Software News

What are WAN connections?

What is the default frame type value in protocol properties? Auto
What binary format of ones and zeros represents the number 197? 11000101
What is the maximum value that an IP address can contain? 256
What is a command from one computer that broadcasts an inquiry for another computer's MAC address? ARP
Every computer will receive a sent out frame if the destination MAC address contains all of what characters? 1 or F

Apple makes minor concession on pushing Safari to Windows users
Separates updates and new offers, but Mozilla wants more
April 17, 2008 (Computerworld) Apple Inc. has changed its software update tool for Windows users so that it separates updates for already-installed programs from offers to install new software.

Last month, John Lilly, Mozilla Corp.'s CEO, took Apple to task for using the update tool, familiar to Windows users as the mechanism for updating iTunes, to push the Safari browser to people who had not previously installed the program. Lilly said the practice "undermines the Internet" and "borders on malware distribution practices."

Lilly's comments, which appeared in a blog post, raised a furor, with Apple defenders calling his criticisms, among other things, a "mountain out of a molehill" and a "load of crap."

Apple has updated the Windows utility, dubbed "Software Update," to version 2.1. That version features a split-pane displays that lists "Updates" atop and "New Software" below. On Windows XP and Vista machines sans Safari, for instance, the Apple browser appears in the New Software section, with its selection box pre-checked.

Mozilla noticed the change.

Asa Dotzler, Mozilla's director of community development, said the move was "an important, though not sufficient, improvement" and called on Apple to go a step further. "Now Apple needs [to] stop checking the box for 'New Software' items by default," he said in a post to his blog.

In his March reproach of Apple, Lilly had also brought up the checked-by-default box; today he echoed Dotzler. "Good change! A bit more to do..." he wrote on his blog.

It's unclear when Apple first started offering Software Update 2.1; there was no mention of it on Apple's Web site, for example. On Windows Vista, however, the installed tool carries a date stamp of April 11.

"In this latest release we have made it easier for customers to identify between software updates and new applications," said Apple spokesman Anuj Nayar. He declined to comment on whether Apple made the change in response to last month's criticisms, or if it would consider Mozilla's request to deselect the Safari install box.

Apple updated, Safari to 3.1.1 yesterday fixing four flaws in the Windows version and two in the Mac edition. One of the two bugs on the Mac side had been used in a hacker contest last month by a researcher who took home a $10,000 check and the MacBook Air notebook he hacked.

To me, it would interesting to see Apple’s Safari on a Windows machine. I have used safari on a Mac and it was quit similar to windows explorer. The only things that confused me was the bookmark feature (because I’m use to favorites), and it was hard for me at first to open a second browsers window. One of the biggest things I hate about Macs is that one has to click too many times or has to use the edit bar to do simple things like copy and paste. I know that there are short cuts for those things on the key board, but once a person gets use to using windows mouse right click features things become complicated when using a Mac.