If more and more software developers are going to be developing browser-based applications using technologies such as JavaScript, Flash, and AJAX, we will need to see the Web browser become a much more capable platform. In short, the browser will need to duplicate much of the work that has been done over the years in the operating systems field.
KDE 4.0 was released several days back, and thanks to the KDE Four Live CD, I was able to give it a try with very little effort. Having used it for about a day and a half now, I’d like to share some of my impressions of this new release of KDE. Specifically, I will be focusing on the Konqueror 4.0 Web browser. But please keep in mind that I have not performed any formal studies or benchmarking, and what follows is merely my opinion.
GIMP 2.4 was recently released. Although I do very little image manipulation, GIMP is one of the more widely used open source applications, thus I like to keep up to date with its developments.
One of the first things I went to check out after reading of the release was the screenshots section of their web page. I have to say, it was a very disappointing experience.
Several days back, Opera 9.50 Alpha was released. For the time being, you can read more about the new features in Opera 9.5. Some of the notable enhancements include a better ECMAscript engine, improvements to the layout algorithm, faster font rendering, and a more responsive UI.
Earlier today I witnessed the wasteful nature of pointless JavaScript effects first-hand at the Blogger main page. The effect in question is visible under the “BLOGS UPDATED AT …” text immediately under the Blogger logo. In short, the effect involves the title of a recently-updated blog fading away every second or so, to be replaced with the title of another blog. So as can clearly be seen, it’s not essential in any way. It’s completely cosmetic, although it doesn’t even look particularly good.
We often hear about how JavaScript-based Web applications will be the wave of the future. Some people have gone so far as to say that these applications will completely replace the traditional, desktop-based applications we use today. The advocates will list off supposed benefits, but will rarely listen when serious problems are shown with their favourite technology. Take, for instance, the major problems I noticed with a JavaScript-based Breakout clone.
Ricardo Herrmann just left an excellent comment to an article I had written about the general inadequacy of JavaScript-based Web applications. In his comment, he points out the Brickslayer game. It’s essentially a JavaScript-based Breakout clone. And like Ricardo pointed out, Breakout ran quite well on an Atari 2600. Keep in mind that the Atari 2600 is, well, rather under-powered compared to typical desktop computers today.
I was reading today about Pyro Desktop. As the Pyro homepage states: Pyro is a new kind of desktop environment for Linux built on Mozilla Firefox. Its goal is to enable true integration between the Web and modern desktop computing. By merging the Web with the desktop, Pyro offers the first big step toward a new future for the Web and the applications built for it.
I felt the need to clarify some things with this article that discusses so-called “Ubuntu Web Browsers”. The fact of the matter is that those browsers are in no way tied to Ubuntu. Likewise, Ubuntu supports browsers other than those.
Browsers like Firefox and Opera run on many different operating systems, from Windows, to Linux, to Mac OS X, to Solaris, to FreeBSD. Check out the Opera FTP site for proof of this. Look at the wide range of platforms they support. And don’t forget that some of those directories, like the “unix” directory, themselves contain several platforms.
Today I read an article introducing a service called booBox. booBox apparently allows web site owners to try to sell the items they are writing about. Like the article suggests, it’s probably best to try out their demo for yourself. For their demo, if you click on the image of an iPod, for example, it will bring up an overlay showing images of similar or related items that can then be purchased from Amazon.