You are incorrect. Version one and two of IE were based on SpyGlass. I'm not sure about 3. I do know that 4 is a completely new codebase compared to 2. You are correct that it has many old quirks. These are COMPLETELY INTENTIONAL, and the result of a lot of work. You see, vast quantities of HTML on the web were created without any regard for standards, just so that they looked good in whatever browser was available at the time. Even if they were created to a standard, many of the old standards have been deprecated. In any case, IE focused on backwards compatibility, so that real live content worked, as opposed to standards compliance, which very little content adheres to anyway. Seriously. If you want IE to be more standards compliant, just add the appropriate declaration to the top of your pages, and IE6 will try to adhere to modern standards. Check out http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnie60/html/cssenhancements.asp for details.
One seldom addressed problem about conforming to standards is that conforming to a standard released at one point will frequently BREAK pages that were released prior to that point. As a result, 100% conformance to standards is not as cut and dried as it sounds. Additionally, a company may release a browser that conforms to a standard that is "close" to release. By the time the standard comes out, it has changed, and the browser is not not compliant.
It seems like this law provides a way that companies would feel more secure in releasing info, like MS did. If the law doesn't provide protection, it seems like there will be less released.
Why do we tolerate it? That is a VERY easy question. Not changing the formats over time would mean being stuck with the same feature set forever. Want more features (yes, you do, no matter what you say-columns didn't use to be possible, then were, now multiwidth columns are possible), need a more powerful format (or dtd or schema or whatever).
This language was created originally in the '60's and was known at the time as loglan (the logical language). This name even showed up in some period scifi books.:)
I saw a presentation about it maybe ten years ago-it sounded quite interesting. For example, they tried to design the language to have phonetic "hooks" into the six most widespread world languages. For example, the word for blue was "blanu". This is easy to remember for an english speaker because of the initial "bl" and final "u" sound (hell, I've remembered it for ten years:) ) and is supposed to be easy for speakers of other languages as well. In Spanish, the word for blue is "azul" and the "u" is similarly positioned and pronounced as in "blanu". If I remember correctly, the system works by taking a core set of words (1300'ish) and then having a small set of modifiers to the words. These modifiers specify whether the word is being used as a noun, verb, or other part of speech.
Here are some highlights from the lojban.org site:
Lojban is designed to be culturally neutral.
Lojban grammar is based on the principles of logic.
Lojban has an unambiguous grammar.
Lojban has phonetic spelling, and unambiguous resolution of sounds into words.
Lojban is simple compared to natural languages; it is easy to learn.
Lojban's 1300 root words can be easily combined to form a vocabulary of millions of words.
Lojban is regular; the rules of the language are without exception.
"Many", "enough", "too much", "a few", and "at least" are among concepts that are expressed as numbers in Lojban.
Another interesting thing about lojban is that because it is phonetic and because of the patern of the phonemes in words, it should be very easy for voice recognition software to distinguish where word boundaries are and words from one another.
Also, just because the language is logical, it does not preclude creative works-it has a very rich system for metaphors and analogies and there has even been poetry written in the language.
All in all, I'd recommend looking into lojban if you have any interest in languages
I got my first Palm when it was a Pilot, years ago before 3com had bought the company. I've been a loyal user until about 2 weeks ago, when I switched to a Compaq Aero 1530 from my PalmV. I finally switched because the size and speed of the devices became reasonable. My Aero is the same thickness as my Palm V was and is a LITTLE bit taller. It fits in my front pocket perfectly. It is noticably slower than the Palm, but very usable (NOT like the earlier CE devices, which sometimes took multiple seconds to do things). The key for me was the increase in functionality. The scheduling tool is far more flexible than the one that came with my Palm and Pocket Streets is incredible. Some people might think that it is overkill for a handheld, but I LOVE being able to locate addresses and establishments when I am away from my computer. The voice recorder has also been handy at times-It is easy to record notes for myself that get emailed to me when I sync. Also, it was reasonably cheap-about $280. It is greyscale, but I don't have a need for color and like the improved battery life. I haven't had a single crash (I actually don't even know how to reset it, I should probably find out just in case). I did have crashes at somewhat regular intervals with the Palm, but I was running more 3rd party stuff on it (because most of the built-in apps kind of sucked (what's up with not being able to postpone a meeting notice? At least there is DB3)). I do have to say, however, that the support for Palms has always ROCKED. I just ordered the upgrade rom to go to the PocketPC software from CE and am looking forward to seeing if it is any better. I do wish the hardware were a bit faster (I sometimes have to wait a second or so), but that will change over time-it's sure gotten better since the last versions.
I found several references to this. Here is one study
---------------- Hand drying: A study of bacterial types associated with different hand drying methods and with hot air dryers. Redway, K., Knights, B., Bozoky, Z., Theobald, A., and Hardcastle. 1994. London, UK, Applied Ecology Research Group, University of Westminster.
In a previous study under natural conditions, towels were found to be more efficient in drying the hands that hot air dryers where many people completed drying on clothes etc. Microbiological studies revealed that using towels after washing reduced bacterial counts on the hands by an average of 42% (paper) and 10% (cotton). With hot air dryers, however, counts increased by more than 500%. Bacteria were blown out of dryers whenever they were running.
In the present study, standard techniques were used to identify and count the bacteria associated with hand washing and drying under natural conditions. Average bacterial counts were again reduced using towels - the most significant decrease being with paper towel. Hot air dryers produced significant increases in all bacteria - -436% rise with some skin and gut bacteria. The presence of gut bacteria is indicative of fecal contamination of the hands.
In a further study, bacteria were isolated from swabs taken from the air flow nozzle and air inlet of 35 hot air dryers in nine types of locations (including hospitals, eating places, railway stations, public houses, colleges, shops and sports clubs.) Bacteria were relatively numerous in the airflows and on the inlets of 100% of dryers sampled and in 97% of the nozzles. Staphylococci and micrococci (probably from skin and hair) were blown out of all of the dryers sampled for these type of bacteria and 95% showed evidence of the potential pathogen Staphylococcus aureus. At least 6 species of gut bacteria (enterobacteria) were isolated from the air flows of 63% of the dryers, indicating fecal contamination.
It is concluded that hot air dryers have the potential for depositing pathogenic bacteria onto the hands and body. Bacteria could also be inhaled and are distributed into the general environment whenever dryers are running. It is suggested that the use of hot air dryers should be carefully considered on health grounds, especially in sensitive locations. -------------------- -E
Slashdot Mirror
You are incorrect.= /library/en-us/dnie60/html/cssenhancements.asp for details.
Version one and two of IE were based on SpyGlass. I'm not sure about 3. I do know that 4 is a completely new codebase compared to 2.
You are correct that it has many old quirks. These are COMPLETELY INTENTIONAL, and the result of a lot of work. You see, vast quantities of HTML on the web were created without any regard for standards, just so that they looked good in whatever browser was available at the time. Even if they were created to a standard, many of the old standards have been deprecated. In any case, IE focused on backwards compatibility, so that real live content worked, as opposed to standards compliance, which very little content adheres to anyway. Seriously.
If you want IE to be more standards compliant, just add the appropriate declaration to the top of your pages, and IE6 will try to adhere to modern standards.
Check out http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url
Um, no one owns more than 20% of MSFT. Gates only owns 12%.
One seldom addressed problem about conforming to standards is that conforming to a standard released at one point will frequently BREAK pages that were released prior to that point. As a result, 100% conformance to standards is not as cut and dried as it sounds. Additionally, a company may release a browser that conforms to a standard that is "close" to release. By the time the standard comes out, it has changed, and the browser is not not compliant.
It seems like this law provides a way that companies would feel more secure in releasing info, like MS did. If the law doesn't provide protection, it seems like there will be less released.
Why do we tolerate it? That is a VERY easy question. Not changing the formats over time would mean being stuck with the same feature set forever. Want more features (yes, you do, no matter what you say-columns didn't use to be possible, then were, now multiwidth columns are possible), need a more powerful format (or dtd or schema or whatever).
I saw a presentation about it maybe ten years ago-it sounded quite interesting. For example, they tried to design the language to have phonetic "hooks" into the six most widespread world languages. For example, the word for blue was "blanu". This is easy to remember for an english speaker because of the initial "bl" and final "u" sound (hell, I've remembered it for ten years :) ) and is supposed to be easy for speakers of other languages as well. In Spanish, the word for blue is "azul" and the "u" is similarly positioned and pronounced as in "blanu". If I remember correctly, the system works by taking a core set of words (1300'ish) and then having a small set of modifiers to the words. These modifiers specify whether the word is being used as a noun, verb, or other part of speech.
Here are some highlights from the lojban.org site:
Lojban is designed to be culturally neutral.
Lojban grammar is based on the principles of logic.
Lojban has an unambiguous grammar.
Lojban has phonetic spelling, and unambiguous resolution of sounds into words.
Lojban is simple compared to natural languages; it is easy to learn.
Lojban's 1300 root words can be easily combined to form a vocabulary of millions of words.
Lojban is regular; the rules of the language are without exception.
"Many", "enough", "too much", "a few", and "at least" are among concepts that are expressed as numbers in Lojban.
Another interesting thing about lojban is that because it is phonetic and because of the patern of the phonemes in words, it should be very easy for voice recognition software to distinguish where word boundaries are and words from one another.
Also, just because the language is logical, it does not preclude creative works-it has a very rich system for metaphors and analogies and there has even been poetry written in the language.
All in all, I'd recommend looking into lojban if you have any interest in languages
-e
I got my first Palm when it was a Pilot, years ago before 3com had bought the company. I've been a loyal user until about 2 weeks ago, when I switched to a Compaq Aero 1530 from my PalmV.
I finally switched because the size and speed of the devices became reasonable. My Aero is the same thickness as my Palm V was and is a LITTLE bit taller. It fits in my front pocket perfectly. It is noticably slower than the Palm, but very usable (NOT like the earlier CE devices, which sometimes took multiple seconds to do things).
The key for me was the increase in functionality. The scheduling tool is far more flexible than the one that came with my Palm and Pocket Streets is incredible. Some people might think that it is overkill for a handheld, but I LOVE being able to locate addresses and establishments when I am away from my computer. The voice recorder has also been handy at times-It is easy to record notes for myself that get emailed to me when I sync.
Also, it was reasonably cheap-about $280. It is greyscale, but I don't have a need for color and like the improved battery life.
I haven't had a single crash (I actually don't even know how to reset it, I should probably find out just in case). I did have crashes at somewhat regular intervals with the Palm, but I was running more 3rd party stuff on it (because most of the built-in apps kind of sucked (what's up with not being able to postpone a meeting notice? At least there is DB3)). I do have to say, however, that the support for Palms has always ROCKED.
I just ordered the upgrade rom to go to the PocketPC software from CE and am looking forward to seeing if it is any better. I do wish the hardware were a bit faster (I sometimes have to wait a second or so), but that will change over time-it's sure gotten better since the last versions.
---------------- Hand drying: A study of bacterial types associated with different hand drying methods and with hot air dryers. Redway, K., Knights, B., Bozoky, Z., Theobald, A., and Hardcastle. 1994. London, UK, Applied Ecology Research Group, University of Westminster.
In a previous study under natural conditions, towels were found to be more efficient in drying the hands that hot air dryers where many people completed drying on clothes etc. Microbiological studies revealed that using towels after washing reduced bacterial counts on the hands by an average of 42% (paper) and 10% (cotton). With hot air dryers, however, counts increased by more than 500%. Bacteria were blown out of dryers whenever they were running.
In the present study, standard techniques were used to identify and count the bacteria associated with hand washing and drying under natural conditions. Average bacterial counts were again reduced using towels - the most significant decrease being with paper towel. Hot air dryers produced significant increases in all bacteria - -436% rise with some skin and gut bacteria. The presence of gut bacteria is indicative of fecal contamination of the hands.
In a further study, bacteria were isolated from swabs taken from the air flow nozzle and air inlet of 35 hot air dryers in nine types of locations (including hospitals, eating places, railway stations, public houses, colleges, shops and sports clubs.) Bacteria were relatively numerous in the airflows and on the inlets of 100% of dryers sampled and in 97% of the nozzles. Staphylococci and micrococci (probably from skin and hair) were blown out of all of the dryers sampled for these type of bacteria and 95% showed evidence of the potential pathogen Staphylococcus aureus. At least 6 species of gut bacteria (enterobacteria) were isolated from the air flows of 63% of the dryers, indicating fecal contamination.
It is concluded that hot air dryers have the potential for depositing pathogenic bacteria onto the hands and body. Bacteria could also be inhaled and are distributed into the general environment whenever dryers are running. It is suggested that the use of hot air dryers should be carefully considered on health grounds, especially in sensitive locations. -------------------- -E