The world as frankps sees it!
Posts tagged Opera
Sad, but true
0Just before the weekend I heard that the European Commission (EC) was to demand that Microsoft stop bundling Internet Explorer (IE) in Windows, and that was after Norwegian Opera Software ASA complained to the EU about the software giant’s bundling practices and alleged undermining of Web standards. If I am not mistaken the complain was delivered in 2007. I must admit I am very surprised, and I once again share the thoughts of Paul Thurrot at WindowsITPro:
That IE has been consistently losing market share to its number one rival, Mozilla Firefox, seems to have made little impression on the EC, which has consistently proven to be more interested in shoring up Microsoft’s competition than worry about market realities. And that’s especially true is the competition that complains about Microsoft happens to be from an EU country.
“Microsoft’s tying of Internet Explorer to the Windows operating system harms competition between web browsers, undermines product innovation and ultimately reduces consumer choice,” the EC said in a prepared statement. The statement arrives just a week after market researchers announced that IE fell from 74 percent of the market in 2007 to 68 percent by the end of 2008. The main beneficiary of that gap was Firefox, which jumped to over 21 percent of the market during the same time frame …
… However, Opera is unique among non-Microsoft browser makers in that it did not make market share gains in 2008. Firefox, Apple Safari, and Google Chrome all gained on IE during this time period. Perhaps the problem is Opera, not Microsoft’s business practices. After all, consumers do have choice; they’re just not choosing Opera.
If that wasn’t enough, Chief Development Officer Christen Krogh told CNET News that the fact that “There has been more competition before“, referring to the Netscape and pre-Netscape days. Wake up (våkn opp!), the battle has never been bigger, and the Opera browser is the only one not taking part in it. He continues with even if IE’s market share drops to below 60 percent in Europe, “we think that is sufficiently high to be concerned.”
The amusement continues: “Opera noted that it follows the same principles applied by the EU in 2004, when it held that Microsoft could not tie its media player to Windows and ordered the software maker to offer a version with the media player stripped out”. Yepp, and that was a huge success? We all now buy Windows without the media player? ha-ha-ha. Well, also here Microsoft is doing things different with Windows 7, it will not include Windows Mail, Messenger and a few other applications. That is not caused by EU or Opera Software.
And regarding Microsoft not following standards: Surprise, surprise, with Internet Explorer 8, Microsoft has changed practice (Again, Opera goes far in claiming that they forced Microsoft to reconsider its position on standards in IE8). The browser will have full support for CSS 2.1 and gets full score on the ACID 2 test. Other great improvements are done in the area of accessibility, as for instance W3C’s ARIA standard. And I guess that is not the only standard they have chosen to follow!
After I read the news, I got fed up and uninstalled the Opera 10 Alpha. From now on I will stick to Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer, and play a little bit with Google Chrome. I wonder if Firefox actually has an even bigger market share in EU?
First release of next generation of the Opera desktop browser
0The gap between Opera and Firefox seems to become bigger and bigger. I have been on and off on Opera, but lately I have been more or less just on. Opera 9.5 gives simply gives the best browsing experience, and now it gives us even more.
In a blog entry the desktop team is explaining why they still are using to different installers for the installation under Windows, as well as giving access to the latest build.
The release is with the latest desktop plus:
- Video (Ogg Theora) – used by Wikipedia and others. There are HTML5 examples based on working drafts of the HTML 5 specification being developed at W3C, and Erik Dahlström’s video in SVG article. I have been looking in to HTML 5 a bit this spring, and I am not sure that Ogg Theora will be part of it, and I am more or less sure that Opera will loose a battle against Apple and Nokia! Having said that, it’s about time that we get standards for audio and video on the net, that is for me more important then what file formats are chosen. And needless to say, these formats should be open.
- 3D canvas – is according to Opera the most experimental feature in this build. At least Opera and Mozilla have been thinking about how to provide 3D rendering in a way they can implement cross-platform even on proprietary systems. 3D canvas, like its 2D cousin, gives developers a javascript-based approach.
- File I/O – yepp, the browser is about to become the operating system. File I/O was originally announced by Opera back in May, and proposed to W3C for development as a standard, and gives you a way to interact with the filesystem from within your application. In this build, Opera has only enabled this feature for widgets, which can now ask the user to enable them to use an area in the filesystem — either to work with their existing content (manage photos that other applications also work on, for example) or a new clean sandbox for storage.
- eBook widget: Opera is brilliant at supporting standards, and with this widget you can read books published in the Epub format. This is one of the demo widgets released for this new build of the browser, and will not work in regular Opera builds as it needs the File I/O functionality.
And this time Opera is not only coming with a special build for Windows, the build is also available for us Linux and Mac users. Now we can all have a peek at what HTML 5 will bring us. I can hardly wait!
Opera Files Antitrust Complaint with the EU Against Microsoft – A Shot in the Dark!
0Opera Software recently filed a complaint with the European Commission that was to aim at giving consumers a genuine choice of Web browsers. So far so good. The complaint describes how Microsoft is abusing its dominant position by tying its browser, Internet Explorer, to the Windows operating system and by hindering interoperability by not following accepted Web standards. Opera has requested the Commission to take the necessary actions to compel Microsoft to give consumers a real choice and to support open Web standards in Internet Explorer.Microsoft of course defended themselves with the fact that alternative browsers could not only be installed on Windows, but also be set as default, but this seems not to be enough for Opera Software, as they want EU to force Microsoft to remove Internet Explorer as part of Windows (the OS). Funny how Opera hasn’t learned the lesson from the highly successful Windows XP N and Windows Vista N Editions. Not a single PC manufacturer has delivered a single PC with these editions, and in fact most EU citizens will have problems getting their hands on them as the demands are so low that shops don’t have them on their shelves.
When it comes to the tying the browser in to the OS, Opera is completely right. Internet Explorer has been integrated in to Vista in a way we have never seen any browser in to another operating system. And it has been successful, I dare say that Internet Explorer 7 on Vista is the most secure browser on the market today. When users have not turned off UAC (which they have been told to do by so many IT Professionals), Internet Explorer 7 will run with less privileges then a normal user. This is a Protected Mode that provides the safety of a robust Internet browsing experience while helping to keep hackers from taking over your browser, damaging your system and installing software. Internet Explorer Protected Mode protects users and their systems from malicious downloads by restricting where files can be saved without the users consent, and further Internet Explorer 7 in Windows Vista cannot modify user or system files and settings without user consent. Protected Mode requires the user to confirm any activity that tries to put something on your machine or start another program. By ensuring the user consents to these kinds of actions, the likelihood of automated and/or unwanted software installation is reduced. This feature also makes you aware of what a website is trying to do, giving you a chance to stop it and take time to double check the trustworthiness of the website.
Now this is not bad from an enduser’s perspective and should not let Opera Software demand Internet Explorer to be removed from Windows. What Opera Software should be heard with is the possibility to do the same with their browser as Microsoft has done with theirs, and for that Microsoft needs to corporate with other browser vendors.In my eyes Opera Software did another mistake, as they through interviews (Wium Lie) have been focusing more on forcing Microsoft to support all major web standards that are commonly accepted within development communities. Internet Explorer 7 was a little bit better then 6, and Microsoft had already announced that version 8 would be released in not a to distant future. Well, yesterday Microsoft showed that IE 8 was passing the ACID2 test.
I’m asking myself what Opera Software have achieved with their PR stunt, and what do they think that they now will achieve with an EU trial? Even though I have never liked the bloated Firefox, Mozilla Foundation has shown that they are capable of competing with Microsoft on the desktop. A free advise for Opera Software, if you want to have any chance of competing with Internet Explorer and now Firefox, enable sysadmins to set settings through group policies with .admx files. For me group policy settings are far more important then voice, online storage of bookmarks and Ogg Theora support. They are all great features, but not something for the enterprise users. I don’t let my users get the option to use Opera, and with the latest security problems for Firefox, I have started to remove as many Firefox installations as possible. Safari is so far not an option. So in the end Internet Explorer will be the only browser that I let my Windows users have.I guess it is just a matter of time before Opera Software will find that they are only a small browser vendor in also the embedded market. Apple and Nokia seem to have great success with their webkit browsers. More and more companies get in to problems competing with open source projects.
iPod Touch
04 years ago
I haven’t had time writing on my blog lately, and there has sadly been a few things that should have made it to the blog. One thing that I really want to blog about, is that I have gotten myself an iPod Touch! I know, I know, after 6 years resisting the iPod, I gave in and got myself a 8 GB iPod Touch. I was trying it out in a local Apple store close to where I live, and got asked to demo it for three people that came in to the shop. Ok, so I did, but strangely enough it was me that ended up buying one!
As some of you might know (iPhone – No Thank You! and Another Reason to Say NO!), I have been critical to Apple’s approach to the mobile market. There is no reason for them to keep the phone completly closed. Windows Mobile and Symbian are both open, and the same goes for the Linux-driven phones. What made me change my mind was an article published on Engadget, that Apple had announced on its Hot News feed:
“that it is currently at work on an SDK for the iPhone, the apps from which will naturally work on the iPod touch. Apparently it’s going to take ‘em until February to do it up right“
I guess the combination of the impressive graphical userinterface and that the iPhone/iPod Touch soon will be more open, made me give in. iPod Touch is simply one of the best PDAs that I have ever tested: Beautiful calendar, addressbook and worldclock with alarms. And Safari, I am speachless. There is no mobile browser like it. Opera, my other favourite, isn’t even close. I haven’t tested the YouTube-player included, or playing video on the device. But iPod Touch is great way of listening to my favourite music and podcasts. My HTC 4350 is currently collecting dust on the shelf. It used to be my music player and phone. Now I am back to carrying two devices around, my Nokia E60 and the iPod. But it is worth it. If or when Apple is releasing iPhone in Norway, I guess that will be the next device that I buy. Apple has brought PDAs and Smartphones to a new, higher level, and it is time for others to try to catch up.
If I can come with two finally advices, it would be one for you as a buyer and one to Apple. If you plan to buy an iPod Touch, and as me have ripped your music collection to 320 Kbps, then go for the 16 GB version of the iPod Touch. Other wise you will only have space for about 700 – 750 songs. I use such a high biterate cause I also sync my Mac against Apple TV, and that device is connected to my homecinema system. The advice to Apple should be no surprise, please update both the iPhone and iPod Touch to include WPA Enterprise! Students need it to be able to use the devices at universities across Europe and probably also in other parts of the world.
Safari for Windows XP and Vista
0At the WWDC Apple today released released Safari for Windows XP and Vista in it’s first public beta, and I just had to try it. After having installed on my Vista machine, I installed some of the plugins reported to work with the browser. Let us sum it up like this, of course I didn’t install JAVA and Real Player plugins!
I noted the speed results that Steve Jobs presented at the developer conference. They were under XP, and I must say that Safari is everything but fast under Vista. It was even slugish on MacOS X 10.4. After having run it for two hours, I find it to be quite so unstable in it’s current state. I have experienced several crashes, and found a few pages that don’t work well, one is for instance Skype. Clicking the Bookmarks button made the browser crash. Well, I guess that’s why Apple is calling it a beta. But what I found great was that Safari 3.o worked well with my WordPress installation, as it now supports visual posting.
I guess Apple will succeed with the browser. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, of course, dominates the Web browser market, although Mozilla Firefox has made significant headway in recent years. Apple will with this move get quite a bit higher market share then their 5 % today for the Safari. But I guess that Microsoft will notice little to that. Internet Explorer 7 is, in the way it is integrated in Vista, the most secure browser for Windows. For me it is probably Firefox that will go out, it is to bloated. But I am most concerned for the Opera browser on the desktop. Will there be a market for the desktop version of the browser when Safari for Windows hits 3.0 (and stable)? I sadly doubt it, and I am pretty sure that Opera Software ASA is the big looser in the browser war. Apple has something that Opera doesn’t have, other cool applications in iTunes and QuickTime, but more importantly the iPods and Apple TV.
