Huh, I didn't have to use user agent switcher previous years though I did have to this year. I actually would have accepted a disclaimer warning me my system won't work and a 'I'll take my chances anyways' type link. I understand that companies can't test for every possible configuration and as a linux user I'm used to occasionally (often) using untested software but getting a message that it won't work (rather then just being untested/unsupported) especially when it did work without problems just plain bugs me. Maybe it's my system since no one else had issues but I was running firefox on ubuntu 8.10 which is about as average as things get for linux.
Rogan Creswick wrote: > On Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 1:09 AM, donkyhotay <[email protected]> wrote: >> Except turbo tax is trying to move away from linux compatibility. There >> is another thread on this list where people are complaining about the >> flash requirement of turbo tax. Flash doesn't bother me so much (though >> I'd prefer to be without it) but I've used turbo tax online since I >> first migrated to linux about 3 years ago (and used the install version >> before that). This year though I had to use the 'user agent switcher' to >> spoof turbo tax into thinking I was running IE on windows in order for >> it to let me in. > > That's odd. I had to do that last year (when filing for 2007) but I > did *not* have to do anything like that this year (using a different > computer -- and ubuntu vs. debian). I also did my taxes in late Jan. > though, so maybe they changed it (hey, that might not be a *horrible* > way to cut down on customer service requests. If you're savvy enough > to install a user-agent switcher, then you probably won't have issues > printing...) > > Regarding flash: I decided that I have no grounds to denigrate flash > apps until I can trivially write a javascript UI that works equally > well on all platforms. > > --Rogan > >> The fact that everything worked perfectly without any >> problems using firefox on ubuntu really bothers me though. I'll accept >> the fact that many companies aren't interested in the linux market and >> don't bother making stuff for linux, but when you have something that >> *is* compatible with linux and you go out of your way to try to make it >> incompatible (and fail at that even), well... it becomes time for me to >> look for another tax service (online or not) which I did this year. I >> would have felt a little better if I had gotten an error or something >> while using turbo tax online (would have meant there was a real reason >> to not use linux with their service) but I successfully used everything >> up to the point where my taxes were ready to be filed and they wanted me >> to pay for the service, I then decided to cancel and go elsewhere at >> that point. Making a FOSS tax program wouldn't be too hard, especially >> since the USA is big enough and it would benefit so many people there >> are bound to be enough volunteers. The problem (as mentioned previously) >> is that in addition to federal taxes you have 50 states with their own >> tax laws along with the unknown number of counties/cities/whatever as >> well. All of these will change from time to time and need constant >> updating. While the USA as a whole is probably big enough to draw enough >> volunteers to keep federal up to date anything below that will probably >> not be kept current or accurate. The only way I see something like this >> working is if the FOSS community built a framework program (as mentioned >> in previous Emails) that connected to a government maintained publicly >> available database which stores information on all taxes at all levels >> of government. This way whenever taxes change due to laws being passed >> the database is just updated and the program can calculate your taxes >> correctly. This way the developers can focus on making certain the >> program remained compatible with the database and interface issues (how >> questions are asked to the user, etc.). Sadly I don't see our government >> being willing to maintaining a database like this even though it would >> help avoid confusion with understanding/calculating taxes even if you >> didn't use our hypothetical FOSS tax program. >> >> >> >> Russell Johnson wrote: >>> On Apr 15, 2009, at 10:20 PM, Tim Wescott wrote: >>> >>>> You're going to spend a lot more time and money on domain experts >>>> than you >>>> will on a programming language, particularly when you get to >>>> addressing >>>> all the state taxes and potentially the regional (i.e. TriMet). >>>> >>> For several years now, I've filed my taxes with TurboTax online. On >>> Windows, Linux, and OS X. It worked a treat. >>> >>> >>> Russell Johnson >>> [email protected] >>> >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> PLUG mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug >>> >> -- >> Do not be afraid to joust a giant just because some people insist on >> believing in windmills. >> _______________________________________________ >> PLUG mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug >> > _______________________________________________ > PLUG mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug > -- Do not be afraid to joust a giant just because some people insist on believing in windmills. _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
