No, the MLS won't support Firefox...

I recently sent an email request to the DABR MLS to ask them when they will support Firefox. I was politely told that they will ONLY support Internet Explorer 6.0 and higher and have no plans to support anything else. That really got me steaming.

I'm going to be forever locked into using IE to access the DABR MLS. Before I continue, let me tell you that I am not a Microsoft or Bill Gates basher. I use Microsoft Publisher and Access on a daily basis and enjoy using them. But I also use a lot of other programs that are not written in Redmond. I use OpenOffice instead of Microsoft Office, I use Firefox instead of IE (with the exception of accessing the MLS) and I use Adobe Acrobat and Photoshop almost daily.

An agent in our office was having fits this week because he had a virus on his machine that he could not get rid of. After countless hours we finally got it cleaned up, but it was an ordeal. One he (and I) probably wouldn't had to have gone through if he was using Firefox. I'm thinking he may be a convert now.

Back to the MLS. Realtors in general are fairly technologically challenged when it comes to computers. Oh, I have met a few that have really impressed me with what they are doing, and when I see a Realtor using a Mac, I know they 'get it' when it comes to thinking outside the box. But even the Mac users have to rely on IE if they want to access the MLS. It's a shame. Most use a Windows PC and just take for granted that all the security issues are a part of doing business. Wake up people, there are alternatives! You just have to look for them!

If you are a Realtor using Firefox or Safari as your web browser and would like to see a change, I suggest emailing the board on a regular basis until the decide to accept the fact that something else does exist, and it's better than what they currently have.