Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 24th Mar 2009 23:26 UTC, submitted by inkslinger
Recently, Microsoft released Internet Explorer 8, which boasted much better standards compliance than previous iterations of the browser. While it passed the Acid2 test, IE8 failed miserably in the Acid3 test, and many people criticised Microsoft for it. Microsoft Australia's Nick Hodge has stated that Microsoft purposefully decided not to support Acid3, because the test tests against draft standards.
Thread beginning with comment 355115
To view parent comment, click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
To view parent comment, click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Member since:2007-02-17
Browsers are free, no one cares about lock-in
Programs which create web content, and also servers which can deliver web content, satisfying secret proprietary plug-ins, are not free. People very much do care about lock-in.
Have you ever wondered why these standards are still just in 'recommended' or 'draft' standard?
'Recommended' is not 'draft'. 'Recommended' is 'published and stable'.
Because no one out in the real world of web development cares about them...at least not the ones mentioned over and over in this thread.
The ones mentioned over and over in this thread are just becoming available in browsers. They are therefore useful only for the next generation of web content.
And extremely useful they will be. Check this out:
http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2008/08/firefox-to-get-mass...
http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/02/mozilla-demos-impre...
JIT javascript compilers deliver very impressive performance and open up entirely new capabilities.
Perhaps, as a web developer, it is time that you updated your skills to encompass these new emerging standards-based features, rather than relying on the already-on-its-way-out non-standrad quirks of IE and proprietary plugins for it.
Edited 2009-03-26 03:51 UTC
Member since:2007-02-17
Member since:2005-07-17
Have you ever wondered why these standards are still just in 'recommended' or 'draft' standard? Because no one out in the real world of web development cares about them...at least not the ones mentioned over and over in this thread.
The ones mentioned like PNG, SVG 1.2 (or 1.1/1.0)?
I haven't met anyone "in the real world" who isn't about standards for a while, about 3 years. Maybe I'm not in the same environment as you.
"In the real world" standards save time, and because time is money it saves money too. It means with the exception of IE, I can trust that my site will work (with about 99% certainty) on the next iteration of their browser engine. And here's a kicker, I charge extra on a monthly fee for testing when new browser versions come out. It's about keeping the site updated.
"In the real world" it's really important that browsers implement these standards correctly and keep up to date with new ones to push the web forward, not their own agenda.
One thing I don't see mentioned as a reason for implementing drafts of standards with specific tags is so developers can start testing them before using them on live sites. As more developers test the more likely a glitch will happen. The more likely a glitch is found before real world implementation of the spec, the less likely it will hinder the web.
It's like a beta period before implementing the real thing.
Edited 2009-03-26 18:42 UTC
Member since:2005-07-06
Some standards should of course be adhered to, and the ones you mentioned are decent examples. But everything in Acid3? Sometimes I feel that many developers do frilly stuff like that just because they can, not because they should.
I'm with MS on their decision...the entire kitchen sink approach just isn't worth it.
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 21:06 UTC
"At the end of a week in which Electronic Arts confirmed it wasn't developing a thing for the Wii U, one of the software engineers in EA Sports' Canada studio, in a series of since-deleted tweets, disparaged the console as 'crap' and suggested Nintendo should give up on hardware altogether. 'The Wii U is crap. Less powerful than an Xbox 360. Poor online/store. Weird tablet', tweeted Bob Summerwill, listed as a senior software engineer at EA Canada, in a reply to a tweet posting a link about EA's no-Wii U news. 'Nintendo are walking dead at this point'." The Wii U is turning into the 21st century's Virtual Boy.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 7:37 UTC
"In NixOS, the entire operating system - the kernel, applications, system packages, configuration files, and so on - is built by the Nix package manager from a description in a purely functional build language. The fact that it's purely functional essentially means that building a new configuration cannot overwrite previous configurations. Most of the other features follow from this." Interesting approach. A Linux distribution, sure, but with some very refreshing ideas about system configuration.
Linked by fran on 05/18/13 1:38 UTC
Appfour added, among other features, C/C++ support to its new version of AIDE. From Android-IDE, "Now you can write parts of your app or your whole app in C/C++ on your device. AIDE supports the Standard Android NDK toolchain (GCC 4.6 + Bionic, STL, ...). No changes are necessary if you want to build an app developed on a PC with Eclipse. C/C++ development is fully integrated: Build errors appear in the error list and files can easily be navigated to with Go to file. The editor supports C/C++ syntax highlighting."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/17/13 23:35 UTC, submitted by kragil
Ars nails it: "The answer is that Google did announce what amounts to a fairly substantial Android update yesterday. They simply did it without adding to the update fragmentation problems that continue to plague the platform. By focusing on these changes and not the apparently-waiting-in-the-wings update to the core software, Google is showing us one of the ways in which it's trying to fix the update problem."
Linked by MOS6510 on 05/17/13 22:22 UTC
"It is good for programmers to understand what goes on inside a processor. The CPU is at the heart of our career. What goes on inside the CPU? How long does it take for one instruction to run? What does it mean when a new CPU has a 12-stage pipeline, or 18-stage pipeline, or even a 'deep' 31-stage pipeline? Programs generally treat the CPU as a black box. Instructions go into the box in order, instructions come out of the box in order, and some processing magic happens inside. As a programmer, it is useful to learn what happens inside the box. This is especially true if you will be working on tasks like program optimization. If you don't know what is going on inside the CPU, how can you optimize for it? This article is about what goes on inside the x86 processor's deep pipeline."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/17/13 22:15 UTC, submitted by Tom
"It was the only moment I heard regret slip into Otellini's voice during the several hours of conversations I had with him. 'The lesson I took away from that was, while we like to speak with data around here, so many times in my career I've ended up making decisions with my gut, and I should have followed my gut,' he said. 'My gut told me to say yes.'" The world would've been a much different place - Apple would have been less dependant on Samsung for its chips, which probably would've meant less money for Samsung to develop its Galaxy business.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/16/13 21:41 UTC
Glass is getting some love at Google I/O as well. New applications have been released - Facebook, Twitter, Evernote, Elle, Tumblr, and CNN. Perhaps more interesting: the newly announced Google Glass Developer Kit will allow offline applications and direct hardware access - great for hacking and expanding Glass' potential. This kit will really allow hackers to put Glass through its paces.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/16/13 17:04 UTC
"But Beck and Merrill decided that simply banning toxic players wasn't an acceptable solution for their game. Riot Games began experimenting with more constructive modes of player management through a formal player behavior initiative that actually conducts controlled experiments on its player base to see what helps reduce bad behavior. The results of that initiative have been shared at a lecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and on panels at the Penny Arcade Expo East and the Game Developers Conference." Absolutely fascinating stuff. I'm a League of Legends player, and to be honest, the community isn't nearly as bad as some make it out to be. I'm happy Riot games has the guts to employ science to address the issue.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/16/13 13:17 UTC
"Android and iOS, the number one and number two ranked smartphone operating systems worldwide, combined for 92.3% of all smartphone shipments during the first quarter of 2013 as Windows Phone crept past BlackBerry for 3rd place. According to the International Data Corporation Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, Android smartphone vendors and Apple shipped a total of 199.5 million units worldwide during 1Q13, up 59.1% from the 125.4 million units shipped during 1Q12." Windows Phone doubles from a few to twice few, iOS loser market share as its growth is slower than that of the overall market. BlackBerry continues slide into irrelevance.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/16/13 12:06 UTC
"According to the latest research from our Wireless Smartphone Strategies service, global Android smartphone profits reached US$5 billion in total during the first quarter of 2013. Samsung dominated and captured an impressive 95 percent share of all Android smartphone profits." Wow.More News »
Sponsored Links
Member since:
2005-07-06
No worries, I've seen your mis-information all over this thread and was waiting for your response.
Browsers are free, no one cares about lock-in...if you don't like what a browser does (as an end user), then move on. If you don't like what it does (as a developer) then don't develop for it, or figure out ways around whatever isn't working for you.
Sometimes I wonder if the only people who jump up and down screaming "standards standards standards" are people who've never actually developed real world web apps, simply because they have nothing better to do.
Have you ever wondered why these standards are still just in 'recommended' or 'draft' standard? Because no one out in the real world of web development cares about them...at least not the ones mentioned over and over in this thread.