OK, since computers are very versatile, this is the MultiThread™'s rule:
I post the name of a SubThread™, a discussion evolves the normal way; when one decides - anytime - to change the topic from one thing to another (e.g., from Web browsers to CPUs), he or she notes it in the message, and the discussion then changes appropriately.
Note, that this is only recommended once a certain discussion has finally settled with most sides accepting one synthesis or another. Please, I trust you all to know when this is appropriate and when it is to be done. I, as the MultiThread™ former, will try and change the title when appropriate, with no guarantee whatsoever.
As for the first SubThread™, here it is:
As far as I am concerned, IE 'sucks' full-time. I mean, how can IE beat Mozilla Firefox or Opera? It fails (at least to Firefox) on the following grounds:
Security
Usability
Aesthetics
Speed (Performance)
Stability
Manageability
Efficiency
Versatility
Comments, anyone?
[ February 01, 2005, 08:08 AM: Message edited by: Jonathan Howard ]
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
You're wrong on a number of counts from a corporate perspective. But I agree that for a typical home user, Firefox -- but not Opera -- is superior.
Many corporations will find, however, that IE can be made more secure, usable, and manageable than its competition through the application of Group Policy, especially on a corporate Intranet.
Posted by Jonathan Howard (Member # 6934) on :
I believe that IE is fine, when not connected to the Internet.
If you go to a site that has a JPEG image with a certain virus in it, you can and probably will be infected from it, using IE and probably a non-stealthed firewall.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
I don't buy the stability argument. FireFox crashes for me far more often than IE ever did. Well, 5 times since I installed V 1.0, compared to maybe twice in the preceeding year and a half.
I use FireFox, though, which should make it clear that I don't think the increased crashing rate outweighs the other benefits.
Dagonee
[ January 29, 2005, 03:50 PM: Message edited by: Dagonee ]
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
"If you go to a site that has a JPEG image with a certain virus in it, you can and probably will be infected from it, using IE and probably a non-stealthed firewall."
Let me point out that someone working for a competent corporation should not have this problem. Posted by Jonathan Howard (Member # 6934) on :
quote: FireFox crashes for me far more often than IE ever did.
Maybe it's an extension? Mine never crashed. And I used it for 3 years or so.
IE crashes regularly.
Try another browser.
quote: Let me point out that someone working for a competent corporation should not have this problem.
Competent corporations don't use IE. Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
"Mine never crashed. And I used it for 3 years or so."
How? I'm assuming you mean its predecessors, which were far buggier. If so, I highly doubt that you never experienced a single crash over the last three years on Mozilla.
And you'd be surprised how many competent corporations use IE, both due to its Group Policy support and its integration with Microsoft Office and/or other ActiveX products.
Posted by Jonathan Howard (Member # 6934) on :
Yes, Firebird, Phoenix and Good Ol' Mozilla.
quote: ActiveX
"As if it were a __ soul We cursed it in God's name."
[ January 29, 2005, 04:50 PM: Message edited by: Jonathan Howard ]
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
It's easy to curse in the hypothetical, but ActiveX was the single most useful technology in most of the apps we wrote, especially for reporting. Need to create a 500 page word document with financial summaries, narrative descriptions, and pictures gathered in field offices across the country? The first cut was written in a single day. It wouldn't run without a programmer there to set parameters manually, but we got the books out when Congress changed the deadline on us.
Results matter. Microsoft has always understood this, and always enabled me to achieve them easily.
Not that I haven't cursed them to the ends of the earth at times.
Dagonee
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
quote:Many corporations will find, however, that IE can be made more secure, usable, and manageable than its competition through the application of Group Policy, especially on a corporate Intranet.
I certainly agree with Tom on this point. Although for personal browsing those of us in our tech department use Firefox -- we would never roll it out bank-wide because we use Group Policy to control much of how our users can use the web. And because Firefox is not yet compatible with many of the bank-interactions that we do.
Farmgirl
Posted by Jonathan Howard (Member # 6934) on :
quote: ActiveX was the single most useful technology
Gave me much ad- spam- spy- and scamware. Besides, it has security holes the size of a Roman-Catholic Cathedral!
Posted by Desdemona (Member # 7100) on :
I like Safari a LOT better than IE. It works for what I need to do, and I haven't had any viri yet, after having my Powerbook G4 for 6 mos.
I don't like IE... It is less user-friendly for me. And I like the built-in google search function in Safari.
Posted by Jonathan Howard (Member # 6934) on :
quote: viri
There is no plural in Latin, so it's "viruses". Were there a plural, it would be "vira".
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Jonathan, believe it or not, businesses have different requirements than home users. While ActiveX may be risky within the browser, group policies can make it so only ActiveX from known to be safe sites is ever run. And ActiveX in the context of desktop applications is an incredibly powerful tool.
ActiveX is dangerous precisely because it is powerful.
Dagonee
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
Hmmm, I wonder if it would be possible to create a group-policy sort of system for Firefox . . .
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Shouldn't be hard, although enforcing it would certainly require a version with a modified core.
The communication and option-setting principles wouldn't be that hard to write as extensions. But you'd have to make it so the user can't change the locked settings.
[ January 30, 2005, 11:45 AM: Message edited by: Dagonee ]
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
Which would be quite hard to do in any operating system agnostic way . . . likely better to proceed in ways that are specific to each operating system individually . . .
Posted by Jonathan Howard (Member # 6934) on :
Microsoft - despite all said - is not a corporation. It's a conoperation.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
What, pray tell, is a "conoperation"?
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
Perhaps some CamelCase is in order: ConOperation.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Ah, well. I love a good sweeping defamatory statements as much as the next guy.
Dagonee
Posted by Jonathan Howard (Member # 6934) on :
Anyone wants another subthread?
Posted by Jonathan Howard (Member # 6934) on :
OK, I changed the SubThread™.
Does anyone know of an application where I can write notes (musical ones)? I need no super-duper functions. All I need is the sound of a harpsichord, playing a few simple accrods, where I insert the notes using my computer (no external keyboard).
Maybe even the option of the sound of a violin and additions for bass.
JH
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
GarageBand.
Of course, its OS X only.
Posted by Jonathan Howard (Member # 6934) on :
Sorry, I still use Microsoft (a cracked version of Windows XP Professional SP2).
Hey! It's a Mitzvah!
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
GarageBand is the only program that's ever tempted me to by a Mac.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
You just haven't had a chance to really play with OmniGraffle and OmniOutliner yet, Dag . Plus, wait until you see what's in store with Dashboard, Spotlight, and Automator in the next version of OS X.
Posted by Nato (Member # 1448) on :
You mean music composing software?
Encore (really old), Finale, Sibelius($$$) etc.? They all use MIDI to play your creations, and I think they cost a good bit of money. I have an old copy of Encore on my parents' computer, but I haven't used it in years.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote: Hey! It's a Mitzvah!
Care to specify which one you're claiming this falls under?
As far as your question, there used to be a great DOS shareware program called Pianoman.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
Care to specify which one you're claiming this falls under?![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)