I already had the stable version installed (9.64) and I was glad to find out that it was possible for me to install the 10.0 alpha alongside the previous version. The installation went by without any problems as well.

In contrast to Safari 4.0, Opera’s user interface looked a bit clunky. The menus, tabs and buttons use up a lot of screen area and it was also disappointing to find out that the menu bar could not be disabled. It was completely the opposite of Safari’s minimalistic approach but I guess I should wait until the beta version is out before I comment too much on the UI.

This browser would probably be a techie’s dream browser. It seems like Opera crammed every possible feature they could think off.

On the default layout you would immediately notice an icon that’s not normally found on browsers: a trash bin (see image above). It took me a while to figure out what it does but after an hour of browsing, I notice that it collects the recent tabs/pages that you closed. Sort of like a recycle bin for your browsing history. Definitely a nice thing to have. Of course IE8 already has this feature but instead of giving users a dedicated button, IE just displays the recently closed pages when you open a new tab (more on this on IE day).

On the lower right hand corner of the browser (on the status bar) is a magnifier drop down box where you could choose how much zoomed in/out you want the page to be. This is also another feature that’s already in IE8. I don’t use it at all but it’s definitely a feature that should be in all browsers because it would definitely be very handy for some users.

On the upper left hand side you’d find the toggle button for the tool bar, which gives you access to still more features. From here you can access a notes tool, as well as Opera’s Widget manager. If your like your browser to come with all the bells and whistles there’d be plenty for you to get excited about right in that area. But I actually like my browsers as simple as possible so let’s move on.

The browser also has support for email, newsgroups and chat (via IRC).

From a techie point of view, this would be the browse of choice because of the Developer Tool: Dragonfly. It lets you dive deep into the code behind a page, allowing you to find bugs easier. Definitely a powerful engine, but then again like I said before, I’m actually not too fond of browsers that try to do too much. This sort of thing could easily be done in the powerful web development tools available today.

Looking at just the browsing features though, Opera 10.0 does have a lot of stuff that I like. One of these is the fact that it ‘remembers’ your open tabs. Closing the Opera window while you have several tabs open does not generate an alert but when you re-launch the browser it does open up all those tabs that you had in your previous session. This feature should definitely find its way to all new generation browsers (Firefox also has this feature, although they have a different implementation).

Another cool feature that I liked is their Speed Dial, which comes up as the default view when you open a new tab. This is somewhat similar to Safari’s Top Sites view but in Opera’s case it does not automatically populate the list. Instead, it allows the user to program specific pages unto the speed dial. It then assigns shortcuts to those programmed pages depending on which quick dial slot you assigned them too. Definitely a cool feature. However, I do have to say that I like Safari’s implementation better.

Regarding performance, I couldn’t observe to much difference between it and Safari. It was able to handle my usual websites just fine and it definitely feels faster than IE8.

Throughout the entire exercise Opera 10.0 only crashed once on a certain page. reloading the page managed to generate the same result every single time. The page in question contained both streaming video and flash content so I’m guessing it might be either of the two that caused the error. I tried the page in IE and Safari and they didn’t have any problems loading it.

All in all, Opera 10.0 is a decent release, especially given the fact that its still in its alpha stage. It would definitely be something to watch out for. Looking at their release plan, the beta should be just around the corner.

Tomorrow on Day 3 we take a look at something more mainstream. I’ll be trying out Firefox’s 3.5 (beta).

Then came Windows 7 RC1. The IE8 that came with it is the final release version of the browser. It did manage to resolve most of the bugs that I encountered on the interim version. But it brought forth new ones.

And so, starting today I finally decided to go back to some of my previous browsers of choice.

So here’s how this would work. Over the next days/week I would be using one browser per day, doing ALL of my internet activities solely on that browser. At the end of the day I would be posting my thoughts here on this blog as well as any issues that I have come across in using that browser.

I wouldn’t be using any benchmarking tools with this test. Just plain (no-mercy) usage. I’d be using the browsers with my normal day-to-day activities on the internet. In other words, just like a casual user. With a twist: I’d be trying to ‘break’ the browsers as much as I can.

Day 1: Safari 4 Beta

I would be starting off with the Safari browser from Apple. For this little experiment I would be using Safari 4 which is still in beta stage. Since I would be running it on Win7 RC1, I’d be testing Safari 3.0 as well in case I’d run into too much problems with the Safari 4 Beta.

Safari is the flagship browser for Apple computers. Starting with version 3.0 it has been made available to Windows users and it was widely met with favorable reviews.

Version 4.0 is still in its beta stage but it is currently prominently displayed as the primary download on the Safari drop off page. The stand alone (no QuickTime) exe file is roughly 25.5MB.

The installation went without any problems (take note: I’m installing the browsers on Windows 7 RC1) and I was soon enjoying the new browser.

The first thing I noticed was that it didn’t provide any means of importing favorites, cookies, etc from another browser. There was prompt during the installation process, and no option for such on the menus either. Aside from this, it also doesn’t ask you whether or not you want to set it as the default browser, which I thought was very unpretentious of them. However, these little deviations would surely be a deterrent for some casual users. Of course this is merely a beta version so I guess they’d probably put those in the final release.

After manually setting it as the default browser I opened up my usual web pages, making sure I had plenty of tabs opened. Safari 4.0 features a new look. It now supports Aero Glass, which was a welcome change. No longer does it seem out of place within the Windows environment.

The standard features common to new generation browsers are all present. The tabs feature is implemented differently (more on this later) but is surprisingly more intuitive than the one on Chrome. The Smart Address bar (AwesomeBar in Firefox), is also a great enhancement. It dynamically updates the address bar dropdown as you type, displaying a mix of possible matches based on you browsing history and bookmarks.

The new interface sports the usual minimalistic approach, but frees up even more screen real-estate than before. The controls are all on a single strip, flanking the address bar. The status bar (turned off by default) has also been shrunk to almost half of those on other browsers.

Another one of my favorites on this browser is the updated “find” feature. It’s similar to the one on Firefox (and now on IE8). I often do a lot of searching through web pages I visit and I always found this new implementation to be quite handy.

The default ‘homepage’ is the interesting new Top Sites feature. on first use it displays several default bookmarks but after some time it begins to reflect your browsing history. An edit button allows your to pin and/or remove websites from the list (see image below).

Aside from the Top Sites feature, Safari 4.0 also used a Cover Flow interface on its bookmarks and history viewer, allowing users to flip through the bookmarked pages. Should be fun to see on a Windows Touch enabled PC.

Safari 4.0 also has Flash support right out of the box. But it fails in handling pdf files. Click on a pdf link and the browser crashes. No offers to download the file or any other way of handling.

There’s also something I found peculiar with the new tabs. I initially thought that they didn’t allow themselves to be moved around. Apparently they did, but you have to click and drag right at the upper right tip of the tab instead of allowing the dragging on any part of the tab (like in IE8). It’s a minor issue but it might be difficult to handle on Windows Touch.

Safari 4.0 boasts that it is four times faster than the previous version (which they in turn say is twice as fast as other browsers). It is largely attributed to Apple’s new JavaScript engine, Nitro. I think I’d have to agree. It definitely feels a little bit faster, snappier, although I do have to say that IE8 is already fast to begin with.

All in all I have to say that I’m quite happy with Safari 4.0. Even with a dozen tabs open I wasn’t able to crash it. It displayed my favorite websites correctly, even the ones that required ‘compatibility view’ in IE8. Definitely a browser I would recommend.

Want to try out the new Safari 4.0? Go to the Apple website to download this browser.

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Tomorrow on day 2 I’d be taking a look at the new Opera Browser.

Opera currently has version 10.0 in Alpha stage.

I can’t wait.

We all have to take down notes at one point or another while we’re in front of our computers, so this little program would definitely come handy.

There’s just a couple of things I don’t like about it though:

1. It won’t let you change the default font
   You’re pretty much stuck with the one it comes with. I appreciate how they went with a handwriting type font to reflect the “note” feel but from a programmer’s point of view I feel like it’s a travesty not to go the extra mile and put in a customization feature that would allow users to change fonts (colors, highlighting, etc).
2. No support for Windows 7 features.
   I’m referring to JumpLists and Peek/Preview to be precise. Microsoft has been doing a very good job trying to come up with a unified “look and feel” to their products and services lately (Have you tried out Windows Live?) and as such I would expect products like Sticky Notes to be able to use core features in the new OS.
   Case in point: When you hover the mouse pointer over the Sticky Notes shortcut on the Task Manager it just gives you a consolidated “snapshot”:
   
   It would have been nice to have it spread out the preview notes like how it’s done on the Internet Explorer 8 tabs:
   

Granted we still have some months before Windows 7 is finally released so they’re probably planning to redesign Sticky Notes for added features (crossing fingers).

Quick TIP

When you close out a Sticky Note using the X button at the upper right hand corner it would actually be a “delete” action. I don’t know about other people but I wanted a way to quickly hide/show Sticky Notes (I don’t want them on my desktop all the time). The problem with this is that the Sticky Notes do not have a button to minimize or hide them.

Solution: Pin the Sticky Notes shortcut on your Taskbar (right click the Sticky Notes launcher on your Start Menu and choose “Pin to Taskbar”).

Once the shortcut is already on your Taskbar, you can click on it to hide/unhide your Sticky Notes.

One of the first programs I downloaded and installed on Windows 7 RC1 was the the Windows Live Essentials suite, which is available for free download from the Microsoft website. The software suite contains Windows Messenger, Mail, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker Beta, and Writer (among others).

I actually only downloaded the suite to try out Windows Live Writer, which I’ve been meaning to get to for quite some time now. To those who aren’t familiar with the application, it’s actually a nifty little program that let’s you manage your blog site outside of a browser.

This might seem a bit "useless" at first glance, especially since most people are online 24/7 these days (why not just go to the blog site itself and do your thing there?). That’s partly why I wanted to try it out.

After installation, the program starts out with a wizard to guide you through the initial process of setting up your blog, including choosing your blog site from a list and inputting your login information. After the quick setup, you are all set. It opens up to a well organized interface that’s actually reminiscent of FrontPage Express.

I haven’t really used it that much yet but I like it so far. It gives you powerful tools to work with your post like easy table insertion and management (which is really a pain to try and get done on most blog sites). It also gives you lets you view the source code on the fly (for even more powerful editing) as well as provide a live preview of the post you’re constructing (applying any themes or formatting that you have on your blog site – cool!)

On top of all that it also gives you automatic spell-check and for the more OC, a status bar indicator for your post’s word count. And once you’re all set to post your blog, there are nifty little input boxes to manage your blog’s categories and tags (I suspect that this would depend on what blog service you’re using).

By the way, let’s not forget the best feature I can wish for: AUTOSAVE. You can choose how often it does this, and since I’ve had a very traumatic past having lost more than my fair share of blog posts due to unsaved data (thank you very much, Internet Explorer 8), I keep mine to a minimum.

All in all, it’s definitely a must have for all bloggers on the Windows platform.

Almost Obsolete?

Of course one of the things that I realized when trying out Windows Live Writer is just how Multiply is being badly beaten up by the competition. When Windows Live Writer runs for the first time and asks you to set up your blog, Multiply is not one of the default choices, which is actually understandable I guess. It’s not actually a blog site in the strictest sense. But still. Point is, it should start catching up with the other sites and work more towards being able to interact with the other social networking sites out there.

Multiply actually has a lot of good ideas, so I’m hoping it won’t get obsolete too soon.

Hello, WordPress

WordPress (WP) has actually been around for quite some time now, and is the blog site of choice for most serious bloggers out there. I’ve had an account with WP for a while but I didn’t really like writing on these pages before. Like I’ve said, Multiply really had a lot of cool concepts going on and as such, I wanted to keep my blogging primarily on those pages.

Until Windows Live Writer came along.

In order to try out Windows Live Writer, I had to have a compatible blog site. So I was forced to dust off my WP account and pay the blog site a visit. I’m actually glad I did because I sure liked what I saw.

WP has completely revamped their interface. It almost overwhelming to see all those powerful tools available at your disposal but as you can see on the screenshot it’s actually very intuitive.

Definitely serious stuff going on right here. And coupled with Windows Live Writer it gets even better.

Test driving the Windows 7 Release Candidate 1

Microsoft finally made Windows 7 RC 1 available for download, with TechNet and MSDN subscribers leading the pack last April 30, 2009, shortly followed by a general release last May 5, 2009. I personally put off downloading it until this weekend, opting to avoid heavy traffic and also to wait for initial reports in case of bugs.

As you all know, I have been using Win 7 beta since its release early this year. Except for some problems encountered with Internet Explorer 8 it has been a real blast using the new OS. Windows 7 proved to be a great improvement over Vista, and as early as the beta stage, I found it to be pretty stable already.

Fast forward to RC1. Installation was a breeze (as is the case for the beta version). It took a little longer than the beta install (I clocked the RC1 installation at 26 minutes, unattended) but as soon as the installation finished, the computer was good to go. All drivers have been installed automatically. I didn’t even need to update my video drivers this time.

First thing I noticed is the subtle change to the interface. The images/icons look a lot crisper in the RC1 than they did in the beta. The taskbar has been slightly revamped too, with a lot more space for pinned items than was possible in the beta.

I can’t really comment performance-wise though because I have already considered even the beta release to be quite efficient, with response times miles away from Vista performance.

Speaking of Vista, Windows 7 would really render its predecessor obsolete. Vista was already a very stable operating system but Win7 capitalized on that foundation and added a lot of nifty features and improvements that cast a shadow (a very long shadow) on the former.

Obsolescence, Expedited

It turns out that Vista wouldn’t be the only thing obsoleted by Win7 though. Apparently, my processor is already old, in terms of Win7 specs. Yes, it has a 6.1 Windows Experience Index rating (the max has been upped to 7.9) but it won’t do if I wanted to take advantage of all the new features that Win7 has to offer.

The culprit? Windows 7 comes with a new Windows XP Mode feature. This uses a virtualization engine that would allow you to run applications specifically made for XP on your Windows 7 installation. This is of course aimed to attract more users into making the switch, especially corporate users who often rely heavily on legacy software.

The problem with this is that the feature requires Virtualization Technology. This has been around for quite some time now but apparently not all of the recent Intel chips support it. And my E7200 is one of those that doesn’t support VT (unlike its full blown Wolfdale counterparts). This means I won’t be able to test the XPMode feature on this installation.

In case you’d be looking to buy a Intel rig, or want to check if your old system supports VT, you can look at this list.

Observed Bugs

It has been a couple of hours since I installed Win7RC1 on this machine and I have so far observe one apparent bug involving Live File System. This is a feature that has been available since Vista (I’m not sure, but I think it was available on XP too). It lets you use rewritable discs like USB flash drives, writing/deleting files from them on the fly, allowing files to be written incrementally on the media. I actually don’t use this feature that much. I have known it to be buggy in Vista so I pretty much stay away from it.

Anyway, I wanted to copy some files for use on another computer and Windows 7 offered the Live File System option. I wrote the files to the disc without any problems but once Windows proceeded to format the rest of the drive, it caused the process to freeze. The disc could no longer be ejected, and My Computer became inaccessible too. Everything went back to normal after a reboot though so I’m not really sure what went wrong. I’ll try to replicate the scenario later.

Aside from that, IE8 also crashed four times already in the past couple of hours. Its crash management mechanism has improved a lot from previous version (including the interim version included in the beta Win7) but it’s still annoying. More on this on another writing.

Windows 7 Release Candidate 1 Quick Facts
Available for download from May 5, 2009 through at least July 2009
Expires on June 1, 2010 (OS will begin shutting down every 2 hours starting March 1, 2010)
Minimum Recommended Specs:
- 1 GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor or higher
- 1 GB of system memory or more
- 16 GB of available disk space
- Support for DirectX 9 graphics with 128 MB memory (to enable the Aero theme)
- DVD-R/W Drive

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This blog was originally posted on my Multiply Site