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Sozialdemokraten!

The future of Windows web browser integration?

Ok, so after being sued by Opera, Mozilla, and Google, Microsoft decided to sell Windows 7 without an integrated Internet Explorer to European retailers (who then can install any browser they want on your system). This spawned quick reactions from Opera and the EC stating that this would not be acceptable to solve their case, because they wanted MS to provide a choice of web browsers to all their customers.

Microsoft can definitely be criticized for this move, because it makes it extremely hard for anyone buying Windows directly to install a browser. There is simply no way of opening up a window and downloading Firefox if you'd like to. (I read, Win7 will have an onboard FTP client, though.) One can argue that most customers buy Windows along with a retail PC though, where the vendor would solve this problem for them.

However, Microsoft's competitors (and those stupid bureaucrats in Bruxelles) fail to realize that there are severe problems with their cries for including multiple browsers.

1. Who will provide technical support for installing the user's browser of choice? End-customers will always blame MS for Opera not installing correctly.
   
2. A normal user just does not care about installing another piece of software and customers usually also do not care about choice. They care about getting a working system without bothering too much.
3. Who decides on which browsers shall be provided along with Windows 7? You will never be able to collect a list of all available browsers and any decision on a set of browsers to ship with will outrule some others and spawn new debates. The monopoly will become an oligopoly.

And finally, after letting the EC force Microsoft to obey their pleas, when will Google and Opera sue Canonical for not installing their browsers in a Ubuntu Linux default system?

When I was a little boy ...

... 20 years ago, a young Chinese tried to stop the tanks on Tienanmen Square. Time to stop for a minute pondering about the question: What would I have done?.

Banana Republic...

For those of you who don't read FeFe's blog on a daily basis: are we really the advanced society?

Computer science helps men being more competent with the opposing gender!

Are you a man and ever wondered what exactly women mean when discussing the difference between peach and apricot? Or between lavender and purple? I definitely am.

So, here's the solution. A simple, plain web site for you to play around. Enjoy.

Btw.: Found through Hacker News.

Why we cheat

TED has a great talk on why we cheat and what scientific experiments you can do about it.

Titanic gets the point

German secondary schools are getting better.

Proving the fact...

German school killer "liked shooting games on his computer."

At least it's only one of the theories in this article.

Counting down...

Killing spree in German school - 17 year old suspect.

I'm counting the hours until someone points out that the young man was playing violent video games and suspects these to be the main cause of his crimes.

Industry-driven research considered harmful!

You've got to love Bill Buxton.

(Relayed by the Bitterman, thanks.)

Keeping my scientific paper notes pretty with ASCII drawings

When reading a scientific paper, I found it handy to sum it up in a plain text file that I put right next to the PDF version of the paper. Apart from describing the paper's main statements and ideas in my own words, I sometimes also want to keep a small diagram or architectural overview.

ASCII pictures are a good thing for that, but it's a pain drawing them manually even in an editor as wonderful as vim. So I did a web search and stumbled across JavE - a Java-based ASCII-drawing tool, which works quite nicely for me.

On a side note, JavE lets you chose between a generic and an algorithmic version of shapes. I seem to prefer the algorithmic ones.

Dietmar Hopp files insult charge against football fan

After TSG Hoffenheim beating Borussia Dortmund 4-1 last Sunday, a Dortmund fan was arrested by the police for insulting Hoffenheim's "sponsor" Dietmar Hopp. Hopp filed an insult charge against the 19 year old boy. Strangely, Borussia's president apologized for this.

Perhaps, Mr Hopp should reconsider sponsoring a ballett group instead of a football team?

Henryk M. Broder on the 2008 Olympics

Great stuff, again, again. Unfortunately, Broder writes German only.

Can I have a Broder-RSS-Feed, please?

SQL Server connection issues....

Oh man, I spent nearly 10 hours installing and configuring SQL Server 2005, trying to get my application connected to my database. This blog entry proved to be helpful in the end.

Integrating Subversion into Visual Studio

AnkhSVN works great for me so far.

Inspiring tips from Bram Moolenaar

Bram's talk on effective text editing.

Any spare babies?

Take your time off...

Strange English Traditions - Pub Golf

I got drunk yesterday after the Euro finals, but luckily I was able to not take part in an event called pub golf - that would really have killed me...

Here's the rules. You play golf over a course of 9 holes (=pubs). The advanced of you might try 18 holes as well, but most probably you are either not going to have enough pubs in your village or you are going to end up in the hospital before.

There are three different types of holes:

• Pint of ale - par 4
• Bottle of beer - par 2
• Shot - par 1

Over the evening you have to drink three of each and the par number tells you how many sips you may at most use for finishing. Winner is, whoever stays below par or who can still stand straight at the end of the day.

Kids: Don't try this at home.

Will I feel pity about it...?

Bjoern T. tricked me into this 6-week-workout programme.... Uhoh...

A new pic!

I'm still alive, just busy, so I'll probably sum up my last 2 internship months after returning home. :(