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Archive 2003 Q3
(23 September 2003)
Opera Software released the final version of Opera 7.20 for Windows today. This is a substantial upgrade, increasing performance and adding support for bi-directional languages such as Arabic and Hebrew.
The new rendering engine supports W3C's DOM (Document Object Model) level 2, non-standard dynamic HTML (DHTML), CSS1 and CSS2, ECMAScript, and has improved HTML 4.01 support, as well as complete support for WML 1.3 and 2.0. It is faster, smaller and can dynamically change documents through DOM.
It comes with 11 new stylesheets, providing helpful features for users and developers. Users annoyed by a particular Web author's design preferences, or who suffer from visual impairments, can now choose an alternative stylesheet such as "Accessibility Layout" or "High Contrast B/W". There is also a new text-browser emulator.
Other new features include a new built-in e-mail client (M2), Small-Screen Rendering (SSR), the Wand, FastForward, a Links panel and spatial navigation to gain quick access to links and any other navigational elements available.
 www.opera.com/download/
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(23 September 2003)
At approximately 22:00 GMT Apple pulled the Mac OS X 10.2.8 Update, and it is no longer available either through Software Update or as a free-standing executable through Apple's website. Apple initially stated that this was due to "an issue affecting Ethernet networking on a small number of Power Mac G4 desktop systems" but reports from the Mac community indicate that the problem is far more extensive, sometimes requiring reinstallation of the operating system.
The Macfixit website contains an extensive description of the problems. Note that a Macfixit subscription is required to view the article.
www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20030926163005125
The extent of the problems experienced by users can be seen from this thread at Slashdot.
http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/09/27/2145204
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(22 September 2003)
OS X 10.2.8 is quite a substantial update and is expected to be the last before version 10.3 (Panther) is released.
www.info.apple.com/
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(09 September 2003)
Macromedia have released version 7 of their Flash Player. At the same time they have launched a new version of the authoring tool Flash MX 2004, which is available in Standard and Pro versions. Amongst the benefits of the new products are faster operation and improved multimedia support.
It is now possible to produce accessible content using new Microsoft Active Accessibility (MSAA) compliant components for screen readers and keyboard access systems. Another benefit is full Unicode support, providing the ability to use, render, and save any font and encoding supported by the operating system, including double-byte character sets.
www.macromedia.com/downloads/
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(01 September 2003)
Freeserve's decision to stop distributing its CDs through Dixons retail outlets has provided AOL with a new sales channel that could provide a significant boost to their subscriber base. In addition to making AOL CDs available in all the shops, AOL's software will also be preloaded on Dixon branded PCs throughout 1,100 stores including Dixons, Currys and the Link. Only AOL's dialup services will be available via this channel until February 2005 when Dixons' broadband contract with Freeserve expires.
www.aol.co.uk
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(29 August 2003)
The W3C say that a recent US federal court ruling could prohibit the use of a widely-used Web technology, causing havoc both for web developers and for companies that develop browsers and plug-ins. Even though the patent only applies in the US, it will have global implications because of the need for universal web standards.
The court has upheld a claim from Eolas (a tiny US software development company) that Microsoft's Internet Explorer violates their patent, which covers the technology for embedding objects within distributed hypermedia documents (such as Web pages) where at least some of the object's data is located external to the document and where there is a means for the end-user to control the object's operation. Among the most obvious applications affected are Java and Flash-based online games and casinos, but more serious applications will be affected too.
Microsoft have stated that they will be modifying Internet Explorer to comply with the ruling, although an appeal is certain. It is inevitable that the changes will break the functionality on many websites, requiring a vast amount of recoding, and the W3C has set-up a mailing list where affected parties can discuss this issue. Microsoft is (unusually, some might say) seeking an industry-wide consensus rather than imposing a de facto solution that all other browser vendors would have to follow.
www.w3.org/2003/08/patent
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(16 July 2003)
AOL has finally conceded defeat and closed down its Netscape development division. This has been on the cards since a recent settlement with Microsoft gave it the right to use Internet Explorer as the basis of its AOL browser for the next 7 years. However, there is a small but loyal Netscape user base that will continue to use the existing versions of Netscape, and website developers will still need to take them into account for some time to come.
The news is not all bad for Netscape/Mozilla supporters because AOL has undertaken to provide $2M to fund the Mozilla Foundation, which will continue to develop the open-source browser. Additional funding will come from Red Hat and Sun Microsystems. The Mozilla Foundation is entirely independent from AOL and is seeking to obtain status as a non-profit organisation.
www.mozilla.org
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