I write from a public library, am new to K-meleon (as well as mozilla), but am very excited about the customization and speed of the browser. One of the biggest problems I've encountered is the apparent inability to load/search some of our state-wide online databases with k-meleon. I contacted our state-library tech contact and this was his respone:

>For security reasons and inability to function properly, vendors like
>AccuNet/AP will not allow Netscape 6 or the newest releases of Mozilla
>(which is not much different from Netscape 6) to access their site, nor do
>they plan to. If the next release comes out and is secure and functions
>correctly, they will allow it to access their site.

>Through research you will find that there are many sites on the Internet
>that will either not allow or will not funtion correctly with Netscape 6.x.

Is there any way around this problem, (i.e. is this guy on the MS payroll?)? Any comments would be very helpful. Thanks.

If that particular tech support refuses to pinpoint the nature of the security hole in question one must assume there is none.

Most proabably they're using some IE-specific components (ActiveX?) or IE-specific features. Granted, IE has some handy stuff for developer but state-wide database should not be blocking out users based on *unspecified* browser preferances.

Do they allow access with alternative browsers like Opera, Konqueror or IceBrowser? If not AND if they should be providing "public access" service I'm pretty sure we can dig out some legal case here (section 508, WAI or something else).

Let us know what the tech support says.

Correction, read: *unspecified browser bugs* in above message.

apparently, though, there are some little-discussed security problems with recent moz releases... to be fair. hopefully 0.9.8 is going to fix some of that.

Po,

Be specific, please. Unless you specify, what security problems you're talking about, I must assume you do not know for sure. Also, 0.9.8 Moz has been out for... 2-3 weeks now.If you're referring to cookie stealing, then that was possible back in 0.9.6 (affects KM?) but not in latest releases and also not in Netscape 6.2.1 as far as I know.

it's entirely possible that i don't know for sure, and i'm not trying to wage an argument here...

there are some issues related to mozilla based browsers leaving formpost files in temp folders that contain all form data in clear text, including login info, etc... this only occurs on some sites, and i can't seem to find much info on exactly what makes the difference. that's as specific as i can be, because i'm only experiencing it as a k-meleon user, as well as hearing about it from some other users of moz-based browsers who also use one of the sites where it happens. feel free to inform me of anything you know about it.

someone using 0.9.8 did mention recently that the problem seems to be absent from that version, but i haven't heard anything else. i used future tense even though 0.9.8 is out already because it hasn't necesarilly trickled down to netscape, k-meleon, etc. yet.

hopefully that all makes sense...

Nathaniel,

I too work in a public library and although I haven't encountered the problems you described, I'm not surprised to hear the arguments given against Netscape/Mozilla. The short answer to your question is this:

* Try changing the browser identification to IE 6 and see if that gets you better luck.

I think the problems that your tech support contact discussed aren't really the issue. Mozilla is no less secure than IE. Yes, there are sites on the Internet that do not display properly in Netscape/Mozilla. This is due to one of two reasons:

* They rely on IE-specific code or technology to display content of function

* They use code that is not consistent with current web "standards" which Netscape/Mozilla tend to adhere to more faithfully than IE.

In both cases, the problem is not with Netscape/Mozilla, it's with those sites and databases. What you'll have to do is push on those vendors to make their sites support Netscape 6. The more of us K-Meleon, we use if for our Web OPAC, the more likely it will make business sense for the databases vendors to update their code.

Contact me directly if you want to discuss more. My e-mail is in the Help - About section.

Andrew

A good way to nudge a company to stop locking out Users is by taking screenshots of the page in Both IE (If you still have it ) and how it looks in K-Meleon. A large number of pages display it the same, when they claim that they are not supporting Mozilla nad NS 6. The ATI and Bank of America pages are good example of this. If you express your displeasure with them over it and remind them that security experts are recommending that users drop MSIE and not Netscape, becuase of all the holes in MSIE and becuase of their actions you are looking at competitors you typically get the point across.

With Goverment sites It would probably take a lawsuit. You can E-Mail Netscape, who is suing MS right now for dammages under US Anti-Trust laws, a copy of the discourse with the URL and that would probably help in their case with Microsoft. Writting your congressman or state AG may help also, especially if you are in one of the 9 states that have not settled.