Aethec

Yes, but if your browser doesn't support some features used in a website, spoofing the UA won't help

It uses WebKit ; thus, as long as it gets updated to the latest WebKit version, it will work.

Yay! @Winapp2.ini: I think you meant "Google is only a hair's breath below Facebook".

I don't know how LastPass works. Firefox has add-ons and plugins. "Add-ons" such as AdBlock Plus, Stylish, GreaseMonkey or themes are done using XUL/CSS/JS, but they can call native code if they want. "Plugins" such as Flash, QuickTime, Java or Silverlight are done using native code. @Corona: NPAPI is the plugin model for non-IE browsers. Flash, Silverlight, QuickTime, Java, the Office plugin, are all NPAPI-s More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NPAPI

NPAPI, or "Netscape Plugin API", is what all non-IE browsers use as their plugin model. Just like ActiveX, it's compiled native code. The only difference being the fact NPAPI can only be used in a browser (ActiveX controls can be used out of IE) Firefox sandboxes QuickTime, Silverlight and Flash (I don't think Java is sandboxed yet), but they don't remove their privileges IIRC - the sandbox's purpose is to avoid crashes (*cough* Flash *cough*). Chrome sandboxes Flash (but only the version that comes with it) aggressively - no write access and no read acces. IE sandboxes all ActiveX controls, but read access to the whole drive is enabled to avoid breaking compatibility with some older controls. Other browsers don't do anything at all. The main problem with ActiveX compared to NPAPI is that IE has a greater marketshare ; also, a website which needs a specific ActiveX control can give the URL to download it and IE will ask the user if he wants to download the control, which might be used to trick the user into downloading a malicious ActiveX (this is less common now that they are sandboxed). Other browsers don't allow this. Google has been working on "Pepper", a NPAPI evolution, for a while. I doubt it will be used though (backwards compatibility... )

So? What should he have done? Sometimes you have to take unpopular decisions.

I think I'll wait for the BUILD conference before making any judgement ; the Aero theme is probably going to be Metro-ified too.

NPAPI does the same thing as ActiveX, y'know.

There is a virus scanner on OS X. It detects 4-5 types of malware, via non-generic signatures.

Once you filter out some "look at meeeeeeeee!" and "linux is the best thing since sliced bread !1!!11!" writers, there are some very interesting articles on ZDNet.

Sometimes I wish Microsoft hadn't saved Apple...although they were kinda forced to do so. Apple has been doing stuff like that for years - antennagate, water detectors in iPhones, yellow things behind the glass in iMacs, etc. - and yet people still buy their products.

Actually, the guidelines say a lot of things such as "don't leave registry keys, or empty folders". But 90% of developpers don't care about guidelines on Windows.

No offense intended, but MP3 is definitely not the future ; it was invented nearly twenty years ago. I use WMA because that's Windows Media Player's native format, thus it will be supported in all future releases of Windows ; besides, there's a lossless WMA format, too Anyway, once you've decided which format you want to use, converting all your music using ffmpeg, lame or another command-line encoder is quite easy.

And they stole the "GNU is Not Unix" thing I like Microsoft's one, XNA. It stands for "XNA is Not an Acronym".

The C:\Windows\Java folder does not exist on a clean Windows install It seems Oracle (ex-Sun) programmers didn't learn Windows programming guidelines correctly... do not create folders in C:\Windows

I use ffmpeg, but it's a command-line program and it has no /? flag....very effective for batch converting, though.

Yes, but this seems like a pretense to do other things - just like censoring child pornography is. You can't argue against amber alerts or banning child porn, but what can be used as a useful tool can also be used to do bad things.

They're not forcing users to FF4 but to FF 3.6. If an addon hasn't been updated to support FF 3.6, it most probably never will.

The same reason why people stay on IE6/7...lazyness, disabled updates by the-friend-who-knows-a-lot-about-computers, fear of change...

The government might decide disabling the chip is illegal.

You can use MediaFire : http://www.mediafire.com No annoying waiting times, and anonymous uploading. Much better than RapidShare or MegaUpload.

That kind of thing might happen with stupid uninstallers *cough* WindowsBlinds *cough*, but I'd be surprised if the performance loss is more than 1 ms...

As always, FileHippo has the clean installers: http://www.filehippo.com/download_flashplayer_ie/ (IE) http://www.filehippo.com/download_flashplayer_firefox/ (non-IE) The biggest change for users is the Control Panel integration in Windows (I think OS X and Linux are concerned too) - yes, after more than ten versions Flash finally uses a native settings dialog.

I don't see the attachment section either.

Great. You either pay $350 for a sub-netbook with an OS that consists fully of a browser, or pay $1008 for three years (that $28 a month is for a minimum of 3 years) the same netbook except you'll get a hardware upgrade after three years. I'm sure IT admins will want to give all their data to Google. And their employees will love it when they have to ask "could I use your Wi-Fi, please?" before signing a million-dollar contract. Not to mention, it's easy to switch to Google Apps from MS Office, since Google Apps have all the functionality that's built in MSO plus many more things!