U2start.com | Technology Topic

Originally posted by germcevoy:[..]

The Hero is a plastic legend minus some processor speed, RAM and the OLED screen

That one's even uglier now that I've seen it. Why are they all so damned ugly - in pictures? Maybe it'll look nicer on display but not in pictures. I'll have a look later.

germcevoy

15 years

Originally posted by drewhiggins:[..]

That one's even uglier now that I've seen it. Why are they all so damned ugly - in pictures? Maybe it'll look nicer on display but not in pictures. I'll have a look later.

Ugly? This? aluminium uni body?

drewhiggins

15 years

Originally posted by germcevoy:[..]

Ugly? This? aluminium uni body?

[image]

See, now that looks nicer than what I just saw before. Nah, that ones the way to go I reckon for now.

I still wonder why the bottom is so big though though - make it smaller and make a nicer-looking button. That's what I don't like. The touch has the same thing but at least it's not oversized like that, so it looks nice - the only nice thing on the iPod shell.

Risto

15 years

Nokia released the Qt Creator for their mobile devices today.

Code your apps and build them for Symbian / Maemo / Meego with one press at the button. Now i really got to learn Qt and C++

iTim

15 years

Odd U2 - Internet Explorer comparison from TechRadar

It Reads

When Microsoft unwrapped an early version of IE9 yesterday, it proved beyond doubt something we've suspected for a while: IE is the Bono of browsers.

The similarities between the Irish singer and a Windows web browser might not be immediately obvious, but they're there.

In their early days U2 were underdogs, and no matter how good their records the critics would say "U2! You are rubbish! And your singer has a stupid name!"

Early IE was like that too. Netscape was the critical darling, and early IEs were greeted with derision.

Being underdogs suited U2. They made better and better records, got better and better at doing gigs, and eventually everything came together. U2 released The Joshua Tree, a brilliant album that conquered the planet.

It was the same with Microsoft. Internet Explorer 4 was its Joshua Tree.

•The lowdown on IE9's Scalable Vector Graphics
Naturally, things went badly wrong for both U2 and Microsoft immediately afterwards. U2 were no longer underdogs, and they followed The Joshua Tree with Rattle & Hum, a film-and-album package that made even life-long fans want to punch them.

The criticism stung so much that it forced U2 into underdog mode again. The next record, Achtung Baby, was a career highlight - and it put them on top of the world again, so they responded with more duff music. The lukewarm reaction to Pop resulted in Bono "reapplying for the job of the best band in the world", and the result was All That You Can't Leave Behind. According to Rolling Stone, it was "their third masterpiece."

Microsoft needs to be the underdog

There's an obvious pattern here: when U2 are underdogs, they're great. When they're not, they're not. Microsoft suffers from the same thing.

Just look at Windows Mobile, which has been lacklustre for ages. Now Apple and Android are coming to eat its lunch, Microsoft is rediscovering its mobile mojo.

Exactly the same thing's been happening in browsers. As soon as its browser ruled the web, Microsoft stopped bothering; if it weren't for Firefox, IE6 might still be the most recent Microsoft browser. However, thanks to Firefox and Johnny-come-latelys such as Chrome, Microsoft is in underdog mode again, and that's really apparent in the IE9 preview.

The most interesting thing about the IE9 preview isn't the tech: it's the attitude behind it. Take Sunspider, the benchmarks that give a good indication of a browser's JavaScript performance.

When reviewers - rightly - pointed out that IE8's Sunspider results were woeful compared to every other browser, Microsoft sent them patronising How To Review Browsers documents and dismissed Sunspider as unimportant. This time round Microsoft has sorted out the Sunspider performance and it's running around shouting "Benchmarks! Benchmarks! Benchmarks!"

A brand new tune

Of course Internet Explorer, like Bono, will always have its enemies. There are people out there for whom the very thought of Bono makes them want to punch a nun, and there are people out there who will forever associate the words "Microsoft" and "browser" with security problems and poor standards support.

With IE9, though, Microsoft is singing a brand new song of security, and of standards support, and of hardware acceleration. Provided Microsoft doesn't mess it up, the release of IE9 could turn out to be - yes! - a Beautiful Day.

Risto

15 years

Weird comparisson. Internet Explorer ignored the market for 6 years.

Also they will still be behind the rest. Although the hardware accelerated rendering is pretty cool, the Firefox nightlies already copied that.

Problem is the slow release cycle. They should've released a version each half year for all Windows systems (including XP). Now only a part can get IE9, a lot of people are still on XP.

drewhiggins

15 years

Originally posted by Risto:Weird comparisson. Internet Explorer ignored the market for 6 years.

Also they will still be behind the rest. Although the hardware accelerated rendering is pretty cool, the Firefox nightlies already copied that.

Problem is the slow release cycle. They should've released a version each half year for all Windows systems (including XP). Now only a part can get IE9, a lot of people are still on XP.

It's like Microsoft saying that Linux and Mac are their biggest competition. Wrong - IE6 and XP are their competition, and while Vista and 7 and IE7 and IE8 are good enough for next-gen usage, they made something so universally accepted by just those who aren't exactly up with what's happening in the tech world and a very reliable OS, that people just won't leave it alone - they have to use it. When people here want to use my computer they ask where the big blue E is. That's the internet to people. I know my dad wouldn't change from 98 for about ten years and when he went to XP he loved it.

When you ask them what OS they're on...what's an OS? I think they're more worried for the half-release per year is people are gonna get sick of being forced to upgrade every so often; but they upgrade their word processor, their iTunes and whatever else they use, so it's gonna be effectively backfiring on MS and the rest of us who want to see new technologies, but the noobs hold it back for us so we can't see the latest from big companies because they have to support legacy customers. Even though Vista and 7 are coming pre-installed on newer systems, customers are still asking for XP - maybe not 2000 but businesses might do - because that's what they know, that's what they've been bought up on for the last ten years and just try giving them Linux - that's not Windows, I don't have my solitaire game or Notepad available. You do, but you have to use your brain, not a start menu to find it. Too hard.

What I'm saying is if the users of XP haven't updated from IE6 in about ten years, chances are they're not gonna rush out for IE9. And accelerated hardware rendering...we know what it means, but how many of them would know what it means - and unless it stopped Facebook or MySpace or YouTube from working or doing what they do, then there's gonna be complaints - so yet again it's Microsoft, those users and the average end-user stopping it from going ahead with bigger future sights. Web developers, to support those hostage to IE6 have to code their sites to keep them working with IE6 rather than lose support, technically and virtually, totally.

The quicker bigger sites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Google, Gmail, eBay, PayPal - I could go on - lose support for IE6 and older browsers the better.

Risto

15 years

They could automatically update by Windows Update. Dozens of updates get installed without the user really knowing what happens

I am not complaining about MS though, W7 and Office 2007 are splendid. Only XP and IE6 were on for way too long. But even XP and IE6 were inovating then. First browser with AJAX support.

Cant wait till IE9 gets out, but its a shame they dont push IE6/IE7/IE8 users too upgrade.

drewhiggins

15 years

Originally posted by Risto:They could automatically update by Windows Update. Dozens of updates get installed without the user really knowing what happens

I am not complaining about MS though, W7 and Office 2007 are splendid. Only XP and IE6 were on for way too long. But even XP and IE6 were inovating then. First browser with AJAX support.

Cant wait till IE9 gets out, but its a shame they dont push IE6/IE7/IE8 users too upgrade.

But you know what'll happen when they get automatic updates - ''Someone hacked into my computer (or CPU) and gave me a thing called Internet Explorer - I use E!''

IE9 I'll be going straight to and who knows, maybe I'll use it over Firefox and from what I've seen of Office 2007 I quite like it as with Windows 7 at the moment.

Risto

15 years

I love W7, its perfect.