Microsoft ambitious about the Azure Cloud!

Remember the famous Windows 98 boot screen and wallpaper? The windows product name etched in a background of bright blue clouds. I am not sure who was behind that idea, but definitely he would have never thought the cloud, would mean so much to Microsoft over a decade later.
Azure as it has been christened, the next generation of Computing is getting ready for take off. The Microsoft Chief Software Architect, Ray Ozzie was all excited to announce the possibility of a Windows that runs inside Internet. Azure will go beyond the existing paradigms and create a Distributed Operating System Model hosted under Microsoft's Data Centers. And the services could be accessed through existing protocols like HTTP, REST, WS* and Atom.
The Azure platform will provide various Azure Services like Windows Azure, .NET Services, SQL Services and Live Services. Developers can write applications on the Azure platform and make it available to the users all around the world.
With Azure, Microsoft also makes a genuine Openness Promise, to support all technologies impartially over the Azure cloud. This means an Azure app could be running on a PHP application or use OpenID authentication.
Other Azure highlights are the possible subscription model of licensing that Windows Azure and the hosted apps may follow. The Azure network's fabric controller that manages the services and the ready availability of data which is spread over many data centers.
Azure seems to be the Logical evolution of Operating Systems, and when the leader of Operating Systems is initiating it, expectations are running high.
Though this looks like a promising step ahead, Azure is still in a very nascent stage and there is a long way to go until we get something that has a business value. For now, Microsoft has a limited Developer preview and some SDKs for the developers to play with. PDC 2008 also witnessed some small sample applications developed over Azure.
"It's a transformation of our software and a transformation of our strategy" Said Ray Ozzie, in the PDC speech. He was probably right, as web is the next home. And we will have to wait and see who will be the first to conquer this kingdom.
Azure Home
Azure Coverage on CNET

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Mozilla sets up Minefields to blow away other browsers!

For the past few months, the browser war has reached new exciting levels, with Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Opera, all releasing new versions, providing drastic improvements to the older versions. Also, Google joined the party when they announced their own Chrome.
There are long running argument threads in the internet on which is the fastest.
Chrome had a dream start, first the comic book leak, then the sudden release, and public curiosity and all that. Initially Chrome did unsettle the browser community for a while, soon it proved to be just another browser.
Now, firefox is projecting its future Firefox, with the Minefield brand name. Minefield refers to all the alpha, pre-release builds of firefox which you are free to download and test. [Also, it is upto you to survive the crashes.] Though not recommended for normal users, the Minefield will give you daily and even twice-a-day updates, for whenever there is a new build, you get them. But, most of the standard firefox plugin go unsupported in Minefield.
But, the reviews have that Minefield is lightning fast and the javascript rendering of the new bomber browser beats all the browsers without doubt. So, firefox is not done yet. In fact they are getting stronger and better. Anyway things are rosy for users as we have options to choose from.
Minefield gives you the nightly builds which can be obtained from the Mozilla's ftp. You can see the future of firefox with Minefield builds. So if you are upto it, go ahead and download Minefield. One more thing, Minefield installations can be kept separate from the firefox installation. So go ahead and play!
Minefield Home
ftp Download page

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Google Chrome, reinventing the wheel?

Just over a week after Microsoft Internet Explorer  Beta 2, Google has come up with its own new offering christened Chrome. The whole release episode itself was in a bizzare fashion. A day before the release, the whole internet talk about some leaked Google comic book talking about the new Chrome browser, and just a few hours later Google announce that they aill release the beta the very next day.

Along with million others, I also waited to get my copy of my Chrome, once it was available for download. Though it looks lightweight and simple, the initial impression was that I was working with some lite version of a browser. No menus, only a few buttons. Even the settings tab had a very limited options. As I went on adding more tabs, I noticed that the browsing controls are embedded in every tab. Also if you have multiple windows, you can drag tabs from one window to another. The browser also rendered the pages properly, and the fears which developers had that they have to test compatibility with one more browser could be thrown away.

Another interesting thing I found was each tab had a process running in the tast manager. So, if some website misbehaves you can close them. Also Google had also announced that this browser would follow a secure sandbox model, no tab can access content of others. 

All looks fine. But there seems to be a lack of pull which we have for firefox because of no plugins themes, etc. Using the browswer five minutes, you feel like you have seen it all. Also, Internet Explorer Beta 2 is really proving good. When compared, IE consumes the least CPU, followed by Chrome and then Firefox. I will post the IE review soon.

Though initially I was against the idea of Google capturing another frontier by bringing its browser, this really looks good in terms of useability and simplicity. Now, one person holds your search history, browsing history, mails, and what not?

Google Chrome

Bump your desktop with 3d icons!

Recently in the TED conference, I came across a peculiar innovation. Bumptop, as the creator Anand Agarwala calls it, is a desktop which closely resembles the conventional physical desktops we have at home. It has icons which behave more like tangible objects on our desktop, which can be stretched tossed, pinned on the wall, stacked, arranged, shuffled, and even crumbled and thrown over the corner. The idea looks interesting, but I am not sure, if it will find its way into practical computing.
The young Anand starts by calling Windows desktop as flat and rigid, and though he says, you can sex it up, with more lickable Mac, he calls Mac the same old crap we had for last 30 years. The arrogance soon fades out with his demo of Bumptop. It basically looks like a physical desktop and each icons have physical attributes of real world objects. It basically uses pie menus and lasso selections to quickly select icons from the desktop and apply transformations on it. The physics looks really good, with heavier (bigger) icons actually looking heavier when pushed and tossed, etc.
But, the question is why would you want such a messy, 3D desktop, when you have the flat and rigid, by usable, and tidy desktop. It may be the fact that you feel more at home, and relaxed working with a real physical desktop. Or the subtelity and the clarity that it provides may be another reason. Anand maybe able to give more reasons. Anyway I havent yet got the copy of the software which is in private beta, so I cannot comment on its system resource comsuption and speed. I will post updates when I get one.
Bumptop Home
Bumptop Twitter

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