Wal-Mart Does Not Support Firefox
February 10th, 2007 by Jonathan KempOn Tuesday of this week, Michael Arrington of TechCrunch pointed out on the TechCrunch blog that Wal-Mart had mistakes in the code of their brand new video site that prevented the CSS from loading in Firefox. The blog post has a screenshot of what it looked like. It would appear that whoever designed the site did not even check it in Firefox before launch, and reportedly the mistakes were easily fixable.
Well, today I just went to the site and found something that you will not believe. Not only has Wal-Mart not fixed the site, they put in a browser sniffer to shut all other browsers, except IE, out completely. Now if you go to the site, http://www.walmart.com/videodownloads, you see this message:
Our website requires the browser Internet Explorer version 6 or higher. It appears that you are using Firefox, Safari, or another browser that Wal-Mart Video Downloads doesn’t currently support.
So, rather than fix their mistake, which was apparently easily fixable, they decide to just say screw it and support no other browsers except Microsoft? I guess I should expect this from them, but come on. Wal-Mart is not living in the stone ages here. They are trying to compete with the likes of Netflix and iTunes. This is in effect a slap in the face to Firefox and Safari users, who in fact just might be the types of people that would use an online video downloading service, the very people you would think they would be trying to target.
Maybe the question we should be asking here is Wal-Mart somehow in bed with Microsoft on this?
Update: It appears Wal-Mart has taken the site down altogether. Now if you go to the site it says,
Site Temporarily Unavailable
The Wal-Mart Video Downloads store is currently unavailable due to temporary site maintenance. We apologize for any inconvenience.Please try again later.
It looks like all this attention provoked some action on their part. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Update 2: Now it’s back to what it said at first when you look at it in Firefox.
Unsupported Browser
We’re sorry …
Our website requires the browser Internet Explorer version 6 or higher. It appears that you are using Firefox, Safari, or another browser that Wal-Mart Video Downloads doesn’t currently support. Click here to get Internet Explorer for free from Microsoft.Thank You
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February 10th, 2007 at 10:07 am
“is Wal-Mart somehow in bed with Microsoft on this?”
The more likely case is they’ve employed some very, very lazy coders.
I suspect the only reason they weren’t fired for this fiasco is because they sweet talked Wal-Mart into believing IE was the only browser in use and Firefox is just something the “Linux hackers” use and they won’t buy any videos anyway.
February 10th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
While I agree this seems ridiculous, I think it will only prove to be detrimental. FF and Safari users (customers) will simply go elsewhere — something any competent business should be mindful to avoid.
So I say go ahead, prevent the fastest growing browsers, in terms of market share, from utilizing that service. They’ll learn later it was a mistake.
February 10th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
To say that their coders are lazy, or that it is an easy fix would imply they employ actual coders, not just drag and drop WYSIWYG GUI folks.
February 10th, 2007 at 1:56 pm
The key word is “currently”.
Unless Wal-Mart doesn’t like money any more they will soon support every major browser.
My bet is within 30 days Firefox will work just fine.
February 10th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
Wal-Mart still sells at least one Linspire computer in the US:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3762912
I wonder how they explain to customers who bought this computer from Wal-Mart why they can’t use the Wal-Mart movie download service.
February 10th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
That sucks, Opera worked 100% last time I checked but it’s still shutting me out.
February 10th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
Not just Firefox users, they are shutting out *all* Mac users as well. There is no IE 6 for the Mac. This is an unbelievable move by Wal Mart, it just doesn’t seem like a smart business decision.
February 10th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
to Dan…
A huge corporation like Wal-Mart hired “very, very lazy coders”? Sweet talked Wal-Mart? What is the matter with you? The execs at Wal-Mart in charge of website operations SURELY KNOW of the existence and pervasive presence of Firefox and Safari. You are absolutely ridiculous. Perhaps YOU are one of them!!!
February 10th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Or that their technology requires Internet Explorer. Remember that this is a video downloader- not a rental site like netflix is.
February 10th, 2007 at 2:12 pm
There’s no conspiracy. There’s no need to sweet talk.
Everyone who develops a mainstream-minded web site, is going to target IE first, and target FF later.
It’s so obvious. Developing for another browser just doubles the work.
FF users still live in the dreamland of being treated as peers. Laughable
February 10th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
I will leave an email to their customer service and so should every other firefox and safari user!
They will not fix it unless they get feedback.
February 10th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
Easily fixed.
Download and install Ad Muncher.
Then add this custom entry to the “My Filters” tab.
Remove scripts with text:
.indexof(”ieonly.jsp”)
You can now use the site in any other browser.
February 10th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
“The more likely case is they’ve employed some very, very lazy coders.”
Actually, I’d guess it would require less time to fix this bug than to put a browser sniffer in front of the site.
February 10th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
“is Wal-Mart somehow in bed with Microsoft on this?”
Well, to see this story I would think so. Now, isn’t it ironic? This can’t sit well for long.
I suppose you could get around it with a tweak to the user-agent string.
February 10th, 2007 at 2:43 pm
The website has always worked fine in Opera. And now that they implemented this browser check, i can simply hit identify as IE and the site works perfectly in opera even still.
February 10th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
Wal-Mart has never been one to play fair. The average joe using Firefox will probably think nothing of this, and simply fire up IE in order to view Wal-Mart’s video site. One thing is certain, the big wigs aren’t going to lose sleep over the loss of a few stubborn Firefox users.
Is it obnoxious ? Yes! Is Wal-Mart abusing their dominance ? Absolutely! But who’s going to stop them ? They are quickly turning the economy upside down, bullying their way through capitalism and destroying every market they adopt. Who’s to say they won’t do the same thing online ?
February 10th, 2007 at 2:49 pm
I inquired with Wal-Mart on this a few days ago:
Thank you for contacting us at Walmart.com. Your comments and questions
are very important to us as we strive to meet your needs.
As of now Walmart video download site is not compatible with the Firefox
browser. I apologize for the inconvenience caused. We have forwarded
your feedback to our Research and Development team.
I once again thank you for your valuable feedback which will help us
improve our services.
If you have further questions, please reply to this message and we will
be happy to help you.
Sincerely,
Sean
Customer Service at WalMart.com
February 10th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
nothing to see here, I just did xmas help at Target and the same situation existed. IE was the ONLY browser supported and according to people in HR it would remain that way.
February 10th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
Walmart’s servers are running Microsoft-IIS…
It doesn’t take much to come to the conclusion that Walmart has it’s tongue up Microsoft’s —. No doubt Walmart got a great deal from Microsoft for setting up it’s entire corporate infrastructure in exchange for agreeing to lock out all that is not Microsoft…
For any of you that ever bought anything from Walmart using a credit card… I’d be shitting bricks if I were you. Expect a server breach soon, and all your credit card info to be leaked!
February 10th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
and if you use opera you can just mask as internet explorer and problem solved -.-
February 10th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
Well then… that means that Wal-Mart has lost every single Mac user since the latest version we could have is IE5 and thats not even supported anymore. Wal-Mart is stupid for not supporting anything else. all theyre doing is limiting their market, but if thats what they want, let them.
February 10th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
“The more likely case is they’ve employed some very, very lazy coders.”
Who do you think want to work for a low salary and beeing name an Associate and make $8000 a year to his boss?
February 10th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
fuck walmart ;E
February 10th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
Netflix instant movie watching is not compatible with firefox or safari either. iTunes is even worse. You can only use the iTunes progam to play videos downloaed from the service. So there isn’t much of a difference with wal-mart only supporting IE.
February 10th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
I don’t think MS has something to do with this, they support Firefox and Opera (not sure about safari, but probably) on ther Windows Live Mail, and I think that service may be more complex that Wal-Mart’s.
February 10th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
WHAT A LOAD OF crap!, walmart is pure crap! Never ever shopping there!
February 10th, 2007 at 3:57 pm
Well, that’s a nice way to drive a way customers.. Peoply will just buy at other stores, so I think there is no problem at all..
February 10th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
Feh, I just started using the Netflix download service. It’s free with my existing service. Wal-Mart can take a flying leap…
(Using Vista via Boot Camp to watch flicks…)
February 10th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
Safari users can’t use the service even if they could see it, it’s a Windows only solution.
February 10th, 2007 at 4:05 pm
they are too stupid to realize the only people who would consider using their service are mostly firefox users. funny, because the lindows OS pc’s that walmart sells don’t run IE. what a bunch of idiots.
February 10th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
Let’s face it…. walmart targets the low-class, and the lower class usually use windoze.
February 10th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
Good that we have the User Agent Switcher (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/59/) to still use Firefox and see all the css errors in effekt.
February 10th, 2007 at 4:30 pm
“Firefox is just something the “Linux hackers” use and they won’t buy any videos anyway.”
That isn’t far from truth now is it..
February 10th, 2007 at 4:30 pm
I agree. Ignorance and laziness hand in hand, stepping into a pile of dogsh*t…
February 10th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
Luckily I don’t buy music/videos online. But if I did, I sure as hell wouldn’t use walmart.
February 10th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
Slap in the face? Firefox users use Bitorrent and emule.
February 10th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
[...] According to a blog, Wal-Mart has apparently shut out all browsers other than Internet Explorer from accessing their new movie downloads site. Last week, TechCrunch blogged about a rather simple error in the source code for their new video site. Instead of fixing it, Wal-Mart blocked non-IE browsers. [...]
February 10th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
[...] the CSS from loading in Firefox; today, Design by CSS reports that rather than fix the errors, Wal-Mart chose to block other browsers from even trying to load the page. [...]
February 10th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
Add this to the list of reasons why you shouldn’t do business with Wal-Mart. Evil draconian bastards.
February 10th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
Jonathan, I can only hope that it’s poor coding. But you gotta wonder. I also note that the agency behind both companies is Edelman. No idea if they are the web agency though.
I also wonder who in the heck approved this to go live! I know in my former corporate life, multiple signatures were required and Sox did a lot of dictating as to what, when, how, etc.
http://www.centernetworks.com/walmart-in-bed-with-microsoft-no-to-firefox
February 10th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
Well, supposedly they hired HP to build the site for them, so I would be a little surprised by that!
February 10th, 2007 at 5:40 pm
You’d think it’d be the opposite, Firefox CSS is much easier to code than IE.
At least that’s the way my mother taught me ;p
Stupid walmart.
February 10th, 2007 at 5:50 pm
Well, Safari users couldn’t use the service anyway, seeing as how its Windows-only. They are slapped whether the site rendered correctly or not.
February 10th, 2007 at 6:06 pm
Seeing as I don’t like Wally World anyway and I do use Firefox, this is funny. Be wait, just hypothetically, I tried this. I took the Microsoft link and tried to download this “exe” file for this Explorer program I’ve never heard of. For some reason, that exe doesn’t work on Linux….
Lost another sale.
February 10th, 2007 at 6:10 pm
[...] Mc-wal-micro-star-soft-bucks is born! [...]
February 10th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
Oh come on… obviously you hate walmart to begin with, so you are kinda biased. But also this is just a temporary thing. It was stupid of whoever made the site to first get the beta running then get it compatible, but it is just beta and not really open to the public at all. Its not like you get that message when you go to walmart.com
February 10th, 2007 at 6:57 pm
[...] new video download service, but has made it available only on Microsoft’s Internet Exploror. News has erupted on the internet about this atrocity, and everyone is talking about it. [...]
February 10th, 2007 at 6:58 pm
More like they want people to blog about it…
February 10th, 2007 at 7:03 pm
[...] read more | digg story [...]
February 10th, 2007 at 7:13 pm
I’m using a browser higher than IE6. It’s called Opera.
February 10th, 2007 at 7:35 pm
Wal-Mart’s goal in life is to make things as cheaply as possible…you know…because we all ask them to do so. Apparently they take the act of coding just as seriously. The job, no doubt, was outsourced to India or the likes.
So. The question still remains folks. Why buy anything from Wal-Mart. Especially anything that they offer on line.
February 10th, 2007 at 7:42 pm
When stupidity or malice are the only likely explanations, stupidity wins almost all the time.
February 10th, 2007 at 7:55 pm
No, it’s because only those who shun the iTunes Store will be candidates for sales from Wal-Mart’s competitive attempts; anybody who is still buying DRM’d audio and video content will go to what works best for the consumer, and that’s iTunes.
Now, if you’re a purist, there are even more consumer-friendly alternatives (CDBaby.com, etc.); but you won’t find that type of live-on-the-edge cahones from Wal-Mart; they are too big a target of Lawyers-R-Us to rock the boat by supporting independent musicians and non-DRM’d goods in a big and public way.
But we can stop whining about it all; because having Wal-Mart enter the playing field is still good for online sales, even if they’re not the perfect retailer for everyone.
February 10th, 2007 at 8:12 pm
[...] support is not very difficult (even a busy Medical Student can do it!). At any rate, it appears there was a time when other browser incompatibilities was discovered but instead of fixing them, the… Enjoy your Saturday night, it is time to review the script for tomorrow’s [...]
February 10th, 2007 at 8:33 pm
“…is Wal-Mart somehow in bed with Microsoft on this?”
I often asked myself similar questions regarding IE-only websites, but the (depressing) truth is that people are stupid, even coders. But to launch an IE-only web site in 2007, when Firefox has been out for several years and has gained a quite large marketshare, and the Mac is getting more and more popular, does seem extraordinarily stupid.
February 10th, 2007 at 8:54 pm
Good old walmart…
February 10th, 2007 at 9:45 pm
“Reportedly the mistakes were easily fixable.”
That’s the catch. Money in the bank says the mistakes were NOT easily fixable at all. Speaking from experience, depending on how bad it is, it can cost enough time and money to make it right that catering to some 8% would be a waste.
February 10th, 2007 at 10:21 pm
I only wish they would start selling Firefox in a box like they did Netscape. Then lets see them explain that to Mrs Dough who shops only in Walcrap.
Guys, stop cursing the coders..its the fking management u shud be yelling at…and their car salesmenlike tactics used…coders dont need special intelligence to code for FF/Safari and other true W3C compliant browsers, its like Bush being the c-in-c of the US army..nobody objects to the evil from above…
If only their preferred browser was AOL.
February 10th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
What’s really stupid about their decision is that for about a day, they had it somewhat working in Firefox! Then they turn around completely and scrap it? Huh? Weird.
February 11th, 2007 at 12:16 am
[...] Wal-Mart Says No to Firefox! New Zealand teen jacks Xbox 360, divulges credentials to Microsoft Jack Tretton Wants To Give You $1,200 Best Buy Secret Employee Only Website Shows Different Prices From Real Site Transformers: The Game Details Revealed! Engineer: GPS shoes make people findable Law would ban iPods when crossing street PARC Licenses Search System, Aims to Upstage Google Vista, Hackers, Red Flags and Bulls Students use IM-lingo in essays To Kill a Paperclip MGS Movie Producer, Exec Producer Named Neuroscientists read people’s intentions with brain scan State of MA to Verizon: You’re Under Arrest [...]
February 11th, 2007 at 2:12 am
[...] 11, 2007 at 7:02 am · Filed under Uncategorized Wal-Mart Says No to Firefox! Wal-Mart launched a new video download site this week to compete with Netflix and iTunes, but the [...]
February 11th, 2007 at 6:38 am
Mmm… this makes great business sense. Next, Wal-mart will have a sign in front of every store saying ‘this store only supports footware with laces. You may currently be wearing slip-ons or velcro-bearing shoes, or no shoes at all’.
Of course, if they did that, someone high up would say: ‘this make no sense at all, we’re turning away potential customers because they had the temerity to excercise choice about what shoes they wear!’
Strange how business decisions that make no sense whatsoever in the physical world are seen as sound in the virtual one…
February 11th, 2007 at 10:21 am
“It’s so obvious. Developing for another browser just doubles the work.
FF users still live in the dreamland of being treated as peers. Laughable”
Is that flame bait? Well, at least by your ‘doubles the work’ line we [anyone that develops cross browser compatible websites for a living] all know you don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.
February 11th, 2007 at 10:35 am
In all seriousness, I wonder what WalMart’s browser stats look like. Of course, we already know they don’t care.
This looks like another one of those webby apps that was written back in the 1900s and then thrown out publicly in just a matter of seconds on the whim of some manager.
February 11th, 2007 at 11:28 am
The site is temporarily down right now.
February 11th, 2007 at 11:35 am
You’re right. It now says,
I guess all this attention has made them realize their mistake, so they took it down all together. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
February 11th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
To Ian:
You believe the execs at Wal Mart are incorruptable? You believe that people who decide on web page content actually know anything about page development? If they did they would design it themselves or at least have a say in it! After all if they DID have a clue the site wouldn’t have been published with such a blatant lack of compatability, showing absolutely NO Internet savvy at all!
Wal Mart hires some very very lazy people! That’s how they are able to keep wages as low as they do! By making sure the people they hireare too lazy to look for another job!
You must be very naive to believe that a “Big Corporation” like Wal Mart in incapable of mistakes. If you actually do believe that I also have a bridge I can sell you.
You want ridiculous? You think Wal Mart is infallable! You are arguing in favor of Wal Mart in the face of the facts that are blatantly contratictory to your position in both this article and on the Wal Mart website itself! There’s your ridiculous!
February 11th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
Same thing happened at Progressive.com two weeks ago. I switched to IE7 and told them I was going to use Geico, since I couldn’t apply using FF. Today–No problem in FF. Think I made a difference?
February 11th, 2007 at 4:18 pm
It seems the whole site is down at the moment. Maybe they are trying to fix this? Yeah right… In your dreams.
February 11th, 2007 at 5:33 pm
Nope. Just checked it again. Now it’s back to what it said before.
February 11th, 2007 at 5:54 pm
It seems to me we should give this all a whole hearted “F’em” Find a company you like to do buisness with. Or , if you need Walmarts stuff that bad, just comply.
February 11th, 2007 at 6:36 pm
i do think this is crap… but i do know one thing. i work at walmart (im 16) and they pay better than most places. i make $8 for cashiering… most people make minimum wage ($6) at their first job
February 11th, 2007 at 7:29 pm
Thanks much for the tip re: Ad Muncher. Works on top of my firewall (Kerio) and now allows me to get to my Email account on Earthlink using Opera,
my browser for last ten years. Previously all sorts of Java Script errors popped up, forcing me to use (shudder) IE. Now have no use at all for IE.
Thanks much
February 11th, 2007 at 11:10 pm
Another reason to not shop at Wal-Mart.
February 12th, 2007 at 5:59 am
VirginMega.fr has about the same restrictions since at least 2004. And they are using Microsoft DRM too.
I blogged about it (in french).
February 12th, 2007 at 9:22 am
[...] for applications to work with only a specific browser or platform. Now it appears that reports are out that Walmart has turned off the ability to get into the application at all by Firefox, [...]
February 12th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
Your reasoning for targeting IE first seems pretty faulty to me.
And, “It’s so obvious. Developing for another browser just doubles the work.”, are you insane?
I’m quite experienced in web design and developing for another browser doesn’t even come close to doubling your work. If you code to standards you can cover most of the bases. Then you just write exceptions to compensate. For example, some of IE’s inability to render CSS or handle JS properly.
February 12th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
Wal Mart shuts out Firefox…
Jonathan Kemp has this follow up on the Tech Crunch posting about wal mart not properly supporting the firefox browser on its new video download site:Design by CSS » Wal-Mart Does Not Support FirefoxThe kicker is, they have now “updated” the site to…
February 12th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
What a bunch of fanboys! Who cares! Get the facts:
http://www.FirefoxMyths.com
You guys should get a life.
February 12th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
Thanks for comment spamming and pointing us to your “Made for Adsense” anti-Firefox site!
February 13th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
[...] launched it’s download video service last week but it’s only available to those who use Internet Explorer. If you use another browser, you’re greeted with a [...]
February 15th, 2007 at 6:58 pm
No actually it is a Myth that Firefox should work with every site. That is not spam but a fact. The only thing the site is made for is people suckered into believing otherwise by Firefox Fanboys.
February 15th, 2007 at 7:32 pm
More like people suckered into clicking on the adsense ads you have plastered all over your site.
February 16th, 2007 at 2:59 am
How do you sucker all the Firefox leachers using Adblock? Deal with the facts and read the sources.
February 17th, 2007 at 6:54 am
This is really a good thing from Wal-Mart. I think they are doing me a favor. I really shouldn’t be shopping with them in the first place and this is just a little reminder. I would like to thank Wal Mart actually.
February 19th, 2007 at 10:36 pm
maybe just don’t shop with them? they are a business, you are comsumers, this is a capitalist society. like it or not, both parties are ultimately trying to get as much as possible from eachother. if this is a bad business decision, they will lose enough potential customers to either make them change their attitude, or simply lose enough money to give you a feeling of vindication.
February 24th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
There is a web STANDARD for a reason. 99% of website incompatibility problems arise from people coding FOR IE rather than coding to the standard. It is IE that is not following the standard. Typically when there is a glitch in page display with IE, the same page will load fine in every other browser (FireFox, Opera, Safari, Kameleon, etc)… seems to tell me that IE is the odd one out, not FF or one of the others.
February 27th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
[...] work with my existing consumer electronic universe and because it’s more likely that a vendor will support Microsoft than other [...]
March 1st, 2007 at 12:12 am
Techies are a small fraction of their business. To most big companies IE is supported, everything else is secondary. This includes the biggest institutions, banks etc. Thats just reality. Not saying its right, but its reality and only time and a generation of younger web savy users becoming adults may change that. Mom and Pop could care less about the Wc3, standards, open source and all that stuff.
March 3rd, 2007 at 11:22 pm
[...] for applications to work with only a specific browser or platform. Now it appears that reports are out that Walmart has turned off the ability to get into the application at all by Firefox, [...]
March 30th, 2007 at 6:42 am
It is just ANOTHER Microsoft monopoly tactic. Lets be honest Firefox is a much better browser and Microsoft know it.
April 3rd, 2007 at 10:29 pm
I visited Walmart Video Downloads with both IE6 and FireFox 1.5 and it works fine in both browsers. They must have fixed the problem.
April 25th, 2007 at 2:40 pm
Still not loading for me in FF 2.0.
July 26th, 2007 at 9:52 am
Firefox sucks. Most websites look worse in it, its slow and annoying and is shiit at catching coding mistakes, unlike ie. Who gives a fck which is standards complient, what matters is which one works, so take your firefox and ipod and cram it
August 28th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
it works for me. obviously they said “currently unavailable” because they had to go hire some real coders. then they had to learn how to weed out the micro$oft fanboys in their interview process. it’s understandable that this took a while.
August 28th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
Nevermind. They don’t block you out until the add to checkbox function. If they had half a brain they’d block you out from the git-go.
September 6th, 2007 at 9:29 pm
[...] supports only IE. I guess they don’t realize the negative press they are going to get over this straight out of the 90s maneuver. Maybe they haven’t realized that the majority of people who would download from them also use [...]
November 26th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
Wal Mart does the same thing with its music store online.
Only can use IE and you have to download a Wal mart plugin!
I really think Wal Mart people who conceived this ideal should be fired! They should have found a system that all computer user’s could have accessed.