Practical Technology

for practical people.

January 4, 2012
by sjvn01
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Can Firefox be a Web browser contender again? Firefox 9.01 Review

December 20th, 2011 wasn’t Mozilla’s best day. No sooner had they released the latest version of Firefox than reports started coming in of a killer bug. By the next day, Mozilla had to release a bug-fix version of Firefox, 9.01, just to getting the popular Web browser working for users. Clearly, Mozilla’s accelerated release schedule has real problems. Still, once the launch problem was cleaned up the new Firefox looks pretty darn good.

Let’s start with its performance numbers. The last few versions of Firefox haven’t been very fast. While generally speaking Firefox still isn’t as fast as the current speed-demon Web browser, Chrome 16, it’s better than it has been and faster than the rest.

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January 2, 2012
by sjvn01
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Chrome keeps winning; Internet Explorer keeps falling

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE), according to both Web browser surveying companies, Net Applications and StatCounter, is continuing its fall like a stone, while Chrome keeps flying upward Indeed, StatCounter has Chrome 15, now Chrome 16, thanks to Chrome’s automatic update feature, being the world’s most popular single browser version.

Even by Net Applications’s account though, IE has dropped to a new all-time, modern low of 51.9%, By their numbers IE dropped over seven points last year. If its decline keeps up at this rate, IE will fall below 50% by March. By StatCounter’s statistics , which look at the global Web browser market, IE went under 40% for the first time. StatCounter has IE’s share down to 38.65%.

Roger Capriotti, Microsoft’s IE marketing head, chose to put the most positive spin on the results. Capriotti wrote in advance of Net Applications’ final numbers for the year, We’re pleased to say IE9 … will soon take the top spot from IE8 on Windows 7.” Capriotti didn’t comment on IE’s far more dismal StatCounter’s performance numbers.

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January 2, 2012
by sjvn01
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Microsoft reluctantly bows to Linux users

Ace Microsoft reporter Mary Jo Foley swears she’s not drinking. Microsoft really is getting ready to enable customers to make Linux and Windows virtual machines (VMs) persistent on Windows Azure, its public platform-as-a-service (PaaS) cloud service.

That Microsoft was going to enable users to set up persistent VMs on Azure came as no surprise. While Azure has persistent storage, its inability to keep a VM persistent has annoyed many people, and not just Linux server managers. I know several SharePoint and SQL Server administrators who’ve avoided Azure because of this lack. There are ways to hack your way around the lack of a persistent Azure VM, but they’re not easy.

According to Foley’s sources, Microsoft will launch a Community Technology Preview (CTP) test-build of the persistent VM capability in the spring of 2012. Microsoft itself has been close-mouthed about support for persistent VMs and supporting Linux on it in particular.

So why is Microsoft, ever so quietly and reluctantly doing this? Because its customers are demanding Linux support. Oh the irony!

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December 30, 2011
by sjvn01
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The Top Five Linux Stories of 2011

Just like with networking, I looked at my five most popular Linux stories of the last year,

How to install Google’s Chrome OS

Review: Barnes & Nobles’ Nook Color goes Android Tablet

The Five Best Desktop Linux Distributions

Five Reasons why Google’s Linux Chromebook is a Windows killer

Sun CEO explicitly endorsed Java’s use in Android: What do you say now Oracle?

and while they’re all fine stories, I can’t say that they’re the most significant stories of the year. They did, however, inspire me with the ideas for my list of 2011’s most important Linux stories. So, with no further adieu, here from least to most important, is my list.

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December 30, 2011
by sjvn01
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Go Daddy really and truly opposes SOPA now

here’s nothing like getting kicked in the teeth by your customers to make a company see reason. When Internet registry and Web site hosting company Go Daddy first realized that supporting the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), a misguided Internet copyright and censorship bill, wasn’t a smart idea, Go Daddy CEO Warren Adelman did a half-assed job of backing away from SOPA. A few days later, and quite a few lost customers later, Go Daddy has decided to really and truly oppose SOPA.

The first time around, when Adelman announced Go Daddy’s opposition to SOPA, he waffled saying, “Fighting online piracy is of the utmost importance, which is why Go Daddy has been working to help craft revisions to this legislation-but we can clearly do better. It’s very important that all Internet stakeholders work together on this. Getting it right is worth the wait. Go Daddy will support it when and if the Internet community supports it.”

Now, after the Reddit Go Daddy protest gathered steam; Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales announced that he would be moving Wikipedia’s domain names from Go Daddy; and, last but not least, aggressive ads from competiting Internet domain registry and hosting companies such as Namecheap, Adelman has had a real change of heart.

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December 30, 2011
by sjvn01
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Verizon backs off $2 bill payment charge

It must have seemed like just another day for Verizon Wireless executives. “I know,” someone in the CFO’s office said, “We’ll charge people who make one-time credit or debit card payments on the phone or online $2 to pay their bill.” It must have seen like another fine way to nickel and dime their customers and make the bottom line better. Then, the customers got word of it and all hell broke loose. A day later and Verizon announced it would drop this new charge.

In their statement, Verizon said, “Verizon Wireless has decided it will not institute the fee for online or telephone single payments that was announced earlier this week.” Why? “The company made the decision in response to customer feedback about the plan, which was designed to improve the efficiency of those transactions. The company continues to encourage customers to take advantage of the numerous simple and convenient payment methods it provides.”

Dan Mead, Verizon Wireless’ president and CEO added, that, “At Verizon, we take great care to listen to our customers. Based on their input, we believe the best path forward is to encourage customers to take advantage of the best and most efficient options, eliminating the need to institute the fee at this time.” You think?

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