Sunday, December 26, 2004
A personal thought on Thunderbird
Thunderbird, just like Firefox, is another product from the Mozilla organization's stable. Just yet another way of telling the world there is an alternative available rather than being forced to use a product that is inferior and far more susceptible to security problems. Yes, I am talking about Outlook Express. Despite Microsoft's best efforts to plug OE's security holes, it still is and will be a security nightmare for anyone who uses it. Thunderbird, on the other hand, has been built from scratch and does not, i repeat, does not have the same problems that plague OE. It is secure, easy to use and has all the right features for a free applications.
I know there are a lot of other free email clients available, however, Thunderbird probably has the cleanest interface and by far the most extensible of all.
The recent news is that Mozilla is already working on a calendar project called Sunbird. This should put it in direct competition with Microsoft Outlook which is no doubt a superb personal information manager as well as a terrific email client. For the moment I am sticking with Thunderbird and waiting for the new calendar application which should be integrated sometime in 2005.
I know there are a lot of other free email clients available, however, Thunderbird probably has the cleanest interface and by far the most extensible of all.
The recent news is that Mozilla is already working on a calendar project called Sunbird. This should put it in direct competition with Microsoft Outlook which is no doubt a superb personal information manager as well as a terrific email client. For the moment I am sticking with Thunderbird and waiting for the new calendar application which should be integrated sometime in 2005.
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
A personal thought on MSN Desktop Search
Something that was bound to happen did happen and finally Microsoft did live upto its promise of releasing a beta version of their desktop search. And to be quite honest, it looks and feels far better than Google. It has a more range of files types that can be searched and quite surprisingly it does a pretty decent job at it. The actual search is also pretty quick and is on par with GDS.
Google will have to seriously think about improving their desktop search tool and incorporate more file types in their indexing as at the moment only text, html and outlook files can be indexed.
However, I am eagerly awaiting the release of Yahoo desktop search as well. It is supposed to be based in X1 which has been around for a while now. All this competition is healthy and excellent for computer users all over the world.
Google will have to seriously think about improving their desktop search tool and incorporate more file types in their indexing as at the moment only text, html and outlook files can be indexed.
However, I am eagerly awaiting the release of Yahoo desktop search as well. It is supposed to be based in X1 which has been around for a while now. All this competition is healthy and excellent for computer users all over the world.
Sunday, December 12, 2004
A personal thought on MSN Spaces
So MSN started Spaces... Well is Microsoft ever going to start something new or are they always going to be try their hand at something that has already been started by someone else. So I just logged on to MSN spaces and it was not really that great. Blogger is still the best blog-hosting site that I have come across. Spaces is already has had some controversy with the terms and conditions stating that Microsoft has the right to edit your blogs, something I read on a news web site the other day.
But to be honest, Spaces has just started and Microsoft is not going to let this go down so easily. They have had a lot of bad publicity over the recent times, what with IE and Longhorn.
I will give Spaces another shot, but I dont think that I am going to be blogging there for a long time. Blogger.com rocks!!!
But to be honest, Spaces has just started and Microsoft is not going to let this go down so easily. They have had a lot of bad publicity over the recent times, what with IE and Longhorn.
I will give Spaces another shot, but I dont think that I am going to be blogging there for a long time. Blogger.com rocks!!!
Saturday, December 04, 2004
A personal thought on Firefox
This is probably one of the most talked about products on the Internet these days. The mere fact that a small group of people have made an open-source software that is far more powerful and flexible than a product owned by a multi-billion dollar global giant is extremely tempting to make a big budget hollywood blockbuster. Yes, I am talking about the new kid on the block, well not really. Firefox has made me a complete fan of the awesome features built into a piece of software that is not only secure, but also far more advanced than Internet Explorer in many ways.
Where do I start to mention the features in this nifty application. There is the tabbed browsing, RSS feeds, an endless library of extensions and themes, standards compliant browsing and many more. Detailed features can be read at the Mozilla organization's web site (http://www.mozilla.org).
The most important point is that finally there is a product that may force Microsoft to atleast rethink about its future strategy on Internet Explorer, now that its overall share of the web browser market is steadily on the decline.
Hope that the guys at the Firefox team can pull it off...
Where do I start to mention the features in this nifty application. There is the tabbed browsing, RSS feeds, an endless library of extensions and themes, standards compliant browsing and many more. Detailed features can be read at the Mozilla organization's web site (http://www.mozilla.org).
The most important point is that finally there is a product that may force Microsoft to atleast rethink about its future strategy on Internet Explorer, now that its overall share of the web browser market is steadily on the decline.
Hope that the guys at the Firefox team can pull it off...
Friday, December 03, 2004
A personal thought on Gmail
I have been using Gmail since 23rd May 2004. With over 700 messages and almost 30MB of space used, I don't think that I have ever used a better web-based email service ever, considering I have been using web-only e-mail since the start of Hotmail.
Despite the fact that both Yahoo and Hotmail increased their storage space for their free accounts, the features and the overall look and feel are no match for Gmail. I know, I know, not everyone has a Gmail account at the moment, but trust me when I say this, whoever has one is not using any other email accounts.
The only regrettable fact is that Google still has not releases it to the publicly as they are still in testing phase. But if anyone does need a Gmail invite, just post a comment on this article and I will send an invite to your email address, provided I still have any. However, that said and done, some of the cool features of Gmail are conversations, the really powerful search feature (of course!) and the completely secure connection. The moment you login to the moment you logout, the connection is still secure. This cannot be said of any other email service as with Yahoo and Hotmail, the only time you login is the connection secure.
The best part I enjoy about Gmail is that since it is only limited to a few number of subscribers, it is amazingly fast. Plus the lack of banners and ads make it even more faster. All the drama about privacy breach as a result of the text ads based on the content of your emails is, basically, a load of crap. If anyone is so concerned about that then they have a choice not to join. Its not as if Google is forcing anyone to join Gmail. It is, of course, a corporation which will need to earn money to provide a free service. And the text ads, I don't even notice them at all.
Well, lets hope that Google decide to launch this awesome service to everyone, instead of a select few, including me, hehehehehe...
Despite the fact that both Yahoo and Hotmail increased their storage space for their free accounts, the features and the overall look and feel are no match for Gmail. I know, I know, not everyone has a Gmail account at the moment, but trust me when I say this, whoever has one is not using any other email accounts.
The only regrettable fact is that Google still has not releases it to the publicly as they are still in testing phase. But if anyone does need a Gmail invite, just post a comment on this article and I will send an invite to your email address, provided I still have any. However, that said and done, some of the cool features of Gmail are conversations, the really powerful search feature (of course!) and the completely secure connection. The moment you login to the moment you logout, the connection is still secure. This cannot be said of any other email service as with Yahoo and Hotmail, the only time you login is the connection secure.
The best part I enjoy about Gmail is that since it is only limited to a few number of subscribers, it is amazingly fast. Plus the lack of banners and ads make it even more faster. All the drama about privacy breach as a result of the text ads based on the content of your emails is, basically, a load of crap. If anyone is so concerned about that then they have a choice not to join. Its not as if Google is forcing anyone to join Gmail. It is, of course, a corporation which will need to earn money to provide a free service. And the text ads, I don't even notice them at all.
Well, lets hope that Google decide to launch this awesome service to everyone, instead of a select few, including me, hehehehehe...
