[COLUG] Re: Tax Prep on Linux

[charles morrison]

Robert Foreman wrote:

/Actually, the web tax services (H&R Block at least) are OK with
Firefox. It's the OS they complain about, but like I mentioned in a
previous post you can select continue anyway and everything appears to
work OK.

>From the web site:
We've detected that you're using an operating system that is currently
not supported by TaxCut Basic.

TaxCut Basic has been optimized for the following operating systems.
Win2000, WINXP, Win Vista, MAC OS 10.2.8, MAC OS 10.3.9 and MAC OS 10.4.8

Win2000:
America Online 9.0 	
Internet Explorer 6.0 	
Mozilla FireFox 2.0 	
Netscape 8.1 	
Netscape 7.2 	

WINXP:
America Online 9.0 	
Internet Explorer 7.0 	
Internet Explorer 6.0 	
Mozilla FireFox 2.0 	
Netscape 8.1 	
Netscape 7.2 	
Safari 3.0 	

MAC OS 10.5:
America Online For MAC OSx 	
Mozilla FireFox 2.0 	
Netscape 7.2 	
Safari 3.0 	

MAC OS 10.4.10:
America Online For MAC OSx 	
Mozilla FireFox 2.0 	
Netscape 7.2 	
Safari 2.0 	

MAC OS 10.3.9:
America Online For MAC OSx 	
Mozilla FireFox 2.0 	
Netscape 7.2 	
Safari 2.0 	

Windows VISTA:
Internet Explorer 7.0
/
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This is very good info.

I was under the impression that a web browser reports the operating system and that the reported operating system can be changed to fool the server being viewed. I am sure it will result in some things not working quite right or perhaps not at all.

Using the user agent switcher defaults for Internet Explorer, reports:

Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1)

For Netscape it is:  Mozilla/4.8 [en] (Windows NT 6.0; U)

and for Opera it is:  Opera/9.20 (Windows NT 6.0; U; en)

These can be changed to suite the operating system. I don't have a clue what values should be used for Internet explorer 6.0 under Windows 2000, but I am sure someone has figured it out or has read it from a Windows box someplace.

>From the options menu, you have the ability to edit or import user agents as you wish. I am sure someone could get the browser to report that it is Firefox with Windows 2000 operating system.

The developer for the user agent plugin also states that the web server determines your operating system in more than one way, so I also suspect that the user agent wouldn't fool all web sites.

I don't use Tax Cut or H&R so I can't verify any of this. We usually file taxes direct with the IRS using their online PDF forms and my wife reports that our company payroll (Paychex), 401k program (Principal Financial Group), and IRS forms all work with default Fire Fox install.

In a related issue, I noticed that when Walmart made a deal with the devil (the non ISO compliant browser company, AKA Microsoft), their web page stopped being so Fire Fox friendly. The default user agent switcher settings did not fix the problem for me. Unrelated but coincidentally, Walmart  dropped almost all their Linux stuff (they had hundreds of things and would build/sell Linux pcs: I bought a couple pcs with Linux installed a couple years ago).

Charlie Morrison


-- 
Charlie Morrison
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