« New in QuickBooks Online: See how your Income and Expenses stack up against businesses like yours
Free webinar with featuring John Jantsch, author of Duct Tape Marketing »

Its time to upgrade your browser

New post: http://blog.quickbooksonline.com/2011/06/08/its-time-to-upgrade-your-browser-part-duex/

 

 

 

 

 

Update October 2010

All the more reason you should upgrade to Chrome, Firefox or Safari.
QuickBooks Online should feel faster on them.

Update July 25th 2010:

Internet Explorer 6 support ending mid August, 2010.
Please upgrade to one of the following browsers if you are on IE6 :

Original Post:

MegaphoneYou’ve seen a number of posts and comments in this blog where we have encouraged upgrading from Internet Explorer 6 to a more up-to-date browser.  We told you that Internet Explorer 8 and Firefox are faster and more secure. We also hinted that some new features and improvements are coming, which make QBO faster and easier to use, but are not compatible with IE6.

These posts were no accident.

We are currently working on some features that will make QuickBooks Online easier to use and faster to accomplish your tasks.  However, these features will not work with IE6.  Its time to upgrade to get the most out of the QuickBooks Online.  You will also benefit with other web sites you use, many are discontinuing IE6 support as well.

If it were me, I would first download Firefox and start using it.  You can install Firefox without changing your Internet Explorer version.   Then, when you are comfortable with Firefox, upgrade Internet Explorer. You will end up with 2 excellent browsers on your system. This is only a suggestion, its OK to just upgrade Internet Explorer.

If you are using a Macintosh, then you are already covered.  The new features work fine with Safari and Firefox.

John Ruberto

About Me:  I’m part of the QuickBooks Online Quality team. When I’m not testing the best small business accounting online service, you might find me on my favorite trout stream.

Photo credit: Altemark, licensed under Creative Commons

Explore posts in the same categories: Uncategorized

This entry was posted on February 18, 2010 at 1:10 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

33 Comments on “Its time to upgrade your browser”

  1. Jon Says:

    February 18, 2010 at 6:31 pm

    It’s very exciting that you continue upgrading QuickBooks online, I happen to use the product and its rocksolid, what does upset me a little bit is that QuickBooks online is not integrated or does not have the options of QuickBooks contact management online which is also constantly upgrading to new exciting features and capabilities, I hope that part of the new features is CRM capabilities.

    It’s time for salesforce.com to know that us small businesses finally have a solution and have a provider who understands the needs and budget of small businesses.

  2. Eric Says:

    February 19, 2010 at 8:38 am

    No support for Google Chrome? Seriously? News flash: Google is here to stay. Get with the program.

  3. Lynn McMorris Says:

    March 3, 2010 at 3:19 pm

    Does Quickbooks online use Flash – I am thinking of getting an iPad and transitioning to Quickbooks online from Quickbooks for Mac. Will this all work together? I spend a lot of time commuting and traveling. Thanks, Lynn

  4. Ron Cunningham Says:

    March 29, 2010 at 8:50 am

    When I tried to update Explorer 6, it wiped out a number of functions in my pc, icluding my conection to our inhouse server. Why should I try to update again?

  5. Peter Says:

    March 30, 2010 at 6:23 am

    OK, have to move to another browser. But did you know this move will cost me not a free download but 800 – 1000 dollars? Because on my older Windows OS and old hardware I can not move to a newer version beyond IE 6 or Firefox 2.0020. So, I must acquire new hardware and a new Windows OS.

  6. Brenda Wood Says:

    March 30, 2010 at 7:46 am

    I am working on the upgrades we are a non-profit so no IT help

  7. Myra Rita Williams Says:

    April 24, 2010 at 6:34 pm

    Can you suggest a PC or Mac computer that could handle QBProOnline, please give minimum specifications to be able to use all features ofn QBProOnline.

    • Peter Says:

      April 25, 2010 at 3:43 am

      In Windows: XP or Vista or 7 and the current version of either Firefox (3.5) or IE (IE8), so any computer current, any at all, starting about $350.00 new, retail, will be fine. These are not rigorous requirements, but does mean most eleven year old hardware and any system with old Windows such as 98, ME, where Microsoft support ended in July 2006, won’t work properly now for QBOL – most directly because they won’t allow use of the newest browser versions of Firefox or IE. (Extended Windows 2000 Microsoft support will end in July 2010.) I don’t know what’s what w. Mac now but any current or near current system will be fine, and that’s what QBOL seems to say, reference John Ruberto’s statement above.

  8. Mauricio Vega Says:

    July 27, 2010 at 10:40 am

    Hi,

    I´m local It support for Quintiles Costa Rica (Bio Trials S.A. – Cure SA) I need more information about of this upgrade, for some politics in our company actually we not support I.Explorer 8.0 and is impossible upgrade to 8.0; if you have an help desk, I like to Know if is possible you will send some phone numbers to my e-mail.

    Note: I like to know what is the problems if we not upgrade to 8.0

    Thanks

  9. rafael jaime Says:

    August 9, 2010 at 9:12 am

    no

  11. Judy Says:

    November 24, 2010 at 9:49 am

    Internet Explorer 8 is way too slow. Firefox I have to continually reload all register pages and the normal shortcut keys do not work in Firefox. Tried Google Chrome and did not work. Could not save an entry in the register and would not let me go to a different tab. Which browser is fast and allows for alt “s” to be used to save an entry??? Getting pretty frustrated and wasting valuable time.

    • Peter Says:

      November 24, 2010 at 10:03 am

      Hi. I keep posting here, as if I know something, which I don’t really. IE-8 is not happiest browser in the world, though I use it now for Quickbooks Online & it works. If you have Vista or Windows 7, IE-9 should be a great browser to use, judging from the reviews. Somebody here in this area who knows a lot more than I do will help you out. Oh, I could add that once the Save button is highlighted you can use the space bar or return to “Save” and get ready for the next entry, it’s really easy once you TAB down to the SAVE button. (I’m referring specifically to the posting of expenses in Checks or Credit Card screens.)

    • Priyajeet Says:

      November 24, 2010 at 11:26 am

      I think your problem is popup being suppressed in Chrome. Take a look at this http://goo.gl/mUCs9

    • Mike Says:

      March 1, 2011 at 10:22 pm

      “Which browser is fast and allows for alt “s” to be used to save an entry???”

      You would not want to use ALT S but rather CONTROL S

      • Priyajeet Says:

        March 2, 2011 at 12:37 am

        ‘ctrl + s’ is a browser save page shortcut, for saving a transaction form shortcut is ‘alt + s’

  12. Marvin LaFleur Says:

    June 21, 2011 at 9:07 am

    What if Firefox 4.06 won’t work on my computer? Firefox 3.6 works just fine with QB, why do you have to change it?

    Every time I try to install 4.06 I get messages that It will not work with some of my Microsoft programs?

    • Darth Says:

      June 21, 2011 at 10:16 am

      Same reason people upgrade their machines or windows or macs or iphones etc…newer stuff brings better performance, possibility of more features, more security etc…newer versions also decrease browser interoperability issues that helps us developer concentrate more time on developing newer features rather than spending time on interoperability issues…

      Firefox 4 is the major firefox version worldwide now with 300 million users, so chances of it not working on your machine are slim unless you have a machine thats 10 years or older…

      Majority of QBO firefox users are also on Firefox 4, we dont want to get into the mode where we need to support legacy versions, thats why when Firefox 5 becomes the major version (2-3 months) we want to discontinue support for FF 3.x

      • Marvin LaFleur Says:

        June 22, 2011 at 5:38 am

        If it works why fix it? My machine is pretty old, but, you are suggesting that I have to buy a new machine to continue using QB online.

        • Darth Says:

          June 22, 2011 at 2:20 pm

          Well, eventually everyone needs to upgrade machines, whether now or an year from now or two years from now. This happens with any software that needs to move forward technologically. Requirements change over time. Thats how technology evolves and internet is specially evolving at a much faster rate.

          You can continue using your old firefox, no one is stopping you, but you can’t expect it to work always nor can you expect that any new features that get added will work for you. We will stop supporting it but you could still use it if you want…

          Say 99% of the users upgrade (which they will eventually do, as of right now less than 1% of QBO users use firefox 3.5 or older – since 99% had upgraded to 3.6 in the past), then why should developers spend extra effort and energy to get features working on for the 1% when the same time could be used to add additional features for the 99%?

          And this is not just for QBO but for other websites / webapps too and software in general. For example Google plans to drop support for browser’s 3rd oldest version or older, so some day in the future they will drop Firefox 3.x support for Google apps which many many people use and people will have to upgrade. Same reason why windows XP users need to upgrade to windows vista or windows 7 if they want to use IE9, there are countless of examples like that…

          As for “if it works why fix it” – http://goo.gl/WprQN

          • Esther B. Says:

            June 30, 2011 at 11:25 am

            So, basically what you are saying is, the choice to make a change is no longer ours. Because you make a change, we must make a change. I’d rather change out of QB than spend valuable work time trying to wrestle with yet another system. And PLEASE don’t use “upgrading” to Vista as an example. I did that and do not feel at all upgraded. Things that took one step in XP, now take 4 or 5 steps. So, newer isn’t always better, and some of us simply do not have the option of laying out $1000 here or there for new hardware.

            But to hear you explain it, you have made the decision, and we either fall in line or get left behind. As a customer, I really can’t appreciate that stream of thought. I try to work with my customers to make life easier for them. I have never said, “well I want it this way, so follow me or see ya!” If I did, I wouldn’t be in business very long.

            • Peter Says:

              June 30, 2011 at 5:35 pm

              I sure liked your spirited reply to Darth, although there’s nothing wrong with what he said, either, and you each express yourself well.

              • Marvin Says:

                July 12, 2011 at 11:21 am

                I appreciate Easter’s reply. Darth is probably correct about progress, but, it sounds like “My way or the highway”. The organization I works for requires QB online(which is really a good application), but, they are reluctant to upgrade from XP to Vista or above at their expense, so it kinda puts the users on the spot when QB and Firefox start upgrading without regard to users of older systems. As far as firefox 4.01, it apparently is already history. Firefox 5.0 is working fine with my vista computers at home. Is only incompatible with Microsoft .net framework assistant 1.21 and 1.22. Quess I will take the leap and try firefox 5.0 on my XP at work where I use QB online, and if it does not work pass the problem to my boss, who expects us to use QB online. Maybe he will get a new computer for me..

            • Darth Says:

              July 1, 2011 at 1:45 pm

              The choice is still yours, you can continue to use your old Firefox. Just that we cannot guarantee in the future that all the features will be available on it or even if they are available, they might not perform as well – say it might be slow or sluggish etc. The only time this choice will be taken away is when we block the browser and prevent you from accessing QBO on it. I don’t think we will do that at least for a few more months for Firefox 3.6, again depending upon usage %. Even when we take that choice away, you don’t have to upgrade to say Firefox 5. You can just install Google Chrome on your machine and just use that for QBO and use Firefox 3.6 for whatever you use it now…

              As for upgrades, the system requirements of Firefox 5 aren’t that much different from Firefox 3.x. Looking at this page http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/5.0/system-requirements/ it says you would need Pentium 4 or higher. Pentium 4 was introduced in 2000, so according to mozilla their browser will run on ~10 year old hardware. Of course, newer the better. Also you don’t really need $1000 hardware. Even a sub $500 laptop these days can run modern webapps. eg: http://goo.gl/ecstt

              But you should also realize, the slower machine you have, the slower you would get any work done. And this applies to anything you do on the machine – email, read webpage, buy / sell stuff, use office applications etc. If your machine is taking 5 min to open a webpage or an application or do some stuff, and a newer machine takes 2 min, then I would consider it worth an upgrade. Because even though it only saves a few minutes here and there, but when you add the saved time up, it will eventually save lot of hrs in a given year. Now multiply that with a regular earning rate and hypothetically see how much money you save or did you cover up the cost of a new machine…”time is money friend”…but then thats just my personal theory only imho.

              Also, I won’t comment on the XP –> Vista upgrade difference either, since I also agree how it wasn’t all that. I think Windows 7 is what Vista should have been.

              Since you are already running Vista, you must have a machine that’s not older than 6-7 years. Vista system requirements were/are more than what Firefox 5 system requirements are, so unsure why you say Firefox 4/5 won’t work on your machine?


Comments are closed.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 1,217 other followers