surender asked:


The web browser segment is more competition driven than in the past. Now, it is not only Internet Explorer that has the monopoly but now it has many others in the competition and the major among them all is Firefox. 

Internet Explorer had been the dominating web browser in the market but it has always enjoyed controversies and had been in the bad reputation. But, now the company is all geared to bring its new version, IE8 which supposedly is the answer of all controversies and revolutionise the Internet browsing.

The software company assures that unlike its pervious versions, users will not complain about adware, viruses and other online annoyances. The company has put in many new features and many old existing features are being polished.

Here, we have tried to consolidate all the features for IE8 and provide you with a review that can hep you decide worthiness of IE8 for you:

Download Requirement

Before moving ahead to its features, lets pen down the minimal specifications that a user require on its PC to run IE8 without any problem. The user’s PC should be running Windows Vista, XP or Windows Server 2003, SP2 for operating system that you are using, and featuring minimum 512 MB RAM.

Design

Starting with design, the new browser is not much different from its predecessors. But yes it has some differences like placement of “X” to stop loading the site that you really don’t want to surf, Live Search toolbar that serves as a search engine and the addition of icons allowing users to customize their browsing experience. The icon addition feature is sometimes referred to as second “level” of IE8.

In the design aspect, the company seems to be aspiring by its competitor and has taken utmost care to add “tabbed” surfing. The users can open many tabs in one window and can switch to them easily. This makes surfing easier and quite pleasant for the user. Also, added to it is a basic menu options at the right end corner including homepage navigation; RSS feed display, printing, page view and basic browsing tools. 

Features

Coming next in the list is addition of InPrivate Browsing. This is the most controversial feature added to IE8 and consists of three parts, browsing, blocking and subscription. The browsing and blocking option remove the cache and history once you log off the mode and subscription gives you the control to manage the number of sites accessible through your PC.

The other helpful feature is Caret Browsing that can help users navigate through a web page using a keyword.

The very next and unique feature to IE8 is the addition of accelerator function that allows you to access other online services using a keyword without even switching over to next tab or window.

Next addition is the “Web Slices” feature that keeps you updated about any latest updates on any site without even disturbing your surfing or switching over to something new. You can track the updated content using Favorites bar, once you are thoroughly done with Web Slices.

Performance

In terms of addition of many new features, company has undoubtedly done a commendable and innovative job but in terms of performance, IE8 still has some issues. It shows some operable error with SP3 for XP, Windows Live Mail, Visual Studio .Net Version 7, viewing Netflix On Demand movies using Skype or Google Toolbar. But, this all is the result of beta testing. What final product will be like, we all have to wait to try our hands on.

At concluding note, it can be summed up that Microsoft has done a good job in figuring out how browsers can make internet surfing a pleasant experience.

drjohnmurr2 asked:


I have switched carriers from Gateway which Microsoft uses. I’ve e-mailed them but they continue to use Gateway’s system which is corrupt.

Idealist Dreamer Realist asked:


I need to reinstall windows. The issue is that I want to keep my microsoft word and be able to have it when I reinstall windows. But I do not have my Microsoft word product key on me. Is there a way to view my key through microsoft word itself? My laptop came with a trial version and I got the product key from a friend.

Tom T asked:


i know windows is part of microsoft but why are they they put together in some things like microsoft windows. cos im doing an assignment that says choose a TNC company such as mc’donalds, addidas, qantas, microsoft etc.. but it says microsoft windows in some of the stuff so i need to know if i can do that and whats the difference?

Mollio asked:


On Microsoft Word I cannot highlight anything and hit backspace to delete it. When I hit backspace it just goes back to the beginning of the highlighted section and there are no changes; how do I fix this?

Samuel DeKinder asked:


The open source movement was formally launched in 1998 when Netscape licensed and released their code as open source under the name of Mozilla. Since then, open source software projects, where users are also in part, the creators of the software content through collaboration, have been gaining in momentum. Critics argue that open source software has by nature, monopolistic tendencies once they turn into successful businesses. This seems contradictory. How can projects that are community based be described as monopolistic?

Price might play a big role in influencing one’s final choice when looking for a product created by a company with more centralized models of development such as those typically used in commercial companies. Often a budget will only take a buyer so far, no matter the specifications of their business needs. But when software is free, everybody rallies behind the business perceived as offering the best solution to meet their needs, leaving only crumbs for their weaker competitors. After all, in the world of open source where software applications are available at no cost, why not use the best of the crop?

JBoss illustrates this well, having become the undisputed dominant open source application server. JBoss does not necessarily offer a unique product, but there are no close substitutes available for the function its software fills. Over the years many other open source projects have tried to compete with JBoss and have ended up falling though the cracks. JOnAS and Apache Geronimo are all still around but lagging behind in the shadow of the giant that is JBoss.

The success of an open source product depends as much on its popularity as on its community. In fact, one cannot survive without the other. Should a project lose its market lead, volunteers will leave and seek the prestige of contributing to the project dominating the market at the time. After all, who wants to work for the loser? As the releases are more and more scattered and the forums less active, the project loses its momentum. Eventually, potential clients are not interested enough to buy its documentation, ask for custom development, enroll in classes, pay for support or consultation and soon, the project is no longer commercially viable. In this manner, the dominating project will organically erase competition and become a kind of monopoly.

For example, openbravo has taken the lead for ERT (Enterprise Resource Planning). Any small to medium sized business looking for open source CRM (Customer Relationship Management) will think about sugarcrm and larger ones will turn to Compiere. The market for open source ECM (Enterprise Content Manager) is dominated by Alfresco Enterprise. And although the masses might not be able to describe how an open source application compares to a closed source one, many households are using Firefox as their Internet Browser and any edgy programmer will be expected to have installed Linux on their home computer. These are all examples of commercially successful and dominant open source software businesses.

Lets look at the area of billing software for which there is a real market need, yet surprisingly there is not much to be found in the way of open source. One explanation for this scarcity could lay in the fact that billing is simply not very sexy. A group of volunteers will likely be more enthused at the prospect of creating an application server software than that of developing a billing software. Also, billing requires great flexibility. Billing is intimately tied to the business rules of a firm and needs to accommodate them. Potentially, there exists as many business rules as there are services offered by different firms. A corporation offering web hosting will have business rules that differ from one offering newspaper subscriptions, although both need to use billing software to invoice their clients periodically.

One open source project can be spotted rising to the challenge. jbilling is an enterprise billing system written for the Java EE platform. It exhibits early signs of dominance in the market as it is the only billing system listed in the Optaros catalog. Optaros is a consulting and systems integration firm specializing in open source products. Also, statistics in SourceForge.net, an open source software development web site hosting more than 100,000 projects, classifies jbilling as the most active and popular billing project. jbilling exhibits all the signs of a healthy open source project on the rise. With a consistent increase in downloads, active forums, frequent releases, keen volunteers, etc. jbilling illustrates how a community can push a product to the top to cater to the market’s needs. More reasons for its growth can be found in the actual quality of the product it offers. It is flexible yet robust and can be customized to address an array of business rules, crossing over to many different industries, providing billing software services to companies big and small.

Interestingly, requests for an open source billing system built for telecommunication companies appear on a regular basis in its forums. In fact, telcos have been crying for years for such a product and it is only natural that eventually the call be answered. Should jbilling continue on its path to success, it can be foreseen that it will, soon enough, extend their software to satisfy this growing demand. And when this happens, it will solidly have established itself at the top, becoming the standard in the open source billing software industry.

As previously noted, monopolies generally have a bad reputation and for just cause. In the area of software, a monopoly leads to everybody being forced to use Microsoft as an example, with its expensive products well known for their lack of innovation and also, their bugs. The Brazilian government illustrated well the benefits of using open source software when, in 2005, it elected to abandon Microsoft in favor of the Linux operating system, citing economics as the number one reason. As Jose Luiz de Cerqueira Cesar, head of IT at Banco do Brasil reported to the BBC during an interview: “If computer users within a geographical region pool their expertise, they can develop software that is perfectly suited to their needs.” So when a monopoly forms in such an organic way, out of the contributions of dedicated volunteers and users, constantly being adjusted to satisfy the exact needs expressed by an ever changing market, when the software itself is available for anybody to use and modify for free and the ultimate result is a software that is well built, well tested and basically bug free, who’s to complain?

Chris Young asked:


Creativity is what spurred the growth of the computer industry and technology. Challenges were met and new frontiers conquered through sharp-edged innovations and competition. Sadly, over the years small companies like Microsoft grew into giants and then lost their thirst for adventure. They deliberately hid their proprietary source code and this stunted innovation. Like a drug peddlers they have created a “Microsoft” addiction among computer users. And, then used the dependency to charge exorbitant prices.

Since Microsoft does not believe in promoting open source technology even with intellectual property protection it hampers the faster development of technology and discourages others from even attempting improvements or changes. In blunt terms , Microsoft functions like the Chicago thugs did early this century. It maintains a strangle hold on PC users and sellers and creates strategies that prevent hardware manufacturers from using systems like Netscape.

Time and again the company has held other businesses and computer users at ransom with it monopoly on Widows and the Intel platform. In fact a court ruled that Microsoft illegally stunted innovation and did injustice to consumers. The company however always maintains that its practices are just competitive behavior.

In fact a few years ago, the EC found Microsoft guilty of harming the market and consumer by producing less choice and higher prices. For abusing its monopoly Microsoft was fined 497.2 million pounds.

Trapped in its early ways of thinking, Microsoft is still to understand and embrace the new world order. The dependency on its old successes, Windows and Office, lingers and any innovations are snuffed out as they germinate if they are perceived as threats to the old monoliths.

When examined closely one finds that it is not lack of imagination or effort but the corporate culture and business practices that drag innovation to the ground. However a glimmer of hope emerges from the statement made by Bill Gates, that Microsoft plans to open source both Windows and Office in keeping with present day trends.

Also on the net are what are perceived to be “pr stunts” memos by senior Microsoft leaders expressing concern over loss of technological advancements and market leadership and that the company sucks at innovation. Being a monopoly with insatiable hunger for money the company has had a narrow vision over the years. Its dealings have created great mistrust among users as well as business partners. There is no admiration or trust amongst techies and, Microsoft has become its own enemy.

While Skype introduced phone calls over the web, Apple moved with the pace of the cyber world and created downloadable digital content, and Google improvised internet search and developed a new online advertising model. Microsoft stagnated bogged in its own success. And, the truth is that Live Software cannot be termed as innovation, it is a revamp at best.

Microsoft needs to take a closer look at itself, shed its inhibitions and shackles to innovate, to lead, to embrace the future.

I’m back asked:


I’ve been hit with 3 pretty bad viruses, causing me to reformat each time. I read on the microsoft office box that the key can be used for up to 3 computers. I’ve used the key 3 times, but on the same computer. I need to reinstall it again. Can I use the same product key if it is on the same computer? I’m talking about microsoft office 2007.

bubblykidd<3 asked:


I have Microsoft office 2007 with Microsoft word on it, well I need to make a column graph but I don’t know how to do the data. I need to enter three people, how much distance they walked in a amount of time. Thanks.

munich132 asked:


Is there a way i can transfer microsoft word from my desktop which is a dell to my macbook using my flashdrive?