First Look: Five Browsers in One

Why would you want such a thing? If you're a regular old surfer, you don't. But if you're a Web developer looking at compatibility, you do!

Lunascape, available for the last year as an alpha, gets good marks More

Posted by Doug Barney on 12/16/20080 comments

Meanwhile, Google Battens Down the Browser

The new Native Client is so fast that, apparently, you can even do fancy image processing over the Web. It's also meant to block malware. So far, though, the client doesn't work with IE. It'll be interesting to see if Google and Microsoft can come to terms and put these two tools on friendly footing.

Posted by Doug Barney on 12/15/20080 comments

Mailbag: Multi-Core Better?, More

Dual-core processors show promise, but it is up to the software to take advantage of it! Both OSes and apps need to step it up. My single-core desktop (AMD 2500+ 1.8GhZ cpu) streams video very smoothly (i.e., I can watch and record HDTV signals via USB tuner). My dual-core (Intel 1.8GhZ) laptop runs rings around the desktop when editing/rendering the recorded video. But try watching or recording with the dual-core laptop, same USB tuner. No way.

I would have thought the dual-core CPU would negate the video differences and the two systems. That leaves the OS. As it stands, I'll watch and record on the desktop, then do all edits and video ripping/burning on the laptop. CPU, OS or video problems -- you be the judge.
-Thomas

It seems the biggest benificiaries of multi-core CPUs are the makers of bloated anti-virus software. My dual-core laptop will frequently run a scan on start-up, which hogs one of the cores. But the other is free for other system tasks and applications. (Disk I/O still suffers.) But other than that, I don't see a big benefit over my previous single-core system.
-Marc

I recently went from an Intel Pentium 4 3.4GHz with 1GB of RAM to an Intel Quad Core2 2.6GHz with 4GB of RAM at work. I definitely see a difference when I open apps such as Word, Excel, Access and Acrobat -- they launch faster. And the CPU fan does not kick in when I have 20 apps open.
-Rich

The problem with the apps needing to be written to support numerous cores has been the main reason I have not purchased a Core 2 yet (along with price, even though it has come down a lot). I have always suspected that some apps would run slower like you said. I do use a Pentium D, but that's not really two cores; it's more like one-and-a-half. And at 3.0GHz, it's just as fast as many Core 2s I have seen, in my opinion. A fast Pentium D (with a nice L2 cache) with at least 2 gigs of RAM and a healthy FSB speed to match runs even Vista Ultimate with no issues; I haven't seen any difference in the Core 2s performance on similar machines.

And as far as playing games is concerned, your GPU is the bottleneck before the processor is when you're running at 3 GHz and your GPU core is only running at 650MHz. In my opinion, there's still no reason to get a Core 2 yet.
-Matt

I just finished updating an IBM ThinkPad T23 (circa 2001) for a customer. It boasts an Intel Mobile Pentium III 1.2 Ghz and 384Gb RAM. Impressive! It is running XP Pro SP3 as snappily as any machine that I have dealt with. I thought I had gotten into one of those "under-powered machine, over-powered expectations" situations that our customers seem to have periodically. Was I wrong! On the other hand, I have an HP Pavilion dv4000 with a Centrino 1.6 and 1GB RAM and a Gateway Core 2 1.8 with 2GB RAM, and neither seem to perform as well. By performance, I mean I can't tap my fingers more than once waiting on the ThinkPad, but the other two are good for at least four or five taps.

Empiric reasoning and perception? I guess so, but perception is everything and I certainly perceive better performance from an eight-year-old machine than I do from the "vastly improved" four-year-old machine and two-year-old machine. Funny thing though: My customer probably spent twice as much for that IBM when he bought it as I did for either of its two technologically improved successors. So have we regressed along with the cost? Or better yet, what do we really need to get the job done?
-Michael

Posted by Doug Barney on 12/15/20080 comments

Redmond Report: Ice Storm Edition

I live in Northern Massachusetts, right next to the New Hampshire border. My cable TV, then the Internet, and finally my electricity all went down Thursday night during a vicious ice storm. I spent the night listening to all the trees around me disintegrate.

For three days, my family hunkered down around the fireplace, the only source of protection against 15- to 20-degree temperatures. Finally, we bailed, largely to warm up my 2-year-old daughter who, despite the plunging temperatures (standing six feet from the flames, I could still see her breath), refused to wear socks or a proper shirt. We all fled north to my parents' house in New Hampshire where there's heat, power and warm food -- plus a couple of swell parents!

Posted by Doug Barney on 12/15/20080 comments

IE 8 Great

IE 8, still in beta, appears to be taking the lead in Internet security. It's the safest, most bug-free browser, according to Utest, which invited users to submit their findings as part of a "battle of the browsers" bug contest.

Posted by Doug Barney on 12/15/20080 comments

MS Dips Toes in Open Waters

Redmond's interoperability efforts are well-known, and generally well-done. But Microsoft has also released a decent bit of code into the public domain. The latest installment is Oxite , a developer-oriented content management system built by Redmond code monkeys to test out ASP.NET MVC. Microsoft now wants to show the entire development world just how cool Oxite and ASP.NET MVC are.

Posted by Doug Barney on 12/11/20080 comments

U.S. Balance of Trade Great -- for Malware!

But there's one area where we Americans apparently shine: malware. According to WhiteHat Security, U.S. servers now host more malware than anyone else. Guess it's time to finally stop blaming Bulgaria for all our security woes!

Posted by Doug Barney on 12/11/20080 comments

Patch Tuesday Leads to Attack Wednesday

The exploit delays the processing of XML tags, can crash the browser (though IE and Firefox do a great job of crashing on their own, at least on my aging Latitude D520) and can then inject malicious code upon browser restart.

There may well be a fresh patch to beat back these attacks. We'll keep you posted.

Posted by Doug Barney on 12/11/20080 comments

Mailbag: Microsoft T-Shirt Line, More

Hey, happy (belated) birthday! Microsoft T-shirts? I can see Microsoft bringing back its old "Where do you want to go today?" ad on a T-shirt, followed by the beloved "C:\>"!
-Dan

I do think Microsoft is cool. Back when .NET was relatively new, I remember I paid for a big sticker of the .NET logo and put it on my car. Not because I consider myself as a geek, but because of the impact that this kind of technology has on the people.

It's funny to watch people that really understand technology grin when they check out your shirt.
-Armando

First, DOS=MSDOS is a myth. Mac OS, Linux, Unix, etc. are all flavors of DOS. Second, I'd be more likely to purchase a T-shirt with Linus Torvalds' name and "LINUX" written under it than one with Gates and DOS. I love the GNU/GPL.
-Earl

I'd buy one that said something like "DOS? Who needs DOS when you can use Unix?" or "DOS is for sissies. Real geeks use Unix."
-Cheryl

Bet they'll try to keep the "Blue Shirt of Death" quiet. Plus, we can plug any dangerous holes in our clothing on "Patch Tuesday." I'll be here all week. Try the veal.
-Joseph

Happy (belated) birthday to you and Nick. The kid has good taste in game machines. Yes, I would buy and wear the Microsoft line of nostalgic T-shirts. They are cool, and hearken to the days of being a true geek.
-Steve

Since you mentioned it was your birthday, I thought I would wish you a belated happy birthday. My son turns 36 on Dec. 11 and I believe he has nearly all of the gaming systems that have been made over the last 20-plus years (but thankfully, I have not been the one that has had to buy them!). I do have the Sony PS3, but only because it was a good way to get a Blu-ray player at the time.

Although I have been in the computer field forever, it seems I have never developed an interest in playing games on the computer. Now that I am pushing 65, I think more about embracing retirement than embracing new technology!
-Dean

Posted by Doug Barney on 12/11/20080 comments

Good News: Silverlight Rules. Bad News: You're Canned!

I wonder if Microsoft has any software that can help U.S. banks and automakers?

Posted by Doug Barney on 12/11/20080 comments

Multi-Core Multi-Problems

I looked into this subject and found it stunningly complex. The bottom line is that unless a program is specifically designed for cores, there isn't a huge performance increase. Sometimes, apps even run slower because the clock speed on the multi-cores is slower.

Posted by Doug Barney on 12/10/20080 comments

Macs Need Anti-Virus, Too

This is great advice. Microsoft comes clean the second Tuesday of every month with a public list of its flaws. I'm glad Apple came a little bit clean on its potential flaws. Here's why it's so important: Many Mac users are so confident that they pile up gigabyte after gigabyte of personal documents, photos, data and songs. If a virus hits, they have lots to lose, and often haven't taken as many precautions as their PC brethren.

Posted by Doug Barney on 12/10/20080 comments