Weekend tech reading: The effect of EU browser ballot

[Matthew DeCarlo]

The Windows browser ballot: the winners and the losers On 1 March 2010, the EU Browser Choice ballot came into being. Rather than Microsoft being allowed to bundled Internet Explorer with Windows, it would offer all European users a choice of the "12 most widely used web browsers that run on Windows 7," either during the initial setup of a PC or later via Windows Update. A bold plan, yet seven of the 12 argued that it didn't go far enough. PC Pro

IT graduates not 'well-trained, ready-to-go' There is a disconnect between students getting high-tech degrees and what employers are looking for in those graduates. Employers agree that colleges and universities need to provide their students with the essential skills required to run IT departments, yet only 8% of hiring managers would rate IT graduates hired as "well-trained, ready-to-go"... Network World

Microsoft shows off radical new UI, could be used in Windows 8 In a three and a half minute video, Microsoft may have shown the world what it has in store for the eagerly awaited Windows 8. In the video Microsoft showed a radically different interface from past versions of Windows -- even Windows 7. DailyTech

Employer demands Facebook password during interview Late last year a man -- Officer Robert Collins -- from Maryland was asked to give his Facebook login email address and password during a recertification interview with the Maryland Division of Corrections (DOC). Neowin

Verizon iPhone 4: Mind the gap, our tests show The Verizon iPhone 4 has a problem that could cause the phone to drop calls, or be unable to place calls, in weak signal conditions, Consumer Reports engineers have found in lab tests. Consumer Reports

Two planets found sharing one orbit Buried in the flood of data from the Kepler telescope is a planetary system unlike any seen before. Two of its apparent planets share the same orbit around their star. If the discovery is confirmed, it would bolster a theory that Earth once shared its orbit with a Mars-sized body that later crashed into it, resulting in the moon's formation. NewScientist

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https://www.techspot.com/news/42581-weekend-tech-reading-the-effect-of-eu-browser-ballot.html

 

[princeton]

Ugh. That new windows UI is terrible! It looks like it was aimed completely at people with no understanding of technology.

it just screams "simple UI for simple people"

 

[krayzie]

i think windows should remove IE, its the main source of all their "security flaws"

 

[Benny26]

Princeton said:
Ugh. That new windows UI is terrible! It looks like it was aimed completely at people with no understanding of technology.

it just screams "simple UI for simple people"

Maybe i'll have to agree with you there myself.

It looks rather brave if anything...Although you'll never fully know till you've had your claws into it for a while.

Who knows, maybe it looks so bad, that it might actually be good. Some stuff does have a way of turning out like that sometimes.

 

[lawfer]

I doubt that's the UI.

 

[DokkRokken]

That UI looks unintuitive for anyone who is even remotely a 'power user.'

But as long as MS allows people to switch to the conventional layout that we've become accustomed to over the past fifteen years, then I don't mind.

 

[St1ckM4n]

Well, I can confirm the second story. I'm in my third and final year of studying IT at university, and I know **** all.

 

[red1776]

I doubt that's the UI.

Ouch! :haha:

 

[KG363]

lawfer said:
I doubt that's the UI.

ditto

 

[Julio Franco]

The misleading story title was copied from the source (DailyTech). To me it's obvious that UI won't make it to Windows 8, at least not as the main interface which as usual will be a evolutionary step from what we have today. Microsoft spends (wastes?) a lot of money on research that often doesn't make it to the final product. Having that said, the UI in question looks like something you could better use on a touch-based interface, like tablets or MS' own Surface PC.

As for the kind of improvements we should see on Windows 8, I think Microsoft did many of the right things going from Vista to W7, now it needs to iterate faster on features that simplify computing. In this sense I like what Apple is announcing for OS X Lion (versions, resume, autosave).

On dropping IE... they will never do it. They still possess a sizable share of the browser market and getting rid of IE would be renouncing to the search market and their dominance in certain Web verticals that are monetized using IE as leverage.

 

[tonylukac]

That rant about people being inexperienced out of school is just an excuse for employers to hire foreigners at sub par wages and to ship our jobs overseas. The us didn't enact any sort of import taxes because, for example, the chinese government was paying us. If the stuff is too technical, train or lower your expectations. There really isn't anything that remarkable coming out in the last 30 years for all these certification requirements, etc. Just look at the mistake that was vista. Where's the AI; the voice commands, etc.? In the 70s, 200 people could use a single mainframe computer efficiently with just 5 meg of memory. The response time was actually faster than the present day internet. You only had to install 1 program and 5000 people used it. Have we digressed?

 

[tengeta]

Its funny how Microsoft and Apple are becoming what the other was 10 years ago.

 

[Archean]

krayzie said:
i think windows should remove IE, its the main source of all their "security flaws"

When I read this I couldn't believe someone would say it, name one browser which doesn't suffer from security or other issues? I doubt you can do it in a dozen life times. A piece of software 'can never be safe' no matter how much its creator tout it to be. There will always be issues and loopholes for others to find and exploit.

Secondly, in the past IE wasn't even half as good as the competition, but with IE9 MS is very close to others, and performance difference is near to irrelevant. Asking MS to drop IE is like asking Apple to drop Safari (although it is like comparing Apples to Oranges).

 

[hitech0101]

"Two planets found sharing one orbit" how did that end up here? Nice article though!

 

[Relic]

hitech0101 said:
"Two planets found sharing one orbit" how did that end up here? Nice article though!

Heh ya, but it was a great read.