Net4domains Goes IE-Only

Thu, Apr 14, 2005

Today morning when I logged in my net4domains control panel, I was shocked to see the control panel missing. I tried to login using one of my end-user accounts (I am one of net4domains’ reseller), I couldn’t see the user control panel either. I use Firefox on Linux. The webdeveloper extension showed that there was a javascript error. So I opened up the Javascript console, and I found it full of errors about an IE-specific javascript extension("document.all"). I viewed the source code of the web page, and saw that they were using javascript checks for IE and NS4!!!! NS4??? Who today in his right mind still uses NS4?

Anyways I called them up, and it seemed that the marketing folks (who answer the contact numbers listed on the website) are on leave. So the guard gave me another pair of numbers for tech support. The person who answered, at first said “Well, it works on IE here, and since every machine has IE, that should not be a problem”. I almost screamed at him. I asked him, if using Windows and IE are a requirement to use net4india’s services, and he went silent. Then I told him, that given the circumstances, I need them to give sufficient warning to their customers like me, who can then take their business elsewhere. He was immediately more responsive, and promised to escalate it to his boss (up till now, he was probably in a mood to just brush me off), and even took my email address to tell me what happened?

Even in this age, it is amazing how a tech oriented company like net4india cannot make a web site which works on all browsers. And we are not talking about rocket science here. This is a relatively simple website, where the only “advanced” part is the drop down javascript menu, which in any case, they would have picked up elsewhere.

Some months back, I had called them up and informed them of similar problems in their reseller help-desk web pages. (Similar usage of document.all.) I had even sent them the fix! Then some days back I again called them up to tell them that their account profile page was broken, and I again pointed out the precise problem in specific technical terms.

Nothing happened about these too. And today, with their “latest” control panel code, they have shut me out completely.

Update: The problem seems to be rectified, and I could see the control panel again today when I logged in a while back.