Linked by Kroc Camen on Fri 5th Feb 2010 23:28 UTC
A quick round up of various web-related news items. First up, a new open source product entitled the "Highgate media suite" will bring OGG video decoding to Silverlight. Microsoft have just joined the SVG working group (arguably 10 years late, but it's better than nothing). Adobe promise significant improvements in Flash 10.1, including Core Animation rendering on OS X and lowered CPU usage. Finally, CoperLicht--a WebGL JavaScript 3D engine (Quake in JS will be here one day)
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RE[4]: Video for everybody
by vivainio on Sat 6th Feb 2010 22:05
in reply to "RE[3]: Video for everybody"
Member since:2008-12-26
Instead of making Silverlight at all, they should have first maxed out standards support in IE
But what's the business case for improving IE, for Microsoft?
It's not like it's a source of revenue, and they can't really use it to subvert the web anymore. They need Silverlight for that.
RE[5]: Video for everybody
by nt_jerkface on Sat 6th Feb 2010 22:36
in reply to "RE[4]: Video for everybody"
Member since:2009-08-26
RE[4]: Video for everybody
by nt_jerkface on Sat 6th Feb 2010 22:22
in reply to "RE[3]: Video for everybody"
Member since:2009-08-26
then developed professional friendly design tools much like Flash studio that compile into HTML/JS/CSS/SVG and so forth;
That's a lot easier said then done. With Silverlight they wanted to bring the .net framework to the web and the cleanest way to do that is with a blank slate. With ASP Ajax they ran into problems trying to shoehorn .net into technologies that were really not designed to be pushed to that extent. The other benefit with a plug-in is that you get a consistent user experience. When you start manipulating HTML/JS/CSS in a complex manner you run into browser quirks. With a plug-in you have control over the rendering engine.
I think their main mistake has been not making a commitment to alleviating concerns over lock-in. I'm not just talking about Linux but also mobile platforms. But they have been much better to Linux than Adobe has ever been. If you recall there was a long period where Flash in Linux was a full version behind and Adobe didn't care at all.
It is also a different time than the IE6 days. With OSX having ~12% share in the US they cannot lock Siverlight to IE or Windows. Web developers would use something else if they did. They have to push Silverlight on technical merit.
I suspect one of the main motivations behind Silverlight is to provide an alternative to Flash for security and stability reasons. They probably got sick of looking at IE crash reports that showed Flash as the leading cause.
RE[5]: Video for everybody
by Nelson on Sat 6th Feb 2010 23:17
in reply to "RE[4]: Video for everybody"
Member since:2005-11-29
RE[5]: Video for everybody
by lemur2 on Mon 8th Feb 2010 05:50
in reply to "RE[4]: Video for everybody"
Member since:2007-02-17
I think their main mistake has been not making a commitment to alleviating concerns over lock-in. I'm not just talking about Linux but also mobile platforms. But they have been much better to Linux than Adobe has ever been. If you recall there was a long period where Flash in Linux was a full version behind and Adobe didn't care at all.
It is also a different time than the IE6 days. With OSX having ~12% share in the US they cannot lock Siverlight to IE or Windows. Web developers would use something else if they did. They have to push Silverlight on technical merit.
I suspect one of the main motivations behind Silverlight is to provide an alternative to Flash for security and stability reasons. They probably got sick of looking at IE crash reports that showed Flash as the leading cause.
It is also a different time than the IE6 days. With OSX having ~12% share in the US they cannot lock Siverlight to IE or Windows. Web developers would use something else if they did. They have to push Silverlight on technical merit.
I suspect one of the main motivations behind Silverlight is to provide an alternative to Flash for security and stability reasons. They probably got sick of looking at IE crash reports that showed Flash as the leading cause.
It would be very simple for Microsoft to eliminate concerns over lock-in surrounding .NET and Silverlight.
All they need do is (1) to remove Windows-only parts, such as COM, and (2) to make an irrevocable pledge that anybody may write their own implementation under any license terms of any part of it, or of all of it, including Windows.forms, ASP.NET and ADO.NET, and the VC1 codec, for any platform. If Microsoft are concerned about interoperability, they could provide test cases so that other non-Windows implementations could verify that they have a valid implementation (as is done with Java).
After all, anyone may implement Java or Flash for any platform under any license terms.
As long as Microsoft continue to fail to make such pledges then, given Microsoft's past behaviours, continued concerns over Microsoft's intentions regarding lock-in are perfectly valid. Indeed, such concerns are probably mandatory, considering the complexity of interoperability with a system such as .NET and Silverlight, and also considering that in the past Microsoft have shown that they are unable even to make a plain simple ASCII text file interoperable with existing standards.
Edited 2010-02-08 06:00 UTC
RE[5]: Video for everybody
by anda_skoa on Mon 8th Feb 2010 20:51
in reply to "RE[4]: Video for everybody"
Member since:2005-07-07
But they have been much better to Linux than Adobe has ever been. If you recall there was a long period where Flash in Linux was a full version behind and Adobe didn't care at all.
I am not sure I get this right.
Are they treating Linux better than Adobe because they haven't released a Linux version at all or because it is now 3 full versions behind?
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:33 UTC
Official Apple statement on PRISM and privacy: "Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities. In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it." This is basically Apple re-publishing their earlier statement in a more official manner. You either believe it, or you don't.
Linked by Anonymous on 06/18/13 22:26 UTC
The open source Contiki operating system and its commercial Thingsquare distribution are making strides towards the connected home. According to a Computerworld article, a new LED light bulb manufacturer is putting small computers into their light bulbs. Each computer runs the Contiki OS, which gives each bulb an IP address and allows them to be controlled with a smartphone application. To connect the bulbs to the application, the bulbs use both Wi-Fi and the much lower power IEEE 802.15.4 mesh technology.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:25 UTC
"Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it's forced to give the government. The legal filing, which cites the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, is the latest move by the California-based tech giant to protect its reputation in the aftermath of news reports about sweeping National Security Agency surveillance of Internet traffic." Draining the ditch after the cow has drowned in it.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:45 UTC
"I can't find one person who has been using the Nexus 7 for an extended period of time, and hasn't seen a massive downgrade in performance. Just what kind of downgrade are we talking here? I cannot pick up my Nexus 7 without experiencing problems like a lag of ten seconds, or more, just to rotate the display; touches refusing to acknowledged; stuttering notification panel actions; and unresponsive apps." Fully and utterly agreed. My Nexus 7 was blazing-fast and awesome for a few months, and at some point, it just started sucking. Just like that. I've tried loads of ROMs, and nothing helps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:32 UTC, submitted by poundsmack
A new release of the hobby operating system MenuetOS! The release notes are a bit non-descript, but you'll have to take what you can get: "updates and improvements (picview, httpc, ehci, ...)".
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:58 UTC
"The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem. There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity - jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month's income. Solving these problems isn't simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we're unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access." Insane.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:52 UTC
"MineAssemble is a tiny bootable Minecraft clone written partly in x86 assembly. I made it first and foremost because a university assignment required me to implement a game in assembly for a computer systems course. Because I had never implemented anything more complex than a 'Hello World' bootloader before, I decided I wanted to learn about writing my own kernel code at the same time. Note that the goal of this project was not to write highly efficient hand-optimized assembly code, but rather to have fun and write code that balances readability and speed. This is primarily accomplished by proper commenting and consistent code structuring." Just cool.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 21:03 UTC
Jon Rubinstein, former CEO of Palm: "Well, I'm not sure I would have sold the company to HP. That's for sure. Talk about a waste. Not that I had any choice because when you sell a company you don't get to decide that. Obviously, the board and shareholders decide that. If we had known they were just going to shut it down and never really give it a chance to flourish, what would have been the point of selling the company? I think the deal we had with Verizon really hurt us, but who knew that at the time? These things are all hindsight."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 20:46 UTC
"And so it is with Dell's Alienware X51 R2, a small form factor gaming PC in console digs. It's shaped similar to Microsoft's Xbox 360 Slim, and though it's slightly larger than either a 360 or PlayStation 3, the X51 R2 would be right at home in a living room setting nestled next to a large screen TV. Indeed, it's adept at running Steam's Big Picture mode, and if your primary objective is to play games in the living room, go ahead and consider the X51 R2 a hybrid game console." This is obviously not the only machine like this - still, these are very valid console alternatives even for those that don't like being hunched over with a cramped WASD-claw. Also, PC gamers among us: could you get away with the $699 model for gaming?
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 17:32 UTC
From Bloomberg: "Microsoft, the world's largest software company, provides intelligence agencies with information about bugs in its popular software before it publicly releases a fix, according to two people familiar with the process. That information can be used to protect government computers and to access the computers of terrorists or military foes." The lid has officially been blown off.More News »
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Member since:
2005-11-10
We've heard about Microsoft departments trying to do each other in, and Silverlight / IE is one of those areas of divide when it comes to Microsoft.
I do hope that IE9 is an awesome browser with Canvas, SVG and Video, but Microsoft have committed to nothing other than rounded corners and anti-aliasing; what a joke.
The more IE supports the standards, the more that conflicts with Silverlight which is trying to usurp those standards. This doesn’t sound like a company that understands the web very well.
Instead of making Silverlight at all, they should have first maxed out standards support in IE, then developed professional friendly design tools much like Flash studio that compile into HTML/JS/CSS/SVG and so forth; and anything they wanted to do that couldn’t be met by the standards, implement them in IE only and submit those features to become part of the standards. Both Canvas and Video (and Img by the way) were proprietary first and then accepted by other vendors and turned into standards.