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Filed under: Microsoft, Mozilla, Browsers, Op-Ed

Dear Microsoft, please keep your lousy mitts off my Firefox install

This isn't the first time Microsoft has taken liberties with Firefox users. There's that whole .Net thing that happened back in May of this year.

So what gives, Redmond? Why - especially after the fallout from the last incident - would you go and push a Windows Presentation Foundation plugin on my Firefox install? I didn't ask for it, and I don't really want it. Plenty of people consider software that installs in this kind of underhanded way to be malware.

Not to mention a security risk. You know, the same way you (Microsoft) consider Google's Chrome Frame to be a security risk for your own browser. I'll need someone to explain to me how MS figures the situation is different when the shoe is on the other foot.

I'll clear something up for you right now - and this goes for all software companies, not just Microsoft. I expect control over what gets installed on my system and what doesn't. Go ahead and offer me updates, add-ons, and plugins. But please, give me the choice to install.

Heck, I can choose to put off Windows updates forever if I want and some of those are pretty critical patches. So why should I not be given the choice to opt out of something as trifling as a WPF plugin for my non-IE browser?

Get your filthy hands off my browser, you damn, dirty ape!

Filed under: Windows, Open Source, Microblogging

Open source MahTweets is a solid, extensible Twitter client for Windows


Want a good Twitter client for your Windows system that doesn't necessitate installing Adobe Air? Check out MahTweets.

If you're willing to overlook the...er...interesting interface, MahTweets is loaded with features. It's built on .Net 3.5 and the Windows Presentation Foundation and is available as a ClickOnce installer. CPU and memory usage are very respectable, and updates are sent and received rapidly.

Twitter power users won't like the fact that MahTweets doesn't support search columns. More casual, conversational users probably won't notice the omission. The app does provide a good way to view the big three - everything, direct messages, and @ mentions.

[via Doug Finke]

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Filed under: Developer, Security, Windows, Microsoft

Dev Chair : The Vista Tax


As regular computer user, I don't have much interest in migrating to Vista in the immediate future. I don't think it offers any great leap in usability or functionality over XP. UAC (User Access Control) is definitely much needed and will improve security overall but it can be annoying as hell for average users. Aero Glass UI is nice to look at but does nothing to actually let you work more efficiently. Added to which, there are still doubts on how well Vista performs as a home media center or gaming platform.

On the other hand as a .Net software developer, Vista is both a blessing and a curse. I want every single Windows user migrated to Vista as soon as possible because having the .Net framework included as part of Vista's standard installation is a very big deal. This means that application installers will no longer need to check for the presence of the .Net framework or provide a method to automatically download and install it if absent. This is a huge time and effort savings for the user as the framework is a large download. Also some users are turned off by the mere idea of downloading yet another component in order to run an application in XP. With the framework part of the OS, users will have one less thing to worry about.

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Filed under: Design, Developer, Internet, Utilities, News, Windows, Microsoft, Commercial

Microsoft to release CTP of Expression Web Designer

windows expression web designer ctp todayThe million-dollar question: will Microsoft's Expression package (which includes Graphic, Interactive, and Web Designer flavors) dethrone Adobe as king of multimedia creation? Today, according to Techworld, Microsoft's Expression Web Designer will be released as a Community Technology Preview today. The big difference between this tool and Adobe's Dreamweaver? According to the one guy quoted in the article, it's deep support for ASP 2.0. I'll admit, Dreamweaver's pretty lame when it comes to working in ASP (although to be honest I'm still stuck in ASP 1.1 land myself). But the question is really: will consumers upgrade to Vista fast enough for Windows Presentation Framework to be relevant? In other words, just buying Expression won't guarantee clients or customers can see your coolio new content. Granted, WPF can be installed across a variety of machines that don't need Vista (they released an OS X version, in fact). But with an installed user base for Flash hovering around 98+ percent, are consumers going to download yet another framework? Anyone remember the Great Code Hope that was .NET? We'll see. I still think Adobe and Macromedia were smart to merge before Vista hits though... Just for the record though, I am actually pretty excited about Windows Presentation Framework. If nothing else, it'll force Adobe to continue making Flash better.

Featured Time Waster

The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

View more Time Wasters

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