Windows Live

This new product of Microsoft looks to me like a copy of www.start.com/pdc with the windows logo and the colours of windows. This seems to be a promising new product for the microsoft guys, but again, why is RSS (or in general) being given so much importance.

Microsoft has the reputation of making its products look and sound good, but after the introduction of Linux and a zillion other tools like firefox, apache, samba, etc... microsoft has also started giving priority to functionality and security....

I just hope this is good.

So, now microsoft has three personalised interfaces...
My MSN
Start.com
Live.com

Doesnt this sound like a little too much waste of resources???

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Feeds RSS
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MS LIVE or Ms Live

Tags
RSS, Feeds, Windows, Microsoft, Live

Historys first software bug...

Wired has an article listing the the Historys worst software bugs...

There is a part which describes the first software bug found and why it was called bug...

...joined the ranks of the buggy computer -- a club that began in 1945 when engineers found a moth in Panel F, Relay #70 of the Harvard Mark II system. The computer was running a test of its multiplier and adder when the engineers noticed something was wrong. The moth was trapped, removed and taped into the computer's logbook with the words: "first actual case of a bug being found."

For more click here...

Tags
Bug, Software, History

Google: GMail Notifier

Now, if you are thinking, why I am still using Google Notifier, the reason is simple, I dont want to be online, but still I want to be notified of the mails that I recieve...

But I seem to be having a serious problem with google notifier. Here is how it goes...

I use this program so that I am alerted when I get a new mail... But,

1. I am not being alerted if the conversation is automatically archieved.
2. The GMail webview seems to refresh faster and I am able to see the new mails there it self before being alerted.

I actually posted a request on Google groups that they have a indicator like a "*" or something so that we know some new mail has been recieved but its been archieved and not visible in the inbox. The dudes from Google replied by telling me to use Google Notifier. (were they rude? Nope)

I did and guess what it doesnt alert if the new conversation is archived. This takes care of the first complain.

As for the second, I think they should give us an option of setting the refresh time or atleast make it faster, so that it doesnt cause too much load on the server, but still notifies first...
Or they can make it such that, the server sends a message to the client in our computer that a message has been recieved. This would make the load on the server much less and I would be notified first.

Related posts:
Google messenger
What google messenger needs?
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Tags:
GMail, Google, Complain, Suggestion

GMail Suggestion: Colours for contacts

I was going through the most famous suggestion (or the ones which GMail team is considering) when I came across a request "Specify colours for contacts". At first glance this sounded nice, but later when I was looking at a stacked conversation of about 15 coversations, I realised that it will not be possible to specify colour for each and every contact.

So, If we are planning to specify a colour for a specific contact, then does that mean, that colour is not supposed to be used for any other contact. (Even if that particular contact has not mailed?) I think it would make much more sense if GMail was allowed to choose the colours by itself...

Atleast, it would reduce the confusion... This is my opinion, Whats yours???

Tags:
GMail, Google, Suggestion

Netscape 8

I downloaded the new Netscape 8 browser. I use Firefox and am very happy with that but just wanted to try out the once best browser.

The installation was just 13 mb (little more than the size of Firefox).

The link to the online installaiton
The link to offline installation

I was just going throught the features section to find out the features that are unique to this browser. I found two and they are...

1. Multi-Bar
2. Site Controls

1. The Multi-Bar feature is nothing but something like a single bar which changes according to the category you choose. Something like having Tabs for horizontal content. Take a look at the pictures shown at the multi-bar page.

2. The site controls feature is a little bit unique. I mean at first sight one would think all browsers have this facility but no. With netscape one can provide different security settings, image settings and rendering setting for each site. This is something which many browsers dont provide, but I dont think many users will use either.

The other interesting stuff that I noticed was that...

As soon as you enter your user details into a page, a new card is created and netscape pops up asking if you want to save the details or not. This facility is something like the one Opera provides, and I do use this sometimes. :D

There is also an option for choosing the rendering engine. Support is included for firefox and the blue e.

The main problems with this browser are...

1. Eats and eats and eats and eats memory. :D
2. Makes system slow (obviously)
3. Lack of support for extensions and themes.
   

Related links:
Book: Dont click on the blue e
F**k Microsoft.com

Tags:
Netscape, Browser, Review

Firefox extension - Quick Java

Version:0.4
Author: Doug Green
Homepage: http://quickjavaplugin.blogspot.com/
Tested on: Deer park (Firefox 1.5 beta 2)

Mozilla page: https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=1237

For those who want to control the java and javascript enable/disable functionality of firefox, this would seem the perfect extension.

After installation this extension creates two icons in the status bar of firefox.

• Once icon has the "J" character as the picture and is used to enable/disable java.
• The other icon has the "JS" letters as the picture and is used to enable/disable java script.
  

A red cross across either of the icon means the corresponding functionality is disabled.

The change is also reflected in the Firefox options screen.

This extension is perfect for those who dont want to use NoScript, or anyother plugin disabling extensions.

Related posts:
Disabling Scripts, Flash, Java, JavaScript in Firefox...
Firefox shortcuts
Google extensions for firefox

Search other firefox posts in this blog...

Tags:
Firefox, Extension, Browser