Category: Software
Firefox hits 20% market share
I feel a bit guilty. I’ve almost completely abandoned my former favourite browser – Firefox – in favour of Google’s zippity-quick Chrome browser. I love Firefox, but the little tiny touches in Chrome make it a joy to use compared to the relative clunkiness that is Firefox 3. Still, in a world where most people are still using Internet Explorer, it should be celebrated that 1 in 5 people on the internet are now using Firefox for their surfing needs.
The report, from Net Applications, shows Firefox with a 20% market share for two out of four weeks in October. Firefox didn’t have a major release then, so it’s doubly impressive that it’s still building converts across the world. New features are constantly announced, including a private browsing mode (dubbed ‘porn mode’ by some) in a forthcoming 3.1 update.
Firefox (via ReadWriteWeb)
Related posts: Mozilla releases first alpha of Firefox for mobiles | WHY OH WHY OH WHY would anyone put a Firefox theme on Google Chrome?
Microsoft on viruses and malware: It's not our fault, guv.
Turns out that the vast majority of virus attacks are against badly-written third-party software, rather than Windows itself. So claims Microsoft, anyway, in the graph to the right. In XP, 58% of attacks target third party software, and in Vista, 94% target third-parties. The most popular targets are Apple’s Quicktime, Realplayer and Winzip.
When you drill down to the top ten browser vulnerabilities, Microsoft admit that they account for half of the biggest flaws on XP, including by far the top one, but on Vista, they don’t feature in the top ten at all – the number one place goes to a bit of software called Baofeng, which I suspect is a toolbar of some sort…
The BBC's TV detector vans are simply a form of psychological warfare
The UK’s Information Commissioner, who’s been a very busy man/department recently, declined a freedom of information request to reveal how many TV license detector vans the BBC operates – because it might stop people believing they exist.
The shadowy fleet of TV-detecting vans is supposed to be able to pick up tell-tale signs that a TV’s being used inside a house, but the ICO ruled that revealing how many vans the BBC actually operates – and the technology they use – might undermine the level of threat they pose. And lead to us not bothering to pay our licence fees any more…
Apple BANS Opera from the iPhone
Opera, the little browser that could, has developed a version of its software that would run on the iPhone, but Apple won’t let them release it, claims co-founder and CEO Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner. Opera has a mini-browser built for many mobile platforms, but because it competes with Apple’s own Safari browser, the iPhone makers won’t let it onto their platform.
It’s a damn shame, because although the iPhone browsing experience is acceptable (unlike a lot of phones), it’s not perfect, and Opera has a track record of significantly improving the mobile experience on almost every platform it’s available on. The iPhone might be a great device, but its closed nature and uber-controlled user experience has its downsides, and this is one of them.
Opera (via NYT)
Related posts: Opera releases 9.6 beta | Opera Mobile 9.5 beta launched for Windows Mobile devices
Intrepid Ibex – new version of Linux due out tomorrow
The Linux development team follow a much shorter release cycle than Microsoft or Apple do for their operating systems. Whereas the big players pump out a new OS every few years, there’s a new Linux release every six months or so. That means that the features are almost always cutting, but it also means that the releases lack polish somewhat…
Security watchdog the ICO is currently looking at 277 "data breaches" in the UK
At the moment it’s all about banking crisis and how shares aren’t even worth wasting a match on burning the certificates, but cast you minds back a year or so ago. Back when there was only one issue on our minds – data privacy.
Since the numerous high-profile cases of last year, when the government couldn’t stop leaving discs, laptops and USB drives all over the place, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office has received 277 new complaints and warnings about people’s personal data possibly being held in insecure fashions.
The NHS is the biggest culprit, with 75 outstanding cases of possible embarrassing fact-disclosure currently on the books of the ICO…
Windows 7 – the full details, with screenshots
Okay, as promised, here’s the lowdown on Windows 7 – Microsoft’s new operating system – which could be launched as early as the middle of next year.
The UI is rather different to XP and Vista, contrary to what I said the other day about things not changing much. The taskbar is the biggest change – you can see it above. All words have been replaced with big icons, which then show window previews when you move your cursor over them…
Wacom's "Bamboo" tablets get a bunch of new features
Wacom has just announced a whole host of new applications for their “Bamboo” range of consumer input tablets. There’s Bamboo Scribe, Bamboo Link, Bamboo Space, Bamboo Dock and Bamboo Minis…
What the hell is Microsoft Azure?
Good question. Every single news story I’m reading about Microsoft’s new cloud computing platform, announced last night, is full of phrases like “foundational infrastructure”, “Dynamics CRM Services” and “hypervisor/virtualization technology”. Here’s an overview in tech layman’s terms…
UK government not making democracy easy or fun – no "e-voting" for the UK
If you want to exercise your demographic right to say you’d rather have a blue politician representing you than a red one, you’re going to have to carry on with the tiresome old ‘ticking boxes with a pen’ system – there will be no “e-voting” for the likes of us any time soon.
Michael Wills, the minister for justice, told parliament that “The Government does not plan to introduce e-voting for the 2009 European or local elections,” meaning it’s off to the local primary school with your little postcard of power…
