Linked by mufasa on Mon 10th Aug 2009 12:25 UTC
The web browser has been the dominant thin client, now rich client, for almost two decades, but can it compete with a new thin client that makes better technical choices and avoids the glacial standards process? I don't think so, as the current web technology stack of HTML/Javascript/Flash has accumulated so many bad decisions over the years that it's ripe for a clean sheet redesign to wipe it out.
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Member since:2007-09-08
Why would you not compress the binary format?
A typical HTML page contains almost entirely text. Not markup - text. Content. That wouldn't change just because you're using a binary format, that binary format would still contain large amounts of text.
The solution? Compress it!
Then you end up with a compressed text format, and a compressed binary format, which are about equal in size. Both are easily machine-readable. Only one is human-readable. Simply using a binary format is not going to make the tools magically better, so you're really not going to get any better tools than we have now.
Member since:2009-06-09
Why would you not compress the binary format?
Of cause you can do that, if it makes sense.
A typical HTML page contains almost entirely text. Not markup - text. Content. That wouldn't change just because you're using a binary format, that binary format would still contain large amounts of text.
The solution? Compress it!
The solution? Compress it!
Well, HTML is somewhat okay for documents, which it was meant for. However, the markup is dominant in most dynamically generated HTML pages. I.e., this osnews editor page is 366 lines of markup, with very little content (the quote of your comment :-) ).
Then you end up with a compressed text format, and a compressed binary format, which are about equal in size. Both are easily machine-readable. Only one is human-readable. Simply using a binary format is not going to make the tools magically better, so you're really not going to get any better tools than we have now.
In the case of documents I agree. However, XML is missused for computer-to-computer communication and many HTML pages are mainly formating markup.
I don't talk about tools. I talk about performance and useability; Smaller server load and better responsiveness in the browser (client).
Edited 2009-08-11 02:51 UTC
News
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"So in summary... Google has pulled the plug on support on a protocol they've helped popularize, after years of promising interoperability, for reasons that are dubious at best, and in a way that leaves people who don't jump to the new Hangouts app unable to talk to their contacts without any feedback that their IMs aren't getting through... And they've done that with no warning to anyone. I imagine there's a bunch of people out there wondering where some of their buddies have gone, or why their messages aren't getting responses, because this isn't documented anywhere." Google really messed this up. Such a dick move.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 23:59 UTC
The Tizen Greek Community has some screenshots of a very recent build of Tizen running on a Samsung GT-i8800. It looks wholly unremarkable.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 22:33 UTC
Joint statement to The Next Web from Microsoft and Google: "Microsoft and YouTube are working together to update the new YouTube for Windows Phone app to enable compliance with YouTube's API terms of service, including enabling ads, in the coming weeks. Microsoft will replace the existing YouTube app in Windows Phone Store with the previous version during this time." Good to know these children stopped acting like little pricks. Can we have full Google support in Windows 8 now, please?
Linked by Howard Fosdick on 05/24/13 21:41 UTC
Yahoo is acquiring Tumblr, the microblogging and social networking website, for $1.1 billion USD. Tumblr offers little revenue but lots of eyeballs if Yahoo can monetarize them. Now Yahoo is bidding for Hulu, the streaming video service. After years of ineffective responses while Google, Facebook, and others took large chunks of the online advertising market, Yahoo is fighting back. Can Yahoo reignite the momentum it had at the turn of the century? What do you think?
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 14:44 UTC
"Sources have described iOS 7 as 'black, white, and flat all over'. This refers to the dropping of heavy textures and the addition of several new black and white user interface elements." I couldn't be happier.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/23/13 23:22 UTC
"Ilja van Sprundel, a security researcher with IOActive, has discovered a large number of issues in the way various X client libraries handle the responses they receive from servers, and has worked with X.Org's security team to analyze, confirm, and fix these issues."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/23/13 22:04 UTC
"Google is facing a new antitrust probe by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission into whether the company is using its leadership in the online display-advertising market to illegally curb competition, people familiar with the matter said." Sucks to be Google today, apparently.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/23/13 22:01 UTC
"In the midst of the major press blitz surrounding its annual I/O Conference, Google dropped some unfortunate news about its instant messaging plans. In several places around the web, the company is replacing the existing 'Talk' platform with a new one called 'Hangouts' that sharply diminishes support for the open messaging protocol known as XMPP (or sometimes informally Jabber), and also removes the option to disable the archiving of all chat communications. These changes represent a switch from open protocols to proprietary ones, and a clear step backward for many users." That's why I always say: only suckers trust companies.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/23/13 17:52 UTC
"The wave of departures is a sign of internal struggle, but amidst all the bad news, there is a glimmer of hope. According to an anonymous HTC executive cited by WSJ, the crucial HTC One is selling 'pretty good so far'. The executive revealed that HTC sold about five million One units since launch, a performance that is deemed encouraging. However, sales have been limited by the persisting supply issues that still plague the production of the HTC One." Finally some good news for HTC. Five million units amidst supply constraints is very impressive.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/22/13 22:23 UTC
"Sony gave the PS4 50% more raw shader performance, plain and simple (768 SPs @ 800MHz vs. 1152 SPs & 800MHz). Unlike last generation, you don't need to be some sort of Jedi to extract the PS4's potential here. The Xbox One and PS4 architectures are quite similar, Sony just has more hardware under the hood. Weâll have to wait and see how this hardware delta gets exposed in games over time, but the gap is definitely there. The funny thing about game consoles is that itâs usually the lowest common denominator that determines the bulk of the experience across all platforms. On the plus side, the Xbox One should enjoy better power/thermal characteristics compared to the PlayStation 4. Even compared to the Xbox 360 we should see improvement in many use cases thanks to modern power management techniques." AnandTech does its usual in-depth thing.More News »
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Member since:
2009-06-09
As long as you're encoding the same information, there isn't going to be much difference between a binary format, and a compressed text format. Markup compresses extremely well.
It's not only a network latency/bandwidth problem. Computers don't like compression and text parsing. They will happily do the work, but not very fast.
Think about what happends when sending a compressed HTML/XML:
Sender:
1. Create text in buffer (memory and text creation overhead).
2. Compress the text (cycles and more memory touched).
3. Send data.
Receiver:
4. Receive data.
5. Decompress data.
6. Parse text.
With binary you skip step 2 and 5, while the rest have a smaller overhead.
Then people shout "interoperability" and "human-readable"!
Interoperability: When computers talk to each other they don't care about the encoding as long as they agree on the format.
Human-readable: This is only needed for debugging; then use a debugger! You just need a tool that can transform the binary to a human-readable format.
Imagine if machine code and the TCP/IP headers were text. Would you defend such a design?
Edited 2009-08-11 01:41 UTC