ANKUR JAIN

A group of four full-time political activists have developed a portal to encourage Internet Explorer users to adopt Firefox Web Browser. They’ve launched their website: ExplorerDestroyer.com as an aggressive strategy to promote Firefox amongst Internet Explorer Users, as Internet Explorer is still the most popular Web Browser.

The group states : “Firefox is one of the most important software applications in the world because it can play a big part in determining the future of the web. It is crucial that an open-source, standards-based web browser becomes the most popular browser, and Firefox has a shot at being that. It’s the best product, and its popularity is climbing, thanks to amazing efforts by the Mozilla Foundation, the SpreadFirefox.org juggernaut, and many others.”

Apart from talking about the advantages of Firefox, they are promoting the use of Firefox, by advertising the Google Adsense program that pays $1 for each new Firefox user you refer. Also, they are offering ready-made code snippet on the home page that will display ExplorerDestroyer Button to promote use of Firefox on blogging sites.

The site announces “Your Mission - Get Under 50″ mission to reduce the number of Internet Explorer hits to less than 50 percent of all browser accesses & advocate the usage of splash screens advertising Firefox.

The group has also launched another website : killbillsbrowser.com. It’s a parody site with witty jokes about Internet Explorer nuisances, at the same time convincing people to switch to Firefox.

Microsoft released a new test release of Internet Explorer, the market leading Web browser facing stiff competition from smaller players like Firefox & Opera lately.

The new beta, available Tuesday for free download to English-language customers, includes fixes for problems that were causing Internet Explorer 7 to stop working. With the previous test version, the most common problems reported involved banking and news sites, in part because of security changes.

The new beta release is targeted at technology enthusiasts, after earlier versions of the browser primarily catered towards developers of websites and online applications.

Improving security can be tricky since any changes can cause legitimate Web sites to stop working, frustrating users.

“We want to get them to start using the product and get us some feedback,” Margaret Cobb, group product manager for Internet Explorer at Microsoft told vnunet.com. “We still have a few months before we release publicly and we want to make this the best experience possible.”

Microsoft also added more guidance to help people using IE’s new browser tab functions, which let a user view more than one Web site from within one window, using multiple “tabs.”

Microsoft also unveiled a new website where users can download so-called Internet Explorer Add-ons. The page is meant to increase the visibility of third party applications that build on top of the browser. Add-ons for the current version of the browser for instance enable a tabbed browsing capability for the software.

This is Microsoft’s third beta of Internet Explorer 7 made available to the general public, and Hachamovitch said there are plans for one more. The new version comes amid growing competition from browsers such as Firefox, which has long offered functions such as tabbed browsing.

The final version of Internet Explorer 7 is expected to be released in the second half of this year, around the time a version of Microsoft’s new Windows operating system is expected to be available for business users.

http://www.microsoft.com/ie

Xie, a researcher for the Web Search and Mining group within Microsoft Research Asia, is working on technology called Photo2Search, which is designed to provide information on the go for users of camera phones.

Photo2Search works like this: Seeking information about something seen, a user takes a photo of the object and sends the photo, via e-mail or Multimedia Messaging Service, to a Web-based server, which searches an image database for matches. The server then delivers database information - whether it be a Web page featuring the object in the photo or information associated with the object - to the user, who can act on the information received: read a menu, enter a gallery, book a hotel room, make a purchase.

“As the old saying goes,” Xie says, “a picture is worth a thousand words.”

Maybe more, actually. Photo2Search gives users a way to search a Web-based database by using nothing more than an image captured by a cellphone equipped with a digital camera.

“This technology,” Xie says, “aims to solve the problem of mapping a physical-world object to a digital-world object. You see an object in the physical world, and you want to know the corresponding information in the digital world - for example, its price on the Web, user comments, or Web sites. There are many different solutions. You can use a bar code or radio-frequency identification. But using a picture of the object is very convenient and very easy to deploy.”

The easy part is the key. Camera phones are simple to use, but the process of text-based search on them is not. That realization provided the late-2004 genesis for Phone2Search.

“At that time,” Xie recalls, “the idea was very simple: Use a camera phone to do a Web search. This is very interesting, because inputting images is much more convenient than inputting text queries on a small device.”

Dymeta Inc., a small security firm claims to understand why Yahoo’s email is sometimes slow. An analysis of Yahoo Inc. mail servers found that they were only able to accept email about half the time on average, making it likely that email was taking longer than normal to deliver.

In testing 16 Yahoo mail servers they found on average that the servers were unable to accept email 45 percent of the time, and the number of available servers ranged from as low as four to as high as 12, Aaron Gillette, chief technician for the company, said.

In establishing a SMTP connection with Yahoo servers, the testing tool found that they were able to get a response only 55 percent of the time. The rest of the time, there was no response at all. SMTP, or simple mail transfer protocol, is the standard means for communications between mail servers on the Internet.

“We’re not saying that mail isn’t going to get through, but it’s likely to take longer than normal,” Gillette said. “Normally, when you send email from one account to another, you can expect it to be delivered in minutes. With the problems they’ve got, it could take hours or even days to get through, or it could be bounced back entirely.”
“As spam attacks continue to hit all e-mail services at unpredictable rates, Yahoo is constantly enhancing technologies and improving operations in order to deal with the load,” the statement said.

Dymeta conducted the analysis after receiving what it considered an unusual number of complaints from email administrators at a number of businesses. Dymeta embarked on the analysis out of curiosity and as an opportunity to test its new tool called Mail Server Profiler, Gillette said.

Yahoo, among the largest Web mail providers in the world, sending more messages per quarter than the U.S. Postal Service, Federal Express and the United Parcel Service combined in a year, declined a request for an interview. The company, however, did email a statement that blamed its problems on fighting spam.

The company posted its finding in its online publication Email Battles.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.will buy Flextronics Software Systems for around $900 million. Flextronics International Ltd. is world’s largest producer of electronics for other companies.

KKR is buying 85% of the Bangalore-based India unit of Flextronics and marks its presence in the region after it opened its office in Tokyo and Hong Kong last year. Flextronics is retaining a 15% stake in the business to operate as an independent software and solutions company.

KKR last year bought Agilent Technologies Inc.’s semiconductor unit, whose operations are mainly in Singapore. Palo Alto, California-based Agilent is the world’s biggest maker of scientific-testing equipment.

“Our investment in Flextronics’ software development and solutions business is an outstanding opportunity to create value in a high-growth sector,” Adam H. Clammer, a KKR executive said in the statement.

The Flextronics’ Indian unit was formerly Hughes Software Systems, based in New Delhi, before it was acquired. Flextronics Software has a center in Bangalore focusing on development of software for the Internet, accommodating about 600 employees. Flextronics’ Indian unit develops software for high-speed mobile phone networks and calls made over the Internet for Motorola Inc., Sun Microsystems Inc. and other companies.

Strategy

KKR hired Michael Marks, the chief executive officer of Flextronics to advise on Asia and technology investments, the firm said in a statement Dec. 7. KKR in October appointed Deryck Maughan, a former deputy chairman of Citigroup Inc., to supervise the buyout firm’s Asian investments.

Citigroup Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co. will arrange financing for the Flextronics purchase, the statement said.

Flextronics is seeking to raise more than $1 billion by selling its software, network services and semiconductor units, Chief Executive Officer Michael McNamara said in the statement. It expects to gain $175 million after taxes from this deal.Flextronics is “focusing our efforts and resources on our core electronics manufacturing services business,” the company said in an e-mailed statement today.

Google Inc, the Internet Search Giant has finally launched Google Calendar, as discussed earlier.

Google Calendar is the latest offering Google, which analysts have said is gradually replacing its search-only business model with that of a portal, or all-purpose Web site. Over the past time, Google has been catching up to rivals Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp.’s MSN by adding e-mail, news, photo sharing, instant messaging, shopping and mapping services and a finance section.

The Google Calendar service allows its users to see their friends’ and family’s schedules right next to their own; quickly add events mentioned in Gmail conversations or saved in other calendar applications; and add other interesting events that are found online.

Calendar and Events can be shared with the public, invitations can be sent to invite concerned people, send reminders and keep track of RSVPs right inside Google Calendar. Organizations can promote events, too.

You can set up automatic event reminders, including SMS notifications, and instantly bring up anything on your calendar with the built-in search tool.

Features at a Glance

Calendar Sharing: Set up a calendar for your company softball team, and share it with the whole roster. (Your shortstop will never forget about practice again.) Or share with friends and family so you can view each other’s schedules side by side.

Invitations: Create event invitations, send them to friends, and keep track of people’s responses and comments, all in one place. Your friends can receive your invitation and post responses even if they don’t use Google Calendar themselves.

Quick Add: Click anywhere on your calendar where an event belongs (or use the Quick Add link), and start typing. Google Calendar understands whole phrases like “Brunch with mom at Java Cafe 11am on Saturday,” and will pop new events right into your agenda.

Gmail Integration: Add your friend’s Super Bowl party to your calendar without ever leaving your Gmail inbox. Gmail now recognizes events mentioned in emails.

Search: Find the date of the Baxter family BBQ (you knew it was sometime this summer). Or, search public calendars to discover new events you’re interested in and add them to your own calendar.

Mobile Access: Receive event reminders and notifications on your mobile phone.

Event Publishing: Share your organization’s events with the world. Learn more with our Event Publisher Guide.

To help increase awareness of Firefox among this target audience, Mozilla has launched Firefox Flicks. They are high-quality, innovative 30-second ad that introduces Firefox to mainstream Web users.

Create a 30-second ad, in any style (live action or animated,) that brings Firefox to life for the millions of Web users who have yet to discover Firefox and the better Web experience it delivers.

Watch the Latest flicks here:

1. Double Click Relief

2. DareDevil

3. Drama Queen

Novell today admitted that despite Company’s efforts to internally migrate to Suse & OpenOffice.org, more than half of its workers still have dual-boot installations with Microsoft Windows.

At a press event, Novell’s president Ron Hovsepian told the project to migrate the remaining employees shall be completed over the next year or so. Hovsepian’s remarks indicate Novell will have only a few months’ experience as a complete Linux and open source desktop shop behind it when, according to the vendor’s predictions, the software starts taking off in the mainstream.

The Novell executive said in Australia the Suse Linux implementation had been missing some of the pieces enterprises needed, but said version 10 of the software would help the market for desktop Linux pick up.

Regarding his company’s own Linux migration, Hovsepian said Novell had learnt a lot from the implementation, and overcome challenges involving, for example, porting macros from Microsoft Office to OpenOffice.org.

“We’ve had actually very good success with it,” he said. “We learned a lot about migration tools, learned a lot about what the usability pieces are.”

Developers’ POV : Novell developers say that they need Windows machines to develop/migrate/test their softwares to run on Windows Platform, so running a dual-boot installation with Microsoft Windows should not be taken as a surprise, but as any other business requirement.

Microsoft launched a Web site to promote its Linux and open-source interoperability work, at the LinuxWorld exhibition in Boston.

Port 25 — the site’s named after the port used to listen for SMTP e-mail traffic — is an attempt to promote conversations about Microsoft, open source, and how the twain might meet. It is aimed at creating community for businesses and developers working with mixed platforms, mainly Unix and Windows, and also Linux.

Sponsored by the Redmond, Wash. developer’s Open Source Software Lab, the site will offer blogs and other content on the OSSL’s efforts.

“This will be the place we not only blog, but also where we put analysis from our OSS labs and also where we discuss and show other parts of Microsoft that we think are just plain cool,” wrote Bill Hilf, Open Source Software Lab head. He was recently promoted, to manage all of Microsoft’s open-source compatibility efforts, including its controversial “Get the Facts anti-Linux campaign” and its “SharedSource initiative“, in which the company allows developers access to some of its proprietary source code.

Opening-day content consisted of blogs by several Labs’ researchers, and an article about the OSSL, which houses more than 300 servers running 15+ versions of Unix and 50 Linux distributions.

JupiterResearch analyst Joe Wilcox wrote on his Microsoft Monitor blog “Overall, I am impressed with the concept (caveat: assuming Microsoft sticks with it). If Get the Facts is a stick, Port 25 is the carrot.“