted activations. OK, I e-mail customer support. Oops, you have to register with the customer service hotline to do that. What's another password? After two days I heard back. Photocopy the CD - yes, the CD -- and your purchase receipt, and ScanSoft will consider providing you with an additional activation." The reader noted he did not have similar problems with considerably more expensive programs on the same system that are also copy protected. "Thanks a lot, ScanSoft," he wrote. "Why did I ... For the full story: http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=847E84:2B910B2 Contact Ed Foster at [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Ed Foster's "Reader Advocate" column, http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=847E89:2B910B2 , can be read exclusively at his GripeLog Web site: http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=847E91:2B910B2 ======================================================================== Says Who? InfoWorld's editors, columnists, and Test Center, that's who. Every week in CTO Source, they keep you up to date on the product news and reviews, business trends, and management issues that can mean grief or relief to the technology chief. CTO Source. In brief, it's just what you need to know to do your job, e-mailed to you every Tuesday. 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