You should try using the installer and not installing the talkback portion.
Out of curiousity, why don't you want to use talkback. It's my understanding that the statistics collected with it have made considerable improvements to stability since 0.9.1.
I now keep a browser window up for 4-5 days before closing it to recover some of the memory. WAY better than 4.7 in my opinion.
Not a programming book, but a good yarn. I believe this won a Pulitzer prize. It's the story of the engineers at Data General and their efforts to build a competitor to the VAX-11/780, the MV-8000
Possibly I'm biased to this book because I've used both machines, but this book is a really good read.
You are right about that case. But for mor normal pages, especially from cache, 4.7 seems faster to me.
Maybe this is the difference between Gecko's speed (which is supposed to be quite good) and the overall UI, but mozilla seems less "snappy" under most circumstances.
I've been using mozilla as my main browser since M16 maybe and my main e-mail app a bit after that. Only with the release of 0.9.1 have I really been able to see the light at the end of the tunnel, a stable 1.0 product that is better than Netscape 4.7 in all ways. (I don't have much experience with IE.)
Several things are worth mentioning as major improvements recently:
MIME type/helper app support: In the past, mozilla was difficult to configure for helper apps, didn't read my.mailcap (still doesn't, but RSN), and was generally a pain in the butt. A lot of work has been going on here recently which means that 0.9.2 is much easier to deal with and 0.9.3 looks to be even better. See bug 78106 for an overview of this work.
Stability: I don't ever remember 0.9.1 crashing on me (but it might have) and 0.9.2 promises to be even better. If you are having problems in this area, try renaming your ~/.mozilla directory, restarting, and then moving back in just the files you need (bookmarks, cookies, etc). It sucks, but this can sometimes help.
Speed: mozilla just keeps getting more and more responsive. It's not as fast as 4.77, never will be since it does so much more, but it is certainly getting better.
Autocomplete: Overall better since it seems to match anywhere in the URL, but it does tend to get cluttered up with non-top level URLS.
Some things still need some work:
Printing on linux might be getting better but there are still lots of problems leading to ugly printouts
The newsreader doesn't seem to thread entirely
properly
Perhaps the biggest obstacle to mozilla acceptance is the number of sites that are written with non-standard HTML/JavaScript and fail to render properly with mozilla. If you see this at sites you frequent, file an evangelism bug and send the webmaster e-mail.
If you haven't tried mozilla recently (since 0.9) you owe it to yourself to download this one and try it out.
Re:Give credit where credit is due
on
Mozilla 0.9.1 Out
·
· Score: 1
It doesn't take genius to go check mozillazine.org to see what they are saying about the release. (And mozilaquest for that matter.)
Mozillazine is the de-facto source or "unofficial" news regarding mozilla although it very much tows the "party line". I guess it considers itself an advocacy site, which it does very well.
Asa is right, first rule for editors, "Check your sources, do some of your own research before running a story."
It wasn't talking about porn in the games, but being used to *show off* the game designers at E3.
I think the author had a good point. Unless you want to exclusively market your product to under 30 males, why not have your booth have something to do with your product?
Do you expect to see strippers at the Sims booth? Ok, this is a bit of an exageration, but it makes the point.
Speaking of better databases, there's lots of room for improvement in the CDDB/freedb model.
The most glaring example is having the Artist and Title in the same field and relying on everyone to use the same nomenclature for what the seperator is.
IMO, freedb should do Gracenote one better and make a move to a more robust format with more information and phase out this ad hoc way of doing things.
So you agree that you don't own the raw data? Can you give a copy of it to FreeDB?
No, they don't agree to that at all. They've reprocessed and refined the data, and since the data wasn't supplied under GPL-like terms, I'm sure the data on their servers can legally be called "theirs" in the same way that Webster's Dictionary doesn't belong to the people that "invented" all those words.
As to their lawsuit, the only possibility for them that I can see is that if Roxio is using Gracenote's (client) code in their product under a license that prohibits that. Simple solution, write your own code, the protocol isn't that tough.
For the record, I think that what Gracenote has done (locked away data we entered) and is doing (suing someone for using a competitor) is shameless, but they might have a narrow legal point.
I'm sure a lot of you will think I have an overly extreme opinion, and that things are mostly fine. I can't argue that I think the situation is out of control now.
Uh, yeah, of course I think this is extreme.
The only real answer is for us to forceably demand that OS vendors become much more diligent about security.
Almost every problem we've seen recently can be laid squarely at the feet of the admins who don't update their systems when advised by the vendor. But you seem to realize this because you then say:
...
and easy, semi-automatic processes for installing new security related patches quickly, even if the admin is prone to do nothing. Nag the hell out of them to update. I would even argue that services with secuiryt holes should be automatically disabled by the OS, forcing the user to either update the service or manually restart the service essentially accepting the liability fo acting like a moron.
So, lets say I run google.com. There is an advisory for Apache. What do I do? I sure don't let the OS download a new version of Apache and install it without my intervention. It could have some conflict and not work or could have any number of other problems. I sure don't let the OS turn off port 80 because it thinks I'm "a moron." If it does this while I'm not around, in the time it takes to get a cup of coffee my company has lost $thousands.
What I do is get the patched version, test it out on a few prototype machines, and then when I'm confident it works, roll it out in an orderly fashion across the whole server farm.
That said I'd like to see the equivalent of "Windows Critical Update Notification" for Linux. I also will agree with you on your points about shipping with too many services turned on.
With hardware, there is a very simple solution. Buy hardware that is supported under linux and if possible, buy it from a vendor that supports linux. Many/most do these days, by opening specs, writing binary drivers, open source drivers, supporting projects etc.*
Plugins are quite different. Usually a company comes up with a format and a plugin to read that application. Unless Open/Free source comes up with better formats and better plugins, this is going to be the domain of closed source companies. Even if they do, its an uphill battle. Look at Ogg Vorbis vs. MP3/Real/WMA.
*) Of course this doesn't apply to relative newcomers to linux since the probably have windows-only hardware. But even those that are just interested in Linux or other alternative OS's would do well to check out what kind of support they are likely to get.
Last I saw out of Intel, they were planning Foster (now Xeon or P4-Xeon if you like) to be SMP, but no consumer level dual configuration.
So, for a budget solution, or for expaning the Beowulf my group has now, it looks like AMD may be the only reasonable option in 6 months. I don't really know what Intel is thinking. If they want to push groups like us into Xeon, it's not going to work.
There was a discussion about this on the news groups (news.mozilla.org/netscape.public.mozilla.seamonke y)
Find the thread entitled "Musing about Release 1.0, branching, and beyond"
Also, look at mozilla.org or look at any discussion of documentation. Basically mozilla.org says "Our job is to develop the technology, Netscape and the other companies are responsible for taking our technology and turning it into a finished product for end users"
Based on this, I expect to see a stabilization leading up to 1.0, immediately followed my massive breakage as new features are introduced leading into 1.1.
I don't expect to see a 1.0.1 or similar that is just bug fixes for 1.0.
There have been some good comments on speaker brands to consider: Paradigm, B&W, Energy are all good suggestions. NHT might be out of the price range since their cheapest audiophile speakers, the SuperZero absolutely requires a good subwoofer ($700-800) to be decent, especially for home theater. I find Klipsh a little harsh, but to each his own.
One brand I didn't see mentioned was PSB. Their Alpha series is quite good and about $100-$150/speaker I think.
More general advice:
1) Listen to everything you can find in your price range at good stereo stores. Stay away from Best Buy/CC for speakers.
2) I've seen stereo stores who've gone out and bought a Bose system so that their customers can compare Bose with audiophile speakers. If you are curious, try it. But don't buy Bose just because someone told you they are the best. Listen first, then form your opinions.
3) Look seriously at buying inexpensive speakers from a company that makes multi-kilobuck speakers too. The design knowledge filters down.
4) Consider going used to stretch your dollars.
I won't comment on receivers except to say that if you have to skimp on something, skimp on the receiver. Technology there changes and you may want to replace it in five years no matter what. Good speakers can last 20 years or more.
Slashdot Mirror
You should try using the installer and not installing the talkback portion.
Out of curiousity, why don't you want to use talkback. It's my understanding that the statistics collected with it have made considerable improvements to stability since 0.9.1.
I now keep a browser window up for 4-5 days before closing it to recover some of the memory. WAY better than 4.7 in my opinion.
Not a programming book, but a good yarn. I believe this won a Pulitzer prize. It's the story of the engineers at Data General and their efforts to build a competitor to the VAX-11/780, the MV-8000
Possibly I'm biased to this book because I've used both machines, but this book is a really good read.
You are right about that case. But for mor normal pages, especially from cache, 4.7 seems faster to me.
Maybe this is the difference between Gecko's speed (which is supposed to be quite good) and the overall UI, but mozilla seems less "snappy" under most circumstances.
Several things are worth mentioning as major improvements recently:
Some things still need some work:
If you haven't tried mozilla recently (since 0.9) you owe it to yourself to download this one and try it out.
It doesn't take genius to go check mozillazine.org to see what they are saying about the release. (And mozilaquest for that matter.)
Mozillazine is the de-facto source or "unofficial" news regarding mozilla although it very much tows the "party line". I guess it considers itself an advocacy site, which it does very well.
Asa is right, first rule for editors, "Check your sources, do some of your own research before running a story."
It wasn't talking about porn in the games, but being used to *show off* the game designers at E3.
I think the author had a good point. Unless you want to exclusively market your product to under 30 males, why not have your booth have something to do with your product?
Do you expect to see strippers at the Sims booth? Ok, this is a bit of an exageration, but it makes the point.
Speaking of better databases, there's lots of room for improvement in the CDDB/freedb model.
The most glaring example is having the Artist and Title in the same field and relying on everyone to use the same nomenclature for what the seperator is.
IMO, freedb should do Gracenote one better and make a move to a more robust format with more information and phase out this ad hoc way of doing things.
No, they don't agree to that at all. They've reprocessed and refined the data, and since the data wasn't supplied under GPL-like terms, I'm sure the data on their servers can legally be called "theirs" in the same way that Webster's Dictionary doesn't belong to the people that "invented" all those words.
As to their lawsuit, the only possibility for them that I can see is that if Roxio is using Gracenote's (client) code in their product under a license that prohibits that. Simple solution, write your own code, the protocol isn't that tough.
For the record, I think that what Gracenote has done (locked away data we entered) and is doing (suing someone for using a competitor) is shameless, but they might have a narrow legal point.
Uh, yeah, of course I think this is extreme.
The only real answer is for us to forceably demand that OS vendors become much more diligent about security.
Almost every problem we've seen recently can be laid squarely at the feet of the admins who don't update their systems when advised by the vendor. But you seem to realize this because you then say:
So, lets say I run google.com. There is an advisory for Apache. What do I do? I sure don't let the OS download a new version of Apache and install it without my intervention. It could have some conflict and not work or could have any number of other problems. I sure don't let the OS turn off port 80 because it thinks I'm "a moron." If it does this while I'm not around, in the time it takes to get a cup of coffee my company has lost $thousands.
What I do is get the patched version, test it out on a few prototype machines, and then when I'm confident it works, roll it out in an orderly fashion across the whole server farm.
That said I'd like to see the equivalent of "Windows Critical Update Notification" for Linux. I also will agree with you on your points about shipping with too many services turned on.
With hardware, there is a very simple solution. Buy hardware that is supported under linux and if possible, buy it from a vendor that supports linux. Many/most do these days, by opening specs, writing binary drivers, open source drivers, supporting projects etc.*
Plugins are quite different. Usually a company comes up with a format and a plugin to read that application. Unless Open/Free source comes up with better formats and better plugins, this is going to be the domain of closed source companies. Even if they do, its an uphill battle. Look at Ogg Vorbis vs. MP3/Real/WMA.
*) Of course this doesn't apply to relative newcomers to linux since the probably have windows-only hardware. But even those that are just interested in Linux or other alternative OS's would do well to check out what kind of support they are likely to get.
Last I saw out of Intel, they were planning Foster (now Xeon or P4-Xeon if you like) to be SMP, but no consumer level dual configuration.
So, for a budget solution, or for expaning the Beowulf my group has now, it looks like AMD may be the only reasonable option in 6 months. I don't really know what Intel is thinking. If they want to push groups like us into Xeon, it's not going to work.
There was a discussion about this on the news groups (news.mozilla.org/netscape.public.mozilla.seamonke y)
Find the thread entitled "Musing about Release 1.0, branching, and beyond"
Also, look at mozilla.org or look at any discussion of documentation. Basically mozilla.org says "Our job is to develop the technology, Netscape and the other companies are responsible for taking our technology and turning it into a finished product for end users"
Based on this, I expect to see a stabilization leading up to 1.0, immediately followed my massive breakage as new features are introduced leading into 1.1.
I don't expect to see a 1.0.1 or similar that is just bug fixes for 1.0.
I wish I was wrong, but I don't think I am.
There have been some good comments on speaker brands to consider: Paradigm, B&W, Energy are all good suggestions. NHT might be out of the price range since their cheapest audiophile speakers, the SuperZero absolutely requires a good subwoofer ($700-800) to be decent, especially for home theater. I find Klipsh a little harsh, but to each his own. One brand I didn't see mentioned was PSB. Their Alpha series is quite good and about $100-$150/speaker I think. More general advice: 1) Listen to everything you can find in your price range at good stereo stores. Stay away from Best Buy/CC for speakers. 2) I've seen stereo stores who've gone out and bought a Bose system so that their customers can compare Bose with audiophile speakers. If you are curious, try it. But don't buy Bose just because someone told you they are the best. Listen first, then form your opinions. 3) Look seriously at buying inexpensive speakers from a company that makes multi-kilobuck speakers too. The design knowledge filters down. 4) Consider going used to stretch your dollars. I won't comment on receivers except to say that if you have to skimp on something, skimp on the receiver. Technology there changes and you may want to replace it in five years no matter what. Good speakers can last 20 years or more.