Internet Explorer 8 beta 2 released

Microsoft has finally released the much anticipated Internet Explorer 8 beta 2 today. It can be found here. Apparently it is receiving rave reviews from all around the planet. (Review1,Review2). One of the new "feature" is the "porn mode", or so it is nicknamed. Ahem.

I personally haven't tried it yet, (by "it" I mean the browser you pervs) but the reviews all say that IE8 is "catching up" and that "There is not much difference between FireFox and IE now". Some are even predicting that this might be the end of Firefox! Well, it does seem that Microsoft has done a good job, and I think the consumer is the ultimate winner here.

An interesting thing to notice is that this is a major software that has been copied from the Open source world to the proprietary world. Generally it is the other way round - Open source applications aim to imitate their more established/feature full counterparts. Recently one such software was acquired by Cisco, because it was not happy with Microsoft's offering. A small win for open source software!

Completely unrelated: Can you imagine a 2 inch by 2 inch computer complete with usb ports, serial ports, mic and headphone jacks? Can't? You don't have to. Just have a look at Space Cube, which is exactly that and more. Oh, and did I mention it runs Linux? :P

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gurgaon

Since around a week I am in Gurgaon, the technology capital of North India. Some quick observations: 1. Gurgaon is DLF. DLF is Gurgaon. They have built the whole freakin' township. Everything else is just support and built after that. 2. The public transport cannot be called worse than anywhere else in India. Because it doesn't EXIST. 3. Well ok, that was an overstatement. But really, there are no buses. The Gurgaon metro is still being built. The Delhi metro just extends till HUDA city center and is the only saving grace. Auto rickshaw wallahs are robbers. 4. Delhi is not that far off, thanks to the Delhi metro's extension. I have no idea how Delhites coped before the metro. Seriously. Cars, I believe. Couldn't see the famed T3 at the Delhi airport. Perhaps when I take off from here..
Read more

ReactOS

Image
Please click on the Image to enlarge it. What seems so special about the screenshot? It seems that somebody just clicked on "start" in windows. So whats the fuss and why am I writing a post about it? Well, it turns out that (surprise!) it is not windows at all, but an operating system called ReactOS . To quote the ReactOS site verbatim "ReactOS® is a free, modern operating system based on the design of Windows® XP/2003. Written completely from scratch, it aims to follow the Windows® architecture designed by Microsoft from the hardware level right through to the application level. This is not a Linux based system, and shares none of the unix architecture". ReactOS is doing something unimaginable to me till some time ago, reverse engineering the whole windows opertating system itself! . And all the while maintaining compatibility with windows. Right now it claims that it is in pre alpha stage, but already it has many features like remote desktop, e
Read more

Philips Innovation Campus

Image
This picture shows what it is like inside the huge Philips Innovation Campus (PIC). And this is what my office looks like from the breakout area. 'Dream on' by Aerosmith still going strong. Dream on, dream on, dream on, Dream on till your dream comes true...
Read more