ARGH! Korean WEBSITES SUCK.
website December 25th. 2009, 12:07amWe’ve been trying to get in touch with my parents via Skype for the holidays, but have ran into typical poor web design from a Korean website that prevents us from getting the work done. Korean credit cards sometimes require an online verification code program to be run to make sure that there have been attempts at making sure that the Internet purchase was made securely. It’s not always needed. Any purchases we’ve done in the past six months haven’t needed this step. All of a sudden for Skype we have this extra hurdle to jump through and we can’t get it done.
This is all because Korean companies insist on using Internet Explore 6 for everything. Internet Explorer 6 is horrible, and I can’t believe Korean people still demand that is used for anything on the web. It’s just bad in basically every way a web browser can be. I’ve been prevented from buying stuff at a Korean website because the Korean rendering in Internet Explorer 8, the version the rest of the world is forced to use, can’t decipher the cryptic Korean web design process. I don’t like using Internet Explorer at all, but at least it is a somewhat modern browser with tabs and an attempt at security. Using Internet Explorer 6 for online shopping is like going to a hooker without using a condom. When you catch something dangerous that makes your life hell, not only is it your fault, but you deserve it because you know better than to do something that stupid.
The Active X popup (shudder) that is mandated for use with this particular arcane process is so rudimentary that it can’t even display a drop down menu without truncating the last digit of the year to verify the credit card. The part of the popup that ISN’T a poorly antialiased image is unable to render Korean characters, so I have to agree to a Terms of Service agreement rendered in random ASCII characters. Do I agree? I don’t even know what you wrote! There are three mystery steps to the verification process, and even on a computer with Korean fonts and Korean input installed I can’t complete it. There is NO logic to the steps required to complete this. I have to go to the bank’s website, dig through FOUR menus to even begin, and even then I can’t read anything in their application.
At least the process is somewhat possible with Internet Explorer 8. Google Chrome marks the website as a dangerous attack site that wants to install malicious software onto my computer. I agree with Chrome. If I wasn’t forced to use Internet Explorer 6 to log in, I wouldn’t NEED that mandatory Active X web virus software suite, or the keylogger they forced me to install. This is why a mono-culture is bad. You assume everyone has the same problem with a shitty insecure browser, then demand that everyone follow the same stupid security practices. If you just designed the shit correctly the first time and made people upgrade past something released in 2001 maybe fraud wouldn’t be such a big deal. I got a lot of hassle from my ISP and every service or install guy that came to the apartment for running Linux, but now that I am back to running Windows I still have to deal with this stupid shit. Ugh.
So, Merry Christmas everyone! Mom, Dad, if you read this, YOU need to call us in Skype, because we have no offline credit to call your phone, and we won’t till after the holidays.
5 Responses to “ARGH! Korean WEBSITES SUCK.”
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December 25th, 2009 at 11:40 am
Have you looked into getting a MagicJack?
I paid the $110 for the magicjack and 6 years of service and haven’t had any regrets at all. I still use yahoo! messenger/Windows Live messenger for instant messaging/free video calling with fellow members, but having that magicjack attached to an actual phone with a local U.S. number makes it so much easier to reach out and touch my friends and family (elederly aunts) back home and them easily calling me in return as they can do it with their own landline phones and cell phones by just dialing my local phone number.
Just have someone in the U.S. or Canada pre-set it up for you if you decide to get it before they ship it over.
http://my.magicjack.com/index.html
Most thread comments and youtube videos are very positive, but this is an AT&T landline killer, so there will be some nasty negative ones from people scared about losing their jobs by people who work for the likes of landline phone companies. My aunt who works for AT&T used to have only negative things to say about Magicjack and it’s quality, but she had never even seen it work until I visited with her this past Thanksgiving and I started making a few calls with it on my computer as I verified my vacation itineray from her house. Hard to believe, but my demonstration caused her to drop her $80 monthly bill with Southwestern Bell and come with me to Best Buy to pick up her own Magicjack. However, I think the product is only supported on Windows and mac operation systems at this time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eegmWZP51MU
There are even posters doing Skype and Magicjack comparisons. For a product and service that works out for less than $20 a year with the six year plan, it’s really hard to beat.
December 25th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
The appeal of Skype out is that even if I am away from my keyboard and not at home I still get to talk through my cell phone if I need to talk to them. They also can see video when we are both at the computer. Once I get a cell phone that can run Skype directly, I won’t have this problem (I think?). Anyway, I’m looking forward to a time when IE6 isn’t the standard web browser for Korea.
December 27th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
Can you not call them computer to computer? I’ve been in Daejeon for a month, and I can call my parents for free because I call directly to their computer.
December 28th, 2009 at 10:38 am
I can, but it requires them to be AT a computer. They only have a computer in their offices, and aren’t there often now due to it being a seasonal job (Landscaping). I have to work out ahead of time when we’ll be trying to talk to them and work out the time difference. Other than that it’s no problem to talk to them.
December 29th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
We ran into so many hurdles just trying to buy tickets to see Avatar that we gave up when we got through.