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Asa (Mozilla guy) meets Opera
Asa tried the recent Opera 7.5 release and wrote about it in his blog. I won't jump in and make a debate or express my opinion on his entry nor on the Opera die-hards' comments (in that same entry) because I'm too worn out to think. But I do think it is interesting to point out the debate for those of you who haven't seen one of these in the topic of browsers (as opposed to the PC/Mac and Windows/Linux debates).
Asa posts an update later in response to reader comments.
PS. to Blogupdates readers, you've probably already followed the goings on at Asa's weblog, but bear with me - this is for my non-Blogupdates readers. Oh and if I seem to be hogging the top spot in Blogupdates, it's not me constantly re-posting my entry or doing some silly stuff - I think it's a bug regarding non-GMT times in the Blogupdates script and have informed Henrik (Gemal) already.
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Away
Before anyone jumps to the conclusion that I've fallen into torpor or crumbled to dust in Final Death, let me assure you that I will merely be away on a short trip for the purpose of getting away from Things That Suck™ (among other purposes). Will be back Wednesday evening (my time, CCT). If I'm not back by then, assume the worst.
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Interesting job interview today
Fresh graduate that I am, I have been submitting applications for quite a number of jobs, mostly revolving around the "web developer" and the "software developer" careers. Of course, I am always supplementing my income with web design and development work, and have always been on the lookout for freelance work. Sometimes I wonder about work, about whether to work for someone else, or to strike out on my own... ah, ah, ah... That's a topic for another day.
So, back on track, I went for an interview today with a SME, and the interviewer was seemingly the owner (educated guesswork involved). He was young, he was entrepreneurial (he had at least 1 major startup that crashed, the current one is the one I was seeking a position in, and it's successful enough). But what was most interesting was how the interview went.
You see, he was looking over my resumé, and he actually made suggestions on how I should rearrange it and present individual sections, in the most friendly, I'm-here-to-help-you-friend manner. I was surprised, pleasantly. This guy was actually spending time offering very very valuable advice to me. Great stuff.
And he was honest, he said he couldn't meet my salary expectations, he said that the job I'm applying for ("Java Developer") is a tedious, repetitive job. He also said something to the effect that starting at a small company like his is not something he'd recommend I do, "as a friend". Everything made a lot of sense. Excellent career advice.
I didn't get the job. He said "it'd be a waste" for me to go with this job, when I should be aiming higher. I believe that this is what he felt (not that "it'd be a waste" - that's subjective), that he wasn't going through this amazing amount of trouble just to make me feel better about myself for not getting the job. Sincerity shone through. Either that or he is a sterling actor (which I doubt).
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Microsoft now says SP2 will not install on pirated copies of Windows XP
BetaNews reports that SP2 Will Not Install on Pirated Copies of XP, contrary to what local (Singaporean) publication Computer Times reported earlier.
Just when I was being amazed at how thoughtful Microsoft was for everyone of us Windows XP users, pirates and legitimate users alike.
This (in the Computer Times article) made very, very good sense:
"Having these unsecured users means bigger worm and virus outbreaks - which also impacts the Internet and consequently, our legitimate users as well."
Legitimate users should damn well be pissed at this announcement more than users of pirated copies. Why? Simply because there is no doubt whatsoever that when SP2 comes, cracks and keygens will quickly be released that would allow you to install SP2 anyway, if you have a pirated copy. Informed users of pirated copies won't be stopped from getting SP2. But a good majority of users of pirated copies may simply not care and live with a non-SP2 Windows XP. And what good will it do to protect only the legitimate users when vulnerable systems are legion? (Of course, this is based on the assumption that SP2 does greatly secure a system.)
Sure, illegal users don't deserve updates, I very much agree. But when this encroaches into the security of legitimate users, I think it's very very prudent and smart to give them the updates as well, for all the reasons that Barry Goffe put forward in the Computer Times article. Illegal users don't deserve updates, but legitimate users do very well deserve to have these illegal users' Windows XP setups secured and protected as well, for their (legitimate users) sake.
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Singaporeans found blogging
Pardon the newsy (and awkward) title for this entry - it's hard trying to think up creative titles when that juice dries up. Anyway, this is more of a gratuitous, promotional linking entry than a real blog entry (although some of you will not be unaccustomed to blogs that are full-on linkblogs - and I'm not talking about side link-blogs).
So yeah, recently I've encountered a couple of local (Singaporean) webloggers whom I've had to pleasure of speaking to. They are one Alex Choo and one Jaime Wong, both very different people and rather unrelated in fact, so I should speak of each in turn.
Well, Alex is someone I've had the pleasure of speaking with at length (via IM) and will be someone I'll be working with on a clandestine project that will save the world from the Antediluvians when Gehenna comes... yes, something like that. Alex is also the owner of Google Apps, a collection of tools that use the Google API. This includes "Adsense serves...", which tells you which ads a particular webpage would serve, and also Glocal News. Glocal News lets you search for news on Google News related to a particular country:
Glocal News does not just check for country names, it also checks for commonly used terms associated with that country.
You may ask: "why don't I just go to Google News and key in 'USA' to find USA-related news?" The difference lies in there being other keywords related to each country, and these are entered in the search for you invisibly. That gives you a rather good set of results, if you do try it out. The bad thing, however, is there's no way you can add more keywords and the application depends on the author appending more keywords as they become relevant.
Now, Jaime Wong is a freelance web designer who wrote me simply because you don't see many Singaporeans who know what Web Standards mean - we need to stick together, all 4 of us. We did talk a bit about starting a local interest group, but as of this time there're so very few of us. Probably needs to gather more momentum and weight first before a thrust of any sort is to do any good. If you're Singaporean and are interested in a local interest group dealing with Web Standards, do write me or Jaime, just for a chat or anything at all.
By the way, Jaime's weblog is absolutely stunning. You have to check it out. It was even listed on CSS Vault.
Hmm... Well, this didn't turn out to be a linkblog-like entry after all.
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