Wednesday, June 02, 1999

InfoWorld: Browser seen as key to AOL-Netscape deal.

I'm going to run a DaveNet piece soon saying that the browser belongs in the operating system. The positive solution is to arrive at a set of cross-platform APIs that allow non-Microsoft HTML renderers to plug in, in place of the Microsoft renderer. We need built-in system-level HTML rendering on Mac OS too.

See how cool I am! I speak my convictions even though Microsoft funds our competitors (loosely speaking). It's a big world out there. Lots of cool stuff to do!

Updated: SlashDot.UserLand.Com now displays only the 25 most recent SlashDot.Org stories. The page was getting huge, now it's more manageable. This review is part of the building of a new directory site for UserLand.Com. We have lots of little gems like this one scattered around our servers. We're working to bring them all together in one place, what we're calling Your Site of Sites.

Your Show of Shows aired on NBC between 1950 and 1954. The program starred Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, and Howard Morris, and was produced by Max Liebman. The show's writers included, among others, Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Woody Allen, and Larry Gelbart.

Interestingly, Eudora/Mac has a limited HTML display capability even though there's no HTML control available from Microsoft (or Apple?) on the Mac. Qualcomm must have their own HTML rendering code?

The Age: Keeping the Apocalypse on Ice. "The Soviets and then the Russians have lied, cheated and deceived about their smallpox holdings and their intentions to use them as strategic weapons."

ComputerWorld: Why Bother with Mac OS X Server? Ballyhooed by Apple as combining "the strength of Unix with the simplicity of the Macintosh," Mac OS X Server is a poorly designed, poorly integrated set of three operating systems: Apple's Macintosh, Next Inc.'s Next OS and the freeBSD Unix.

Yesterday's MacWEEK piece showed how Apple has quietly adopted standards of Wintel world. The last step, which seems inevitable in a world where Apple markets the color of the machines and other non-technical features, is that the operating software becomes less important, and the cost of being non-standard becomes higher. To Apple, the benefit of competing in a larger sandbox must be irresistable.