Firefox Users Are Not Worthy of RM 1 Million

... or, to be precise, non-IE users are not worthy of TM's RM 1 Million reward.

I'm sure most of us have heard or seen TM's latest ad for the 1 million ringgit customer relations campaign, featuring Malaysia's favourite millionaire Jalalludin Hassan. Basically, you have to answer a series of questions regarding your personal and private information such as (Q.16C) whether you have STD, among others. Then you pray hard that you'll win the million dollars and that no spammers will get hold of your contact details and spending habits.

I actually first came across the ad when I was using the TMonline service on my Firefox. Eager to know what it was all about, I clicked through and Walla!

What do you know? Non compatible browser detected. Thinking that the questionnaires might be using some kind of fancy schmancy Java-ActiveX-XML-ASP-WTF embedded multimedia plugin, I switched over to IE7 for a try (gasp!). Here is the front page in all its glory, strangely titled Landing Page:

I gave IE7 a run but did not really find anything that otherwise wouldn't play well on Firefox. Just a series of questions with regular form controls divided into pages. Out of curiosity, and inherent dislike for IE, I was determined to find a way around the browser restriction.

I was quite sure that there must be a way to spoof the website via user-agent switching. A quick check at Firefox Central turned up at least three extensions for that purpose, out of which I settled with the User Agent Switcher. A few clicks, a few seconds and a restart later...

Look Ma, no IE!

So, here's the rundown on the million-dollar questionnaire. You can click on the thumbnails to enlarge. Bonus: Last question is timed, so prepare ahead.

As I mentioned, the last question is timed to 15 minutes. The slogan reads "With the RM1 MILLION Reward from TM, I can now..." (in 100 characters or less)


By the way, if you're concerned about privacy, here's TM's not-so-assuring assurance:

Will TM disclose my personal particulars to other Companies?
NO. TM Group assures that the Customer's personal particulars will not be disclosed to other Companies. The data obtained through this Programme is strictly for TM Group's use only.

FAQ No.9

Good Luck!