Kelson - Slashdot User

Submission + - Dillo Web Browser Updated At Last (dillo.org)

Submitted by

Kelson

on Tuesday October 14, 2008 @12:44PM

Kelson writes: "More than two years after the last release, Dillo 2 is now available. The open-source web browser was launched in 1999 with the goal of enabling access to the web without massive hardware or software requirements. Eventually, its reliance on GTK+ (GTK2 was deemed too heavy for its goals) and lack of funding led to a development freeze in 2007. The project relaunched with a port to FLTK, and has caught up with features such as tabbed browsing, multiple character-set support, and major improvements to rendering, UI, and memory usage. The project is currently seeking developers."

Submission + - Opera 9.60 Released (opera.com)

Submitted by

Kelson

on Wednesday October 08, 2008 @12:07PM

Kelson writes: "Opera Software has released Opera 9.60, the latest version of their web browser & internet suite. It's an evolutionary release, focused on performance optimization, improving the email client and adding more items to the Opera Link synchronization service. The Opera Developer Network, ODIN, has posted an "under the hood" article on the release."

Submission + - Phishers use EV SSL as part of their pitch (hyperborea.org)

Submitted by

Kelson

on Tuesday September 23, 2008 @02:00PM

Kelson writes: "One of the great ironies of phishing today is that identity theft via the web tends to work by preying on people's fear of identity theft. It doesn't help that most people don't really understand the technology. Now, some phishers are taking advantage of publicity over Extended Validation (EV) SSL Certificates, asking potential victims to "upgrade" their accounts to EV SSL by filling in their login credentials at a given web page. The pitch is completely bogus — plenty of sites have set up EV certs without end-user intervention — but there are no doubt plenty of users who won't know the difference."

Submission + - Firefox Goes for World Download Record (spreadfirefox.com) 1

Submitted by

Kelson

on Wednesday May 28, 2008 @07:19PM

Kelson writes: "For the upcoming release of Firefox 3, Mozilla is preparing Download Day 2008: a campaign to set a world record for the most software downloaded in 24 hours. Participants are asked to pledge to download Firefox 3 on the day that it's launched. The exact date hasn't been scheduled yet, but everything seems on track for June."

Submission + - Apple Addresses Software Update Criticism (hyperborea.org)

Submitted by

Kelson

on Thursday April 17, 2008 @06:41PM

Kelson writes: "Concurrent with a Safari security update, Apple has released version 2.1 of their software updater for Windows. This addresses one of the major concerns that led to last month's controversy over Safari being positioned as an "update" for people who weren't already using it. The new version splits updates and new software into two lists, making the division obvious at a glance. On the downside, it still selects new software by default, but with luck the separate lists will be enough to make people stop, look, and make a conscious choice as to whether or not to install an application."

Submission + - Acid3 Test Unveiled (css3.info)

Submitted by

Kelson

on Wednesday January 30, 2008 @01:57PM

Kelson writes: "The Acid3 Test for web browsers has been completed. Acid3 tests 100 aspects of HTTP, HTML, CSS, ECMAScript, SVG and XML through DOM scripting. When Acid2 was released, it was a matter of weeks before internal builds of WebKit passed. In the nearly 3 years since, Safari and Opera have passed, as have public betas of Firefox and internal builds of Internet Explorer. The question is: will progress on Acid3 follow a similar pattern?"

Submission + - AOL to shut down Netscape support

Submitted by

Kelson

on Friday December 28, 2007 @03:47PM

Kelson writes: "After years of trying to figure out what to do with it, AOL is officially discontinuing the Netscape browser. In the four and a half years after they dismantled the development team and spun off the Mozilla Foundation as a lost cause, only to see Firefox take off, AOL has tried twice to reinvent Netscape. There was the chimera-like Netscape 8, which used both Mozilla's and IE's rendering engines, and just months ago they released Netscape 9, trying to ride the social networking wave. AOL will release security fixes through February 1, 2008, after which the browser will officially be dead. For the "nostalgic," they suggest using Firefox and installing a Netscape theme."

Submission + - Mozilla to Develop Mobile Firefox (mozillazine.org)

Submitted by

Kelson

on Wednesday October 10, 2007 @01:50PM

Kelson writes: "Mozilla has announced a new initiative to bring Mozilla to the mobile web, including a fully functional mobile version of Firefox (yes, with extensions). The focus will be part of Mozilla 2, the big revision coming after Gecko 1.9 and Firefox 3. Minimo, the previous attempt to port Mozilla to mobile platforms, is apparently dead, but "has already provided us with valuable information about how Gecko operates in mobile environments, has helped us reduce footprint, and has given us a platform for initial experimentation in user experience.""

Submission + - Internet Explorer Drops WGA Requirement (msdn.com)

Submitted by

Kelson

on Thursday October 04, 2007 @08:46PM

Kelson writes: "The Internet Explorer team has updated the installer for IE7. Mostly they've adjusted a few defaults and updated their tutorials, but one change stands out: The installer no longer requires Windows Genuine Advantage validation. Almost a year after its release, IE7 has yet to overtake its predecessor. Was WGA holding back a tide of potential upgrades, or did it just send people over to alternative browsers?"

Submission + - Bossie Awards Honor Open Source Software (infoworld.com)

Submitted by

The Alliance

on Wednesday September 12, 2007 @01:22PM

The Alliance writes: "InfoWorld has announced the 2007 Bossie Awards for the Best of Open-Source Software. Awards were given to 36 winners across 6 categories. Honorees include (among others) SpamAssassin, ClamAV and Nessus in security, Wireshark and Azureus Vuze in networking, and ZFS for storage. Interestingly, they split the operating system winners across two distributions, with CentOS winning for server OS and Ubuntu for desktop."

Submission + - Opera Mini is Top Java Download on Mobile Phones

Submitted by

Alternative Browser Alliance

on Thursday May 10, 2007 @01:31PM

Alternative Browser Alliance writes: "Opera Watch is reporting that the Opera Mini web browser is now the most popular downloadable Java application for mobile phones, with more than 15 million downloads. Sun's Jean Elliot cites Opera's success as "a great proof point of the ongoing vitality of the Java technology development community." Opera Mini is a Java-based client that runs on virtually any Java-capable phone, and uses a proxy to pre-process web pages for small screens and low bandwidth. It's distinct from Opera Mobile, a full browser that uses the same engine as the desktop version. In related news, the company is opening up a beta program for the next release of Opera Mini."

Submission + - Typing Patterns for Authentication

Submitted by

Kelson

on Thursday April 19, 2007 @12:17PM

Kelson writes: "NPR's Marketplace is reporting on a new authentication scheme. BioPassword tracks the way you type your password: how long each key is depressed, the time between keystrokes, overall speed. When someone tries to log into your account, it compares the pattern to what it has on file. It only allows you in if both the password and patterns match. The technique has been around a while: World War II morse code operators used it to determine whether a message was sent by an ally or an impostor."

Submission + - Browser Wars Declared Over

Submitted by

Kelson

on Tuesday April 17, 2007 @03:07PM

Kelson writes: "Opera Watch reports that Microsoft, Mozilla, Opera and Google declared the Browser Wars to be over at a panel at Web 2.0 Expo yesterday. "Instead of trying to trump one another by adding features in point releases, the companies that developed these browsers are instead intent on advancing their use as platforms for a new generation of rich Internet applications and for tackling the hurdles that will come along with that shift in strategy." ComputerWorld and eWeek have more details. Apple, the remaining major browser manufacturer, was not represented at the panel."

Submission + - Opera Users Most Satisfied

Submitted by

Kelson

on Wednesday April 11, 2007 @01:32PM

Kelson writes: "A survey of web users found that while Firefox leads in the overall number of satisfied users, Opera's users are the most satisfied. "When the browser share is factored into the best browser voting, the analysis is even more revealing. The results imply that Opera has the most satisfied user base, followed by Firefox and [Apple's] Safari." This follows other trends, such as a survey last year which showed that Apple leading in customer satisfaction among PC manufacturers, despite its relatively small share of the market.

Opera has also just released version 9.20. In addition to security and compatibility fixes, it sports new developer tools and a "speed dial" feature to quickly access frequently-visited sites."

Submission + - Firefox No Longer Alternative Enough

Submitted by

Kelson

on Sunday April 01, 2007 @07:21AM

Kelson writes: "The Alternative Browser Alliance, which promotes the use of alternative browsers over Internet Explorer, has stopped promoting Firefox after nearly two years. According to the announcement, Firefox has sold out, gone mainstream, and "is no longer an alternative web browser."

Reportedly the site will throw its weight behind iCab, as it is guaranteed to remain alternative since it will never run on Windows Vista.""

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