Why Don’t People Update Software?

This question applies to personal software more so than IT-supported software. I understand the complexities involved with taking updates to software that IT is on the hook to support. What I don’t get is why people aren’t more vigilant with their own software, specifically browsers and O/S. Over the years, updates have become more in-your-face,… Read More

I Like Shiny Things

I really do love new stuff, especially when it comes to software and has a “developer release” or “alpha” or “beta” tag on it. I can’t help it. I’ve tried to stay away from buggy releases, but I always come back, if only to feel like I’m playing with the latest, greatest version. Are you… Read More

A Bit More on Our IE6 Stance

Rich’s April Fools’ post from last week has generated some discussion around how we (and developers in general) handle support for Internet Explorer 6. Most of the discussion was between G and me, and then Friend of the ‘Lab John “I used to be the Ontario Emperor” Bredehoft weighed in with his two cents. In… Read More

On Browsers

IE6 is like that cold that just won’t go away; you feel well enough to go to work, but it keeps sapping your energy. To many users, IE6 is the Internet. It came with your computer, and it’s the way you get online. Resisting the urge to put online in quotes. Like many web apps,… Read More

Firefox Still Pwns the Field

Generally, I prefer choice in software. Intertubes browser is no different. However, in this particular category, I am an unabashed Firefox fanboy. I’ve been using it since 0.8, and it hasn’t let me down yet. I’ve tried the field, both for personal and professional purposes: Chrome, Opera, Flock, Safari, IE (all versions, 3-8), Netscape/Mosaic, even… Read More

Geeking out with Ubiquity

Big news today was the very-early (0.1!) release of Mozilla Labs’ Ubiquity. What is it? That’s a really good question. It took me several passes to fix on the awesomesauce that is Ubiquity. I scanned the Techmeme coverage, thinking it was some translation tool, then speed read Scoble’s post on it. Sounded more interesting, but… Read More

Back to the Desktop

Taking the web out of the browser has been a common theme lately. As web apps become more a part of everyday productivity, accessing them outside the typical browser is more attractive. The iPhone has a great example of this in its Maps app. The beauty of taking apps out of the browser is you… Read More

Search Tools Updated for 11g

Eddie Awad has a post today that some of you will find useful. His Oracle Bookmarklets and search plugins now support the brand new 11g R1 documentation. The Oracle Documentation search plugin I posted also includes 11g R1 now, too. For those uninitiated, bookmarklets allow you to do some pretty sweet productivity tweaks using Javascript… Read More

New Tools for Lucky Oracle Users

Yesterday, OTN released the Oracle DBA Toolbar (screenshot) for Firefox and IE. A great little tool for any Oracle DBA. Kudos to Justin and his OTN crew for delivering innovative, useful tools for our customers. Readers of this space may be sick of hearing about OpenSearch plugins, but like it or not, people find them… Read More