Internet Explorer 9 Whats new?

Increased JavaScript Performance

The latest builds of Internet Explorer 9 shows that the performance is comparable to that of FireFox 3.6 and Chrome 4 and the latest Web Kit Nightly build. If true this is a huge improvement.

Internet Explorer 9 JavaScript Performance

Standards Support CSS 3.0 and HTML 5

What does that mean? In plain english it means support for rounded corners, text shadows, Box shadows, video support etc without the need for using images or scripts. Thought the latest ACID 3 test for Internet Explorer 9 doesn’t seem to be that great.

Acid 3

Rounded Corners

CSS Selectors

Uses Graphics hardware acceleration for rendering

We’re changing IE to use the DirectX family of Windows APIs to enable many advances for web developers. The starting point is moving all graphics and text rendering from the CPU to the graphics card using Direct2D and DirectWrite. Graphics hardware acceleration means that rich, graphically intensive sites can render faster while using less CPU. Now, web developers can take advantage of the hardware ecosystem’s advances in graphics while they continue to author sites with the same interoperable standards patterns they’re used to.

In addition to better performance, this technology shift also increases font quality and readability with sub-pixel positioning

Rendering of font normally

96 point Gabriola on a Lenovo X61 ThinkPad at 100% Zoom using GDI (note jaggies)

Rendering of font using Graphic card hardware

96 point Gabriola on a Lenovo X61 ThinkPad at 100% Zoom: Direct2D (without jaggies)

SilverLight 4 Whats new?

Empowering richer, more interactive experiences

Silverlight is already in use as a comprehensive platform for building rich experiences both for application and pure media scenarios including HD quality, interactive video through Smooth Streaming. Silverlight 4 introduces additional capabilities to enable creation of ever more rich, appealing high-performance interactive experiences and innovative media experiences:

• Fluid interface enhancements advance application usability through animation effects.
• Webcam and microphone to allow sharing of video and audio for instance for chat or customer service applications.
• Audio and video local recording capabilities capture RAW video without requiring server interaction, enabling a wide range of end-user interaction and communication scenarios for example video conferencing.
• Bring data in to your application with features such as copy and paste or drag and drop.
• Long lists can now be scrolled effortlessly with the mouse wheel.
• Support conventional desktop interaction models through new features such as right-click context menu.
• Support for Google’s Chrome browser.
• Performance optimizations mean Silverlight 4 applications start quicker and run 200% faster than the equivalent Silverlight 3 application.
• Deep Zoom enhancements include hardware acceleration to support larger datasets and faster animation.
• Multi-touch support enables a range of gestures and touch interactions to be integrated into user experiences.
• Multicast networking, enabling Enterprises to lower the cost of streaming broadcast events such as company meetings and training, interoperating seamlessly with existing Windows Media Server streaming infrastructure.
• Content protection for H.264 media through Silverlight DRM powered by PlayReady.
• Output protection for audio/video streams allowing content owners or distributors to ensure protected content is only viewed through a secure video connection.

For Sandboxed applications

• Place HTML within your application enabling much tighter integration with content from web servers such as email, help and reports.
• Provide support for ‘toast’ notification windows, allowing applications to communicate status or change information while the user is working on another application through a popup window on the taskbar.
• Offline DRM, extending the existing Silverlight DRM powered by PlayReady technology to work offline. Protected content can be delivered with an embedded license so that users can go offline immediately and start enjoying their content.
• Control over aspects of UI include window settings such as start position, size and chrome.

For Trusted applications

• Read and write files to the user’s MyDocuments, MyMusic, MyPictures and MyVideos folder (or equivalent for non-windows platforms) for example storage of media files and taking local copies of reports.
• Run other desktop programs such as Office, for example requesting Outlook to send an email, send a report to Word or data to Excel.
• COM automation enables access to devices and other system capabilities by calling into application components; for instance to access a USB security card reader.
• A new user interface for requesting application privileges access outside the standard Silverlight sandbox.
• Group policy objects allow organizations to tailor which applications may have elevated trust.
• Full keyboard support in fullscreen mode richer kiosk and media applications.
• Enhancements to networking allow cross-domain access without a security policy file.

Related posts:

1. Download Internet Explorer 8 Beta, New Features In IE8
2. The SilverLight Poster and more on Silverlight and Microsoft
3. Google Chrome OS All About it – Breaking News
4. Microsoft We Screwed Up Windows Mobile, iPhone Competitor Silverlight Mobile 2010
5. Prism and XUL Could Have Been A Silverlight And Adobe AIR Killer

© Arpit Jacob for Clazh, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Catergories: Microsoft, Software, Technology Tags: Browser, Internet Explorer, Silverlight

Windows 7 Activation Key Cracks Using Chew WGA & RemoveWGA

The cracks currently floating around the internet are called Chew WGA and RemoveWGA. They provide one click patch solution for Windows 7 RTM. The cracks do not actually validate or activate windows, but lets you use Windows 7 indefinitely. Microsoft has confirmed that they are aware of these cracks for Windows 7 and are working swiftly to fix this. Knowing Microsoft this shouldn’t take too long. The Security fix from Microsoft will most likely be a Windows 7 Update patch. People who use pirated and cracked software, will mostly likely be unable to update Windows 7 without deactivating the crack.

People who use pirated and cracked software are mostly likely to be open to malware and virus attacks, personally I recommend buying the original software, If you can’t afford it Ubuntu Linux is a great option its Free and Open Source, and in some ways is better than windows in terms of security.

Windows 7 Activation MGA

Windows 7 System Properties

Source: Orginally reported by Cnet

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4. Microsoft We Screwed Up Windows Mobile, iPhone Competitor Silverlight Mobile 2010
5. Recover Lost Forgotten Windows XP Administrator Password

© Arpit Jacob for Clazh, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Catergories: Microsoft, Technology Tags: Hacking, Hacks, Windows

S. Somasegar VP at Microsoft

Its very rare to see an executive of such high level come down to meet with developers and mix and mingle with them. Its people like Somasegar who connect and engage with the community that increases the appeal Microsoft has as a Company and separates them from Apple or Google. A down to earth person he candidly answers all the questions that were fired at him.

He began by explaining Microsoft’s Vision and how they always plan and develop things which would be relevant 5 years down the line, the next version of .NET 4, Visual Studio 2010, new features introduced the completely redesigned UI based on WPF for the IDE. Most of the discussion centered around .NET and the developer tools. But Missing from the whole talk was Windows Mobile. While I been a .NET developer for 3 years before I quit to become a freelancer, I was more interested in what Microsoft was doing with Silverlight and its Mobile Platform, and how they were looking to compete with the iPhone OS and Android Platform.

Yes We Screwed up with Windows Mobile

I pointed out Windows Mobile and the lack of innovation and stagnation with regards to features, User Experience, Design and interface his answer was extremely candid and frank. “Yes we screwed up Windows Mobile, and let it stagnant. In fact you are being very polite in pointing this out.” He went to say how the initial vision of Windows Mobile had been long term and well planned but along the way the lost the game.

Microsoft Secret Plans For Windows Mobile, Silverlight for Mobile

While he was very mum and secretive about what Microsoft had planned for Windows Mobile, he did let out that a few things about what Microsoft was doing for the mobile platform, they had revamped the whole Windows mobile team and rebooted the process similar to what they had done with Windows Longhorn. I see it more like a comparison of what happened with Windows Vista Vs Windows 7.

Some of the Key Points he made were.

1. Rebooted Windows mobile Strategy.
2. Brand New Windows Mobile Team
3. Microsoft is laying its bet on SilverLight
4. Silverlight for mobile will be the competitor for iPhone and Andriod.
5. Silverlight for Mobile will be announced at MIX 2010

Things Microsoft got wrong

• They are too late in the game.
• They are taking too long to come out with a competing product and keeping with the trends.
• Billions spent on R&D hard to believe nothing concrete on the Mobile front has come out yet
• Clear Disconnect between Microsoft Design team and products. Do they even have a Design R&D team?

Related posts:

1. The SilverLight Poster and more on Silverlight and Microsoft
2. Microsoft Launches Killer RIA Say Goodbye to Flash
3. Microsoft and Facebook Announce Partnership
4. Prism and XUL Could Have Been A Silverlight And Adobe AIR Killer
5. Internet Explorer 9 and SilverLight 4 Announced Breaking News

© Arpit Jacob for Clazh, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Catergories: Microsoft, Software, Technology Tags: iPhone, Microsoft, Mobile, Software, Web-Development

In the recent news it was announced that IE 8 Passes the ACID 2 test and will render in standard mode by default. The folks at Neowin have managed to uncover links to Internet Explorer 8 Download page and also a list of upcoming features in IE 8.

Here is the link to download Internet explorer 8 beta 1 and a list of new features in IE 8.

Note: The download links currently don’t work try them later.

Below are the list of new features found in Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1.

Whats New For Users

Activities

Activities are contextual services to quickly access a service from any webpage. Users typically copy and paste from one webpage to another. Internet Explorer 8 Activities make this common pattern easier to do.

WebSlices

WebSlices is a new feature for websites to connect to their users by subscribing to content directly within a webpage. WebSlices behave just like feeds where clients can subscribe to get updates and notify the user of changes.

Favorites Bar

In Internet Explorer 7, the Links bar provided users with one-click access to their favorite sites. The Links bar has undergone a complete makeover for Internet Explorer 8. It has been renamed the Favorites bar to enable users to associate this bar as a place to put and easily access all their favorite web content such as links, feeds, WebSlices and even Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents.

Automatic Crash Recovery

Automatic Crash Recovery (ACR) is a feature of Windows^®Internet Explorer^® 8 that can help to prevent the loss of work and productivity in the unlikely event of the browser crashing or hanging. The ACR feature takes advantage of the Loosely-Coupled Internet Explorer feature to provide new crash recovery capabilities, such as tab recovery, which will minimize interruptions to users’ browsing sessions.

Improved Phishing Filter

Internet Explorer 7 introduced the Phishing Filter, a feature which helps warn users when they visit a Phishing site. Phishing sites spoof a trusted legitimate site, with the goal of stealing the user’s personal or financial information. For Internet Explorer 8, we are building on the success of the Phishing Filter with a more comprehensive feature called the “Safety Filter.”

Whats New For Developer

Read more here.  

Better AJAX Development

1. AJAX Navigation enables users to navigate back and forth without leaving the AJAX application and could be used navigating a page without performing a traditional full navigation. This allows websites to trigger an update to browser components like the address bar by setting the window.location.hash value, firing an event to alert components in the page and even creating an entry in the travel log.
2. DOM Storage is a simple-to-use method for storing and retrieving strings of key/value pair data. Data can be stored per tab instance for a session or persisted to the local machine. This allows pages to cache text on the machine which reduces the effect of network latencies by providing faster access to pre-cached data. Several innovative uses are possible. For example, use this in combination with the new network connectivity event to allow a page to cache data if it detects that the computer is offline.
3. Connectivity events allow websites to check when the user is connected to the network and receive notification of connectivity changes.
4. Six connections per host instead of two for broadband scenarios and a scriptable property allow for more improved performance by allowing parallelization of downloads in Internet Explorer 8. In addition, this increases functionality by ensuring a request is not blocked to a host if two connections already exist. Websites can optimize their downloads based on a scriptable property.
5. XMLHTTPRequest Enhancements include a timeout property that can be set to cancel the request if necessary, allowing developers to manage the request better.

Cross-domain communication is an integral part of AJAX development and mashup Web applications. Internet Explorer 8 includes two features to help you build cross-domain communications that are safe and easy to implement:

• With Cross-domain Request (XDR), developers can create cross-site data aggregation scenarios. Similar to the XMLHttpRequest object but with a simpler programming model, this request, called XDomainRequest, is the easiest way to make anonymous requests to third-party sites that support XDR and opt in to making their data available across domains. Three lines of code will have you making basic cross-site requests. This will ensure data aggregation for public sites (such as blogs) will be simple, secure and fast.
• Cross-document Messaging (XDM) APIs allow communication between documents from different domains through IFrames in a way that is easy, secure and standardized.

DOM Core Improvements

• Internet Explorer’s object model does not distinguish properties from attributes. This makes it impossible for a property (.href) to return a different value than an attribute (getAttribute(’href’)).
• Core attribute operations are broken: Getters and setters behave inconsistently given certain parameters. An oft-cited example is getAttribute(’style’), which returns the style object rather than a string as expected.

Internet Explorer 8 fixes many of the cross-browser inconsistencies in these two areas. Specifically, the following bugs in core areas have been fixed:

• Separate URL handing for properties and attributes such that relative URLs can be retrieved via an attribute and absolute URLs can be retrieved via a property.
• Fix element’s attribute array modifiers—getAttribute, setAttribute, and removeAttribute have cross-browser compatible implementations.
• Other attribute-related API fixes implemented.

Platform Performance Improvements

Internet Explorer 8 includes several changes that improve the performance of Web sites. These changes affect many Internet Explorer subsystems, including the HTML parser, CSS rule processing, markup-tree manipulation as well as the JScript garbage collector and runtime.

The majority of these changes will affect performance only, with little to no functional effect on most Web sites. However, they may expose aspects of Web sites that depend on the timing of operations or performance of the browser. In addition, those Web sites that unknowingly access objects after they are freed may find such access failing in Internet Explorer 8.

Internet Explorer 8’s performance improvements affect each site loaded in Internet Explorer 8 regardless of the chosen rendering mode.

Circular Memory Leak Mitigation

Internet Explorer 8 includes improvements to memory management. These improvements mitigate memory leaks that were previously created by circular references between JScript objects and DOM objects.

This feature may affect the behavior of webpages that depend on garbage memory that, only as the result of a memory leak, existed in previous versions of Internet Explorer. In Internet Explorer 8, these pages will reference unallocated memory and generate a fault.

This feature affects each website displayed in Internet Explorer 8 regardless of the site’s chosen rendering mode.

HTML Improvements and ACID2

HTML uses elements to represent both structure and meaning in a document. To help developers take full advantage of the elements that HTML 4 offers, and to better provide the semantic meaning intended by Web author, Internet Explorer 8 has upgraded support of the following presentational elements:

• The P element: Represents a logical paragraph.
• The OBJECT element: May represent any object including images.

Through improved support of these HTML elements, Web developers may build more expressive and accessible HTML markup.

Related posts:

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2. Its Official Windows Vista SP1 To Be Out In Mid July
3. IE 8 Is Going To Kick Every Browsers Butt
4. Cool Hidden Features In Wordpress 2.1 Editor
5. Flock The Web 2.0 Social Browser To Be Forever In Beta?

© Arpit Jacob for Clazh, 2008. | Permalink | 11 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Catergories: Microsoft, Software, Technology Tags: Web-Design, Web-Development, Web-Standards, Windows

Acid2 is a test page for web browsers published by The Web Standards Project (WaSP). It has been written to help browser vendors make sure their products correctly support features that web designers would like to use. These features are part of existing standards but haven’t been interoperably supported by major browsers. Acid2 tries to change this by challenging browsers to render Acid2 correctly before shipping.

Acid2 is a complex web page. It uses features that are not in common use yet, because of lack of support, and it crams many tests into one page. The aim has been to make it simple for developers and users to check if a browser passes the test. If it does, the smiley face on the left will appear. If something is wrong, the face will be distorted and/or shown partly in red.

Here are a couple of things I predict about IE 8.

• A Much faster rendering engine for Both JavaScript and Web Pages.
• Cooler, Skinnable and Better User Interface.
• Better Extensibility like Firefox.
• Will use lesser memory.
• More Security Features.

This comment on DIGG says it all.

Wow, a story about Microsoft and Internet Explorrer and most all of the comments in here are positive? I Never thought I’d see that!

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5. Microsoft’s Secret Run Office 2007 in any Browser And Kill Google Docs, Zoho

© Arpit Jacob for Clazh, 2007. | Permalink | 14 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Catergories: Microsoft, Software, Web-Design Tags: Web-Design, Web-Development, Web-Standards

(Note: you require to have Java installed also in case you are testing the office 2007 demo you’ll need to install the plugin)

But I managed to get hold of another demo of Office 2003 which runs on any browser with support for java. These are not web based application think of them as remote desktop on a browser to access these applications with minimal overhead in terms of Bandwidth and memory (Considering that office 2007 is so huge and requires a lot of memory).

Below is the full Office 2007 suite running in IE 6.0. (You can even see IE 7.0 right at the back)

Office 2003 Outlook and PowerPoint Running inside FireFox on Ubuntu.

I am sure you have heard of desktop Virtualization (Vmware, Parallels, Virtual PC 2007, XEN source, Virtual Box) using which you can run a whole Operating System in a virtual environment on your computer. I already mentioned a year back that Virtualization is the future. Its one reason why Macs have started to become more popular since you can easily run multiple OS without the need to reboot the system.The full Ubuntu Linux OS running inside a window(Vmware Player) on Windows XP.

Application Virtualization

The Company called CITRIX is behind this technology. The company was started by an Ex-IBM developer there product called the Citrix® Presentation Server™ enables Applications Virtualization. This is the same company that recently acquire XenSource.

They are currently building XenDesktop which will take application Virtualization main stream.

I can think of a couple of reasons why Microsoft doesn’t want to put too much emphasis on this technology right now.

1. Its based on Java and Open Source Technologies.
2. Microsoft does not own this technology.
3. Scalability and performance Issues.
4. The Technology is too commercialized and only one company holds a monopoly over it.
5. Cost

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5. The SilverLight Poster and more on Silverlight and Microsoft

© Arpit Jacob for Clazh, 2007. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Catergories: Microsoft, Software, Technology Tags: Microsoft, Web 2.0

With Microsoft’s implementation of the FastCGI open standard, IT Professionals will be able to host PHP applications on Windows Server® 2003 and IIS 6 with increased reliability, scalability, and security. Customers also know that they will be able to count on Microsoft to stand by and service the Microsoft FastCGI Extension. By supporting the open standard, Microsoft has made it possible for PHP and other CGI compliant languages to be hosted efficiently and effectively on Windows Server 2003 and IIS.

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5. Why Is Microsoft So Coy About Service Pack 1 For Vista?

© Arpit Jacob for Clazh, 2007. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Catergories: General, Microsoft, Open Source, Software Tags: Web-Hosting, Windows

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© Arpit Jacob for Clazh, 2007. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Catergories: Internet, Microsoft, Technology Tags: Social-Networks, Windows

lets start with this quote from radiowalker

it’s a metaphor. Microsoft is not going out of business anytime soon, but it is ceasing to matter in terms of the future of software.

I suggest you read this excellent article from Joe Wilcox Titled The Great Double Standard I have posted a few selected quotes.

This week, a number of tech journalists gave glowing reviews of Leopard. They received the software on Mac Book Pro laptops provided by Apple. Nowhere have I seen anyone gripe about conflicts of interest. But when Microsoft’s PR agency sent bloggers preloaded Vista notebooks ahead of the operating system’s launch, there were ridiculous accusations of attempted bribery. The accusations made it difficult for those receiving the Vista units to say anything positive about the operating system.

The blogosphere will praise Leopard as the next best thing ever and use it as more proof why Vista sucks (It doesn’t). Meanwhile, there will be little good said about Microsoft’s colossal 2008 fiscal first quarter results. Those people acknowledging the earnings results will blame Microsoft for trying to kill Linux and babies in Africa as reasons for its success. The perception: When Microsoft competes, it cheats.

Between Google, Apple and Microsoft who would you choose? I wouldn’t choose any of them because they are businesses and that what they will remain till the end.

Thanks to Joe Stagner for the link to the Microsoft Watch article.

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4. Microsoft We Screwed Up Windows Mobile, iPhone Competitor Silverlight Mobile 2010
5. Breaking News Microsoft Announces Release Of Microsoft Surface.

© Arpit Jacob for Clazh, 2007. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Catergories: Microsoft Tags: Microsoft, Software

1. They have the technology and resources.
2. They can learn from all the mistakes that Apple Seems to be making with the iPhone.
3. The Windows Mobile Marketplace is already well established.
4. Developers will find making native application far easier for a windows mobile.

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5. Gee, And I thought Microsoft Was dead?

© Arpit Jacob for Clazh, 2007. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Catergories: Design, Hardware, Microsoft Tags: Microsoft, Music