February 18th, 2009

Posted by Mary Jo Foley

Internet Explorer 8 {IE 8} is nearing the finish line, with a March release to manufacturing looking like a distinct possibility. But is IE 8 — or, more accurately — Web site developers and owners — really ready?

I have been testing IE 8 since the code became available publicly. And one thing that hasn’t changed much over the past several months is the fact that many Web sites still aren’t compatible with IE 8.

I’m not blaming the site owners here. Microsoft officials have known all along that even though the IE team is doing the “right” thing by finally making IE more standards-compliant, they are risking “breaking the Web” because the vast majority of Web sites still are written to work correctly with previous, non-standards-compliant versions of IE.

Microsoft has tried to mitigate the effects of moving to a default standards-based view in a few ways. IE 8 comes with a “Compatibility View” button that will “fix” a seemingly broken site if a user knows to press it. Microsoft went a step beyond this with IE 8 Release Candidate 1, issued in January, by adding a downloadable list of sites that would automatically trigger IE 8 to move directly to compatibility mode, rather than standards mode.

(Here is the list of the 2,400 sites that are on Version 1.0 of Microsoft’s Compatibility View list.)

The Compatibility View list includes some major sites — Apple.com, CNN.com, eBay, Facebook, Google.com, NYTimes.com — even Microsoft.com (!) — and lots, lots more. Users also have the option of adding IE-8-incompatible sites they visit that didn’t make it onto the list that will be appended to the schema list they download.

The Compatibility List has made my IE 8 browsing a lot more stable. When I go to the NYTimes.com site now, it just works. The Compatibility View button (the icon for which looks like a broken Web page and is typically located directly to the right of the URL address bar) doesn’t appear at all (as is the case for all sites on the Compatibility List).

That said, there are a lot of sites I visit that aren’t on the list. And more often than not, they fail to render correctly with IE 8. Sometimes I remember that I should try hitting the Compatibility View button to see if there are boxes and buttons and text there that I can’t see because I am using IE 8. Other times, when I am visiting a site with which I’m unfamiliar, I don’t realize what I’m missing.

I’m at the point now — if a site looks weird, is slow or just doesn’t seem to be working right — I simply assume it is IE 8’s fault. Sometimes I’m right (as I discover when I open the same site in Firefox or Chrome and it looks and works fine). Other times, cialis professional vs cialis I’m not — a site just might be down or broken. The bottom line is I’ve come to expect a rocky browsing experience when using IE 8.

I doubt the compatibility experience is going to change much, if at all, between now and the time IE 8 is released. For months, Microsoft has been banging the drum for site owners to update their code — either by adding compatibility tags or redoing sites to take into account the changes in IE 8. Many site admins and developers have said they weren’t willing to take on that task until Microsoft delivered a near-final test release — at least a Release Candidate.

Some critics have said they think Microsoft is doing a disservice to developers by offering compatibility work-arounds. They say Microsoft created its own problems by delivering previous IE releases that flouted standards — which is true. And now Microsoft should bite the bullet and just go the 100-percent-standards route, they reason. That might be a better course in the long run for Web developers tired of having to do separate versions of sites and apps for standards-based browsers and for IE, but it punishes Web users in the interim.

What’s going to happen when IE 8 goes final and non-techie users have it pushed to them or get new PCs with IE 8 preloaded? I wouldn’t be surprised to see further losses in IE market share, as frustrated users find only some of their favorite Web sites displaying correctly but don’t really understand why. Perhaps Opera and its chums won’t need the antitrust courts to get a leg up on Microsoft, after all….

What’s your take? Is Microsoft taking the right course with Compatibility Mode in IE 8?

February 16th, 2009

Posted by Zack Whittaker

After checking Twitter a few moments ago, I was shocked, horrified and appalled at the news that a student from Chicago threatened suicide over the forceful, bullying tactics of major media corporations.

I didn’t think my 200th post on ZDNet would result in me saying this.

I have a fairly controversial opinion when it comes to software piracy, and sharing music and other multimedia online. But considering hundreds of millions of people share and download music every day, the chances of being struck by one of these lawsuits is en par with winning the cialis professional tadalafil lottery or being killed in a nasty milk float accident.

The Recording Industry Association of America (”RIAA” hereon in) with the assistance of other major corporations, including EMI, Warner, Sony BMG, has reported to be bullying students and “innocent people” in a series of attacks in regards to music piracy. Whilst some may say sharing a music file with another person is like walking into a shop and stealing the CD, I would whole-heartedly disagree.

I don’t know a huge amount about the legalities, nor do I understand US law or even the politics too much, so I’ll give this the best go I can. Many of my links direct back here, so please do check out the sourced article.

Thomas Perrelli is the “main guy” who shut down Internet radio by helping to mastermind massive fees imposed on companies such as Pandora.com. Also we have Donald Verrilli, who was one of the main people involved in the attempts of Viacom suing YouTube.

These two men, Perrelli and Verrilli, don’t have a very positive opinion in the online world.

Long story short, according to p2pnet:

“I eventually had a long telephone conversation with girl I mentioned earlier, the one who was threatening to kill herself, and she said she, too, would write something about her experiences. But she changed her mind after her parents agreed to bail her out.

She wouldn’t tell me the price, but she said she now hoped she’d be able to get back to her studies and on with her life.”

There is then the story of Brittany Kruger, who could never be considered a pirate of any kind, shared some music with a few of her friends. This led to the RIAA instigating a lawsuit against her, and described as “being hung out to dry by the labels, with the RIAA fronting for them.”

Her full story can be found a quarter way down the page in blue.

In both my honest, professional opinion, as both a journalist and a student, these vicious, thoughtless, bullying tactics need to stop. Yes I’m sure to some extent this post may not make sense, and you’re probably looking for a point. There is my point, America, because students should not be victims of media giants who take advantage of the law.

Do you have a hard time keeping track of when your favorite musicians release new music? I know I do! I can’t keep track of who's releasing a new CD and when. I love to support my favorite artists by buying their music, but since I like so many different artists, it all gets jumbled up in my brain!

But no more! With Feed Revolution, you can keep track of all your favorite musicians and get an e-mail when they release something new. It's really easy to sign up for as well!

Just type in the names of artists or bands you like. (Note: If you have a last.fm username, you can import artists from your playlists there). Next, enter in the e-mail address you’ll want the alerts sent to. Then click on the button to sign up!

While you'll be auto-logged in, you’ll need to click on the link you receive in your e-mail to activate the e-mail feed. As soon as you activate your e-mail feed, you'll start getting e-mails whenever one of your favorite musicians has a new release!

Once you’re logged in, you’ll be on the New Releases page. That's where you can monitor on the Web page what's coming out each month. There's also an Add Artists page, where you can add artists to your list of artists to watch.

If you aren’t logged in and you go to the New Releases page, you can browse through all of the new releases for the month. I thought that was pretty cool! There are 22 pages of new releases for the cialis professional online month of February, so be sure to check it out today!

http://www.feedrevolution.com/signup

How often do you use CDs? Maybe you use a software CD every day or you listen to music CDs all the time. Whatever you may use a CD for, it's very important to take good care of them so they can perform at their best.

As you know, CDs are very fragile and they need to be handled with extreme care, or they could cialis professional generic instantly get dirty, get scratched or snap in half. You should only hold CDs by the outer edges or by the center hole with one finger.

To clean off any smudges, take a clean, soft and lint free cloth and wipe the backside surface of the CD. Start wiping from the center, moving outwards and wipe across the disc instead of in circles. Going in a circular motion can cause minor scratches, which will ruin the data on the CD.

If a simple once over doesn't do the job, you can use a slightly damp cloth to wipe over the CD again. You should always keep your CDs away from dust, liquids, household cleaners or any other corrosive products.

You should also try to keep your CD players clean by dusting them every so often. Always try to keep your CDs in their protective cases to try and combat any problems. CDs are a big part of the world today and if you use them often, you should do all you can to keep them safe and clean. Of course, this tip can also be used for DVDs.

Do you use the miniature slides in MS PowerPoint for navigation purposes?

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