Weblogs: More Driving by the Rear-View Mirror (or, Static Documents by One Person)

Grok Headline matches for Weblogs: More Driving by the Rear-View Mirror (or, Static Documents by One Person)

The browser war in the rear-view mirror

The browser war in the rear-view mirror 12/22/2004 01:23 AM
Randal l Stross's piece on Firefox in the Sunday Times business section, with its comical quotes from a Microsoft spokesman who suggests that unhappy users buy themselves new computers, brought a little wisp of browser-war nostalgia to mind.

It's undeniable that, today, if you want to protect your computing life and you run Windows, you're insane to continue running basic Microsoft applications like Internet Explorer and Outlook. (Firefox and Thunderbird are great alternatives in the open source world. I'm still wedded to Opera and Eudora out of years-long habits. Opera does a great job of saving multiple open windows with multiple open tabs from session to session, even when you suffer a system freeze.) These programs function together in a variety of ways that Microsoft presented as good ideas at the time they were written. Hey, integration means everything works seamlessly, and everyone knows how highly the business world prizes the word "seamless."

Today it is precisely the same integration -- the way, for instance, that ActiveX controls and other code pass freely across the borders of these applications, allowing them to work together in potentially useful but hugely insecure ways -- that make IE and Outlook such free-fire zones for viruses and other mischief. (It's certainly true that the Microsoft universe is targeted by virus authors because it's where the most users are; but it's also true that Microsoft's products are sitting ducks in a way that its competitors in the Apple and open source worlds simply are not.) If you're willing to turn on Microsoft's auto-update to keep up with the operating system patches, and to abandon Outlook and IE for your day-to-day work, you can rest relatively easy. But you never know when some other application is calling on that "embedded browser functionality," when you're using that Outlook code without even realizing it.

Stross is strangely mum on the antitrust background of these matters. It's the ultimate, though not entirely unforeseen, irony of the Microsoft saga that the very integration-with-the-operating-system that enabled Microsoft to "cut off the air supply" of its Netscape competition is now looking more and more like the franchise's Achilles heel. Microsoft fought a tedious, embarrassing and costly legal war with the government to defend its right to embed Web browser functionality in the heart of the operating system. "Our operating system is whatever we say it is! How dare government bureaucrats meddle with our technology!" was the company's war cry.

Now it turns out that if Gates and company had paid a little more heed to the government they might have done their users, and their business, a favor. Microsoft's tight browser/operating system integration helped spell Netscape's corporate doom; today it is one of the biggest gaping holes in Windows security, and a legion of hostile viruses swarms through it.

Stross writes, "Stuck with code from a bygone era when the need for protection against bad guys was little considered, Microsoft cannot do much. It does not offer a new stand-alone version of Internet Explorer. Instead, the loyal customer must download and install the newest version of Service Pack 2. That, in turn, requires Windows XP. Those who have an earlier version of Windows are out of luck if they wish to stick with Internet Explorer."

But it's not quite that simple. Microsoft's reluctance to invest in browser development has stemmed only partly from the kind of inertia that comes from having won a war in a previous generation ("The browser? We own that space, we don't have to keep improving it"). Even more deeply, Microsoft has been reluctant to make the browser better -- more reliable, more secure, more flexible as an interface for more kinds of applications -- because its leaders understood very well what that would mean: The better the browser is, the less dependent people are on the operating system's features -- as today's users of well-designed Web applications like Gmail, Flickr and Basecamp demonstrate every day. This is not where Microsoft wants to see the computing world go, so why, once it gained a stranglehold on the browser market, would it help the process along?

In other words, what happened once Microsoft left the courtroom was precisely and exactly what the government's antitrust lawyers said would happen: Microsoft's goal in integrating the browser was not to serve the public and the users, but to shut down further innovation and development. Netscape argued that Microsoft wanted to control browsers because it wanted to make sure they did not emerge as a platform for applications that would undermine Windows' importance. Netscape, the record now shows, was right.

We lost three or four years of Internet time (from the collapse of the bubble to this year's Renaissance of Web applications) thanks to Microsoft's stonewalling and the Bush administration's unwillingness to represent the public interest in this matter. The next time a worm comes crawling through your Windows, curse the Justice Department's settlement -- and go download Firefox.

HP retains PDA pole position over
palmOne, RIM in rear view mirror

HP retains PDA pole position over
palmOne, RIM in rear view mirror 04/20/2004 09:54 AM
Computer Shopper Apr 20 2004 2:17PM GMT

Driving SEM Campaigns Using the Rearview
Mirror

Driving SEM Campaigns Using the Rearview
Mirror 08/27/2004 03:21 PM
Source: ClickZ - Rearview-mirror marketing: Web analytics provides 20/20 hindsight. That's not good enough for SEM campaign management....

View Apple Knowledge Base documents via
RSS

View Apple Knowledge Base documents via
RSS 01/26/2004 11:27 AM
Apple is now offering Knowledge Base articles via RSS newsfeeds. Grab your favorite RSS newsreader (NetNewsWire, SlashDock, etc) and head on over to syndic8.com for a list of all available Apple feeds. [robg adds: These RSS ...

TynTec provides Managed Services for
MIDRAYs Person-to-Person Traffic

TynTec provides Managed Services for
MIDRAYs Person-to-Person Traffic 04/27/2004 11:29 AM
Wi-Fi Technology Forum Apr 27 2004 3:41PM GMT

eBay Today: Mirror, Mirror

eBay Today: Mirror, Mirror 06/23/2004 10:57 AM
Another vintage Sigma classic...

Mirror, mirror on the wall...

Mirror, mirror on the wall... 10/28/2003 11:07 PM
..who will mirror Fink above all? There is a new player on the turf and it belongs to the Fink team. Finkmirrors.net tells you everything you wanted to know about mirroring Fink and its related resources on your Server. As our mirror structure will hopefully grow in the future, this web-site will also hold information about each individual mirror. To ensure that our service remains as stable as possible and to distribute the load imposed onto our main rsync server, we are looking for rsync mirrors or full mirrors. Those of you who are willing to share resources will find all the necessary information on Finkmirrors.net. UPDATE: Yes, I screwed up when I initially installed the DNS records. If you cannot connect please try again later. I am very sorry for this inconvenience. Thank you for your understanding.

New Password Recovery Tool for Microsoft
Office Suite Documents is Able to
Recover Passwords to Documents Created
in 14 Applications, and Supports More
Than 30 Types of Password Encryption.

New Password Recovery Tool for Microsoft
Office Suite Documents is Able to
Recover Passwords to Documents Created
in 14 Applications, and Supports More
Than 30 Types of Password Encryption. 12/24/2004 12:19 PM
ElcomSoft Co. Ltd. has released Advanced Office Password Recovery (AOPR), an application that allows business managers, information technology support administrators, and law enforcement officials to gain access to Microsoft(R) Office(R) password-protected documents, that have been accidentally or purposefully password protected. New product combines the latest and the most advanced cryptanalysis algorithms developed by Elcomsoft's research department. AOPR is capable of instantly recovering passwords for a wide range of Microsoft's business and office applications, including all components of MS Office, from the very first DOS versions to Office 2003 programs, including the ones for Windows, Mac, Pocket PC and localized versions. Over 30 different types of password encryption methods are supported. [PRWEB Dec 22, 2004]

Deliveries in the Rear

Deliveries in the Rear 04/01/2005 09:46 AM
Recipients should not eat their FecalGram, a fresh-squeezed, human-made steaming manatee mailed anonymous ly from Florissant, Missouri. "They are not intended for human consumption, or consumption by any animal."

Bringing Up the Rear

Bringing Up the Rear 04/09/2004 04:04 PM
A review of Doodieman: The Hero's Load, the 10-minute animated film by Tom Winkler: "As elegant as a movie about a superhero with bowel problems can be." (04-09)

Man Shoots Himself in Rear End (AP)

Man Shoots Himself in Rear End (AP) 08/06/2004 09:16 AM
AP - Drew Patterson wanted to protect himself after hearing reports of an fugitive in this northeastern Oklahoma community.

JVC Big Screen EXE Rear Projection TVs

JVC Big Screen EXE Rear Projection TVs 04/07/2005 12:44 PM

JVC will introduce a few new rear projection TVs for the Japanese market, under the "Big Screen EXE" brand. The 61" "HD-61MD60" will cost 787,500 yen, and the 51" 682,500 yen. They do appear to have some nice specs, such as a 700cd/m² brightness on the 52 inch. But they're being marketed based on a low power consumption: 198W, not that we Americans really care. Speaking of Americans, JVC plans to introduce these two sets here in July, as well as add a 70" model.

Press Release [JVC]

Gateway's new rear-projection TV

Gateway's new rear-projection TV 10/30/2003 10:20 AM
Gateway is getting even deeper into the television business. They're adding a 56-inch rear-projection widescreen TV to their line of LCD and plasma displays that is about one-third the depth of a regular rear-projection television. Read...

Consumers Want Rear-Projection TV's, and
Now

Consumers Want Rear-Projection TV's, and
Now 12/24/2003 12:38 AM
New York Times Dec 23 2003 11:52PM ET

MTV to Cut Shot of Eminem Exposing Rear
(AP)

MTV to Cut Shot of Eminem Exposing Rear
(AP) 06/07/2004 03:42 PM
AP - Eminem's moon has been eclipsed. MTV plans to cut a shot of the rapper exposing his rear end to the audience at the 2004 Movie Awards when the show is broadcast Thursday at 9 p.m. EDT, a network representative confirmed.

MTV to cut shot of Eminem exposing rear

MTV to cut shot of Eminem exposing rear 06/07/2004 03:35 PM

MTV to Edit Shot of Eminem Exposing Rear
(AP)

MTV to Edit Shot of Eminem Exposing Rear
(AP) 06/07/2004 08:18 PM
AP - Eminem's moon has been eclipsed. MTV plans to edit out a shot of the rapper exposing his rear end to the audience at the 2004 Movie Awards when the show is broadcast Thursday at 9 p.m. EDT, a network representative confirmed Monday.

Minor Injuries as Train Is Rear-ended

Minor Injuries as Train Is Rear-ended 04/19/2004 12:22 PM
The accident this morning caused minor injuries and scattered rush-hour delays.

Thomson's new ultrathin rear projection
HDTVs

Thomson's new ultrathin rear projection
HDTVs 01/07/2004 07:12 PM
A pair of skinny new RCA Scenium rear-projection high-definition televisions from Thomson that use DLP technology (rather than plasma or LCD). The HDTVs should out...

Radio Shack's Wireless Rear-Channel
Amplifier

Radio Shack's Wireless Rear-Channel
Amplifier 04/30/2004 04:23 PM
Although he spends just as much time blathering about the need for wireless speaker connections as he does talking about technical details (and trust me, it happens, I know), Randy is pretty impressed with Radio Shack's 5.8Ghz Wireless Rear-Channel Amplifier that he used to connect his sister's 5.1 surround sound...

Canon to Start Making Rear Projection
TVs in 2005

Canon to Start Making Rear Projection
TVs in 2005 01/04/2005 01:23 PM
Japanese camera and office equipment maker Canon Inc. said on Tuesday it would start producing rear projection televisions later this year, aiming to secure a chunk of the rapidly growing market for big screen TVs. Canon also said it plans to invest in a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel joint venture by Hitachi Ltd., Toshiba Corp. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd.

It added, however, that details of the planned investment, including the size of the stake, have yet to be decided and it had no plan to make LCD televisions. "We are aiming to offer rear projection TVs on a commercial basis by the end of the year. Since they are to be used at schools and other public facilities, we don't expect them to sell as well as consumer goods," a Canon spokesman said. The rear projection TVs would be the second flat-panel TVs for Canon, which also plans to launch surface conduction electron emitter display (SED) TVs this year.

News source: Reuters

Read full story...

Larger vehicles drive rear camera
utility

Larger vehicles drive rear camera
utility 11/16/2003 10:27 AM
Chicago Tribune Nov 16 2003 9:14AM ET

Epson Demos 1080p 3LCD Rear-Projection
TV

Epson Demos 1080p 3LCD Rear-Projection
TV 01/06/2005 02:27 PM
At CES, Epson showed a prototype 1080p RPTV based on 1080p polysilicon LCDs. It's early to tell, but the wow factor could be huge.

Study: Cameras Increase Fatal Rear End
Accidents (Ontario)

Study: Cameras Increase Fatal Rear End
Accidents (Ontario) 04/13/2005 04:28 AM
Study: Red Light Cameras Increase Fatal Rear End Accidents (Ontario) .. aren’t all they’re cracked up to be .. there's an increase, not decrease in accidents

thenewspaper.com/news/02/288.asp
track this site | 3 links

Intel Corp. plans to develop chip for
rear-projection digital TVs

Intel Corp. plans to develop chip for
rear-projection digital TVs 12/17/2003 11:51 PM
Canadian Press via Canada.com Dec 17 2003 11:13PM ET

Still a lot of static

Still a lot of static 02/17/2004 06:32 PM
CNN Feb 17 2004 11:18PM GMT

Still getting static

Still getting static 07/06/2004 01:54 AM
USA Today Jul 6 2004 6:07AM GMT

Tie-Static-0.04

Tie-Static-0.04 04/10/2005 03:49 AM

No static. Democratic.

No static. Democratic. 12/30/2004 08:00 PM
Channel 101 - Democratic "television" on the web. Shows include The 'Bu (first episode in 3-D!!!), the bizarre Ringwald and Molly, Laser Fart, the much downloaded Kicked in the Nuts!, and many more. Some shows may be NSFW.

Static over RFID

Static over RFID 09/13/2004 06:55 AM
A key patent holder wants royalties. If that starts a trend, adoption of radio frequency identification technology could suffer.

Anti-Static Pen

Anti-Static Pen 03/22/2005 04:46 PM

Those of us who dabble inside of their PCs have surely, at one time, concerned themselves with static electricity. Sure you can take some precautions like getting one of those retarded looking wrist things or touching some metal object. But why would you want to do that when you can now spend $29 on a "Static Zapper Pen?" When I first read the product name, I thought the pen could actually zap people (like a pen tazer), but I shed a tear to learn that it is for preventing static shocks.

Product Page [CompactImpact via TRFJ]

Dynamic vs Static

Dynamic vs Static 11/20/2002 12:42 PM
Phil Ringnalda proposes a "Half-baked, and a little fried" hybrid dynamic/static weblog system: While browsing through Rasmus's Tips and Tricks...

Rhythmic static

Rhythmic static 06/17/2005 04:25 PM
I've occasionally noticed static playing over speakers in roughly the same rhythm: a quarter note and three triplets. Deeeeet dit-dit-dit dit-dit-dit dit-dit-dit. At first I thought it was something wrong with my PC speakers or sound card. But I've also heard it over the headphones while waiting to go live at a professional radio station. And I heard it over the speakers in the back of a London cab yesterday. Deeeeet dit-dit-dit dit-dit-dit dit-dit-dit. Deeeeet dit-dit-dit dit-dit-dit dit-dit-dit. Is this some predictable electrical noise, like a 60-cycle hum? Or is it a coded message from our equipment?...

Now with static FTP rendering!

Now with static FTP rendering! 06/15/2004 07:57 PM

I just got an email pitching the new Manila server. Talk about your bad timing.

Static Calendar

Static Calendar 12/22/2004 01:57 AM
Static Calendar Proposal as seen on Slashdot This is something I found on Slashdot and thougt was interesting. Judging by the savvy website of the new calendar's creator, I doubt we'll be having "Newton" months anytime soon. Check it out.

PHP Static Class Variables

PHP Static Class Variables 12/02/2002 01:17 PM
Static class variables are variables that are shared among all instances of a particular class. Although PHP supports static variables in functions, it has no support for static variables in classes. This functionality can be pretty important in some situations, and I will now describe a way to simulate it.

Catalyst-Plugin-Static-0.03

Catalyst-Plugin-Static-0.03 03/17/2005 03:19 AM

Catalyst-Plugin-Static-0.06

Catalyst-Plugin-Static-0.06 04/15/2005 01:07 PM

Static HTML Generation With PHP

Static HTML Generation With PHP 11/27/2002 09:47 PM
Want to reduce the load that MySQL has on your web server? Generating Static HTML pages to replace queries is the solution. Learn how.
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Weblogs: More Driving by the Rear-View Mirror (or, Static Documents by One Person)

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