Entries Tagged 'Software' ↓

Well, this has to be a record, four posts in one day!

Here’s the latest bit of news, you can now download the new beta of IE9, Microsoft’s latest version of Internet Explorer.

Fingers crossed for full CSS3 support and that it’s Acid proof.

Download IE9 Beta Here

There’s a lot of speculation about the new Google Chrome OS and I for one do not want it to be yet another Linux clone with ‘cloud’ based access to Google Apps. This is because its been done to death and doesn’t really improve upon or take advantage of Googles strengths that include storage, bandwidth and desire to monitor and manipulate data.

So how do I think the new Google OS should be implimented. Well, for a start I have to say I’m no application developer however, I am a keen follower of technology and somewhat of a futurist so here goes.

To put it simply I think the new Google OS should be in the form of a VPS, a Virtual Private Server with customers using remote desktop style interfaces to access their centrally stored data.

This approch has a number of wide reaching benefits which include:

Limited client side hardware requirements.

As your computing power is handled server side you should be able to do things like play Quake and other intensive games in super high resolution without needing the latest hardware (subject to adequate bandwidth).

In addition the VPS Google OS would take care of hardware upgrades and ensure that your system is always able to use the latest and greatest games and apps. This would also give Google the ability to market Google OS Ready hardware which would simply be a bare bones systems with compatible ethernet and graphics drivers.

Centralised Storage.

Having everything stored on an online drive has numerous advantages including limitless storage (probably for a fee), files being automatically updated from source, collaborative document creation, seamless backups, version control, easy searching and lots more.

Remote Access.

As everything is hosted on the cloud you could access your desktop from any PC by simply downloading a client application. In addition, cloud hosted files would give you web access to your private files from any location.

Subscription Software.

Having software hosted via the cloud would completely remove the ability to pirate applications which would see software developers moving to the new platform on mass. These apps would possibly be available via a subscription service which would not only give you access to the applications but also all future updates.

Issues.

There are obvious issues with this solution including:

Bandwidth – having everything hosted on the cloud would mean that to achieve a high framerate would require a fast connection. Having local mirrors could help speed this up (as with Google Search).

Privacy – Having everything stored centrally could be a privacy nightmare

Local Access – Saving files off the web could be a problem with people wishing to save files to CD and thumb drive. Tho’ with your content being accessible from any web accessible PC it shouldn’t be a problem. Connecting to iTunes or any 3rd party device could also be problematic tho’ as the creators of a new OS, Google should already be tacking this issue.

Fees – Initially the fees would be high tho’ I suspect that as more app developers move to the platform and more users take up their wares that these should go down dramatically

Microsoft – I don’t anticipate that Microsoft applications would initially be available to this service due to the MS / Google rivalry.

All in all, I think a VPS based Google OS would be a smash hit (especially if it’s free to basic users) and would totally revolutionise desktop operating systems.

UPDATE:

The original promotional price has expired and now its closer to the time when windows 7 will be available to buy in the shops you can now buy the various packs pretty cheap on Amazon:

• UK Windows 7 Home Premium £64.68
• UK Windows 7 Ultimate £159.98
• UK Windows 7 Professional £148.00
• USA Windows 7 Home Premium $199.99 (wow windows 7 is much more expensive in the USA?)
• USA Windows 7 Ultimate $319.99
• USA Windows 7 Professional $299.99

Seems like for once the UK is getting a pretty good deal.

Original Post Follows:

Adam has just given me the heads-up on Microsofts latest promotion for Windows 7 Home Premium which at only £49.99 gives you a massive discount off the RRP of £149.99.

The offer is available from participating retailers and is subject to stock.

Having run the Beta version of windows 7 for some time on my netbook im looking forwards to making the transition with my desktop pc which currently runs vista.

I have to say im not a fan of the bells and whistles that windows 7 has, however the additional speed is a welcomed boost to my productivity.

You can buy your copy of windows 7 at the following retailers:

• Amazon
• Comet
• Currys
• Ebuyer
• MSStore
• Micro Anvika
• PC World
• Play.com
• Staples

Read the original offer here.

<a href="http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-GB&#038;playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:a517b260-bb6b-48b9-87ac-8e2743a28ec5&#038;showPlaylist=true&#038;from=shared" onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outbound/article/video.msn.com');" target="_new" title="Future Vision Montage">Video: Future Vision Montage</a>

This is how Microsoft see the future – I WANT IT ALL!

Working from home today because of the snow, I’ve just used Logmein to access my work PC and remembered that a few days ago I installed Dropbox., a file synchronization application for mirroring selected folders between my local and remote PC.

This is significant because the free version of Logmein doesn’t allow file transfer from remote to local PC’s whereas with the use of Dropbox I can now do this with ease.

Happy days!

I’ve recently been cleaning out the log files of one of my old sites which are stored in an access database which was touching on the 150mb mark. As I’ve recently upgraded to MS Office 2007 (Thanks Work!) I’ve been scratching my head to find where the Compact and Repair option is in the new ribbon interface… Well I’ve finally found it.

Compact and Repair is now located under Office (Big round button top left) > Manage > Compact and Repair.

WARNING! – It’s temperamental and randomly deletes your database – so save as a backup before you do this (It’s a known bug by all accounts but very annoying).

Hope that helps you if you’re stuck with MS Access 2007!

L8R, Mark.

We all know that Internet Explorer is the devils own child and without a doubt one of the worst web browsers on the planet. So lets bring some additional publicity to FireFox, a champion of easy to use, feature-full, secure and fast web browser by joining in on Download Day.

Download Day is a campaign where you pledge to download the new version of FireFox (Version 3) later in June this year and on that day, you visit the site and by downloading the app, you become one of the many people to propel FireFox into the record books as software the most downloads in one day.

Learn more

The new Beta of Firefox 3 is out and new in this revision is a cool UI re-design.

Post Install Home Page for Firefox 3 Beta 4

The re-design in full. Click to enlarge.

Firefox 3 Beta 4 Download Panel

New downloads window

Firefox 3 Beta 4 Plugin Panel

New plugins window

Firefox 3 Beta 4 Bookmarks Modal Window

New bookmark dialogue

Firefox 3 Beta 4 Bookmarks Admin UI

New bookmarks management window

Firefox 3 Beta 4 Text Maginfication

Zooming now operates like IE’s and not just font scaling (not sure if this is beneficial?)

Firefox 3 Beta 4 Superbar

When you type in URL’s it comes up with suggestions automatically.

Firefox 3 Beta 4 Text Issues

Weird font discrepancies on some websites

So I thought ‘why not install the new SP for Windows Vista… It says you should uninstall it to install the legitimate release so whats the harm?’
Quite a lot, as it turns out.

• I can no longer surf in Firefox, IE or Safari (tho Opera works?)
• I cant get email using Thunderbird
• I cant FTP
• I cant uninstall it!
• System restore hasnt worked either

• I can still use IRC
• I can still use Trillian

I’m not impressed. If anyone knows how to fix this then PLEASE email markrush@gmail.com and let me know! I’m gonna give it until Boxing Day and then try and find my windows restore disks that came from Dell!

Just spied on Digg that there’s a new official version of Firefox out (Firefox 3 Beta).

Get Firefox 3 Beta

Here are a few of my first impressions and some issues I’ve found.

The tab scrolling is nice and smooth with some acceleration

When you open multiple tabs in Firefox 2.x you could quickly jump to loaded tabs. This feature seems a little slow in Firefox 3 Beta.

Sites like Brainfuel.tv render in some weird hieroglyph? Don’t quite know what’s going on there – I’ve noticed it on several websites now.

The contents of some pop-up windows is not displayed.

Firefox 3 hates FCK editor (what I’m currently editing in) and doesn’t show the karat

Bookmarks management looks great and is intuitive, but adding a bookmark reveals a clunky dialogue.

No inline spell checking

So whats my verdict? Have a play but don’t kill Firefox 2.x just yet.