[Novalug] can you make linux work with websites that insist on Windows and IE? if so, how?

[Peter Larsen]

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Nino Pereira wrote:
> List,
> 
> two US Government web sites I need absolutely, positively insist that
> they work only with Windows (XP or older, actually) as the OS and IE
> as the browser. Nothing else will, apparently, pick up the subtle
> commands that the Windows&IE combination reacts to.

Interesting. Excluding 15% of the population? For US government sites
that doesn't sound too legal to me.

> Can anyone recommend a way to get around these limitations, or,
> if this doesn't exist, an article that tells me what is so special
> about Windows that it doesn't play nice with others?

Well, there's a simple plugin for Firefox "agent switcher" that makes
firefox pretend it's IE. That'll get around coded stops, and for most
sites that's all I need to do. However, a few MS specific ones, like our
internal web-mail system that runs exchange, has a much different
interface for IE made for IE only, and it will not run on Firefox.
Luckily MS has a "limited" interface available for non-IE browsers so I
don't need to switch agents there.

It really depends on what they put on the site whether it's possible to
by-pass it technically. If they require ActiveX or other windows only
binary components it's pretty much impossible. The solution would be to
provide pressure for developing a non-IE interface. Using IE's falling
market-share it shouldn't be too hard of a case.

But knowing the US - it may take a trial to enforce "service for all".

- --
  Peter Larsen
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