Unravelling the reasons for Vista audio glitches

By tim, on January 31st, 2008 Follow tim on Twitter

Since Vista’s first release I’ve been puzzling over why audio in Vista is prone to glitches, when it is meant to be fundamentally better than it was in Windows XP.

I’ve posted previously on the subject:

Audio in Vista: more hell than heaven

Why does audio glitch in Vista?

Another Pro Musician gives up on Vista audio

I myself suffered

…continue reading Unravelling the reasons for Vista audio glitches

January 31st, 2008 | Category: microsoft, multimedia, windows | One comment

How to speed up Windows Vista: official and unofficial tips

By tim, on January 30th, 2008 Follow tim on Twitter

Microsoft has published an article on speeding up Vista, aimed at general users.

It’s not too bad. Here’s the summary:

Delete programs you never use
Limit how many programs load at startup
Defragment your hard drive
Clean up your hard disk
Run fewer programs at the same time
Turn off visual effects
Restart regularly
Add more memory
Check for viruses and spyware
Disable services you don’t

…continue reading How to speed up Windows Vista: official and unofficial tips

January 30th, 2008 | Category: microsoft, software, windows | 5 comments

Living without the mouse – the content is the interface

By tim, on January 30th, 2008 Follow tim on Twitter

I meant to link yesterday to John Lam’s post on living without the mouse.

I do so today because it fits nicely with Edward Tufte’s remark that (ideally) the content is the interface.

Lam’s point is that “toolbars just waste screen real estate”. Thus, he’s learned to operate as far as possible with keystrokes, not only because

…continue reading Living without the mouse – the content is the interface

January 30th, 2008 | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Web usability has a long way to go

By tim, on January 30th, 2008 Follow tim on Twitter

First thing in the morning I often browse through recent blog posts and follow links that look interesting.

I noticed a free Windows 2008 book offer from Microsoft. Might be useful background for my review I thought – I’ll download it.

I lost count of how many slow, unresponsive pages I had to traverse before getting

…continue reading Web usability has a long way to go

January 30th, 2008 | Category: apple, internet, microsoft, web authoring | One comment

Nokia acquires Trolltech,

By tim, on January 28th, 2008 Follow tim on Twitter

Nokia is to acquire Trolltech, makers of the popular cross-platform Qt GUI API and widget set. Qt (Cute Toolkit) is used by KDE, one of the two most widely used Linux desktops. It is also used in many cross-platform applications.

The announcement states that Qt will continue to be open source:

We will continue to actively develop

…continue reading Nokia acquires Trolltech,

January 28th, 2008 | Category: linux, open source, software development | Leave a comment

SQL Server 2008 delayed until third quarter 2008

By tim, on January 28th, 2008 Follow tim on Twitter

Microsoft’s Francois Ajenstat says SQL Server 2008 will not be released until Q3 2008. He calls this “roadmap clarification”, Microsoft-speak for what most of us call a delay.

It’s embarrassing for the company, since SQL Server 2008 “launches” on 27th February, less than one month from today. What will actually launch is a feature-complete CTP (Community

…continue reading SQL Server 2008 delayed until third quarter 2008

January 28th, 2008 | Category: microsoft, software development | Leave a comment

Polarisation

By tim, on January 24th, 2008 Follow tim on Twitter

Slashdot takes the IBM line:

At this point nobody has the vaguest idea what OOXML will look like in February, or even whether it will be in any sort of stable condition by the end of March. ‘While we are talking about interoperability, who else do you think is going to provide long term complete support

…continue reading Polarisation

January 24th, 2008 | Category: microsoft, software, windows | One comment

Flex briefing in London tonight

By tim, on January 24th, 2008 Follow tim on Twitter

Adobe’s Serge Jespers and James Ward are in London this evening (Thursday 24th Jan 2008) and will be speaking to the Flex User Group:

19:00 General intro (Serge Jespers) 19:15 Flex Builder 3 (Serge Jespers) 19:50 Open source (James Ward) 20:00 Data services (James Ward) 20:35 Q&A (and presentation from the community) 21:00 Drinks (free beer,

…continue reading Flex briefing in London tonight

January 24th, 2008 | Category: internet, software development, web authoring | Leave a comment

Why Internet Explorer users get the worst of the Web

By tim, on January 22nd, 2008 Follow tim on Twitter

Microsoft’s Chris Wilson has a post on Compatibility and IE8 which introduces yet another compatibility switch. IE8 will apparently have three modes: Quirks, Standards, and Even More Standard.

Here’s the key paragraph:

… developers of many sites had worked around many of the shortcomings or outright errors in IE6, and now expected IE7 to work just like

…continue reading Why Internet Explorer users get the worst of the Web

January 22nd, 2008 | Category: internet, microsoft, web authoring, windows | 3 comments

Use HTML not Flash, Silverlight or XUL, says W3C working draft

By tim, on January 22nd, 2008 Follow tim on Twitter

The W3C has posted its working draft for HTML 5.0. Interesting statement here:

1.1.3. Relationship to XUL, Flash, Silverlight, and other proprietary UI languages

This section is non-normative.

This specification is independent of the various proprietary UI languages that various vendors provide. As an open, vender-neutral language, HTML provides for a solution to the same problems without the

…continue reading Use HTML not Flash, Silverlight or XUL, says W3C working draft

January 22nd, 2008 | Category: internet, web authoring | 3 comments
 
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