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The past fortnight has seen two major releases in the web browser market.
Microsoft was first off the block when it unleashed Internet Explorer 7 on the world and it was closely followed just a few days later by a new milestone release of Mozilla Firefox.
As regular readers will know, I’m no fan on Internet Explorer. Lacklustre security, no real innovations and an almost total disregard for important web standards, coupled with Microsoft’s monopoly that sees the browser on just about all new PCs purchased, has undoubtedly hurt the web and its reputation over recent years.
Firefox, on the other hand, has considerably tighter security, made innovations like tabbed browsing and extensions and complies more closely with standards.
Microsoft had previously stated that it would no longer be releasing updates to Internet Explorer but as awareness of its security flaws grew, take up of alternative browsers, most noticeably Firefox, grew rapidly and the company was forced to do something about it.
So how do these new browser versions fare?
There’s no denying that IE7 is a radical step forward. A very new interface, in keeping with the design of the forthcoming Vista, is sure to confuse many average computer users but features like tabbed browsing, a rather nifty built-in RSS newsfeed reader and a final acknowledgement by Microsoft that security is important, definitely makes IE7 a compelling product.
So does it offer Windows users currently turned on to Firefox a reason to switch back?
Sorry, Microsoft, but it doesn’t even come close.
Firefox 2 takes the success of its predecessor and builds on it. An enhanced interface, a built-in spell checker and a phishing filter that alerts of potential attempts at tricking you to fraudulently provide passwords mean the best just got better. On the downside, the long standing problem of a memory leak that can see the browser take up vast amounts of your computers RAM if left open for a long time is still present, although it’s probably something only noticed by techies with hefty browsing habits.
A fly in the ointment of Firefox’s continuing success could be that Microsoft will eventually push out IE7 as an automatic update meaning that Windows users will probably end up with it by default.
Microsoft has also come under fire over the past week on a number of fronts.
Firstly it lost its antitrust appeal against the European Union meaning it will have to pay a fine of half a billion Euros, reveal the source code of its server-based operating system and offer Windows without a bundled Media Player.
Next the company had to listen to customer demand and extend the life of Windows XP until June 2008. It was originally going to stop selling XP next January but has been forced into an embarrassing u-turn because so many people don’t want Vista.
As if a perceived failure of its new operating system wasn’t enough, Microsoft is seeing a multi pronged attack on its chief cash cow, Office.
Google added the new Presentation software to its range of free online office applications. Whilst relatively rudimentary at this stage it offers an easy to use alternative to Powerpoint with added online collaboration options.
Then IBM announced its free office suite, Lotus Symphony, probably the most polished alternative to Microsoft Office out there.
Microsoft’s days at the top are looking ever more threatened.
I gave up on Windows Vista shortly after it came out, primarily due to a worry for my mental state as I waited forever for files to copy around my computer. Vista proved so spectacularly slow that it was like regressing a couple of decades.
Fortunately, two new patches quietly issued by Microsoft have worked wonders for system speed and appear to have really solved the problem – although they’ve come too late in the day for me.
Download the ‘performance and reliability‘ update and the ‘compatibility and reliability‘ update directly from Microsoft.
This week you find me in a state of heightened irritation and frustration.
I feel like I’ve been through more hoops than a show dog at Crufts – and all in an effort to achieve something I’m actually not all that bothered about.
I’ve done my utmost to try out the BBC’s iPlayer software for the sake of this column and I’d like to report the success I’ve been enjoying downloading and watching television programmes I missed over the past seven days.
That’s what I would like to be reporting. Unfortunately, my actual experience has been quite to the contrary.
Like many others, I was already disappointed that upon its release a couple of weeks ago the iPlayer was only available for a specific type of computer. You need Windows XP, Internet Explorer and Media Player 11 – a veritable Microsoft lockdown if ever there was one.
The BBC claims that it will eventually bring out the software to run on Macs and Linux-based machines but, frankly, I’m not holding my breath.
My initial problem was this required platform. Despite owning a brace of computers, none of them meet the demands perfectly. I can offer Ubuntu Linux, Mac OS – even Windows Vista and I have an old laptop that still runs XP but it’s somewhat underpowered and needs an inconvenient wired connection to the internet.
My work computer was the only one I could use for the experiment so in the office one day, I set about my task.
You can’t just download iPlayer; you have to ask nicely for it. I’d already sent off a request some days earlier which eventually came back with an invitation and password to grab the software which I promptly did.
I found the install process clunky and unreliable and it actually took a couple of attempts to get it on my computer. Finally successful, I breathed a sigh of relief and put the dodgy experience behind me. I was now ready to sit back and download a sample programme.
But now it wanted another password for a BBC membership account which I had to go and sign up for.
New password entered, I expectantly clicked a random show. This was it.
Except it wasn’t.
“iPlayer has detected that you are currently outside of the UK. You need to be inside the UK to use this service.”
BitTorrent, you remain my best friend.
Despite daily promises to myself that I wouldn’t be taking the plunge with Windows Vista any time soon, last week I bought a new laptop computer which, as you would expect, came with it preinstalled.
I’ve already had plenty of experience with the various pre-release beta versions of Vista so on the whole I knew what to expect and the performance has definitely improved with the full release. The bells, whistles and eye candy aplenty certainly do no harm and if you can stop yourself from systematically reverting its functionality to something more akin to a familiar XP style, you’ll eventually find some cool tools and productivity enhancing features, though little that’s truly innovative and doesn’t already exist as third party downloads in XP or in Mac OS X.
That’s the Vista review out the way, probably the least in-depth evaluation you’re ever likely to read, but the web is, of course, full of them so seek greater guidance there, if you must.
I’ll end by saying that I was going to ‘write’ this week’s column using one or both of Vista’s alternative input methods – handwriting and speech recognition. In fairness, the experience wasn’t quite as bad as I was expecting – indeed, once trained, I was occasionally impressed with Vista’s ability to translate my scribbles and mutterings – but I don’t think secretaries and PAs have anything to worry about just yet. Unless your typing sounds like the ticking of a grandfather clock, pecking away at the keyboard is still going to yield faster results for some time still to come, although from a disabled usability perspective, Vista does deliver potentially useful help.
There is always some new online innovation causing a buzz and filling up blog inches and Joost is no exception.
The software aims to merge computer and television experiences by delivering video content over the web using established peer-to-peer (P2P) technologies. It’s no fly-by-night start-up, either. Joost is the collaborative brainchild of the founders of Skype and Kazaa and it has already signed deals with Warner and Viacom for providing content.
Still at the ‘invitation only’ beta testing stage, Joost shows considerable potential and looks likely to push forward considerably the whole IPTV trend of delivering television and film over the internet at very little cost to the provider.
I was somewhat amused to read comments made by Microsoft top boss, Steve Ballmer, about the initial sales – or lack of them – of Windows Vista.
Ballmer has had to admit that the initial sales predictions for Vista were ‘overly optimistic’. But does he offer any candid or insightful suggestions as to why the sales are so flat? Is it the relatively low-key launch of Vista? Perhaps is that when people see what Vista has to offer, they realise they are happy with their Windows XP set-up? Could it be that Linux is becoming a real and viable alternative to Windows? Perhaps the ludicrously high price – anything from £150 for the most basic upgrade to £370 for Vista Ultimate – might be putting us off taking the plunge?
No, none of these things are contributing to the low sales of Vista. The real problem, according to Mr. Ballmer, is with the age-old enemy of pirates, specifically those residing in India, China and Russia.
What’s particularly puzzling about this statement is that it seems to directly contradict Ballmer’s other claim that Vista is impossible to pirate.
The real reason behind Microsoft crowing about piracy is that it plans to step up Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), the software that checks the validity of your copy of Windows. WGA is controversial and a bane to many because it can bring up false alerts, stating ‘You may be the victim of software counterfeiting’ when you’re clearly not.
Microsoft needs to realise that even if someone in China installs a pirated version of their software, it doesn’t necessarily relate to a lost sale.
Microsoft’s latest version of its ubiquitous operating system, the much delayed Windows Vista, finally became available to businesses last week.
Domestic consumers will have to wait until the end of January before getting a chance to experience it, but by all accounts there are few people wringing their hands in anticipation.
Of course, once January is here, just about any computer sold that isn’t an Apple Mac will have a copy of Vista pre-installed (and paid for by you when you buy it) and that’s the way Microsoft manages to maintain its dominance of the PC desktop market. Nice work if you can get it.
Much of the reason for Vista’s numerous delays can be put down to the company’s sudden focus on security a few years ago. Finally realising that its poor computer safety reputation had the potential to seriously harm sales, Microsoft went back to the drawing board and started again.
Staggeringly, Vista has taken a total of 50,000 man years to develop and the majority of computer users have probably never even heard of it.
To quote one technology analyst, “One of the world’s most powerful monopolies puts 10,000 people to work for five years to create one new product and nobody is really sure if anyone wants it. How’s that for a gamble?”
Microsoft’s business model for Windows is unique. It doesn’t have to physically market the product (a tiny percentage of sales will be from actual disc sales), it just has to keep it modern and maintain its business relationships with PC wholesalers.
I’ve used the pre-release version of Vista for some time and it is undoubtedly great software.
It looks pretty, has greater security and numerous tweaks that make day-to-day computer management an almost enjoyable experience.
Will I be upgrading? Yes, if I can persuade my boss of a business need for it but I certainly won’t be shelling out upwards of £200 myself. By the time I’m ready to buy my next computer, who knows what I will opt for?
In a world that plays host to the elegance of Apple’s Mac OS X and ever more user-friendly flavours of Linux, not to mention the numerous lightweight, web-based applications that I wrote of last week, could Vista be the last we will see of such costly, complex and lengthy software projects?
Windows 7
January 30, 2009 in Comment, Microsoft | Leave a comment
The company may just have done enough to buoy up its sinking credibility. The positive reviews for Windows 7 are so far as plentiful as the pounding negativity that hit Vista in its early life.
I’ve not used it long enough to warrant anything approaching a fair review but I’ll say this with honesty – it feels like Vista but with all the annoying things fixed.
As well as simply being ‘Vista done right’, Windows 7 does have one or two noticeable interface changes. For the first time since the introduction of Windows 95, Microsoft has changed the look and functionality of the taskbar which is now twice as deep and features icons for active applications – which have a slightly embossed look to distinguish them from the other icons of user-chosen shortcuts.
If that’s a familiar sounding concept, the chances are you’ve used a Mac at some point in the past 10 years as it’s a blatant copy of the dock in Mac OS X.
Windows 7 could be unleashed as early as the summer. If you fancy trying the beta for yourself, Microsoft is making it available for another couple of weeks.