Users had been counselled to delete the chrome.exe file. After the patch had been released, numerous users in Google’s support forum as well as on Twitter talked publicly about the issue. A Microsoft spokeswoman declared that in 3,000 cases, Google Chrome was uninstalled by one of the mentioned security tools.

Google tells users to install the patch fix first, then to reinstall the browser. According to a Google blog post, an update is going to be published fixing the error automatically.

To make this possible, Browser Size overlays any web site with a graph image showing browser window sizes aggregated from users.  For example, you can easily recognize how many users see a download button without scrolling when it is not placed in the upper left corner.  Maybe this gives you an indication why click rates at certain positions are underestimatedly low.

Browser Size always refers to the visible website without any window toolbars and sidebars.
The tool is available at http://browsersize.googlelabs.com/.

Millions of European consumers will benefit from this decision by having a free choice about which web browser they use.  Such choice will not only serve to improve people’s experience of the internet now but also act as an incentive for web browser companies to innovate and offer people better browsers in the future.

Over the period of five years, Microsoft is now required to offer a Ballot Screen through Windows Update in Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7, enabling users to download and install a different browser besides or substituting Internet Explorer.  OEM companies will also be given the ability to directly and automatically distribute an alternative to Internet Explorer, as part of their OEM installations.  An initial offer by Microsoft to list existing web browsers alphabetically had recently raised opposition by competitors.  The window will now show the five most-used browsers: Safari, Firefox, Opera, Internet Explorer, and Google Chrome, sorted randomly in a neutral Ballot Screen.

Microsoft Senior Vice President Brian Smith commented:

We believe it represents the most comprehensive commitment to the promotion of interoperability in the history of the software industry. Under this undertaking, Microsoft will ensure that developers throughout the industry, including in the open source community, will have access to technical documentation to assist them in building products that work well with Microsoft products.

The cartel proceeding started after Opera raised its complaint.  After an analysis, the EU Commission agreed on the fact that Microsoft is deforming the competition by distributing Internet Explorer to its Windows OS with a market-share of 90 percent.  Innovations would suffer and web developers would be forced to develop their programs mainly for Internet Explorer.

Since yesterday, the Google Chrome Extension Gallery is available.  Some weeks ago, Google has integrated an extension system into their web browser Chrome.  300 extensions are ready for installation.

Using extensions, you can extend your browser features easily, according to your wishes.  For example, the “Google Mail Checker” adds a new icon next to the address bar, showing the unread mail count.  The popular bookmark synchronisation Xmarks already available for Firefox is also available for Chrome.  Brian Rakowski, Chrome Product Manager, says:

We wanted to make extensions easy to create and maintain, while preserving Google Chrome’s speed and stability. Extensions on Google Chrome accomplishes all these goals: they are as easy to create as web pages, easy to install, and each extension runs in its own process to avoid crashing or significantly slowing down the browser.

Developers can add new extensions directly to the Extension Gallery—an explicit check by Google is only necessary in special cases.

At the moment, extensions can only be installed with the current Google Chrome 4 Beta.  It is unknown when its final version will be released.

More information

• Google Chrome Extension Gallery
• Announcement on the Google Blog
• Google Chrome 4 Beta

After Microsoft had yielded forth a Ballot screen proposal a couple of weeks ago, Opera criticised it. Therefore, the software giant decided to amend its proposal with respect to Opera’s criticism. Thus, Microsoft may settle the dispute by showing the results on December 15.

In October, the EU Commission almost accepted Microsoft’s Ballot screen proposal, where it would present the user with the five most-used web browsers. Microsoft planned to test it thoroughly before releasing it to the public.

Opera desired that the selection window be displayed with no Microsoft branding, but a neutral background, as well as for the browsers be arranged randomly. Furthermore, users are to be asked regularly about the relevance of the Ballot screen.

InPrivate, Privater Modus, Inkognito

Fast alle modernen Browser helfen dir, deine Identität unterwegs zu schützen: Sie haben einen privaten Modus eingebaut, der einfach einzuschalten ist und der keinen Browserverlauf oder Cookies speichert, nachdem du die Sitzung beendet hast.

1. Öffne deinen Lieblingsbrowser, oder den Browser, den du auf dem fremden Computer nutzt.
2. Schalte den privaten Modus ein, wie unten beschrieben.
3. Surfe.
4. Schließe das Browserfenster, wenn du fertig bist. Das ist wichtig!
5. Deine Cookies und Sitzungsdaten werden dann gelöscht, einschließlich noch gespeicherter Windows Live Anmelde-Informationen, falls du dich in deiner privaten Surfsitzung bei Windows Live angemeldet hattest. Keine Angst mehr!

Und so schaltest du den privaten Modus für Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome und Safari ein:

Internet Explorer

Klicke auf Sicherheit, InPrivate Browsen.

Mozilla Firefox

Klicke auf Extras, Privaten Modus starten.

Google Chrome

Klicke auf Tools, Neues Inkognito-Fenster.

Apple Safari

Klicke auf Tools, Privates Surfen.

InPrivate, Private Browsing, Incognito

Almost all modern browsers help you to protect your identity abroad: They have private modes integrated that are easy to enable and that don’t store any browsing history nor cookies on the computer after you close your session.

1. Open your favorite browser, or the one that you are using on the foreign computer.
2. Enable the private mode, as described below.
3. Surf.
4. Close the browser window when you are done. This is important!
5. Your cookies and session data are then deleted, including your Windows Live ID login information, if you have signed in to Windows Live in your private browsing session.
   No fear anymore!

Here is how to enable the private mode in Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and Safari:

Internet Explorer

Click Safety, InPrivate Browsing.

Mozilla Firefox

Click Tools, Start Private Browsing.

Google Chrome

Click Tools, New incognito window.

Apple Safari

Click Tools, Private surfing.

Questo è quello che ho visto sul mio schermo quando ho aperto Windows Live Calendar con Google Chrome. L’avviso mi dice di usare Internet Explorer 6 maggiori, Safari 3 o maggiore, oppure Firefox 2 o maggiore, in questo ordine.

Le domande che sorgono sono:

• Dove sono Opera e Chrome?
• Perché i browser sono ordinati in questo modo?
• Perché l’avviso chiede di utilizzare un browser differente?
• Calendar partecipa alla guerra dei browser in Unione Europea?

Il bello con questo avviso è che, quando clicco il link “continuare senza eseguire l’aggiornamento,” tutto funziona correttamente.
E allora?

This was what I saw on my screen when I opened Windows Live Calendar with Google Chrome. The alert advises me to use either Internet Explorer 6 or higher, Safari 3 or higher, or Firefox 2 or higher, in this order.

Questions arising are:

• Where are Opera and Chrome?
• Why are the browsers sorted in this order?
• Why does the alert call using a different browser “upgrading to” them?
• Does Calendar participate in the European Union browser war?

The fun with the alert is, when I click the link “continue without upgrade,” everything works just fine.
So what?

Once upon a time, web servers were invented. These used to serve first static, then dynamic content to clients, to us. The basis was simple: a small group of people, the providers, created web content, while the vast majority of us were consumers, readers, downloaders—users. Web servers and clients were designed to suit just these needs.

Then, Web 2.0 came up, along with the idea of contributing to form the web. The idea behind it changed from producers and consumers to “Everybody is a contributor”; the web starts to become a huge whiteboard. Web servers and client browsers do not match the idea anymore—if everybody can be a contributor, every web browser should be able to be a web server.

This is where Opera Unite kicks in. Once Opera runs and once you are connected to Unite with your Opera ID, everybody can access the services you launch. Of course, you can define which people can access which services.

Opera Unite features

• File Sharing of any folder you choose,
• Whiteboard messaging (“Fridge”),
• Media Player streaming any music you choose from your disk,
• Photo Sharing of your newest albums,
• integrated chat room module (“The Lounge”),
• and a small Web Server for your convenience.

Opera Unite and Windows Live Wave 4—what are we going to see?

Could Opera Unite get a competition to Windows Live?

Sharing your own content easily was the goal behind Opera Unite. Sharing your content easily, and access it from anywhere—that’s the goal behind Windows Live Mesh, that will get integrated into the next release of Windows Live programs for your computer, called “Essentials”. What are the differences between Opera Unite and Windows Live Wave 4?

*) Please note: Windows Live Wave 4 is the code name of the next release that the Windows Live Team is currently working on. As it is a product in development, the information might be incomplete or erroneous and is subject to change.

Recently, Robert Hess from MSDN Channel 9′s Knowledge Chamber discussed advantages and details of the new toolkit with Keiji Kanazawa, Program Manager for Windows Live Messenger, and I thought you might be interested in the video. Have fun watching!

Source: Keiji Kanazawa – Windows Live Messenger Web Toolkit

You can access the Windows Live Messenger Web Toolkit at http://messenger.mslivelabs.com/.

Internet Explorer 8 has been released for Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista. For Windows 7 beta users, here is what IE team says:

Windows 7 beta includes a pre-RC version of IE8 that is specifically optimized for Windows 7. Windows 7 enables unique features and functionality in Internet Explorer 8 including Windows Touch and Jump Lists which require additional product tests to ensure we are providing the best Windows experience for our customers. We will continue to update the version of Internet Explorer 8 running on Windows 7 as the development cycles of Windows 7 progress.

Maybe the biggest news is that Microsoft is trying to submit to current web standards as much as possible. In the beginning, a special standards mode should was likely to be added, but this mode has been set as default mode after some critics. This is how the IE team wants to make sure that Web users see all sites in IE8 the same way they see them in other browsers.

The new functions in Internet Explorer 8 have been added to ease the online lifes of the users. Especially the ways needed to get information have been shortened. Besides some exclusive functions that other browsers don’t offer up to now, Microsoft is also putting focus on adopting and developing ideas that have helped e.g. Firefox to gain its current popularity.

The most important changes include the reworked and extended Internet Explorer 8 address bar as well as the new functions “Web Slices” and “Accelerators”.

Can Microsoft place IE against the growing competition with their try to make Internet Explorer fit for the future?

Download:

• Internet Explorer 8 Final (Windows XP, 32-bit, 16.1 MB)
• Internet Explorer 8 Final (Windows XP, 64-bit, 32.4 MB)
• Internet Explorer 8 Final (Windows Vista, 32-bit, 13.3 MB)
• Internet Explorer 8 Final (Windows Vista, 64 Bit, 24.3 MB)

Aber sieh selber: http://chrome.google.com/ .

We will release one more public update of IE8 in the first quarter of 2009, and then follow that up with the final release. Our next public release of IE (typically called a “release candidate”) indicates the end of the beta period. […] We will be very selective about what changes we make between the next update and final release. We will act on the most critical issues. We will be super clear about product changes we make between the update and the final release.

The team is grateful about the many feedback gathered over the past months, and expects you to do your part on making the software better.

The call to action now for the technical community is to download beta 2 (if you haven’t already) and let us know about your experience. Next, please prepare for final testing with public update so you can let us know – quickly, loudly, and clearly – if you find absolutely critical issues with it before the release of the final product.

Internet Explorer has a very long history – from its first version “Internet Explorer 1.0” for Windows 95, back in August 1995, to the current “Windows Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2”: over 13 years of continued development to suit the changing needs of the Web.

What do you think about Internet Explorer and its most recent IE8 Beta 2?