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http://www.opera.com/products/dragonfly/">http://www.opera.com/products/dragonfly/
Debug JavaScript, inspect CSS and the DOM, and viewany errors – Opera Dragonfly makes developing using Opera easier thanever, both on your computer and mobile phone. Check out our alpharelease for a taste of things to come.

Here's a challenge: name a virtual world where players can act outthe parts of different people in a facsimile of real life. What's itcalled?
Given the hype in recent years, you might be forgiven forsaying Second Life. Or, since it has commanded headlines this week, youmay have pondered Grand Theft Auto and its incredible copy of New YorkCity. But how many would have suggested The Sims?
Last monthElectronic Arts announced that it had sold more than 100m copies of thegroundbreaking franchise, which offers players of all ages a chance toindulge in their own sugary duplicate of life.
Despite itsenviable position as the best-selling PC series of all time, The Simsremains something of an outsider to the gaming community. That's notsomething that troubles the people behind the curtains, however.
"Wedon't worry about respect, or the position of the game in theindustry," says Nancy Smith, president of the Sims label, from herSilicon Valley headquarters. "We know we attract creative people of allages and both genders."
Unprecedented success
While someof the game's sales are doubtless driven by the unending river ofadd-on titles, the numbers point to unprecedented success. Indeed, TheSims and all its spin-offs are so profitable that the game commands itsown label inside EA, the industry's largest publisher, as well as astaff of 350.

The numbers elsewhere are equally impressive. "We've now got 4.5million players who come monthly, and we've had 70m downloads ofplayer-created content," says Smith. "So much of the creativity comesfrom the players - just look at the 100,000 Sims movies posted onYouTube."
Thatsubstantial team and all the resources they have are now being put intoa plethora of new projects, including Sims on Stage (a sort of virtualkaraoke), Sims Carnival (a build-your-own game environment) and TheSims 3, predicted to be the game's most realistic iteration yet.
Thefact that the franchise has spread out in so many directions surpriseseven Rod Humble, the expat Briton who heads up The Sims studio. "If youthink back to when The Sims launched, as a game design it was utterlyinsane," he says. "There was no end, there no win or lose - but itabsolutely fitted with a 'what if' scenario that we all have in ourheads."
Back then, at the turn of the millennium, the project waschampioned by its creator, Will Wright. He has now moved on to anotherproject - the much-anticipated evolution game Spore - but at its heartthe Sims has remained the same. Along the way it has been a core partof the rise of so-called "casual gaming" - typified by Nintendo's Wiiand a plethora of web-based games. Humble quietly disagrees with the"casual" monicker, however, and suggests that there is more going onthan just a widening market.

"I think the 'casual' label is pretty much meaningless now," he says."You've seen a big shift in perception ... it's got to the point nowwhere we're on our own, and we're able to do all sorts of things interms of mass entertainment and themes. A few years ago I don't thinkpeople would have thought about a game where you run a business or havea family."
Reallife, he suggests, is "pretty easy to think about" and allows anybodyto understand and interact with the game. "These aren't the things youusually associate with videogames - they wouldn't be out of place in aTV show."
Therein lies The Sims' greatest selling point - butalso its biggest challenge. The true competitors that it faces are notfrom the videogaming world, but from other forms of mainstreamentertainment - social websites such as Facebook or MySpace, perhaps... or even television itself. "The Sims is played - sometimesobsessively - by people who don't regard themselves as gamers," Humblesays. "It's the same way that people who watch TV don't think ofthemselves as TV-watchers, they are fans of their favourite programme."
Entertainmentmoguls of all stripes know how fickle audiences can be. Whether it'sdropping one social networking service in favour of another, orswitching off their favourite long-running soap opera, past success isno guarantee for the future. And, of course, there is nothing toprevent a competitor coming up with a more enticing offer.
Rewards of risk
Thatis something Humble knows only too well - his last job was at Sony,heading up the successful online roleplaying game EverQuest. Until afew years ago, EQ was the number one name in the genre ... until Worldof Warcraft came along and, in a flash, took over the market.
That'swhy Sims 3 (due for release next year) is crucial and, Humble implies,exactly why his team is trying out so many new ideas while they can.
"Creatively,our success puts us in the position where we can do more. We'veactually become more risky because we've already got this establishedbase to work from," he says. "You're guaranteed that people will lookat it, even it it's a flop."

A webmaster's work is never done. What may have worked a few years ago when could be outdated today, so it's important to constantly improve your Web site. However, a massive overhaul is just too much work to undertake at one time. Instead, tackle these quick fixes over time, and you'll be able to improve your Web site with minimal pain.

Copywriting

Content, specifically text, is perhaps your site's most important asset. Make sure that it's up to snuff by following these improvements.

Tell readers why they should perform a task. If your site is full of passive suggestions, toughen it up. People are trained to follow a request, as long as you give them a good reason to do it.
Make the most highly trafficked pages easier to scan. If your current site consists of large blocks of text, break it up so that it's easier for the average Internet user to read.
Convey a sense of trust. If you're experiencing skepticism, offer social proof like testimonials or risk-mitigating offers like a free trial.
Stress benefits. Ensure that your copy always shows users exactly how your site will benefit them.
Make headlines meaningful. Be sure to change any vague or cutesy headlines to something more up-front and meaningful.
Repeat yourself. Check over your copy to make sure that you're really driving the point home by making it in a number of ways.
Tell visitors what to do. Revise your site to ensure that people know exactly what the next step is. If you want a visitor to click a link, tell them
Keep the reader engaged. Make sure that your current content gives visitors a reason to keep reading throughout the entire piece; otherwise, you need to spice things up a bit.
Stay consistent. Check your copy for consistency, or else your site may be seen as unstable or flighty.
Stay simple. Simplify your message simply to avoid confusing visitors, while at the same time improving conversion rates.
Structure content persuasively. Restructure your content so that it's more focused, specific and credible.
Offer social proof. Seek out testimonials and case studies to show just how effective your services are.
Keep offers simple. If you're offering lots of different options, pare them down.
Make an offer that visitors can't refuse. Check out your site to make sure that you're giving your visitors a reason to pick your company out of an overcrowded field.
Avoid making hollow promises. Check out your guarantee, and ensure that you're backing it up with something of substance, like a money-back guarantee.
Keep each block of text to a single topic. Make sure that your text isn't too overwhelming with many different thoughts in one place.
Offer comparisons. Make it easier for your reader to understand and relate to your business by offering metaphors, similes and analogies.
Be concise. Make sure that your copy is only as long as it needs to be to get your point across reasonably.
Go with what works. Study other copywriters to adopt the words and methods that have worked for them. Customize these words and phrases until they become your own.

Usability

If your site isn't usable, visitors will not stick around. Take these small steps, and you'll have a more user-friendly site that's ripe for conversions.

Add a short "about" page. Put a real person behind your site by allowing your visitors to learn a bit about you.
Make navigation consistent. Make sure that your site's navigation is on the same place on each page so that visitors don't get confused.
Make text links clear. Be sure that your links are descriptive enough so that visitors know exactly where they're going.
Use underlined link text. Get rid of your fancy link navigation. Visitors expect to click underlined links. If you dislike underlines, use CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) to employ a different method of highlighting, like a different text color or font.
Never ask for more information than you need. If you're currently asking for excessive information, rethink your data-mining tendencies. When you get greedy for data, you'll turn off some visitors.
Always have text links. Although your JavaScript menu might look great, some browsers and users have JavaScript disabled.
Have a text-based site map. With a text-based site map, lost visitors can find their way, and you'll make it easy for search engine spiders to find your pages.
Link the site logo to the home page. Visitors will expect your logo to link to the home page, so make it easy for them to find it.
Add a search box. Are your current visitors lost? Make it easy for them to find exactly what they're looking for with an internal search box.
Use plenty of contrast. If text seems to melt into the background, change things up and make your text easy to read by using colors that highly contrast one another.
Customize the error page. If you have a standard set of error pages, you need to step things up. The error page should not only reflect your site's design but also provide useful links that will get your visitor back on track.
Ask for feedback. Create a contact form that makes it easy for customers to speak with you about your site.
Test the site on real users. Ask regular people to navigate your site to find usability problems.
Create specific landing pages. If you want to sell, make sure that you have landing pages for specific campaigns and that each of those pages has a purpose.
Add more internal links. If you'd like to get more traffic to your income-producing pages, add some internal links to your most highly trafficked pages.

Search Engine Optimization

Follow these tips if you'd like to see an improvement on your search-engine rankings.

Replace underscores with hyphens. In search-engine results, words separated by underscores will run together, while hypens will create a space between each word.
Implement 301s to consolidate page rank. If your site lives on both non-"www" and "www" domains, redirect one to the other in order to consolidate.
Add a dynamic meta description. Make sure that your meta description makes sense so that your excerpt in search-engine results is more appealing.
Use heading tags. Let search engines know what's important by highlighting titles and more in header tags.
Update content often. Give search engines a reason to keep coming back with fresh content.
Ensure that your host is up to snuff. Make sure that your host is providing maximum uptime so that your site is visible at all times.
Create a robots text file. Make life easy for crawlers by creating a file just for them.
Make sure that your domain is brandable. If your name isn't easy to say or remember, you need to find something that is.
Build link popularity. Actively seek out relevant, inbound links to your site to build trust and profile with search engines.
Turn off music. No one wants music to greet them every time they click a link, so turn off the music — or at least offer an easy option for disabling it.
Give pages real names. For example, if your page is about red widgets, its filename should be, or at least include, the words "red" and "widgets."
Take off the black hat. If you've used tactics like keyword stuffing, remove them from your site. They may be working now, but in the long run, they'll only hurt.
Open up the drop-down menus. Let your user see all of the navigation options available, or you'll confuse them.
Ditch registration. Don't turn off users by forcing them to register to access content.
Ditch frames. Frames are horrible for search-engine optimization and design in general. Just stay away from them.
Fix broken links. Don't send search engines and users down dead ends. Clean up links for better search-engine optimization and usability.
Avoid resizing the user's window. Let the user be in control of their browser, or your site will lose credibility.

Accessibility

If your site isn't accessible, you could be making things frustrating or even impossible for visitors with disabilities. Take these steps to make your site more inclusive.

Create accessible forms. Make sure that your forms can be filled out by all visitors.
Specify spacer images as empty. Make sure that nonvisual browsers know to ignore your spacer images by noting them as empty.
Set captions on tables. This will ensure that your captions render correctly even in visual browsers.
Modify color. Ensure that pages are readable by using appropriate colors.
Summarize tables. Add a summary of tables so that visitors with screen readers will understand what they're all about.
Provide real lists. Use list tags to ensure that lists render correctly for disabled browsers.
Remove text from images. Using image text will make it difficult for those using screen readers to read text.
Offer an alternative to JavaScript links. Many browsers for the disabled don't support JavaScript, so make it easy for them to have access to "real" links.
Identify the language. Screen readers need to know how to pronounce words, so let them know what language your site's content is in.
Add titles to links. Ensure that links are descriptive enough for visitors by adding link titles.
Create accessible tables. Make sure that tables are accessible to all by using scope, header and ID attributes.
Allow text resizing. Make it easy for readers to resize text if necessary.
Supplement navigational aids. Offer additional navigational aids to help visitors who use text-only browsers.
Define keyboard shortcuts. Set up keyboard shortcuts so that disabled users can navigate your site with ease.
Provide alternate text for images. Alternate text will let disabled visitors know what images represent.
Set a document type. Let readers know what sort of programming language your site uses so that content can be displayed correctly.
Present content first. Make sure that text-only browswers aren't being presented with your navigation before main content.
Set horizontal rules. Instead of just using an image to break up your pages, use horizontal-rule tags and CSS to display them properly for disabled users.
Accessible pop-up windows. If your site uses pop-up windows, make sure that they're accessible.
Create meaningful page titles. Make sure that your site's page names make sense for their content.

Design

Spruce up your site's appearance using these design fixes.

Place important information "above the fold." Move your most important content high on the page so you can be sure that visitors will see it.
Keep background colors and images at a minimum. Backgrounds are often less than visually appealing and can make your site load slowly.
Reduce choices. Avoid overwhelming your visitor with lots of different options.
Design small. Cut your Web pages down to 50KB or less so that they load quickly for anyone.
Nix banners. Abandon banners for a more effective design element, or they'll be ignored.
Stay consistent. Check to make sure that colors and design are in the same general scheme so that visitors know they're still on your site.
Validate design in alternative browsers. See how your design renders in browsers like Safari, Opera and Firefox to make sure that it looks right no matter who is viewing it.
Minimize columns. Reduce columns to avoid distracting the reader with excessive visual choices.
Lose the splash page. No one wants to sit through a fancy Flash introduction. Replace it with a helpful home page instead.
Create a tagline. Stand out with a striking tagline that will draw visitors in.
Ditch frames. If your site uses frames, you need to move on to another method, like CSS or SSI (Server-Side Includes).
Make sure that text outnumbers HTML. Provide good content with text rather than HTML.
Slow down the technology. Although you may have state-of-the-art computers, many of your visitors don't. Get rid of memory-hogging technologies like JavaScript.
Remove link cloaks. Make sure that your visitor knows exactly where they're going, or you'll lose credibility.
Limit each page to one topic. Give each page a singular purpose to avoid confusing visitors.
Ditch crazy fonts. If you're using a ransom-note font, it's time to switch to something simpler. Chances are, your visitors' browsers are rendering it as Times New Roman anyway.
Reduce your graphics. Graphics not only slow pages down, but they also steal attention away from what's important: content.
Add functional links to the footer. Make it easy for visitors to find contact information or your privacy policy just by scrolling down.
Standardize link colors. Make sure that users know which links they've visited and which they haven't.
Update information. Put on a fresh coat of paint with a new header, logo or other design element.
Convert PDF files to HTML. Make browsing flow a little smoother by converting PDF files to a format that's more easily readable in a browser.

Legal

Keep your site safe and protect your content using these improvements.

Update the privacy policy. Ensure that your site's privacy policy fully discloses everything it should.
Revise "deep" links. Update links so that they point to the home page of a site rather than a specific page, or make sure that you're attributing them correctly.
Legitimize images. If you're using images that you don't legally own, it's time to update them with your own images or those that you've purchased.
Pay taxes. If you're making money from your site, it's a business and is taxed as such. Take care of your taxes or you could end up in hot water with Uncle Sam.
Protect content. Keep your content safe from thieves by copyrighting it and taking steps to shield it from unscrupulous eyes.
Form a legal entity. Get liability protection by forming an LLC (limited liability company) or other formal legal entity.
Register a trademark. If you own your domain name but not a related trademark, a trademarked entity with the same name could take it from you, so be sure to register it before someone else does.
Store a Web site cache. Keep a copy of your site handy in case of copyright disputes or loss.
Revise the email campaign. Make sure that your email campaign complies with the CAN-SPAM Act.

Apple's Safari, Mozilla's Firefox 3, and Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8

Back when the earliest programs for viewing Web content simply browsed flat pages of images and text, the name browser truly fit the software.
Butyesterday's amateur pages have evolved into dynamic, content-richportals and powerful online programs. For many online habitués, thedo-it-all browser has become a PC's single most important program.
Recognizingthat fact, Apple's Safari, Microsoft's Internet Explorer, and Mozilla'sFirefox are battling to win the nod as your browser of choice. So whichone should you use--Safari 3.1, Firefox 3, or Internet Explorer 8?
Apple's latest offering, Safari 3.1, preserves the company's signature focus on clean design and smooth usability, but it lacks any phishing or malware filters.
For its part, Mozilla should have applied the finishing touches to Firefox 3 by the time you read this (I tested the feature-complete beta 5 release). From under-the-hood memory improvements to a major reworking for bookmarks, version 3 represents a big step forward.
Whereas the new Firefox and Safari browsers are ready to roll, Microsoft's early beta of Internet Explorer 8remains a work in progress. Bugs and rough edges are to be expected ina first beta intended for developers and testers. But IE 8 beta 1provides a glimpse of new features such as WebSlices (which let sitescreate widgety snippets of information that you can view by clicking abookmark button) and Activities (which add right-click menu options forlooking up selected text and pages on map, translation and other sites)that will distinguish the browser Microsoft eventually releases.
Firefox,IE, and Safari are the three most popular browsers, according toInternet usage statistics, but they aren't the only ones available. SoI also took a separate look at two worthwhile, free programs--Flock and Opera.SRI

Two days ago Opera reached a 100/100 pass rate on the Acid3 test for the first time and we published a screenshot on the Desktop team blog to back up the claim. I am pleased to announce the first public build with a 100/100 pass rate and pixel-perfect rendering! The build can be downloaded here: Windows, Linux.
As you will notice, this is not a regular Opera desktop build, but aversion of WinGogi desktop. This is the Windows version of thereference builds that we use internally for testing Opera'splatform-independent Core. "Desktop" means it is compiled with the samefeature set as our regular desktop browser. Still, we do not recommendusing this build for regular Web surfing as it lacks some of thesecurity-related features found in our regular desktop versions.
In addition to a 100/100pass rate and pixel-perfect rendering, the animation needs to be"smooth" in order to pass the test formally. While the actualsmoothness of the animation to some extent depends on the capabilitiesof the machine running the build (and even on the responsiveness of theacidtests.org web site and your network connection speed for one of thetests), there are at least two subtests where we feel we need toimprove the performance in order to achieve a perfect pass on currenthardware. Clicking on the "A" in "Acid3" brings up a dialog listing thetests that took too long to execute.
For comments, please head over to the Desktop team blog.

Microsoft today lifted the lid on 14,000 pages of sketchy versionsof tech documentation for core software code. On show for the firsttime in public are underlying protocols for Office 2007, OfficeSharePoint Server 2007 and Exchange Server 2007.
This is Microsoft's latest effort to satisfy anti-trust concerns ofthe European Union, which is possibly a tougher adversary for thecompany than Google.
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In February, the firm made a surprise announcementin which it agreed to publish and provide free access to applicationprogramming interfaces (APIs) for its major software products.

At the time Microsoft said it also planned to free up protocols around its client and server software.

Now it has unleashed preliminary tech docs that reveal some of theinner-workings of its code via its Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN)website. This is the first stage of the process.

Microsoft is to release details in three phases.

Between now and June it will garner feedback from the developercommunity. Then, at the end of June, Microsoft will publish the finalversions of technical documentation – along with definitive patentlicensing terms.

The definitions will be crucial to third parties who want to playwith Microsoft code. We shall find out soon enough if Redmond will letthem play ball.

Tom Robertson, Microsoft’s interoperability and standards generalmanager, says today's moves are "another step toward putting ourinteroperability principles into action with the public availability ofthese protocol specifications".

It may also help the company head off some anti-trust concerns.

In January European regulators began two formal investigations against Microsoft for alleged market abuse.

One is a response to the complaint filed by the European Committeefor Interoperable Systems alleging Redmond had refused to discloseinteroperability information on a range of Microsoft products.

The EC is scrutinising several server products and Office Open XML(OOXML) on the grounds that the specification doesn't work with thoseof competitors. Just last week OOXML bagged enough votes to be passed as an international standard, much to the chagrin of open source fanciers around the globe.
The second investigation was sparked by a complaint from theNorwegian web browser company Opera, which alleged that the tying ofInternet Explorer to its Windows operating system was anti-competitive.

Verdict
When you head into luxury product territory, the usual value formoney benchmark becomes less significant to the buyer than thedesirability factor. Does the 8800 Arte or Sapphire Arte justify such ahefty price tag? Unquestionably, Nokia has used premium materials thatgive a reassuringly expensive, high quality – and weighty - feel tothese devices. The design is understatedly elegant too.
The under-the-bonnet features run-down wouldn’t convince us to spankour credit card, however. They have a reasonable set of functions, butmost of these you can get on other Nokia Series 40 phones at half theprice. Sure, they have 3G, a 3.2-megapixel camera and 1GB of memory -but as we found, you don’t get the latest cutting edge mobiletechnology despite the expensive price tag. And there’s no HSDPAhigh-speed 3G, face-to-face video calling nor expandable memory - andthe camera is limited. Socketry and earphone arrangements aren’tconvincing either if you want to play music.

There are two web browsers to utilise the 3G capability, the Nokianative one, and the impressive Opera Mini browser Java application,which also provides Yahoo! search and Wikipedia plus Dictionary.comquick search options. Web browsing is swift with 3G and downloadingcontent is speedy too, even without a HSDPA boost.
Nokia’s WidSets application comes pre-loaded, enabling you to getRSS-based updates on a set of onscreen widgets. This enables you to getweb-based updates from your favourite blogs and websites without havingto actively browse each time you want to check.

That's a real sapphire in the Sapphire

Nokia’s usual organiser functions are included – calendar, to-dolists, notes, calculator and various timer and clock functions – plusconvertor and translator apps. A voice memo function, speakerindependent dialling, voice commands and a text-to-speech convertor areincluded too. Naturally, the email facility includes support forregular attachments.
A Golf Tour game is loaded up for downtime amusement, while Nokia’susual Download! app also offers a range of other games and content youcan download for free or for a fee.
Top marks for the Nokia 8800 Arte’s call performance – it producedexcellent quality sound and maintained signal levels commendably well.Estimated battery life is quoted by Nokia as giving up to 300 hoursstandby, or talktime of 3 hours 20 minutes on GSM networks or up to 2hours 45 minutes on 3G WCDMA 2100 networks. That’s a typicalperformance for this spec level. In practice, we found ourselvesreaching for the charger after two days with moderate usage. Thatdesktop charger should come in handy, then, for heavyweight phone users.
Product
Nokia 8800 Arte and Sapphire Arte

Verdict
Credit crunch - what credit crunch? Nokia aims for the hearts and wallets of the money-no-object mobile buyer

Rating
80%

Suggested Price
Nokia 8800 Arte: contract: £200-£400 handset only: £680, Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte: handset only: £1050

OK nevermind, I found out each problem, or at least I think Ihave. After more research, I discovered that sometimes accountscan become faulty. Apparently Microsoft is aware of this but theydon't have a fix for this and the issue has been around since Windows2000.

So what I tried was I created a new account and copied all of mysettings from it and everything worked out fine except Opera lost halfit's settings. There is 1 memory issue still existing but I'llfind a way around it eventually.

Mix 08 Microsoft will not justsupport new and popular technologies in Internet Explorer 8, it's alsoattempting to build community support for the historicallystandards-challenged browser.
Not only will IE 8 - unveiled and launched as a beta today- support cascading style sheet (CSS) 2.1 from release, but Microsofthas also released code for a CSS test suite spanning 702 tests to theWorld Wide Web Consortium (W3C), with a view to establishing anindustry based standard test suite for CSS.
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Microsoft's test cases have been published under BSD.

"Our goal of full [CSS] compliance has challenges. Interoperabilityhas many challenges...until we standardize how we all test standardscompatibility, no one can tell what everyone has done," IE generalmanager Dean Hachamovitch told Mix 08 Wednesday.

Of course, there are those who might suggest it's only Microsoftthat has problems hitting standards around interoperability and istrying to change the debate and buy time for IE 8 by putting the onuson the industry to revisit standards.

In doing so, Microsoft would be at liberty to press ahead with IE 8development and to then certify to any W3C test suite afterwards, onceproduct development is complete - without really making things any moreinteroperable.

That's a tactic from the vendor playbook that served Microsoft andothers well, baking web services specifications into products earlierthis decade to hit delivery targets and build market share - before thespecifications themselves or the testing and certification processeswere actually finished.

Hachamovitch also issued a "call to action" to developers to makesure content built for IE 8 works well with the legacy web, meaningsites geared for IE 7. IE 8 will feature an emulation button to testsites under development.
'Developers would answer the question...'
Code, meanwhile, for planned IE 8 features designed to simplifylinking to online services such as eBay, called Activities, or tosubscribe to just a part of a page, called Web Slices, have beenreleased for community for feedback under the Creative Commonsattribution license and under Microsoft's Open Specification. "[We] have published samples and are taking feedback," Hachamovitch said.

According to Hachamovitch, Activities will let the user right clickon a web page and pull in maps or pages, like that eBay page, withoutneed for more coding or add-ins by the developer. Developers write "alittle bit" of XML code instead. With Web Slices, once you havesubscribed to a source, a tile - like a tab - will appear in IE'snavigation menu enabling you to keep track of things like eBay auctions.

It was a difficult pitch for Hachamovitch who opened his Mix 08 IE 8preview to mutterings of discontent over IE's lamentable level ofsupport for web standards. That has created problems for developersbuilding content for sites that must work with multiple browsers.

Referring to IE 7, Hachamovitch said: "My kids would hear storiesabout how the web isn't working as it should, and they'd ask me:'Daddy, did you break the web?' Developers would answer the question alittle differently," which prompted one keynote audience member sittingbehind Reg Dev to growl "much differently."

Hachamovitch continued - clearly in naked defiance of Microsoft'strack record on IE vulnerabilities - that Microsoft's problems in"breaking the web" weren't down to security, but down tointeroperability instead. "For all we did in security and userexperience, there's more we can do for developers...developers spenttoo much of their scarce time just getting basic things to work. Withthat in mind, we started IE 8."
Other IE 8 features include support for HTML 5, the ability to viewwireless content offline, improved performance, and simplifieddebugging during development with the ability to find scriptsautomatically.

Microsoft is to develop IE8 so that it follows web standards by default and will retain a controversial mode switching proposal.

Internet Explorer general manager Dean Hachamovitch conceded thatthe move is a change from what Microsoft had previously said andprompted (at least in part) by a desire to avoid regulatory and legalproblems.

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In a poston Microsoft's IE development blog, Hachamovitch said: "We've decidedthat IE8 will, by default, interpret web content in the most standardscompliant way it can. This decision is a change from what we've postedpreviously.

"IE8’s default is a demonstration of [Microsoft's] interoperabilityprinciples in action. While we do not believe any current legalrequirements would dictate which rendering mode a browser must use,this step clearly removes this question as a potential legal andregulatory issue," he added.

Although not explicitly stated, it is reasonable to conclude thatOpera's recent complaint to the EU as well as anti-trust fines informedMicrosoft's volte-face. Whether the move will help Microsoft skirtregulatory problems is open for debate.

Modern browsers (including IE, Firefox, Safari, and Opera) sportmultiple content-rendering modes – including ones supporting strictinterpretation of certain web standards as well as quirks modes neededto offer compatibility with pages that pre-date modern standards.

MS is now going to use IE8 standard as default. Developers who wanttheir pages shown using IE8’s “IE7 Standards mode” will need to requestthat using a meta tag. This mode switching approach has been criticised by rival developers, such as Opera.

Microsoft's legacy of not sticking to web standards as closely as,for example, Opera, in the past has left it with more problems thanother developers in sticking to standards.

For example, the transition from IE6 to IE7 was complicated by pagesthat rendered well in IE6 standard mode but not IE7 standard mode.Microsoft expects similar problems with the move to IE8, but haschanged its approach to solving the problems.

IE8 will have three rendering modes: one that reflects Microsoft'simplementation of current web standards, an IE7 standards mode, and athird based on rendering methods dating back to the early web. The IE8standards mode will now be applied by default. Previously, the IE7standards mode would have been preferred.

IE8 will include an IE7 standards mode as well as a "purer" IE8standards mode so that developers can still select it as an option.
"This facility would be helpful as the web moves gradually from thelarge quantity of legacy content authored around IE7's behaviors to anew era of much more interoperable and web standards compliantbrowsers," Hachamovitch explains.

Mix 08 Microsoft has defended anInternet Explorer 8 roadmap that gambles on the successful completionof unbaked standards and qualified support of W3C initiatives.

Yesterday Chris Wilson, IE platform architect, said Microsoft hadpicked elements of HTML 5 and CSS 2.1 from the World Wide WebConsortium (W3C) that it believes are reliable and stable. And, headded, Microsoft will put its own resources behind the standards workto ensure successful completion.

document.write('\x3Cscript src="http://ad.uk.doubleclick.net/adj/reg.developer.4159/code;'+RegExCats+GetVCs()+'chl=msdotnet;pid='+RegId+';'+RegKW+'maid='+maid+';test='+test+';pf='+RegPF+';dcove=d;sz=336x280;tile=3;ord=' + rand + '?" type="text/javascript">\x3C\/script>'); <ahref="http://ad.uk.doubleclick.net/jump/reg.developer.4159/code;chl=msdotnet;dcove=d;sz=336x280;tile=3;ord=IlhLxdRk6j0AAFCtOXkAAAJn?"target="_blank"><imgsrc="http://ad.uk.doubleclick.net/ad/reg.developer.4159/code;chl=msdotnet;dcove=d;sz=336x280;tile=3;ord=IlhLxdRk6j0AAFCtOXkAAAJn?"width="336" height="280" border="0" alt="" />
"Once we pick something we invest in that area and put people in thestandards effort," Wilson told a Mix 08 session on IE 8 when challengedby one delegate on the wisdom of backing unfinished standards out ofthe gate.

Microsoft is not alone in banking on HTML 5 and CSS 2.1.Mozilla already supports HTML 5 in Firefox, and there is also supportfor CSS 2.1 in Firefox and Opera. While support is not universal, it isa beginning; support across all browsers should help simplify and savetime on development of web applications.

Microsoft is taking a wait-and-see attitude in some areas. Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG),for example, is being recommended by the W3C. It is included in Firefoxand supported in Safari. But Wilson played the limited resources cardand indicated IE 8 will not provide SVG capabilities. Microsoft gavethe same reason a year ago for not porting its Silverlight media playerto Linux.

"We have to pick which [technologies] we support first. We have todo a complete and detailed job first before we move onto something elseand do a partial job. That's certainly been a problem in the past,"Wilson said.

There are also no immediate plans to make IE 8 compatible with the newly released Acid 3 browser test either. Microsoft only recently caught up to rival browsers by passing the previous Acid 2 test.

Wilson expressed mixed feelings towards Acid. First he called it"opportunistic about choosing different parts of different standards".Then he said "there are some great tests in Acid 3." However: "I can'tstate when we might or might not pass it."

Among the HTML 5 features Microsoft singled out arewindow.location.hash for back navigation of elements within a web page,sessionStore and localStore instead of cookies and UserData, which werenot cross-browser compatible, and support for Accessible Rich InternetApplications (ARIA).

On the CSS 2.1 front, Microsoft is making a fresh start by dropping the troubleome hasLayoutfor rendering in the newly announced IE 8 standards mode.Floating-point elements and border collapsing using Microsoft rendingare also gone.

Wilson also said Microsoft is looking forward to CSS 3 for box sizing and vertical text.

In other changes to IE 8, Microsoft is working to improve management, performance, security and development.

All add ons - not just those for Active X - will be stored in oneplace making it easier for users to see what extensions are loaded. Onperformance, Jscript will collect garbage in the Jscript engine ratherthan wait for things to be thrown away.

Security is being reworked to accommodate mash-ups. IE 8 willimplement XdomainRequest object (XDR) permitting cross-domain HTTPrequests, which will require an HTTP header from a server to operate.It will also be possible for users to run Active X controls for aparticular site, reducing the opportunity for malicious script toinstall and run.

IE 8 will feature a built-in CSS, HTML and JavaScript debugger thatWilson said will let developers inspect variables, expressions, style,layout and other elements with the single click of a button. "This isnot a replacement for any other tools. We think it's important to havea set of really good development tools attached to the browser so youcan see what's gong on in the browser while you are debugging."

Hands-on With Microsoft's IE8 Beta
You might want to proceed with caution before trying IE8. We forgedahead and installed the beta - and experienced more browser crashesduring my hands-on than ever before. Prior to installing the IE8 beta,we had Internet Explorer 7 happily running along.

IE8 Coverage and Sources

The Internet Explorer 8 beta toolbar (istartedsomething.com)
Microsoft promises IE8 beta in June (vnunet.com)
Confirmation: Internet Explorer 8 beta testing has begun (betanews.com)
Private IE 8 beta 1 test build coming soon (blogs.zdnet.com)
Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 Available on Connect (techtoday.110mb.com)
Microsoft on IE8: we won't break the Web (itnews.com.au)
Microsoft Prepares to Unveil IE8 Features At MIX08 (dailytech.com)
Dean Hachamovitch to show IE8 at MIX Keynote (visitmix.com)
Microsoft Stresses Backward Compatibility for IE8 (pcworld.com)
Compatibility and IE8 (blogs.msdn.com)
EC to investigate Internet Explorer (broadband-finder.co.uk)
Internet Explorer 8 Passes the 'Acid2' Test (internetnews.com)
IE 8 Beta 1 in First Half of 2008 (pcworld.com)
Microsoft still short on details surrounding IE8 (betanews.com)
Gates: Next IE to be IE8 (news.com)
Is Microsoft Getting Ready to Let the IE8 Genie Out of the Bottle? (news.softpedia.com)
Users clamoring again for an Internet Explorer 8 update (blogs.zdnet.com)
Web developers impatient for Internet Explorer news (seattlepi.nwsource.com)
Internet Explorer 8? 2008? 2009? (news.softpedia.com)
Microsoft's Chris Wilson confirms all-new layout engine in IE.Next (sitepoint.com)
Internet Explorer 8.0: The silence is deafening (blogs.zdnet.com)
IE8 trial coming soon (pcplus.co.uk)
CompTIA: IE voted 'most influential' tech product (news.com.com)
Windows Vienna & IE 8 features Leaked (msinsider.blogspot.com)
Next version of Windows: Call it 7 (news.com.com)
Firefox now a serious threat to IE in Europe (osdir.com)
Fake IE8 Alpha screenshots appear on the Web (it-newz.blogspot.com)
Internet Explorer 9 to ship with Windows 7? (techtheblog.blogspot.com)
Internet Explorer 8 Beta to begin later this year (thehotfix.net)
Preparing your site for IE.next (webdevout.net)
Firefox more likely to be fully patched than IE (computerworld.com.au)
IE7 Interest: Flat (pcworld.com)
Are IE8 and Web Standards Compatibility Compatible? (itbusinessedge.com)
Microsoft hints at general plan for IE 8 (news.com.com)
Microsoft drops hints about Internet Explorer 8 (arstechnica.com)
'IE8 compatible' - the cure for web standards headache? (theregister.co.uk)
What's next for Internet Explorer? Microsoft opens up (a little) (blogs.zdnet.com)
Microsoft's latest spin on Web apps (news.com.com)
IE8 details to be unveiled next week (tech.co.uk)
What to Expect from IE at MIX07 (blogs.msdn.com)
Internet Explorer 8 and the semantic web (technextblog.blogspot.com)
Internet Explorer 8.0 Is Taking Shape (ouredutainment.blogspot.com)
Worm poses as Internet Explorer 7 beta download (itwire.com.au)
Microsoft, Canvas, and the WHATWG (ajaxian.com)
Microsoft releases "Deepfish" browser for Windows Mobile (engadget.com)
Firefox more popular than IE in some European countries (xitimonitor.com)
The first new feature of Internet Explorer 8? (apcmag.com)
Microsoft responds to DOT ban on Vista, IE7, Office (blogs.zdnet.com)
IE7, Vista and Office 2007 banned by U.S. DOT (informationweek.com)
IE loses ground in US; holds its ground worldwide (arstechnica.com)
Internet Explorer market share now below 80% (computerweekly.com)
Talking with Microsoft about IE.next (webstandards.org)
Internet Explorer 8.0 Available for Download on P2P? (news.softpedia.com)
Microsoft starts gathering IE 8 input (blogs.zdnet.com)
IE8: What Do You Want To See? (windowsconnected.com)
Microsoft Is Already Running Internet Explorer 8.0 (news.softpedia.com)
Is Internet Explorer 8 in the works? (arstechnica.com)
Next versions of IE and Firefox taking shape (blogs.zdnet.com)
Internet Explorer 8 somewhere in MIX07? (lorgor.net)
Internet Explorer To Flag Verified 'Safe' Sites (entmag.com)
10 must haves in IE Next (456bereastreet.com)
The History of Internet Explorer (microsoft.com)
Firefox 3.0 goes Alpha but little word yet on IE8 (itwire.com.au)
Vista Boosts IE 7 Security Features (browsersecuritynews.com)
Ideas for IE8 (channel9.msdn.com)
IE.next to support CSS3 colours? (css3.info)
Microsoft slowly begins IE 7 auto-upgrade (infoworld.com)
What comes after IE 7? (blogs.zdnet.com)
Internet Explorer to stomp pop-ups (news.com.com)
You can improve IE.next (webstandards.org)
Microsoft is already working on Internet Explorer 8 (dmxzone.com)
"IE8.0 Alpha" screenshots (activewin.com)
IE 8.0 will support microformats (factoryjoe.com)
Up next: IE 8.0 (blogs.zdnet.com)
IE 7 Is AJAX-Ready, MS working on IE Next (eweek.com)
IE8 out on 8/8/8? (navegadores.org)
MS sharing some hints about IE 8.0, aka IE Next (blogs.zdnet.com)
Things IE7 didn't fixed (forevergeek.com)

Users who try to reach Windows Update with Internet Explorer 8(IE8) Beta 1 are greeted with a message stating, "To use this site, youmust be running Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 or later."

IE8 Beta 1 was released last week after an unveiling at MIX08, the Web developer conference Microsoft hosted last week in Las Vegas. The preliminary version runs on Windows XP , Vista, Server 2003 and Server 2008.

Userswere understandably confused when IE8 refused to call up WindowsUpdate. "After updating my IE7 to IE8 today, I tried to update my Windows Vista by visiting the Windows Update Web site, but then I was redirected to an error page," said a user identified as zkyboy on a Microsoft support newsgroups. "Why? IS IE8 not the latest version browser?"
How to Rectify
Toreach Windows Update, IE8 Beta 1 users must click on the "Emulate IE7"button, which switches the new browser into IE7 mode. That requires arestart of IE8, however.

"Windows Update is updating their site to support IE8," said a Microsoft employee named Eric Law in a comment to an IE development team blogpost last Thursday. "For now, click the Emulate IE7 Button, restart allIE windows, and visit [Windows Update]. Sorry for the inconvenience."

Computerworld confirmed that the IE7 emulation mode within IE8 allowed access to Windows Update.
Other Problems
Elsewhere, users have reported problems accessing or rendering other sites with IE8 Beta 1, including Facebook, Google Inc.'s Gmail and Microsoft's own Windows Live Mail.

Ofcourse, quirks and bugs are common in beta software, a factacknowledged by some who left comments on the IE development blog."Reading a lot of those crash 'victims' above, I hate to say it, butthis is a Beta," said a user labeled as IT_guy. "I would not besurprised to learn that they have a gazillion array of add-ons,toolbars and utilities blighting the browser. Those vendors are goingto have to shape up and re-tool."

IE8 Beta 1 can be downloaded from Microsoft's site.

ternet Explorer 8 can be installed on Microsoft Windows Vista^{®                Service Pack 1 (SP1), Windows Vista, Windows XP^{® Service Pack 2                (SP2), Windows Server^{® 2008 and Windows Server^{2003                Service Pack 2 (SP2). Downloads are                available from the following locations:}}}}               Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008

                              Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Windows Vista x64 Edition and Windows                Server 2008 x64 Edition

               Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Windows XP SP2

                              Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Windows Server 2003 SP2

                              Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Windows Server 2003 SP2 x64 Edition                and Windows XP SP2 Pro x64 Edition

Opera 9.26
A full-featured Internet browser, Opera includes pop-up blocking, tabbed browsing, integrated searches, and advanced functions like Opera's groundbreaking E-mail program, RSS Newsfeeds and IRC chat. And because we know that our users have different n...

Publish Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2008 12:01:06 GMT
Read more...

You can chose not to use the torrent Opera comes with and even if you do, you can stop it and use the torrent with another program. But I did hear Safari was a good program otherwise and I think it was recently released for PC.

To point out another good program, Konqueror is pretty decent for Linux since its an all-in-one kind of thing. Its a file browser, internet browser, and I think an organizer.

The Barbican can pack in 2,000 people for a concert. Almost 3,000 classical-music fans can squeeze into the Royal Festival Hall. And Brixton Undergroundstation? 30,000 pass through it every day - and all get a loud blast of theclassical stuff whether they like it or not.
Quietly, steadily and, if not secretly, then certainly stealthily, LondonUnderground is rolling out a compulsory classical diet. And it's joining agrowing group of local authorities, transport companies and evensupermarkets across the country. The idea? If we are all stressed out, weneed calming down. And if we are antisocial yobs looking to cause somebother and steal Travelcards, we need moving on. Somehow classical musicseems to fit the bill in both cases.
Perhaps this is why Brixton is already well used to it, as I discover whilethe blast of Schubert's Unfinished is throbbing through the ticket office ona Tuesday lunchtime. The station first got plugged in more than four and ahalf years ago, a test site to see whether the embryonic scheme deservedexpansion. Clearly it seemed to do the job; as of the beginning of this year40 stations have now been equipped with the necessary kit, and they rangefrom the positively genteel (West Brompton) to the Wild East of the DistrictLine - Dagenham, Upton Park - alongside more mixed South London spots suchas Balham and Morden.
Perhaps this tuneful invasion really is as unremarkable as Transport forLondon protests. “It wasn't really a big policy, but we rolled it out whenit was expedient to do so,” says Richard Parry, TFL's director of strategyand service development. He's armed with statistics from satisfied punters,who, he says, feel happier. Less stressed. And, yes, calmer. “Our researchsays that 80 per cent plus say it makes them feel more relaxed, and 85 percent plus that the music improves the general environment of the station.”The research Parry refers to was conducted by TFL in 2006, when commuterswere questioned at five stations across the network.

Somewhere along the line, however, the official narrative changed. When thefirst Underground station (Elm Park, on the District Line) got hooked up toclassical, this was a story about crowd control. “We can't claim it was anoriginal idea,” Parry concedes. “We knew it was tried in differentenvironments. One we looked at was the Tyne and Wear metro.” The back storythere, widely reported at the time, was of vandalism down, problem teenspushed off to bother someone else.
Brixton is certainly an unthreatening place, despite its reputation. “There'sso much crime around and I think it's receded,” says a local resident, LisaMartin. “People aren't really hanging around as much as they used to, 'cosclassical music's not really their vibe, is it? It's a psychological thing,isn't it?”
Well, perhaps. With the scheme now being extended to middle-class oases suchas West Hampstead, the official line now from TFL is that this is nothing todo with crime or psychological pressure and everything to do with“environment”, “ambience” and “care”. It's also about another C-word -control.
“We want to give people a greater feeling that someone is in control, makingthings secure and safe,” Parry says. “It's certainly not there as a bigdeterrent.” Hence station selection is not based on levels of crime, butsimply limited to those sites that are not too central (too many people, toomuch confusion) and do not have an interchange (for the same reason). Parryalso confirms that the music is played only in ticket halls rather than intrains (where we couldn't escape) or platforms (where we need to listen forimportant information). It's the same argument that he uses to avoid theaccusation of creating a Big-Brother-style network where our eardrums aremonopolised by a loudspeaker.
But if it's trying to show control, it's slightly surprising to find out thatTFL doesn't actually have anything to do with the mechanics of the operationat all. When it co-opted the system that the Tyneside metro was using, itasked Metronet, then in charge of the District Line, to find a subcontractorwho could supply the technology. What it came up with, installed andcompiled by an agency called Broadchart, now plays itself; the only controlthat station staff have is how loudly they play it.
“People are always saying: ‘Who chose the music?'” grins Mervin Russell, thestation supervisor at Brixton, “and we have to say: ‘It's not us, it justcomes on automatically at 4.30 in the morning.'” At midnight, apparently, itswitches off. Faintly spooky? I thought so, if only because Metronet is nowin administration, but its commissioned iMix still pipes through itsstations like a creepy memento mori.
Surprise number two: the 40-hour tracklist. OK, the use of rights-freerecordings means no Modernists - still in copyright - so no Ligeti, noStockhausen, no Adès. But hang around long enough and you'll find an obscureRimsky-Korsakov suite, Antar, the Meditation from Berlioz's La Mort deCléopâtre, and a slice of Haydn's practically unknown opera, La fedeltapremiata. I think you'd struggle to hear any of these on Classic FM even ifyou stayed tuned in for 400 hours.
But the naysayers have a point. What does it matter what's playing when theintention is just to make a relaxing background vibe? “It's nice for musicto transport, to take you somewhere else,” one middle-aged male commutertells me, ignoring the apocalyptic fury of Verdi's Requiem thundering aroundhim. The other leitmotif from my straw poll is that if classical music doesmake anyone think beyond a fuzzy sensation, then it's a vague associationwith film music. “I find it cinematic rather than calming,” says JamesKhoury, who says he's “getting into classical music”, but, no, he wouldn'ttry to buy any of the music he heard on the Underground “because I wouldn'thave a clue what it was”.
One stubbly thirtysomething in jeans and an overcoat bucks the trend. He knowswhat's playing - a movement from Beethoven's Seventh - and he doesn't thinkthat this explosive masterpiece is the auditory equivalent of Temazepam. Apity, then, that this is Tom Service, classical-music critic for TheGuardian, whom I bump into by coincidence on his way home. “What thisreveals to us is the tragedy of listening,” he says. “We are now so inuredto classical-music effects that we can't hear this as fiery music, we simplyhear the effect of the classical brand.”
That's music to the ears of Graham Sheffield, artistic director of theBarbican, chairman of the Royal Philharmonic Society and now spearheadingHear Here, a campaign to encourage better listening to the sounds around us.“It's real music that one wants to hear, not aural pap. It may have aninstant impact but after a while people will cease to notice it's there.”
They're both right, in a sense. Isn't it degrading to the composers flung intothis jumble to simply be labelled “classical music”, prescribed in a bigenough, noisy enough dose to make us all worry less about signal failures?But, again, perhaps functional music does have a valid place, particularlywhen its audience seems so mollified by it.
Listening in Brixton station to Wagner's overture to Rienzi - a rarity thatsomehow crept on to Metronet's iPod - I find it hard to sign up to thecynics' camp. As Sheffield points out, there is always an audience who'llgive classical their full concentration. “The commonly held view is thatpeople can't listen any more. I was in the Royal Festival Hall listening toDaniel Barenboim. For 25 minutes, in the slow movement of a Beethoven sonatayou could feel 2,500 people really listening, not a single cough.” Are those2,500 more hurt by Berlioz on the Bakerloo than the degree by which the 80per cent are cheered up by it?
Maybe the two worlds could meet. The Barbican and the RPS could adapt the listof Tube classics, perhaps bringing in the LSO's live recordings to give alocal connection. Electronic display boards could tell us more about themusic that we were hearing. “It would be nice if they changed the list everyso often,” says Russell wistfully, perhaps thinking about the number oftimes he has heard Schubert's Unfinished, unfinished. Then his eyes flickback to the delays board, and his hand reaches for the volume knob.

I use Safari, it's sexy, does everything firefox does, and unlike Opera, it doesn't eat bittorrent links with it's own ****ty client. ^_^