Please check out the video here.

It is a very interesting and informative way of putting the real meaning back into the phrase "Web 2.0".

It is also rather thought provoking about how we might consider using the internet with this powerful technology.

I really just felt that as many people should get to see it as possible but you never know, maybe it will start a little discussion.

Personally I feel that the explanation is spot on and very clear, but I don't really agree on what it is trying to say. At the end it suggests that we should maybe think about changing ourselves. I wouldn't really want to see that, I think that our web should change for us. Maybe all that is needed is a perspective change instead...what do you think?

Hope you enjoyed the video at least,

Jamie

Signals Ltd ayant un personnel international, je me suis propose de pimente notre Blog d’entrée en Français. Cela afin de partager avec nos lecteurs francophones, les vues d’un français travaillant en Grande-Bretagne au sein d’une société de design anglaise.

Ma première entrée sera consacrée comme il se doit pour tout Français en Grande-Bretagne... non pas a la nourriture, non pas a la pluie mais a une question que se pose tout les non-anglophones voulant ecrire un Blog "international": Ecrire un Blog en Anglais est-il une obligation pour etre lue ?

Loin des idées reçues le blog le plus lue est … Chinois et il est écrit par Xu Jing Lei, une jeune et jolie actrice. En effet les chinois représente a eux seul 50% des blogs présents sur la toile. La présence de l’anglais dans les pages Web est passée de 75% d’occupation en 1998 à  35% en 2006. Loin de vouloir mettre l’ensemble de la planète au Mandarin, il est intéressant de constater que cette disparité grandissante des langues dans les blogs et de façon plus générale sur le web n’empêche en rien la communication. Les outils de traduction en ligne non jamais été aussi nombreux et gratuit. Certes les résultats de ces traducteurs sont plus qu’approximatif mais ils ont le mérite d’exister et de permettre aux utilisateurs de trouver les informations qu’ils désirent.

Il apparait donc que le meilleur moyen de toucher une large audience n’est pas de cherché un idiome largement répandus (a moins bien entendus que vous parliez mandarin) mais que le contenu de votre blog soit percutant. Qu’importe la langue, si le sujet est intéressant, vous serez lus !

Denis.

Something that I seem to be akin with the moment is lack of time to do the things I want.  I’m glad that even the likes of Microsoft have the same problem!

Windows Vista.  Something which you will probably hear a lot of in the next few months as Microsoft attempts to push its shiny new operating system.  At a hefty five years plus, Vista has had one of the longest development cycles in over twenty years of Windows releases by Microsoft, and also the most resource intensive in their history.  Personally I can’t help but feel a little disappointed at the release overall, in comparison to what I was expecting a few years ago Vista is not touted as more evolutionary than revolutionary, but I can understand why such a tame release.    

A little history is needed here….Pre Service Pack 2 for Windows XP when Vista was called Longhorn, there had been a growing problem of Malware, Browser Exploits, Buffer Overflows penetrating the XP operating system security.  Microsoft had originally intended to release SP2 with a new firewall turned on by default, and a rollup of all the hotfixes for the previous year.    Whilst they could have done this, the problems arising were beginning to be too big to ignore.  Signalling their intent Microsoft shifted between 80-90% of the Windows Client Team off Longhorn development and onto Windows XP SP2, a huge time investment!

Longhorn development originally started with the Windows XP SP1 codebase along with all the exploits that they just fixed for SP2.   They could have ported all these fixes back into the codebase, but at what cost?  Microsoft announced on 27th of August, 2004 that it was making significant changes. "Longhorn" development by basically started afresh, building on the Windows Server 2003 codebase, that’s almost one and a half years of lost development!

Blow is an example of where Longhorn was just before it was canned (one mins or so in)


So that’s where all the time has gone?  No, not quite.   Many would still argue that Microsoft have just been sitting on their hands since XP and milking the money, whilst the likes of Apple have released five versions of OSX since 2001.    With all the resources of a company like Microsoft you’d expect them to pick up the slack, maybe, maybe not. I think there is only so much money you can throw at a problem (too many cooks anyone?).   The Windows Client Team has been busy bunnies themselves in this time releasing multiple versions (whilst developing Longhorn/Vista):

Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
Windows XP Media Center Edition
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2004
Windows XP Home and Professional N Editions
Windows XP with Service Pack 2
Windows XP Embedded
Windows XP Starter Edition
Windows 2003 Server
Windows 2003 Server SP1
Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs

In all there's been a five year break between true Windows versions, but many of these releases Media Center, and Tablet PC have included huge and innovative functional changes.

Next time round I’ll give it a shot on talking up Vista……If I have time! :)

Scott

I was sent this after I made my last post. I want one!

http://www.noooz.com/archives/2007/02/sci_fi_interfaces_am_arrived.html

Alastair