A little dated but instructive nonetheless, not counting extensions and plugins, XUL Planet gives us a list of 101 design features unique to the Mozilla browser (found via Amanita)

The following lists 101 things that one can do with the Mozilla browser component (version 1.2) that one cannot do with IE (version 6.0). I used the Windows version of IE 6.0; the list will vary slightly for the Mac version.

[ Source: 101 things you can do in Mozilla ]

Of what ex-Microsoft technology manager Jeff Reifman laments about applications crashes, failed expectations and the steady stream of inconsistancies and disappointments, if even half of what he says is true, I truly do feel sorry for all those of you who've been lured into the trap of it ...

I remember eagerly looking forward to Outlook 2003, only to be disappointed by how complex, buggy, and unimproved it was. “There’s kind of an angst,” says Andrews, the Seattle Times columnist and author. “Microsoft ought to matter to us. There ought to be more of an intellectual and emotional connection. There just isn’t.”

True, I walked away from Microsoft products in 1995, or at least started my walk; it took another 3 years to complete the detoxification and when '98 proved no real perk above the '95, away went that pesky second partition. I gave it lots of second-chances too, but every time I tried to do any real work -- whup there goes another afternoon spent.

So do I gather from Jeff's memoires here that in the ensuing 6 years things have only gone from bad to worse?

But in the first five minutes on my new Mac, I was surfing the Internet, sending e-mail, and ripping a CD. OS X has been a breath of badly needed fresh air ...

[ Source: Microsoft's Sacred Cash Cow ]

In a news item on the lessons learned by Bell in evaluating RIM mobile applications, I am once again astounded at why we don't see more CIOs being dragged by a chain from the back bumper of a pickup truck ...

Bell Canada officials eventually decided not to use the BlackBerries because senior executives wanted all technicians using the same type of device ... Using one platform across the enterprise makes it easier for IT staff

What?! So, tell me all you like-minded CIOs out there, and I know you are out there because I have met far too many of you, please do riddle me this: Who are you working for? Sorry, but it just irks me something fierce as I watch these petty fiefdoms of IT power passing sweeping effluence like this as if it was an answer.

It irks me even more when the reaction of the media to the snip was to say RIM had "miniturized themselves out of a sale" instead of rightly lambasting the ICT directors for having their wrongheadedness firmly up their backendedness. Since when is the primary factor in deployment the convenience of the Information Technology department?

I'll tell you this much: I liked this job better when we called it Information Services ...

[ Source: ITBusiness.ca ]