The Blog Year In Review: October 2006

October 2006, the month of the browsers! The new IE7 was released, followed quickly by Firefox 2 (but not 1.5.0.8). Plus I looked at a couple of other browsers. Bunches of Firefox 2 tweaks plus a follow-up on the contest to name Mozilla Japan’s New Mascot along with Google & Microsoft news.

browser smorgasboard

  • I started off the month with a Browser Smörgåsbord, taking a look at the other browsers available for Windows. These included Netscape (also Mozilla), Opera, Flock (built on top of Firefox but NOT by Mozilla) as well as a couple developmental versions of Firefox.
  • A quick follow up to what has become one my most popular posts, the contest to name Mozilla Japan’s new mascot. The contest has ended and the official name is Foxkeh. I’ve also included a collection of humorous comments about the mascot.
  • In an unusual move, Mozilla announced Firefox 1.5.0.8 would not come out at the same time as Firefox 2. Normally, Mozilla releases all the updates for all the builds at the same time.
  • Now I am wondering if people were taking bets as to which would come first: IE7 or Firefox 2?

  • In early October there was rumor via e-mail going around Google was going to acquire YouTube. Later that day the news became more widespread. A couple days later it was official: YouTube sold to Google for $1.65 billion.
  • Now that Google has YouTube, what else could they do? Take a look at GoogleTube for the possible future of Google’s homepage.
  • While we’re on the subject of Google, their security (or lack of) for sensitive information has been called into question on numerous occasions. This as Google is pushing their “office strategy”, wanting businesses and individuals to use Google servers to store their documents. The there is that little mishap with a Google employee, Blogger and the official Google Blog. Not to mention information about GDrive code name Platypus, that keeps leaking out.

IE7

  • October 18th was the rumored date for IE7 to be released. Oddly enough, it turned out to true as IE7 was released to most on October 18th.
  • While the release of Firefox 2 was only a day or so away, the reviews had already started. Some good and some not so good.
  • On October 24, nearly 2 months later than the planned, Firefox 2.0 was released!
  • Okay, I’ll be the first to admit that Firefox 2 isn’t perfect. There were a few new “features” I didn’t care for. So with information I have gathered from various sources, I put together the Firefox 2.0 Tweaks Guide.
  • Recall back in September, when the prices for Windows Vista were announced. One has to wonder why they are so expensive, besides the fact that it is a Microsoft product. Perhaps it is the packaging which when described by Vista Team Blog, sounds like it alone is worth hundreds of dollars.

Vista Packaging

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