Web 2.0, web-based application, software as a service, it seems that a new age, so to speak, has come. The operating system has been marginalized in the face of this new technology. Microsoft’s market power has been eroded by Google. Internet applications replacing desktop applications and so on. While the majority of people still use IE, that doesn’t mean it is the best browser regardless of how such an honor would be ascertained. Regardless, I don’t like IE, no big deal.
On my Windows laptop I use Firefox and have been trying Google Chrome. My home desktop, a Mac, has Safari and Firefox. While I still feel unfamiliar with the Mac, I use for certain things (it has a huge screen and for photos, music, and video there is not much comparison).
Anyway, I happen to be a real estate broker and Realtor, though not by profession, and recently have been considering getting more involved in this business. I am a member of the Orange County Association of Realtors, which is, based on my limited knowledge, one of many associations using socalmls, which utilizes First American Corporations TEMPO product (if the relationships…between association and mls and service provider, etc. is unclear or wrong…please let me know.
Regardless of the relationships, I find TEMPO to be terrible. Granted, I am not a professional Realtor and there may be many aspects of the system that are superior to others, but I find the system archaic in so many ways. The only other system I have used is Metrolist, but for my limited purposes it was far easier to use and provided better features, but that is not the point of this post.
The point is, and for me it was ridiculous and unbelievable enough for me to write this…my first ever blog. To preface the long introduction to my point, below is an email I received from socalmls when I enquired about problems with using Firefox:
Tempo is designed to work on the PC version of Internet Explorer only. If you are using “Mozilla Firefox, AOL, MSN Explorer,Safari, Google Chrome (Beta)” you will run into problems. So in order for Tempo to work properly please log in using Internet Explorer.
So there it is, if you are a Realtor in southern california, you cannot use a Mac or a computer running Linux, you can’t have a Mac even if you use IE. If you have a Windows base PC you have the opportunity to use TEMPO, but only if you don’t use Firefox, Opera, or Google Chrome. Now the last two are somewhat understandable, but Firefox (previously Netscape) has been around longer thabn IE.
Maybe I am making too big of a deal about this. After all, it is not that big of a deal to use Firefox for everything else I do and then open IE when I want to log onto the MLS. This view, however, misses the larger point (judging by emails from CAR and NAR, perhaps the largest point) that technology is the single most important universal tool (e.g., not dependant on experience, drive, social hierarchy, interpersonal skills, etc.). Of course, if everyone used TEMPO, none of this would be an issue, but that is not the case. Aside from other MLS systems, there are sites/companies like Zillow, Zip Realty, etc. that are not limited by outdated technology. Perhaps TEMPO’s outdated technology makes compatability with other browsers cost prohibitive (like Ford’s position with the exploding Pinto) and I am sure switching MLS providers would be a montstrous undertaking, but it is not one that is going to get any easier.
With all that said. however, what it comes down to for me is that I hate IE, like Firefox, and cannot believe that there is web-based service that I could not use from any computer (even a Mac) or from any browser. Based on my reply email to tempo@socalmls.com, it is relatively clear that the company has no intention on addressing this issue…and why should they…what can we do?
TempoMLS Weblog 