Google Chrome vs. Firebox or good old Internet Explorer?

[Micha]

On 26/12/2009 02:48, Uri Even-Chen wrote:
> On Sat, Dec 26, 2009 at 2:02 AM, Micha<michf at post.tau.ac.il>  wrote:
>> On 25/12/2009 23:29, Uri Even-Chen wrote:
>>>
>>> On Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 9:21 PM, Dotan Cohen<dotancohen at gmail.com>    wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> I tested all 3 browsers (Google Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer)
>>>>> with Gmail, and the fonts look best with Internet Explorer!  The fonts
>>>>> in Google Chrome and Firefox don't look good, I can't explain it but
>>>>> the fonts in Internet Explorer look better!
>>>>
>>>> Turn on anti-aliasing for all programs. This is a known issue in Windows.
>>>
>>> Sorry, I don't know how to do that.  I'm stuck with the default.  But
>>> I think the programmers themselves (of Google Chrome and Firefox)
>>> should have taken care of this issue.
>>>
>>
>> It's not something that the programmers can control in this case. Its a fuck
>> with the shitty piece of software called windows.
>
> Why?  I don't think there is anything a good programmer can't do.  If
> they want they can do it.
>

A good programmer can do almost anything. The question is how much resources are 
needed (re implementing anti aliasing in firefox is not smart), how long does it 
take to come up with the information (is reverse engineering needed ...) and 
whether someone else should have done it already (microsoft should enable anti 
aliasing but xp came out at an age of crt monitors so a lot of times it's not 
enabled by default).

Look for cleartype on google to see how to play with anti aliasing under windows.

>>>>>   I think they should
>>>>> improve Google Chrome and Firefox, I have problems with other websites
>>>>> and not only my bank.  It's bad, websites should work well with all
>>>>> browsers but the web developers don't bother to test them!  It's much
>>>>> cheaper to test only with Internet Explorer and ignore the rest.  But
>>>>> I prefer Internet Explorer, I will not switch to another browser if
>>>>> the fonts don't look good, I don't hear anything when clicking links
>>>>> etc.  I'm not the usual end user who doesn't know how to install new
>>>>> browsers, I tested 3 browsers and chose Internet Explorer!  Maybe in 5
>>>>> years I will change my mind, maybe not.  Today I think Internet
>>>>> Explorer is the best browser.  I wouldn't recommend anything else to
>>>>> others!
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Other than the fonts (which you can fix by turning on anti-aliasing)
>>>> and the clicking sound (which an addon fixes), what other advantages
>>>> does IE have? I personally like IE 8 when I use Windows, but I find
>>>> Firefox even better. This is a serious question.
>>>
>>> My bank (hapoalim) website does not look good in Firefox and Google
>>> Chrome.  Other websites as well. IE is installed automatically on any
>>> computer with Windows, this helps when you get used to it and it's
>>> installed on public computers around the world.  If I use a public
>>> computer when travelling, chances are I'm using IE.  I tried Firefox
>>> and Google Chrome, for example with Gmail, and I think they are less
>>> good than IE.
>>>
>>
>> Israely banks are notorious for horrible site design practices.
>>
>> As for IE around the world, I ran into more and more computers running
>> linux. I also always traver with a portable version of firefox and
>> thunderbird on a usb disk (Actually also skype for those windows computers
>> that don't have it installed). Greatly reduces the risk of password theft
>> (those computers around the world are usually set to store passwords and
>> such).
>>
>> Personally, I introduced my wife to firefox and since then she refuses to
>> touch Microsoft, she just stopped using any sites that don't support it.
>>
>> And now that Leumi has a iphone app we don't need explorer even for that.
>>
>>>>> Sorry, I can't.  I have files in Excel and Word, they never look the
>>>>> same with Open Office, and I'm using them.
>>>>
>>>> If you have non-confidential files that look different in OOo, please
>>>> send them to me so that I could file a bug and improve OOo. Thanks.
>>>
>>> Sorry, my files are confidential.  But I'm not using Open Office, I
>>> have a version of Microsoft Office on my computer and I'm used to it.
>>>
>>
>> My condolences
>>
>>> I suppose I can convert my Word and Excel files to Open Office if I
>>> want to, but my Access software will have to keep running on Microsoft
>>> Access&    Windows.  I wrote this software for the company I work for,
>>> Pazgal, since 1996 and until now.  It has about 80 forms, 40 reports
>>> and more than 200 queries, 80 tables and a lot of Visual Basic code.
>>> If I were to write this program again in a new platform, it would take
>>> me years!  And I don't know which platform can replace Microsoft
>>> Access.
>>>
>>
>> Access is one of the worst databases around. sql is a much better choice,
>> although I'm not a database person so I can't recomend environments. Visual
>> basic is also pure crap in my opinion, but I guess I'm as biased against
>> Microsoft as you are for it.
>
> Yes, I hate Visual Basic, and I worked years in Visual Basic and
> access.  I want to start working in other programming languages, such
> as Java or C++ or Python.  But the problem is I can't find work in
> Java or C++ where I don't have experience.  I hate Microsoft, I hate
> their software, but I admit some of their software is better than
> their competition.  I tried Open Office and I don't like it, I prefer
> Microsoft Office instead.  Maybe we should start a new open source
> project for office, Open Office is 150MB which is far too much to
> download.  I wish Microsoft will go bankrupt, I hate monopolies and I
> hate Microsoft.  Maybe Google will come up with better solutions,
> until then I'm stuck with Microsoft!
>

There are a few others, I'm not sure though if google will provide the rescue. 
You may want to have a look at abiword (Free) and wordperfect (I believe that 
they are still around). I think that there is also kword and possibly a few others.

Personally I work either with Lyx (www.lyx.org) or plain latex, but in my field 
(math) no journal and almost no researcher accepts word documents. Results are 
significantly better and takes me a lot less time to achieve what I want but 
it's a complete change in the document writing approach, not all people can 
handle that.

As for other programing languages, start with learning object oriented software 
engineering. Without understanding the different design process you'll just be 
writing c in c++, although I know very few good c++ programmers I admit. Look 
into design patterns, some books on UML can help.

Find an open source project you like and get involved (sign up for the mailing 
list, start hacking around submitting patches, try to solve bugs, etc.) A 
smaller project will allow you easier integration and less bureaucracy. Make 
sure that it's well written code though so that you can learn from it.

I don't like java personally but I'm more of a hacker (mostly hpc at the moment) 
than a gui programmer so java really isn't the right tool for the job for me. 
Didn't play around with python but I probably should at some point as there are 
some interesting tools for GPU computing written in python. I don't like 
interpreted languages too much though and for some reason perl drove me away 
from python although they are completely different animals. I think that I did 
program in almost every other sensible language under the sun though at some 
point or another (and visual basic is not sensible in my book), and that 
includes logo for those old enough to remember.

>> Each time I touch word (usually to change one equation in an exercise file
>> or solution) I regret it and end up copying the entire file to latex as it
>> takes me less time than to make it presentable with word.
>>
>>>>>   And Access - I don't know
>>>>> about any alternative to Access.  I'm stuck with Windows.
>>>>>
>>
>> Like I said, sql, but it will require converting the software to something
>> that is not junk.
>>
>>>>
>>>> There is none. OOo Base is nowhere near the level that Access is, even
>>>> for simple home users.
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Dotan Cohen
>>>>
>>>> http://what-is-what.com
>>>> http://gibberish.co.il
>>>>
>>>
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