Linux omitted by banks

Yesterday I played around the newly enhanced Netbank of Commonwealth Bank (CBA). Generally speaking, the new UI is good. Although it is not working very well when zoomed in. Also, the new web edition for iPhone is fully functioning now. It's good to see banks are doing someting in this economic downturn.

Something weird I found when clicking on Run Optimization Check link.


I found this matrix from the link: FAQ

The system requirements to use NetBank are:

Browser	Operating System
	Windows 2000	Windows XP	MAC OSX	Vista
Internet Explorer 6 SP2
Internet Explorer 7
Mozilla Firefox 2
Mozilla Firefox 3
Safari 2
Safari 3

I understand that GNU/Linux is not a mainstream OS for ordinary users, market share is close to 1%. As a *NIX fan, I still feel uncomfortable to see Linux being ignored. The fact is that Mozilla Firefox itself is cross platform. As a result, all OS Firefox supports should be supported, right?

In fact, I use Linux + Firefox or Opera (swith to Chrome for Linux later this year) to access Netbank and other web based internet banking services most of the time, 90%+. It is actually a supported platform. The Netbank team should be able to do the compatibility test, resource should not a problem. If not, I would be more than happy to be a tester as if CBA offers me a VIP account or something like that:)

BTW: Of course I am still with some stupid banks who are still with IE + ActiveX combination and Windows only client. It sucks. My workaround is to run a guest Windows instance.

CBA is not the the only bank that omits GNU/Linux. Here I am not criticising CBA. I wish in the future the banks can take Linux into their account when doing compatibility test.

We all know that Linux is quite something, it is going to make a big noise in the OS market soon. Please do not omit it.