Posted 08/02/09 at 11:53:26 AM by Justin Kerr

Last week we reported on the new concessions Microsoft was proposing to the EU in the hopes of quelling its ongoing antitrust battles in Europe. The solution was a simple ballot screen pushed out as a “high priority” Windows Update, but what we didn’t know at the time is that it will also be sent out to computers running Windows XP and Vista as well.

The exact lineup of browsers hasn’t been finalized yet, but it is said to include 10 of “the most widely-used web browsers that run on Windows with a usage share of equal to or more than 0.5% in the European Economic Area”. Oddly enough, it’s still not even clear if Opera meets these requirements and given that they are the ones responsible for the antitrust woes facing Microsoft, would be bitter justice.

Opera officials overjoyed with the concessions, but never resting on their laurels, are said to now be pushing for an “icon-less ballot screen”. I suppose they are concerned that many users associate the “blue E” icon with “internet” and it still gives an unfair advantage to Microsoft. They are also said to be asking that this browser ballot be pushed out worldwide, but I somehow doubt Microsoft will take this approach. The browser ballot screen will include two links, one to the manufacturers website where they can learn more and an extra link directly to a download server.

Given the amazing amount of concessions being made by Microsoft, is Opera being unreasonable by asking for more?

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Posted 07/31/09 at 06:27:43 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Mozilla is reveling in the phenomenal success of Firefox. The overwhelming response from internet users has established Firefox as the second most popular browser in the world. Now, Mozilla has added a fresh piece of notional silverware, marking yet another real world triumph, to its imaginary trophy cabinet. Mozilla announced earlier in the day that Firefox has surpassed the 1 billion downloads mark.

Half of those downloads have come in the past 17 months, a period that witnessed the launch of Firefox 3 and 3.5. Though savants expect Firefox to benefit from Microsoft’s decision to release Windows 7 with a browser ballot in Europe, Firefox architect Mike Connor doesn’t share their views. “The choice [when installing Windows] would be weird. There's no good UI [user interface] for that,” Connor had told PC Pro in an interview earlier this year.

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Posted 07/29/09 at 05:40:59 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Mozilla is already ruminating on the look and feel of future Firefox versions. It shared a few Firefox 3.7 theme mockups last week. The common denominator across those mockups was the absence of the all-too-familiar title bar, a design feature that summons to memory the name “Google Chrome.”

Mozilla is certainly in love with Chrome’s minimalist design, if the freshly released “Firefox/4.0 Windows Theme Mockups” are anything to go by. It has released two Firefox 4.0 theme mockups in all and both of them closely mimic Chrome. 

The position of the tabs vis-à-vis the address bar is what sets them apart. The first mockup features the address bar on top of the tabs, whereas the second one has the tabs placed above the address bar – again reminiscent of Google Chrome.

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Posted 07/28/09 at 09:40:10 AM by Pulkit Chandna

Microsoft had to cough up $193 million in legal charges during its fiscal fourth quarter, the (depressing) results of which it announced on Friday. Now, it has forestalled the possibility of being slapped with another hefty fine. The Redmond-based software giant has bowed to EU’s demand that it let OEMs have the ability to bundle any other browser besides Internet Explorer with Windows.

"The European Commission can confirm that Microsoft has proposed a consumer ballot screen as a solution to the pending antitrust case,” EU revealed in a statement.

Microsoft had been hoping EU would allow it to ship Windows without a browser. EU had agreed to this solution when bundling of Windows Media Player was at issue, but the results proved that it was just a ruse. Had EU lent its seal of approval to Microsoft’s favorite solution, the company would have found it very easy to influence OEMs.

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Posted 07/21/09 at 07:27:57 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Less than a month after the release of Firefox 3.5, Mozilla has published a few design mockups for Firefox 3.7 on Mozilla Wiki. Mozilla made it amply clear that the designs “are only for brainstorming/exploration”.  Mozilla is making a conscious effort to come up with a design that will let Firefox 3.7 melt seamlessly into the Windows7/Windows Vista environment. On the face of it, Firefox 3.7 is very likely to feature a toolbar that mimics glass in its appearance, with the buttons being translucent and having added gloss.

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Posted 07/17/09 at 08:21:04 PM by Pulkit Chandna

The Apple App Store for the iPhone/iPod Touch has proved to be a huge hit and forced the introduction of similar services on rival mobile platforms. However, Vic Gundotra, vp of engineering at Google, believes such app stores will not have much of an impact in the future. He expects mobile web browsers to be more than equipped to deliver all kinds of content in the future.

“Many, many applications can be delivered through the browser and what that does for our costs is stunning,” Gundotra said at the Mobilebeat Conference in San Francisco. Palm’s Michael Abbot seconded his opinion and cited the introduction of HTML5 standards, which has made it easier for web apps to make use of a phone’s hardware, as a portent of things to follow.

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Posted 07/01/09 at 09:19:38 AM by Pulkit Chandna

Last week, Google rolled out a native development kit for Android developers. Developers can now create Android apps using native-code languages such as C and C++. Prior to the release of the Android Native Development Kit, applications for the platform could only be written in Java and run using Google’s Dalvik Java virtual machine.

The NDK has elicited some interest among software developers, with Mozilla being the most prominent of the lot. Mozilla is now giving serious thought to bringing Fennec, the mobile version of its Firefox web browser, to the Android platform.

"Developers are taking a look at the NDK to see if it provides the capabilities we need to bring Fennec to Android. If it's possible, I think our community would be interested in doing it, because Android will be appearing on more smartphones with the capabilities to provide a good browsing experience," Mozilla’s VP of mobile Jay Sullivan said.

Although running software natively can aid performance, there are other factors to offset that advantage. "Your application will be more complicated, have reduced compatibility, have no access to framework APIs, and be harder to debug,” Android engineer David Turner warned in a blog post announcing the release of the NDK.

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Posted 05/03/09 at 12:14:39 AM by Justin Kerr

For most users, Microsoft's Live Search is little more than a default setting on new installations of Internet Explorer. This perception is part of why Microsoft has always struggled to gain market share against Google & Yahoo who both hold the number 1 & 2 positions by a fairly large margin. Microsoft has struggled to come up with a strategy for sometime now, but it seems clear that its new strategy is to shed the past by dropping the Windows Live brand in favour of Kumo.

The timeframe for the redesign has been kept secret so far, but according to a forum posting on Neowin, Microsoft has started a clock in the lobby of its search headquarters that is counting down to June 2nd. This date, coincidentally enough, coincides with a speech being given by the head of Microsoft's online services division at the Search Engine Expo in Seattle. It is here that Dr Qi Lu is expected to formally announce Kumo and demonstrate the upgrades to the search engine. The timing also lines up well with a new ad campaign which is planned for the summer. So far Microsoft hasn't commented on Kumo specifically, and executives have hinted that it is but one of several names being considered at this point.

Early screen shots show several potential improvements that will allow searches to be broken down by relevant categories, making it easier to find information when you search for more general terms. For example; if you search for “Microsoft”, Kumo might give you a category for Windows, Office, Xbox, etc.

What do you think of Kumo as a brand name? What would you call it? And finally, will this get you to use Microsoft Search?

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