Fantastic (Mr) Firefox
Firefox is currently my favourite web browser. It is a bit slower than Internet Explorer, but on a reasonably fast computer you won’t notice the difference.
The beauty of Firefox is in the Add-ons, and the Add-on that convinced me to change from Internet Explorer was Screengrab. The reason for this is that I take a lot of screenshots, either to describe things on our website that I would like changed or to create a version of a website that prints out exactly as it is shown on the screen. This Screen Grab tool allows you to do this, and saves the image as png file – the resolution is beautiful and it it is small in kilobyte terms.
Another cool thing for those of you who use del.icio.us is that there are a variety of related Add-ons available – the one that I use is for a sidebar that looks like this:
Notice that it is more-or-less the same as Bookmarks, except it is neatly sorted into the tags that you chose in del.icio.us.
Adding RSS feeds using Firefox and iGoogle is easy-peasy and you can generate you own little homepage with the things that are of most interest to you.
Perhaps you can WOW me with you favourite Firefox addons, or perhaps there is yet another browser worth trying. :)
Firefox is everything. The only reason it is slower in windows it’s because of dirty tricks by Microsoft. Bascially, their own programs use special libraries that they don’t release to nobody… The “public” libraries (you actually have to pay for some of them, so it’s not that public) are basically the same thing with “wait(1 second)” statements all around. ;)
Any special reason you still use windows? What elso do you do in your work, apart from browsing the web and reading e-mail?... You use Word, PowerPoint and Excel?.....
I suppose that there isn’t a special reason to use Windows, but it is hard to imagine being on a computer that doesn’t have it. Most of our authors submit their manuscripts as Word docs – Can Google Docs open a Word file without the Word software being on the computer?
I would be a bit anxious about getting rid of Windows on an existing system, but I suppose that if were to start from scratch…I would be open to trying something new. What would you advise? There seems to be a lot of background talk about Google Docs etc. My very first pc ever had Lotus and that was cheap and effective.
Do ftp sites work easily in the absence of Windows? There are so many uncertainties making it difficult to take the step…
My father used the Lotus spreadsheet when I was a kid, perhaps that’s one of the reasons I find it so strange that people think the MS hegemony is so acceptable! :) I remember when the Lotus suite was seen as a viable alternative to MS Office…
FTP sites work allright in unix, perhaps even much better then in windows. In fact, using unix you would perhaps jump straight into the world of ssh and scp, which are better alternatives to using FTP… You can even use them in windows if you like, you just need a program like putty .
You don’t need to actually migrate from windows to start your part in the revolution. You can take a big step starting to use LaTeX in windows, for example, or installing cygwin , and trying to get used to the unix / linux world… I grew up hearing my mother say that only unix is a real operating system, and that DOS and windows were only filthy temporary solutions for personal computers… It schocks me that everyone didn’t migrate to linux as soon as it became easily accessible. Cygwin is a program that emulates a unix/linux environment inside your windows.
But you don’t even have to get that far. You can try stuff like google docs too… I don’t know it well, so I can’t say much about it.
It makes me sad to know that so many people post articles in MS Word to you… :(
A very nice step you can take is to use Sun’s staroffice, or batter, to install openoffice in your machine. One of its best characteristics is that it doesn’t have that nasty little clip nagging you all the time! :) Plus it’s free, and it tries to be as MS compatible as it is possible, to make your transition less painful. It’s becoming more and more common every day to find companies switching to open office…
One of the best reasons to switch to openoffice is what you mentioned: the file format. Micosoft’s file formats were binary, and they never fully explained how they worked. One of the reasons is to make it more difficult to people to use other programs, and also to force the users to upgrade their versions, because the newer versions were rarely backward-compatible… As a result, the users have a worse experience, always having troubles with newer features…
The file format proposed by the openoffice guys, ODF , is based on XML, what means that it’s very easy to interpret… This means that it shouldn’t be difficult for Google to open up these files, for example.
This format became an ISO standard, what makes it even more easy to use in other programs. Fearing the competition, microsoft is now trying to propose themselves an XML format, and make it an ISO standard… It has the very strange and clever name of Office Open XML , and should by no means be confused with ODF. This is a fight going on right now. The other day they lost an election to accept the format… Let’s see what happens in the future.
Myself, I use TeX and emacs, but I know it’s not for anyone… It’s something you must volunteer from the bottom of your heart to do. :) Not Oppenoffice, this I can demand you to switch to, right now!! ;D
Seriously! Try it out!... And if you would like to give linux a try, download one of those live-CD distributions, like Knoppix Mandriva or perhaps something with Gnome ... These you run from your CD, and don’t have to install anything to your hard disk. Then you can try to use open office, firefox and FTP from it! ;)
Gosh that’s ugly.
Of course on the Mac you have the choice of all the Microsoft progs, natively, all the Open Source stuff (Open/Neo Office, LyX/LaTeX) and the stunningly beautiful iWork package.
Oh, and Safari, which after Lynx is just the sweetest little web browser :)
I love Safari too! I got the IT Helpdesk at NPG to install it on my work computer although they recommended otherwise… apparently it would increase the likelihood of my other browsers crashing (it did so I had to uninstall it and can only use it on my iBook now).
Carrying on the foxy theme of this blog post… I created my fourth (or fifth and hopefully final) Second Life avatar over the weekend. However I am slightly dissatified with my standard furry face and tail—I look like a bunny although really wanted to look more like a fox, with pointy ears and long snout, plus a super-bushy tail, instead.
Confession: In our revision letters, we actually ask our authors to submit their manuscripts as Word documents. I did process a manuscript that was submitted as a text file, though this was perhaps too limiting, formatting-wise.
I am experimenting with migrating some “easy” things to google docs – will make effort to try out open office and the other programs suggested as it would be good to at least be able to accommodate people who are using other software.
Thank you for the very helpful advice.
What is the main advantage of Safari? (if anyone is still reading this thread)
Li Kim: While the avatars can be changed a lot, the built in limits of some of the characters are a bit annoying. I, for example, would like to have a long, thin nose, but whenever I make the nose longer it seems to increase the minimum width that it can be. I know that there are ways of making “objects” that you can stick on – perhaps Joanna can advise on at least a solution for the ears and tail?
Update regarding Open Office for Bronwen: I have installed Open Office at home, and so far it looks great—will write a more detailed blogpost when I have had a chance to play around with it a bit more.
Unfortunately, I do not have administrative powers on my work PC, so I asked IT if they would help me install it. They are not happy to do this as it is not essential to my work (we have microsoft office on all of the pcs) and there are potential compatibility issues.
Unfortunately, I could not think of a strong argument against this, because a person who prepares a document in open office can save it as a Word document before sending it to me, so it is not like I need Open Office to be able to accommodate the author. And I can just use it on the days that I work from home if it came to down to it.
cough LaTeX cough