Three years ago, in a post on this blog, I stated that I thought that the browser was becoming less important as more data moved into streams of data through RSS and aggregated feeds, as well as a raft of other consumer-oriented Web services.

This position was based on the assumption that the endpoint, in the form of installed applications, wouldcontinue to serve as the focus for user interactions, that these applications would be the points where data was accumulated and processed by users. This could be best described as the firehose: The end-user desktop would be at the end of a flood of data being pushed to it a never-ending flood.

Firefox and Chrome have changed all of that.

The browser has, instead, become the window through which we view and manipulate our data. It’s now ok, completely acceptable in fact, to use online applications as replacements for installed applications, stripping away a profit engine that has fed so many organizations over the years.

The endpoint has been shown to be the access point to our applications, to our data. Data is not brought and stored locally: It is stored remotely and manipulated like a marionette from afar.

While Chrome and Firefox are not perfect, they serve as powerful reminders of what the Web is, and why the browser exists. The Browser is not the end of a flod of incoming data, it is the window through which we see our online world.

While some complain that there is still an endless stream of data, we control and manipulate it. It doesn’t flood us.

I have finally given up on Trillian releasing a new version anytime before the next ice age, and switched to the the messenger client formerly known as GAIM, now known as Pidgin.

Solid, functional, and showing signs that it is in active development. Unlike Trillian, which is slowly becoming the Duke Nukem Forever of messenger clients.

I’m sorry, but promising a cool new product, and then not letting anyone try it leads to scores of new Pidgin users.

Tags: Pidgin, Trillian, Duke Nukem Forever

March 10, 2007

• When I defragment a disk, I like to know how much is left. It doesn’t have to be a graphical cue, but a percentage done can’t be hard to add.
• Why doesn’t the right-click work in the message list in Outlook 2003?
• Can you detect when a program is activated by an actual mouse event, versus a coded mouse event? The Security Theatre warnings are annoying.
• Parts of OWA don’t work in IE7, likely due to some arcane security setting.
• When I double-click to open a folder, why does Explorer think about it for a few minutes? Or does it just take a lot of smoke breaks?
• Hey, when you prompt me to determine if I actually want to run a "protected" program, why can’t you take that extra microsecond and remember my choice for a couple of minutes. GNOME asks for credentials when you need to run a program as root, and holds those credentials for a while, making some processes that much more convenient.

March 12, 2007

• Ok, the VPN software I have at work doesn’t work, so it’s ok to use Outlook Web Access (OWA) over IE7. WRONG. Apparently it’s up to the IT department to patch and reboot a running Exchange Server to allow Vista IE7 users to access OWA. Technical people seem placated by this, but I am not. Microsoft, did you think this through. "Oh yeah, everyone loves to reboot their Exchange servers on a daily basis!"

Tags: Vista, annoyances, list, OWA, Exchange, IE7, Juniper, Netscreen Remote

I have been watching Sketches of Frank Gehry in a piecemeal fashion over the last two weeks (kids, in-laws, Christmas, etc.). Despite what you think of Gehry or his buildings, you have to admire the process that a true architect goes through to create a new building idea.

As Bob Geldof says in the film, quoting Auberon Waugh: “If you ever meet an architect at a party, you should punch him in the face”.

I work in a building that sucks. As Kathy Sierra states: “I want a space that matches my enthusiasm”. This space drains me. And when I look around me, I have no hope for any of the other buildings out here in suburban hell.

How can an architect reach the point where generic is good enough? Where looking the same is the best that can be done?

Apparently there’s quite the blizzard pounding Colorado. [here and here]

And your point is…?

Remember:

1. You live at 3,000 ft and above
2. Those big rocky and pointy things in your backyard? They might have some effect on the weather
3. It’s Winter…well, officially tomorrow

I gew up in the Rocky Mountain Trench. After November 1st, it’s not if, it’s when the snow will come. And you can expect to be smacked hard at least once.

Get firewood. Get candles. Get books. Get pens and paper.

And be glad you don’t live in the Pacific Northwest.

Port80 Software is reporting that in their survey of Fortune 1000 Web sites, IIS 6.0 has overtaken Apache as the Web server platform of choice. [here]

My two-cents: I respect the Port80 Software team greatly and love their maniacal devotion to ensuring that IIS users actually make use of the HTTP compression and caching that can so greatly improve Web performance.

That said, they are tied to Microsoft and the IIS platform. I would be curious to see if, scratching below the surface, they were able to determine what the application platform these companies built their mission critical Web applications on. I am open-minded and willing to hear that IIS is winning in that area as well. In my mind, it’s about Web performance tuning, not what you use to get that performance.

That said, I think a critical Web application survey of these same firms would find that many of these companies rely on JSP servers to run their core business processes.

As well, it would be interesting to se, by Fortune 1000 ranking, what the companies are using what server platform.

And…people still use Netscape Enterprise, SunOne, and Domino as production Web servers? YIKES!

Kathy Sierra.

Kathy Sierra and her home office in a Silver Streak trailer [here].

We are not worthy.

But the whole idea of a playful office is one that is very powerful to me. The “office” I commute to is a broad open space, with no walls. And as we are growing, the noise is becoming difficult to work around.

With both boys in school in the mornings, it is now much more peaceful for me to work from home. At MY desk, the one I bought. An old oak teacher’s desk, of which there appear to be millions in circulation.

In my chair, the one I feel comfortable in. I have an Aeron at work, and I think it’s overrated.

It is vital to work where you will be most creative, most comfortable.

This afternoon, StatCounter showed a marked increase in performance.

Normally I wouldn’t highlight an issue that only lasted an hour, but this appears to have been a very unusual issue that saw the page size decrease to nearly nothing, and performance shoot up to around 45 seconds. This combination usually indicates a back-end application timeout which then presents users with an error message.

StatCounter is in the GrabPERF Site Statistics Index.

Technorati Tags: StatCounter, Web Performance, GrabPERF, Web Metrics, Web Analytics

Help Center: Supporting Google Analytics.

How long does it take to see report data after adding the tracking code?

After you first install the tracking code, it may take several hours for report data to appear in your account. Google Analytics generally updates your reports every hour, but data can take up to 6 hours to appear in your account.

Here.

It’s now over 24 hours, and no data.

For a company that prides itself on its massive data infrastructure and processing capabilities, the influx of millions of users trying a new service should not be an issue…right?

Maybe they need to follow up with some of their colleagues at the NSA and borrow one their supercomputers. The data is eventually going to end up there anyway.

Technorati: Google Analytics, Google, analytics

IcreRocket: Google Analytics, Google, analytics

Kathy Sierra once again reminds us that only the truly intelligent employers realize that the Work/Life balance is more important than ANYTHING else. [here]

And her reason for this: clients who abuse startups and small companies who then abuse their employees to work miracles.

The takeaway:

And as the tech employment market starts to tick up ever so slightly, it’s becoming less and less of an “employer’s market” again. I don’t care about the Aeron chair, but I do care about having a life beyond work. If you can’t make your business model work without promising your clients a miracle (which we’re expected to pull off), change your business model! And when you DO ask us to go our ass off again, a little worshipping goes a long way ; )