Firefox Lost Its Way?

Coming back to Austin really sucked, which means that school isn't grabbing me like it used to. I'm still interested in learning and in CS, my classes are just stupid. I can't wait to end this semester, I for sure have a couple of interesting classes in the Spring. Anyway, I wanted to briefly touch upon an article I saw today posing a viewpoint I don't think I've seen before: has Firefox 2.0 actually taken a step back from 1.5 as far as being an open source project? Their crux is that the features that have been added seem to be the product of a corporation rather than the work of an open source community. They also mock the UI updates and sub-par RSS reader. I think it's unfair to criticize the Firefox team like that. I don't think that you can keep all projects open source forever. I think that sometimes you have to take the reigns of it lest it become an unfocused, jumbled up mess. I think that the vast number of great add-ons speaks volumes for how active the community still is. I'll admit that it doesn't have the same kind of principles it was founded on running the show, but I do think that it's evolved and that we should wait and see what comes with the next version before we pass judgment on whether it has really gotten lost or not.


That's right, the Chicago Sun Times really ripped the Zune a new one. I actually didn't know that it wasn't compatible with Windows Media Player and didn't realize that the Zune Marketplace cleverly hides variable pricing on music. The article is a good read, it's not just some biased nonsense, trust me. By the way, I created that image dynamically from this site and thought it'd be fun to put it up here. You can also create some fancy warning labels over here. We have word from the Far East that Apple is actually developing a dockable Mac Tablet PC for next year, which would be a plausible explanation for some of the touchscreen patents we've seen and is the first believable rumor I've heard of its actual existence. This would be a logical next step for Apple's portable PC line, especially given how well the MacBook and MacBook Pro have sold. There's a new site around called Gritwire that's actually the first I've seen of an almost web-based desktop of sorts. It combines a lot of great features for a web surfer in a single page (an application though, of course) and you can even listen to podcasts from it. I haven't had a time to actually use it myself, but I'm definitely curious. Lastly, I don't know C myself, but this article is pushing me even further to buying a book on it.

This weekend was a rather interesting one in movies since the top two spots didn't change: Happy Feet reigned supreme with $37.9 million and Casino Royale was just $6.9 million less than that. I was surprised that Bobby couldn't even get $5 million since it had an amazing cast, but I guess the reviews just weren't there for it, and I guess The Fountain equally deserved its box office returns given its reviews. The only other thing today is that Baz Luhrman has decided to name his next musical (with Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman) Australia, which has a plot I really don't understand. I respect him as a director though so I think the trailer ought to shed some decent light on it.

Now for some Unconscious Mutterings:

I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Rhyme :: Song


2. Substantial :: Progress


3. Instant :: Oatmeal


4. Greed :: Envy


5. Brad :: Simons


6. Season :: Change


7. Accomplished :: Mission


8. Invite :: Guests


9. Sparkle :: Motion (who knows what this is from?)


10. Rainbow :: Room