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Internet Explorer Architect Interview
10/10/2007 1:01:54 PM
Ok.
This just makes me sick. Chris Wilson is the platform architect for IE. Me? I'm just a web developer who has been dealing with IE since v4... beck when NN4 was all the rage. I've stuck with each version of IE and I'm using IE7 RIGHT NOW to type this blog post. Chris is so wrong, I don't know where to begin. Hmm... lets start with Windows integration. Chris talks about code-sharing with the OS, but then is busted on the fact that it is TWICE the size of FireFox. His excuse, from my understanding, is that the binary supports multiple OSs. Couldn't you just provide different downloads? One for each OS (XP, Vista, XP64, Vista64)? This is especially true if it's componentized like he claims. That was just a warm up. Now on to my BIGGEST PET PEEVE,
standards. Lacking support for Web standards is where things really go south. This would be almost laughable if it didn't totally piss me off. The W3C has overseen the evolution of a number of standards for the web: HTML 1-4.1, XHTML 1-2, XML, EcmaScript (JScript is the MS version), etc. Microsoft personally had a hand in the development of these standards. They even introduced the concept of AJAX (which is the technology that makes Web 2.0 possible, so hat's off to them for this one). Chris argues that "[if we include a new standard correctly] we [will] break a lot of content if we're not very careful." AHHHHH!H!H!H!H!H No YOU WILL NOT. This is complete bullshit, and HE ABSOLUTELY knows this. Let me explain:
- When he says "break a lot of content" he's mostly talking about Microsoft products (because I'm pretty sure the others don't matter to him). Namely SharePoint, Outlook Web Access, and all of Microsoft's web properties (like microsoft.com, msn.com, msdn.com, expedia.com, etc).
- Every page on the web is written in some variant of HTML, XML or XHTML (what's delivered to the browser is, regardless of the extension). All of these standards since the beginning have supported a tag just before the HTML tag. Guess what this does? It tells the rendering engine HOW TO RENDER the following HTML. Which means? AT WORST, A ONE LINE CHANGE TO SUPPORT OLD, NON-STANDARD CODE. It's either (if HTML) "--//W3C//DTD [insert version here] Strict" (which means BE STANDARDS COMPLIANT) or "--//W3C//DTD [insert version here] Transitional" (which means USE THE MICROSOFT NON-STANDARD METHOD)
Got it? You can't tell me that the IE platform architect doesn't understand this. It would be ludicrous if he
didn't. He goes on to say that web apps just can't be compelling. It's either a simple UI frontend for a server side app (aka ASP.NET, which totally kicks ass by the way) or the implementation of a platform (aka Microsoft only technologies such as .NET 3.0 and Silverlight) which REQUIRES client-side binaries (whether built into IE or not). Sometimes I just get so hopping mad about this. Microsoft should be applauded for a great many things. Namely IIS6 (sp1), AJAX, and ASP.NET 2.0... and I can't even wait for IIS7. But standard compliance in a non-buggy browser (and SMS) are not among their accomplishments. Back in the Netscape Navigator days, they totally kicked ass in the browser space, now it's like they don't even care (IE has become the buggy Navigator of this generation). I guess at least we got tabs in IE7 (even though each tab seems to take up as much memory as a NEW instance of IE, but if it crashes - it takes the whole browser, tabs and all).
My Arcade Games
10/18/2006 9:03:43 PM
I've got waaaay to many Arcade games... and it takes... counting... too... counting... long... counting... to... counting... load... counting... this... counting.. stupid... counting... list... counting.... Come on!! This is ridiculous. What hamster did they bundle with my Xbox 360 to get this level of performance? Shitty software. I guess we can only hope they fix it in the Fall dashboard update (not one word online about this one - unlike the spring update).
Registered Games (Rating in parens):
- Bejeweled 2 (*** - a must have)
- Crystal Quest (** - interesting & different, and yet addictive)
- Dig Dug (** - still addictive)
- Feeding Frenzy (**)
- Galaga (*** - still addictive)
- Gauntlet (** - boring and repetitive now that I don't have to feed quarters)
- Geometry Wars (**** - the best shooter on X360)
- Hexic HD (* - wish it was Hexagon)
- Marble Blast Ultra (* - I want my money back, not sure why I played this)
- Outpost Kaloki X (**** - easily the best strategy game on X360)
- PAC-MAN (** - just like I remember it - extremely hard, worse due to lack of a joystick)
- Smash TV (*** - exciting, but I always wished the little guy could take more than ONE hit before buying the farm)
- Street Fighter II' HF (** - extremely buggy, hopefully UMK3 will fare better)
- Time Pilot (** - interesting diversion)
- TotemBall (Don't have vision cam yet)
- Uno (*** - needs more decks!)
Trial Games (unregistered):
- Astropop - (*** - breakout, but better )
- Doom - poor graphics in HD!
- Frogger (** - seems sluggish in response)
- Zuma (** - interesting)
Lumines Live... color me dead.
10/18/2006 8:44:55 PM
I've never liked Tetris type games... or even the Scrabble games (oh goody! pull out the dictionary it's time to paaartay! ugh.) I gave Lumines the benefit of the doubt because so many reports online seemed to be panting for this game to arrive.
Thud.
Now I can truly say: I hate this game. Give me Diner Dash or Coffee Tycoon over this hogwash any day.
Speaking of XBLA, I now have 21 games in "My Arcade Games". The Dashboard takes about 2 minutes to "count" them. Helllo.... Microsoft: This ... counting... is counting... ridiculous... counting. AHHHH!H!!H!H
Spring 06' Update: My Review
6/12/2006 4:18:29 AM
Ok, I've really delved into the new dashboard update. Much better than I thought. The new capabilities are sooooo subtle. The biggest changes are in the submenus.
Dashboard Startup:
Yes, I'm starting up to the dashboard. Woohoo! With Oblivion being the ONLY decent 360 game on the market right now, this setting is a life saver. Half of my time on my Xbox 360 is spent on XBLA. Now I can start there. :)
Movies:
I picked up the 360 remote, and I've watched a few movies. The remote takes a while to get configured as VERY LITTLE instructions are provided (For instance, you can not control XBLA unless you click the TV button. Huh?) Overall I'm impressed at how fast it is. Previously I had only used my XBOX to download and watch HD trailors... and they were slow to start; and now with the remote I also know which button will pause the action for the inevitable bathroom break without getting that hideous minimenu. Fast forwarding & reverse are fluid and quick. Finally, using a controllor to watch a movie was painful; and having to constantly 're-attach' was a total pain. That never happens with the remote! Sweet.
XBLA Market Place:
They've been really excited about having 'more content than expected'... but this update just points out how little they really have.
Podcast & Portable Media Expo 2006
10/5/2006 9:52:54 PM
I went to the Podcast and Portable Media Expo 2006 in Ontario, Ca-lifornia. Yeah, I know! Who knew there was an Ontario in California?
Keynotes
Leo Laporte (
Call for Help) and Ron D. Moore (
Battlestar Galactica) were there for the keynote on Friday, and Andrew Baron (
RocketBoom) came out for the keynote on Saturday. So what did they focus on? Well, Leo focused on the word Podcast and the recent legal ramblings by Apple to control the use of the p-o-d letter combination. Ron focused on how cool it was for him to drink and smoke at home while recording the audio commentary podcast for the BSG episodes. Andrew focused on how good his numbers were: See how much money we can make?
But what about the undercurrent?
- The focus of most of the session and most podcasters? Money. How do you monetize your podcast?!
- How do you improve your podcast (eg. better interview techniques)
- What's the video story going forward? YouTube owns you, Revver has a file size limit... seems nobody has got the magic formula for video hosting. Or so I heard...
Podcast Host Services - Blubrry vs. Podshow
Create an account, upload your podcasts, be listed, "friend" your favorite podcasts (if they are listed), and... where were they? No podshow booth, a small little blubrry booth. If it wasn't for a podcast I listen to pointing over to Blubrry... I wouldn't even have known they existed (except maybe the cheap blue stress balls they were handing out). Oh, and podcasters listed on Podshow were told to delist themselves from Blubrry - ostensibly because "they are (just?) now a competitor".
The big unanswered questions remain:
- How is the format war going? I listen to podcasts in AAC, MP3, and M4P. I watch podcasts in MOV, AVI, M4V, MP4. I can only watch half in every PC media app. Half must be used in QuickTime/Apple. With TV you can watch every show on any TV - why is this still so crazy in the internet space?
- Where is RSS2.0 vs. ATOM? What is the evolution of the technology?
- Where are the discussions about media ownership? Podshow, Blubrry, Podcastready, Libsyn, YouTube, Revver, Amazon Unboxed, Google Video, etc. What are the limitations of each services? What are the advantages of each? Maybe someone will review them - I'm just too lazy.
The Forgotten User Story
WHAT THE HELL is the USER STORY? WMP11b2 has no podcasting support, and as a recently reformed Mac user I'm done with iTunes - even if it supports podcasting. I'm going to try out
Democracy Player and
Juice soon. Anyway
Podcastready had a huge presense on the expo floor, but were barely able to explain their product. It's a Java app, that does *not* require the JRE... and treats MP3 players as USB drives. Playlists? Don't know. Playcounts? When do the files roll off the device? It's all basically some sort of technomage magic.
Company to watch?
Podango had a huge presence - and potentially have a huge idea with radio-station like managers that aggregate other people's podcasts (aka OPP) in a "station" feed. But despite all of their hype... and presentations... there was no product. How do you aggregate those podcasts? What's the UI like? Where's the social aspect of your app that makes it viable? Nothing. I didn't see one demo just a lot of hot air.
PodcastAward highlights: Next up... I'll talk about who I met, and what podcasts I've started listening / watching because of it.