Believe it or not, the face that is synonymous with the company we all love to hate, Microsoft is giving up his position as head of the company.Yes, Bill Gates will be putting more of his focus into his charity organization. Mind you, he hasn't left the company completely.
Microsoft says that Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) now has three rendering modes, “one that reflects Microsoft’s implementation of current Web standards, a second reflecting Microsoft’s implementation of Web standards at the time of the release of IE7 in 2006, and a third based on rendering methods dating back to the early Web”.
Ray Ozzie, Microsoft’s Chief Software Architect, (a post previously held by Bill Gates himself) said that: “Our initial plan had been to use IE7-compatible behaviour as the default setting for IE8, to minimize potential impact on the world’s existing Web sites. We have now decided to make our most current standards-based mode the default in IE8”.
Could the following comments of Brad Smith, Microsoft’s Senior Vice President and General Counsel, be an indication that Microsoft is taking notice of the US and European regulatory authorities?
“While we do not believe there are currently any legal requirements that would dictate which rendering mode must be chosen as the default for a given browser, this step clearly removes this question as a potential legal and regulatory issue”.
Weight is lent to this notion when you consider that last week, European regulators fined Microsoft 1.4 billion euro for not adhering to their 2004 ruling that Microsoft was in breach of their competitive regulations and the actions Microsoft promised they would undertake to resolve the issue.
Opera recently filed an antitrust complaint to the European Commission over Microsoft's dominance. In addition to requesting that Microsoft be forced to unbundle its browser from Windows, Opera also asked that the company be forced into "fundamental and open" standards. If IE came close to rendering things the same way as Opera, Firefox, and Safari (none of which are perfect, of course), then web developers of the world wouldn't have such a headache on their hands when creating new sites.
The one shortcoming with Opera's antitrust complaint is that Firefox has made significant headway against Microsoft. Firefox has managed a huge surge in popularity where Opera has failed over the last 10 years, demonstrating that it is possible to make inroads against IE's dominant position.
Time will tell if Microsoft live up to their talk with IE8, and whether we developers will have an easier time with developing websites compatible with multiple browsers.
Harry McCracken writing for PC World plays it safe with his summation of Microsoft's latest action in his article "Internet Explorer 7's Slow Start".
A more cynical view would be that Microsoft's Internet Explorer is loosing large amounts of market share to their most serious rival Firefox. By allowing anybody to download and run Internet Explorer 7, including those with non-validated versions of Windows (pirates) the hope is that they'll pick up some traction.
Looking at the satistics of a number of sites I host, which are quite varied in their audiences, I would conclude that IE7 doesn't have a chance. Firefox usage steadily continues to grow. All of these sites are now reporting 30% or more Firefox usage.
Times are changing, including the browsers.
Want to find out the latest secret nuclear submarine technology? Then just pop along to Google Maps or Microsoft's Virtual Earth and seek your nearest top secret naval base.
A man looking for a new home on an online mapping service has stumbled across an aerial image of a US nuclear-powered submarine in dry dock showing a part of the vessel that wasn't meant to be seen.
The image which appears on Microsoft's Virtual Earth mapping service - is of the seven-bladed propeller used on an Ohio class ballistic missile submarine.
A similar incident occurred recently when Hans Kristensen, a nuclear weapons analyst for the Federation of American Scientists, spotted an aerial image of China's new Jin-class nuclear-powered submarine on Google Earth.
One has to really wonder about military and security establishments don't you. They really don't have any grounds for demanding that internet be sanitized for the sake of national security do they. So much security, and secrecy yet a commercial satellite snaps sensitive information, so who knows what the spy satellites have got.
Maybe nations could seriously reduce their (excessive) military spending and just use the internet to find the latest "secrets". It seems to work for everybody else.
Since the release of the iPhone, and the subsequent disappointment and frustration that new owners of the iPhone have experienced by being locked into the AT&T network, the race has been on to crack the iPhone. Now it seems there are results popping up on the net. There has even been talk of people profiting from this by selling the unlocking codes, accompanied by talk of legal action.
At the moment it does look like round one to the hackers, and the owners. People will have the option to use their phone as they wish.
Microsoft's patent scare campaign thankfully hasn't scared everyone. Red Hat and Ubuntu have declined to sign any agreement that provides legal protection to users related to "unspecified patents".
More can be found on the ZDNet article "Ubuntu, Red Hat reject Microsoft patent deal ".
Well, Microsoft are at it again. The news wires and blogsphere is alive with the recent news of Microsoft upping the ante against Linux with threats of of legal action and demands of indemnity payments. There is only one thing this speaks of loud and clear; Microsoft is scared, very scared.
What is exactly happening behind the doors of the Redmond giant is open for debate. One could speculate that the lack luster response to Vista, coupled with recent manufacturers such as Dell announcing the sale and support of Linux machines is what is goading them into action. Are their legal threats the right action?
Could it be that the large coporate giant has stopped listening to what computer users want, and is turning into a totalitarian monster that dictates what people should use and do with their computer. Could it be the complacency of years of successful market domination has led them to forget the basic tenent of sales: The customer is King. Could it be that the world has moved on, and Microsoft wants the world to standstill in the glory days of Windows 95 or XP?
Microsoft have attempted to make many soothing sounds regarding its perceived relationship to Open Source. Then the deal it struck with Novell for its version of Linux stirred deep supicion. But these recent actions may just come back and bite them. Will Microsoft suffer a popular peasents revolt, with its lesser rivals banding together to assist in the revolution? All empires benign or dictorial come to an end sooner or later, without exception. However their longevity and legacy is the question.
Dell Inc. is going to start offering pre-installed Linux on PCs and laptops, after having completed a survey.
Where one large player goes, there will be sure to be others to follow. As one of the oft criticisms of Linux is its set up, bundling machines with it pre-installed will go a long way to making it more accessible to a wider public. On top of this with Vista's apparent lack luster sales, we could see the some chunks carved out of traditional Microsoft territory. There is a plethora of Open Source software now available for Linux which is now starting offer the standard functionality offered by Microsoft's Office suite. Plus with a growing number of government agencies the world over now moving over to Open Source, and looking to cut costs, especially with expensive licensing fees, the bands of small marauders could soon become a powerful alternative to the current Microsoft status quo. Interesting times lie ahead.
Further reading on Dell's offer can be found on pcworld.com, "Dell Promises Pre-Installed Linux".
