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The LangaList
5-Apr-99
A Free Email Newsletter from Fred Langa About BrowserTune,
HotSpots, Columns, Tips & Tricks, and Other Activities
In This Issue:
BrowserTune2000 b1.3...
...and b1.4!
Bogged Down Online? Here's a Helpful
Tool
Is BrowserTune Safe?
Recommendation Redux
PC Prices Drop Again---to Under
$300!
Bruises On Fred
Microsoft's Latest Gambit
Just For Grins
More!
BrowserTune b1.3...
The current BrowserTune2000 demo ( http://www.langa.com/bt2kdemo/ ) may superficially look the same as last week's, but the innards have changed significantly! In particular, version b1.3 finally (I hope) resolves some tricky scripting issues in which older and heavily-modified browsers (such as AOL's) were having trouble.
Obvious coding problems usually show up with a pretty clear error message that points to a specific problem in the script. And those types of errors also show up on whatever browser runs them. But the AOL browsers were dying on pages that other unmodified browsers sailed through; worse, the error messages were uselessly vague:
> An error has occurred in the script on this page
>Character 0
> Code 0
That basically translates as: "The script just died; we don't know why."
But the good news is that changing the way parts of the script were called seems to have resolved this obscure problem. If you ran into any weird scripting errors in the previous versions, please try BT2K again--- and let me know if you run into any trouble!
...And BT2K b1.4
And at the end of this week or early next week, you'll see what I honestly believe is a one-of-a-kind addition to the BT2K demo.
Now, the throughput-timing test pages reside on a server in New York, but the actual code that generates the timing sequences is called from WinMag's high-speed servers in California: BT2K tells your browser when and where to grab the remote code, and it's pulled in automatically, without your having to do anything.
But this can result in different timing results depending on where you live. If you live on the west coast of the USA, for example, the actual pages may load somewhat slowly, but the timing code may zip in at high speed; conversely, if you live on the east coast of the USA, the pages may load fine, but the actual timing code may not. The extra 3,000 miles makes quite a difference!
So, with BT2K b1.4, I'm planning to have three timing tests. They won't take any longer to run than the current tests, but should be far more accurate. The tests will draw the timing code from servers in California, New York, and Florida, helping to eliminate any skewed test results caused by the accidents of geography or if any one server (or any one part of the Internet) happens to be bogged down.
Check back during the week at http://www.langa.com/bt2kdemo/ ---it should be pretty cool!
Speaking of Bogging Down
The Internet is made up of many segments, or "hops." Your data travel over many hops on its way back and forth between your browser and whatever web server you're accessing.
UUnet is one of the largest providers of ISP and corporate-level access to the Internet. A huge portion of daily Internet traffic in the USA travels across UUnet's wires for at least part of its journey. Alas, for whatever reason, UUnet has experienced noticeable congestion several times during the last couple of weeks. If your once-speedy connection has seemed slower, it's possible that this congestion is at least partly to blame.
Too few people know it, but most PCs come equipped with a tool that lets you quickly and easily see exactly what route your data is taking, and exactly how much time each hop, or step, consumes.
The tool, of course, is "tracert," or "trace route." It's a great way to troubleshoot a bad internet connection or to check out ISPs: The good ones have fewer hops to an Internet "backbone" or main artery than the bad ones.
The test pages at http://www.browsertune.com/bt98/tracert.htm will walk you through tracert, showing you exactly how to use it and how to interpret the results. Check it out!
Looking beyond your own data's path, there are sometimes "packet storms" that overwhelm a particular section of the internet; or a real storm will knock out a data center, or a backhoe operator will break a fiber optic cable by digging where he shouldn't have: The Internet as a whole keeps going (because that's how it's designed to work) but overall performance can suffer.
You also can find out how different parts of the Internet are performing in real time---for example, right now---with this page:
http://www.browsertune.com/bt98/trafficjams.htm
Tracer and the "traffic jam" tool both can help you get a handle on exactly what's going on.
How Safe Is BT2K?
Writing from Canada, reader "Gerry V". (gerrymar@ns.sympatico.ca) asked a very reasonable question:
Dear Fred:
I recently read the copy of WINDOWS Magazine - April 1999, which is when I first learned about BrowserTune2000. Even though I ran your beta version, I was really impressed with the accuracy of the results as far as what I actually have as far as hardware and software. At the same time, it's a bit unnerving that a person can look into any computer to determine its performance. One is left with the feeling that their system has just been hacked. The only relief I get from all of this is that the article in WINDOWS Magazine - April 1999 was written by you. I enjoy your articles as well as others, they are informative, up-to-date and they have increased my knowledge immensely.
I'll be looking forward to your final BT2K. Great work.
Thanks, Gerry. But you---and everyone else--- can rest
easy. BT2K
( http://www.langa.com/bt2kdemo/
) works by letting your browser find out about itself: All the work is done
locally, on your own system, by your own system. There's no snooping at all from
the BT2K site: BT2K tells your browser how to query and test itself,
and then allows your browser to email the final results to you! None of the
tests run on the server---it all happens inside your own browser, right on your
desktop!
Plus, BT2K changes no settings and makes absolutely no changes whatsoever to your browser or system: It's 100% non-invasive.
Hope this alleviates any concerns!
A Recommendation?
Some of you had URL trouble with the URL last week: some email readers incorrectly appended punctuation onto the URL of the "auto-recommend" page. So here's the pristine, guaranteed-to-work URL in all its naked glory:
http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm#2
It takes just literally a minute to use the form at that page: You just fill in your name and your friend's name, and the web page will automatically generate an email message containing the current issue. That's all there is to it---the script even composes a short note to your friend explaining what the LangaList is, and that you thought they might find it useful.
I'm dead-set against spam, so I won't sign up your friends unless they explicitly request a subscription. The form is 100% safe to use; neither you nor your friends will get any unsolicited email from me, ever.
There's always room for more readers! If you could take just literally one minute and recommend the LangaList to just one friend, I'd really appreciate it.
Thanks!
The PC Price Floor Drops Again
In about two weeks, they'll start going out the door: PCs based on a Cyrix 300 MII processor with 32MB SDRAM, a 56k voice modem, a 512K L2 cache, a sound card, keyboard, mouse, Windows 98, a copy of the Corel WordPerfect Suite 8, a one-year hardware warranty, and a year of unlimited Internet access via Earthlink. They'll cost $299--- less than the cost of some of the peripherals that will probably end up connected to the unit.
There are no speakers--- but that's a minor item. More significantly, there's no floppy or CD; a separate floppy/CD package adds $99 to the cost. There's also no monitor; but you can add a 15" Monitor for another $140. Total system costs with monitor, floppy, and CD would be $538.
The company selling these systems is a new one, Microworkz; the company site is at microworks.com, but the specific site for the WEBzter PCs is at http://www.webzterpc.com/ .
On the face of it, for someone looking for a cheap way to surf the web, how could you lose with one of these? For that matter, units like these could make great nearly-disposable secretarial stations or "pool" computers.
But all the concerns I had when I first saw sub-$600 PCs are only amplified at this new, lower price point. Can the company survive at these razor-thin profit margins? Can they afford to offer adequate tech support? Will spare parts be available? Heck, will the company still be around in six months?
Maybe I'm thinking of it the wrong way: Maybe, at prices this low, you just eat your mistakes or dead hardware and start over.
What's your take? Many of you were reasonably positive about the sub-$600 eMachines units we discussed several weeks ago. Is a sub-$300 the next logical step, or is the price unrealistically low, suggesting something bad about the PCs---a fly-by-night operation, or substandard parts, or something else? Is the extreme $299 price basically just a tease, or a great bargain? Join in the week-long discussion at http://bbs.winmag.com/columns/archives/040499/monday/column.asp?frames=yes !
Bruises On Fred
Last week, in "Bruises on Apple?" I had the temerity to ask if all was well with Apple's turnaround.
I expected a heated response from the Apple partisans, but even though I was braced for it, I was still taken aback by hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of missives like this actual letter from my emailbox:
From: [name and address withheld]
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.05 (Macintosh; I; PPC)
To: fred@langa.comSubject: Fred, please die
Mr Langa,
I have previously written long, reasoned replies to your nasty, ignorant columns. No more. You are a ****head. Get cancer and die slowly and painfully. Write for the Windows nitwits who support you. Leave us alone.
You are really a royal ****head. I disagree with many pundits, but you make me physically ill. Please play on the freeway, take crystal meth, and declare yourself a member of the KLA on the streets of Belgrade. Just die.
I'll leave it to you, gentle readers, to decide for yourself what's going on with people who react this way to a column about a computer---a pile of plastic and glass and silicon. Is the fault with me for asking questions, or with writers who have this extremely hostile "us/them" mentality?
Of the 150+ items I had published last year, only about four were on Apple, but no topic generated more mail. Amazingly, the majority of letters--- probably in excess of 80%---were along the lines of the above note. Many contained nothing at all but obscenities and expletives!
As Apple rebounds, the company---and its supporters---will have an increasing impact on the computing world as a whole. That could be a very good thing---Microsoft certainly needs real competition--- but it's also alarming because of the unbelievable extremism so many Apple fans evince.
I'm determined to get a better handle on Apple, and last week asked the Apple PR department if I could borrow a G3 system so I could gain first-hand knowledge of current Apple hardware and software. Their first reaction was "you gotta be kidding!" but to their credit they're still talking to me. 8-) I'll let you know what happens.
Microsoft's API Gambit
It's an interesting---but not totally
unexpected---development: As reported in TechWeb last week
(see http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB19990331S0002
), "Microsoft… said it was willing to discuss… making available the
APIs critical to applications developers. "
"An opening up of the API process could gain industry support," the TechWeb report continued, "as several Microsoft competitors have alleged Microsoft withholds key APIs from companies either in retaliation or to hamper a competitor's progress."
I think opening the APIs makes a lot of sense, provided that Microsoft is serious about opening all APIs to all developers at the same time, with nothing held back and with none of the "undocumented API" chicanery of years' past: All API calls and functions should be documented, and all should be made public. No operating system APIs should be made available to Microsoft applications developers prior to the APIs being made generally available to all interested parties.
This, at a stroke, would eliminate much of the alleged advantage that Microsoft has. It would force Microsoft's applications developers to play on the same field as any other developers. And it would allow ISVs to produce top-quality code without running into the hidden gotchas and pitfalls of the currently inadequately-documented APIs.
I think this makes far more sense than forcing Microsoft to auction off or give away the source code for Windows, which is another proposal making the rounds.
In fact, this whole issue conjures an amazing sense of deja vu. I'll tell you exactly why, and go into more detail in this week's InformationWeek column.
What's your take? Would 100% free and open APIs be enough to level the playing field and restore fair play to the computer industry? Would you trust Microsoft to really go through with it, to truly document everything, and not to give their own applications programmers early access to the APIs? If not, what would be a reasonable approach to settling the suit and letting the industry move forward? Join in a week-long discussion starting Wednesday (7-Apr-99) midday (EST; UT-5) at http://www.informationweek.com/langaletter !Just For Grins: Software Torture!
Reader Graham Lockwood (gondhir@iname.com) writes:
"I really love your LangaList and after reading your piece about how you would be on the black list or the "Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to PCs", I thought you might like this that I saw on USENET:"
NEWSFLASH!!!!!
SEVEN SOFTWARE COMPANIES ADDED TO "WATCH LIST"
New York -- People for Ethical Treatment of Software (PETS) announced today that seven more software companies have been added to the group's "watch list" of companies that regularly practice software testing.
"There is no need for software to be mistreated in this way so that companies like these can market new products," said Ken Grandola, spokesperson for PETS. "Alternative methods of testing these products are available."
According to PETS, these companies force software to undergo lengthy and arduous tests, often without rest, for hours or days at a time. Employees are assigned to "break" the software by any means necessary, and inside sources report that they often joke about "torturing" the software.
"It's no joke," said Grandola. "Innocent programs, from the day they are compiled, are cooped up in tiny rooms and "crashed" for hours on end. They spend their whole lives on dirty, ill-maintained computers, and are unceremoniously deleted when they're not needed anymore."
Grandola said the software is kept in unsanitary conditions and is infested with bugs.
"We know that alternatives to this horror exist," he said, citing industry giant Microsoft Corporation as a company that has become successful without resorting to software testing.
(From the RHF archives as selected by Brad Templeton, Maddi Hausmann and Jim Griffith. This newsgroup posts former jokes from the newsgroup rec.humor.funny. Visit http://www.netfunny.com/rhf to browse the RHF pages and archives on the web.)
See you next issue!
Best,
Fred
(fred@langa.com)
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