TIme to kill Internet Explorer

The forthcoming Internet Explorer 7 is pretty nifty, but should Microsoft abandon the browser altogether? John Dvorak thinks so, and puts together an excellent case:

Microsoft should pull the browser out of the OS and discontinue all IE development immediately. It should then bless the Mozilla.org folks with a cash endowment and take an investment stake in Opera, to influence the future direction of browser technology from the outside in. Then, Microsoft can worry about security issues that are OS-only in nature, rather than problems compounded by Internet Explorer.

It’s an inspired article and I think he’s right when he says:

All of Microsoft’s Internet-era public-relations and legal problems (in some way or another) stem from Internet Explorer. If you were to put together a comprehensive profit-and-loss statement for IE, there would be a zero in the profits column and billions in the losses column—billions.

You can read the full article – The Great Microsoft Blunder – on ABCnews.com.

Nintendo: taking the piss?

I’d love to have been a fly on the wall at the meeting where Nintendo decided that the best name for its next-generation games console, codenamed the Revolution, was “wii” (pronounced “wee”).

I’m with Engadget reader H20:

Why not just call it the Nintendo WTF?

Eh?

Just when you thought spam couldn’t get any weirder… this is the subject line for what I presume is some sort of rude site:

frig hockied on her baz0ongie$

Either spam is getting more strange, or my knowledge of smutty terms is wayyyyy out of date.

I shouldn’t laugh, but I did

From this week’s edition of The Onion:

Butt uglies

More from the war on smoking: according to Scotland on Sunday, the Scottish Executive wants to ban 10-packs of cigarettes. Inevitably, it’s to protect the kiddies.

One source on the group said: “These packs of 10 are a particular problem because they are, obviously, cheaper than packs of 20 and they can afford them more easily. Also, they are slimmer and fit more easily into a pocket or a school rucksack. Easier to hide too.”

Another group insider said: “The consensus is that we believe that these packs should be banned. We think that banning these packs is the least we can do to tackle smoking among young people. The big thing which will make the difference for the general population is obviously the ban on smoking in public places such as bars and restaurants. But that doesn’t deal with children smoking.”

*sigh*

For what it’s worth, my teenage smoking consisted largely of nicked cigarettes from my mum’s packs, and individual cigarettes bought from older kids. As for hideability, I’m not convinced that 10-packs are any easier to hide than anything else; if the kids were worried about portability, they’d be buying crack.

I reckon it’s a cop-out. We already have laws that prohibit the sale of cigs to kids, and if the exec wishes it can up the minimum age from 16 to 18. The problem is that the laws are rarely enforced.

The executive seems to be working on the principle that it’s better to ban things than to enforce existing laws. On that basis, expect similar curbs on the way adults can buy booze.

Roberts: the Rolls-Royce of radio

I’ve been meaning to get a digital radio for ages, and I’ve finally bit the bullet and bought a bottom-of-the-range Roberts radio. Mind you, what’s bottom of the range for Roberts is still streets ahead of other firms’ best products, and despite the lack of features such as tone controls and other goodies, it’s a cracking bit of kit. Most importantly of all, it sounds superb. Or at least, it does if you don’t listen to horrifically compressed stations such as some of the pop channels, whose techies clearly don’t have ears.

NYPD woo!

If you’re a sad NYPD Blue obsessive like me, there’s lots of good news: Season 3 is out on DVD right now, season 4’s due (according to Amazon) at the end of June, and Channel 4 is finally airing the final three seasons. According to Digital Spy:

Channel 4 will air the final three seasons of cult police drama NYPD Blue on More4, according to a report in Broadcast.

The news finally puts closure on long-running speculation over when – or even if – the broadcaster was intending to schedule the episodes, which have yet to be screened in the UK.

“NYPD Blue has a loyal audience and we feel More4 is the perfect new home for the remaining series,” a C4 spokeswoman told the magazine.

Season ten will begin on Monday, May 8, with new episodes airing three times a week thereafter. At that rate the final season will begin mid-July.

Top tips

Delivery drivers! When delivering a priority package to a residential address during normal working hours, TRY RINGING THE BLOODY DOORBELL. This may save you having to write “you’re not in, nah nah nah” on a bit of cardboard and returning to the same address with the same package at the same time tomorrow.

Cross Graznei Bridge? I am sick and tired of crossing Graznei Sodding Bridge

Yeah, I’m moaning again about Black, the first person shooter that’s clearly been designed by sadists.

I’m on the level where my primary objective is to cross Graznei Bridge, which to date I think I’ve successfully done about three and a half billion sodding times. But when I finally get across the bridge, something happens. The phone rings, or the dog barks, or I remember I need to put the spuds on. And in the millisecond during which I’m distracted, I get shot and have to do three-quarters of the bloody level all over again.

It isn’t always because of distractions, though. A few times I’ve spent a cheery half-hour blowing things up and then I have to go out. When I next play the game it’s right back to the beginning of the level again (and the unskippable bloody cutscene).

I don’t mind redoing a level a few times, but when the number reaches the hundreds – which it definitely has in this case – it sucks all the fun out of a game. And the last time I checked, games were supposed to be fun, not endurance tests for masochists.

I’ve seen reviews of Black that suggest the lack of save points is one of the game’s key strengths, to which I can’t reply without swearing. Sure, if you’re the sort of person who buys a game, sits down to play it in an isolation chamber and doesn’t move again until the game is finished, then the lack of save points might make the game an interesting challenge. But for those of us who live in the real world and whose gaming adventures are crammed into the odd half-hour here and there, it turns your shiny new game purchase into an infuriating and irritating waste of money. Despite Black’s real strengths – it’s big dumb fun with superb graphics – it’s annoyed me enough that no matter how good the reviews, I won’t buy Black 2.

There was a nice column in this month’s EDGE magazine, which suggested that games should offer a “maximum fun, minimum faff” mode for casual gamers – people who, like me, have very limited amounts of time available for gaming. I think that’s a superb idea. I wish Black’s developers had thought of it.

[Slightly edited to fix spelling errors]

The Onion on MySpace’s current woes

When The Onion’s good, it’s very good (click for bigger):

[Via Publishing 2.0]