yes, it should be https://www.ebank.hsbc.co.nz/ WINXP browser = Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-GB; rv:1.7.6) Gecko/20050321 Firefox/1.0.2 Browser String from www.showmyip.com = Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-GB; rv:1.7.6) Gecko/20050321 Firefox/1.0.2 Have to reboot to get Ubuntu version, post shortly -----Original Message----- From: mglb1-forwarding Sent: Mon 09/05/05 13:30 To: Waikato Linux Users Group Cc: Subject: Re: [wlug] Internet Banking using Ubuntu and Firefox On Mon, 2005-05-09 at 13:22 +1200, Justin Hyde wrote:
Hi
After installing Ubuntu on the weekend at the install fest, I tried accessing my internet banking service with HSBC.
I got an error message saying that I should use IE or Netscape. I contacted the bank this morning and received the reply below.
Could someone using Ubuntu and Firefox check whether they can access https://ebank.hsbc.co.nz to see if its just my computer or a general problem.
Assuming you meant https://www.ebank.hsbc.co.nz/ then yes, I too get an error message.
Could someone recommend a way of getting around the customer services people at the bank and through to the IT guys?
The only way I can think of is to ask the customer services people. I find email often works better than phone for these sort of problems.
As an aside, I could access this banking service using Firefox on my WINXP setup.
Now this is strange. What version or Firefox were you using under WinXP? They are most probably doing their browser detection using the UserAgent string that your browser supplies which I would have thought would have been fairly similar between Linux and Windows. Perhaps not... You could try going to http://www.showmyip.com/ in both Windows and Linux, and recording the Browser (UserAgent) string it reports, I'd be interested in seeing how they differ. Regards -- Matt Brown matt(a)mattb.net.nz Mob +64 275 611 544 www.mattb.net.nz _______________________________________________ wlug mailing list | wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz Unsubscribe: http://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/wlug
yes, it should be https://www.ebank.hsbc.co.nz/
WINXP browser = Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-GB; rv:1.7.6) Gecko/20050321 Firefox/1.0.2
As a workaround, you can install a UserAgent Switcher extension for firefox, which will let you change firefox's useragent on the fly. I set it back to Netscape 4.8, and can see the login scree on HSBC's website. http://extensionroom.mozdev.org/more-info/useragentswitcher
On Mon, May 09, 2005 at 01:54:50PM +1200, Daniel Lawson wrote:
yes, it should be https://www.ebank.hsbc.co.nz/
WINXP browser = Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-GB; rv:1.7.6) Gecko/20050321 Firefox/1.0.2
As a workaround, you can install a UserAgent Switcher extension for firefox, which will let you change firefox's useragent on the fly. I set it back to Netscape 4.8, and can see the login scree on HSBC's website.
This sort of workaround is only a good thing while trying to get the problem solved so you can do what you need to do. Long term, when the site operators check their stats for their site they obliviously say "see, everyone's using browser X", which is bad. Any website which requires a specific browser is bad, but we all know that anyway. Here's a good a snipet from http://www.dillo.org/help/bug_meter.html -- Making your sites standards-compliant will help ensure every browser, old and new, will be able to present the sites properly, and also that they will work in the future, making your site accesible from a wide range of devices ranging from desktops to cell phones. The universality and interoperability of the WEB is one of the biggest assets of mankind today. Liberty of expression and freedom of information have found their new home inside the fertile WEB space. If you let a single corporation or entity the power to control the Internet's protocols, they would be able to control the WEB just as much as the mass-media. Please don't let that happen. -- James.
As a workaround, you can install a UserAgent Switcher extension for firefox, which will let you change firefox's useragent on the fly. I set it back to Netscape 4.8, and can see the login scree on HSBC's website.
This sort of workaround is only a good thing while trying to get the problem solved so you can do what you need to do. Long term, when the site operators check their stats for their site they obliviously say "see, everyone's using browser X", which is bad.
Yeah. No shit. However, long term fixes don't help the OP do his online banking right now, and it's the right now problems that stop people using linux long term. Don't get me wrong, I think HSBC should sort their shit out and fix their website. Incidentally, changing banks isn't the easiest solution. What if you have to move your two mortgages, chequing account, savings account, *and* update all your bill payments and salary deposits? Rebooting into windows sounds much easier to me.
James Clark wrote:
On Mon, May 09, 2005 at 02:12:22PM +1200, Daniel Lawson wrote:
Yeah. No shit.
I'm sure this was absolutely necessary.
Me too. Glad you agree with me. Remember, levity is often mistaken for gravity on mailing lists.
James Clark wrote:
On Mon, May 09, 2005 at 02:12:22PM +1200, Daniel Lawson wrote:
Yeah. No shit.
I'm sure this was absolutely necessary.
Away put your weapons! Dan: Less grump. James: Less zealous. ;) Anyway, on topic... I see that this is very frustrating. I was explaining to Justin on Saturday that we spend a lot of time chasing online suppliers that our clients deal with in order to get them to support firefox. They usually respond helpfully. HSBC seem to be an exception. I would suggest that the useragent workaround will get you going right now, and in the meantime, if you find that their site works flawlessly with the switch, then email them, and let them know this. It may at least convince them to opening up trials of other browsers, once they realise there may not be anything to fix. Regards, Greig.
Anyway, on topic... I see that this is very frustrating. I was explaining to Justin on Saturday that we spend a lot of time chasing online suppliers that our clients deal with in order to get them to support firefox. They usually respond helpfully. HSBC seem to be an exception.
Banks like numbers. Especially if those numbers include lots of 0's. So I'd suggest pointing HSBC at sites that contain figures like "50,000,000 downloads" etc and see if that helps. http://www.spreadfirefox.com/ Shane.
participants (5)
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Daniel Lawson -
Greig McGill -
James Clark -
Justin Hyde -
Shane Taylor