If you’re not too busy watching the Global FInancial Market crash, (if you are you might want to check out this blog from some n00b who just lost 31K in the futures market), then perhaps you have a second to discuss Quickbooks Online.

Quickbooks Online is the small business equivalent of Quicken. A web-based solution for an accounting package is highly desirable because it allows everyone who needs to look at the financials the ability to do so, without having to transmit a data file. Sending around a data file is not only terribly insecure but it also creates problems in terms of making sure all stakeholders have the most current update to the accounts.

We love them newfangled Web-based applications, because, he chants in a sing-song tone,

1. You don’t have to install them
2. They are platform independent
3. No viruses
4. Can use API’s

And then we have Quickbooks – which only works on Windows and even worse only works on IE!

We sent them a friendly note about this, asking how much longer they were going to keep us out.

We’ve heard from many people that they’d like to access QuickBooks Online Edition (QBOE) from other operating systems (like Macintosh) and other browsers (like Firefox). We don’t have a version of Online Edition designed to run on the Mac or in non Internet Explorer browsers. However, we have heard that some users use a PC emulator to run QBOE on their Macintosh systems. Some customers have reported that there can be performance issues when using an emulator, most notably speed problems, so we encourage you to do some research to determine if this is a reasonable solution for you.

OK, I’m used to emulators, after all I dont run windows or a mac. But, the idea that I would use an emulator to run a Web Browser. Even worse, run an emulator to run Internet Explorer? Ha, Ha. it is too laugh.

If an emulator is not an option, or you would just like to be notified when we add support for the Macintosh or Firefox, you can sign up here:

https://sc.accounting.quickbooks.com/interested/interested.cfm?case_channel_id=12&preselected=32

Quicken Online, the personal equivalent of QuickBooks Online Edition, runs on a Mac. QuickBooks is a BIT more complicated, but not really. Why would I want to sign up for a wating list, so you can tell me when your product finally does what I want. I’ll probably find an alternative first.

Here comes the good part,

If you’re interested in knowing why QBOE chose to only support Internet Explorer, our reasoning is as follows:

QuickBooks Online Edition is a web based Software Application, not just a Web Page that displays static information. While designing a Web Page to be available cross platform is very routine (though still presenting its challenges), creating a Software Application requires tremendous cost and effort to develop and maintain for any one single platform.

For example, AutoRecall is a feature that allows you to begin typing a name and QuickBooks Online Edition fills in likely selections. This requires a lot of interaction with the browser and is not standardized across platforms, browser versions, or browser brands. Writing a web application places far more requirements on a browser than even a highly-interactive web site. We’re not 100% satisfied with Internet Explorer on Windows, but it comes the closest.

So, given the challenges of application development, we made a very simple business decision to target the platform with 95% of the market, so that we are available to the widest range of Small Business Customers who need a web-based accounting application. At this time, the effort from both the engineering and testing perspectives is too large an undertaking given the market share of other platforms and browsers.

See, now you understand right. If they didn’t lock it down to Windows and IE, then it wouldn’t be able to try and tell you who you are about to write a check to. That’s their big argument. Sure you could do that in Firefox if the database was interoperable with javascript or lots of other things. Sure, the program isn’t really that good at guessing. Sure, YOU PROBABLY KNOW WHO YOU ARE GOING TO WRITE A CHECK TO ANYWAY.  Nonetheless, Quickbooks OE better stick to IE. Firefox is neck and neck with IE 6 for market share and well ahead of IE 7. If they would make it work with Firefox, then it would work with the Mac as well.

What’s the end result? Clerks have to work harder producing reports because Sausage-fingered bosses can’t access the interface. I find it hard to believe that Intuit really wants to tempt the wrath of bookkeeping clerks the world over.