I came across this article of how Apple is selectively implementing HTML5 and putting out a lot of disinformation about following standards.

Apple is hyping HMTL5 again, this time with a new website purporting to show open web development in action. But the company’s standards-following rivals have pointed out the Jobsian site is peddling nonsense.

Apple’s HTML5 ’standards’ hype debunked • The Register

Their ship is already sinking. Mobile is the next thing, and they need to wake up and smell the coffee, they represent a minor percentage of the market. The rest are all jumping in on open standards. Even Nokia has now made the Symbian OS open source. Other large players are beginning to realise it is in their benefit to follow open standards, because no one company is ever going to corner the market on technology. There will be always a new player out of no where. And the best way to control the competition is to ensure that the market follows the agreed open standards. Those who don’t live up to the standard, will whither and die, because the end user will have a substandard experience. Because what are the content developers going to develop for? Why the largest market / platform there is of course! Why else did Microsoft’s vision of things hold dominance for so long? Because they had the largest platform / market share. But that is no longer the case. The platforms that people access their information is rapidly diversifying, and so Microsoft have been caught napping. They thought there was no end in sight for the dominance of the desktop platform. Then along comes mobile. Bam! Now its a desperate catch up, which they will never do. Their worst nightmare is being realised. Linux is becoming dominant on mobile, largely thanks to Android. How can a commercial OS developer like Microsoft compete against a free OS like Linux? Answer, they can’t! So we come to Apple’s tactics. Build a jailed platform and broadcast propaganda. Hey fine for the fanatic converts, but they are fools to think they will ever win any sort of platform or market dominance like Microsoft ever did. So their pick and choose implementation on HMTL5 will ultimately backfire on them as it did with Microsoft and earlier web standards. Developers will curse their name, and develop for them second, if at all. They will ultimately be force to also play catch up.

While I enjoy using openSuse 11.1 Linux (since switching over from Windows) one thing that has consistently bugged me is the Network Manager. It was always problematic with regards to wireless networks. And googling will show many posts pointing out that it is bugged. So for the life of me I just don’t understand why it was included with the openSuse releases when it is so clearly broken.

However, I have discovered an alternative that works!

Wicd is an open source wired and wireless network manager for Linux which aims to provide a simple interface to connect to networks with a wide variety of settings.

Now when this software even has a page on the official openSuse website, why is it not in the official release?

Having recently migrated to Linux from Windows XP, I needed all of my development tools to continue my work as web developer. Part of my kit of tools is an assortment of web browsers. Firefox, no problem (of course), Opera (of course), Chrome (a bit of searching and not perfect) and Safari which required some tricks. "Internet Explorer?" you ask, well let me get back to you on that one.

Safari of course has only been released for OS X and Windows. So Wine comes to the rescue and allows me to run many Windows applications within Linux and without any virtualization or emulation.

OK, it kind of worked first go and then crashed. After some googling I discovered that you have to install Safari without Bonjour for Windows and Apple Software Update. Some extra Windows XP fonts are also required. Detailed instructions for installing Safari under Wine are available at WineHQ.

Safari appears to perform well, tabbed browsing works, HTML and CSS rendering is in order.

What doesn't work is HTTPS connections, and book marks.

So for normal everyday use it is a bit handicapped, but as a web developer's testing tool its just fine.

Opera has released the next major update of their browser- 9.5.

While I don't use opera as my primary browser, I have kept a copy for web development purposes. What has always pleased me about this browser is that it is proof a commercial company can abide by the W3C standards, unlike Microsoft and their Internet Explorer.

If there was no Firefox I would be using Opera as my browser of preferred choice.

It is claimed by the company that its new browser is more than twice as fast as version 9.2 when rendering
JavaScript and HTML.

Although it accounts for a miniscule share of the desktop browser
market, Opera is the leading browser on mobile phones, including
handsets such as HTC's Touch Diamond and most of Nokia's line.

Opera's share remains small, but has grown
by approximately 43% in the last 12 months, according to Net
Applications' numbers.

Opera 9.5, available in 30 different languages, can be downloaded free of charge from the company's site for Windows 95 or later, Mac OS 10.3 or later, or Linux.