Category Archives: Microsoft

Microsoft Internet Explorer 9

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Microsoft just released their Internet Explorer 9 platform preview. Upon loading the site, the first thing that caught my eye was an Acid3 test thumbnail with a score of 55/100. It makes me wonder, how shameless can they be.

IE9 Acid3 Test

IE9 Acid3 Test

I decided to overlook their stupidity and give it a try. On the first startup, it decided to crash on me. Off to a bad start Stevie-boy

IE9 now supports HTML5 [Finally], passed the CSS3 selectors test [Finally again], and averaged a 598.80ms on the SunSpider test [Doubtful about this one].

It’s still in the early stages, so there’s still room for improvement. We’ll just have to wait and see. I on the other hand, am not looking forward to anything that’s worth noting.

I know Windows is awful. Everyone knows Windows is awful. Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it’s there, and there’s nothing you can do about it. ~Charlie Brooker

Audio For Everybody!

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When The Love Falls by Sean OoiDownload Audio: Audio Format "MP3" | Audio Format "OGG"

Prologue

A few posts back I used the new HTML 5 video tag to display a video. That chunk of code was written by Kroc Camen and is compatible across most major browsers, including IE and the iPhone. One of the reasons I like it is because there is no JavaScript involved, making it lightweight.

It was his Video for Everybody post that inspired me to write this post. I figured since there's a cross-browser compatible code for the video tag, it would only be right to have one for the audio tag as well; A simple Google search came up with one related site that was very poorly written, so I decided to write one myself, based heavily on Kroc's code.

I've tested my codes on the iPhone and on common web browsers which includes Firefox, Safari and Opera on both Windows and Mac OS X, and Google Chrome and IE on Windows.

Compatibility

The code is validated as HTML 5. It will first try the HTML 5 playback, and fallback to flash if needed. If neither works, it will display an image showing users that no streaming capability is available and will ask to download the file instead.

  • Firefox 3.5: HTML5-OGG
  • Safari 4 (Mac): HTML5-MP3
  • Safari 4 (PC): HTML5-MP3→Flash
  • iPhone OS 3.1.2: HTML5-MP3 (Small play area due to the lack of the width & height attribute)
  • Opera 10: QT→Flash
  • Chrome 3: HTML5-OGG
  • <= IE 6: Flash
  • >= IE 7: Windows Media Player
Firefox

Firefox

Chrome

Chrome

IE

IE

iPhone

iPhone

Opera

Opera

The Code

<!-- Try HTML 5 playback first. -->
	<audio controls="controls">
	<source src="__AUDIO__.OGG" type="audio/ogg" /> <!-- Firefox and Chrome -->
	<source src="__AUDIO__.MP3" type="audio/mpeg" /> <!-- Safari and iPhone -->

<!-- Windows Media Player class id to enable native streaming on IE 7 and above. IE 6 and below will go straight to flash player -->
	<!--[if gt IE 6]>
	<object classid="clsid:6BF52A52-394A-11D3-B153-00C04F79FAA6" width="320" height="45"><!
	[endif]-->

	<!--[if !IE]><!-->
	<object type="audio/mpeg" data="__AUDIO__.MP3">
	<!--<![endif]-->

<!-- Windows Media Player controls -->
	<param name="url" value="__AUDIO__.MP3" />
	<param name="autostart" value="false" />
	<param name="uiMode" value="full" />

<!-- Flash fallback -->
	<object height="24" width="320" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="__FLASH__.SWF" id="audioplayer">
	<param name="movie" value="__FLASH__.SWF" />
	<param name="FlashVars" value="playerID=audioplayer&amp;soundFile=__AUDIO__.MP3" />

<!-- Fallback image when nothing works -->
	<img class src="__POSTER__.JPG" width="128" height="135" alt="Title" title="No audio playback capabilities, please download the audio below" />

	</object><!--[if gt IE 6]><!-->
	</object><!--<![endif]-->
</audio> 

<!-- Download links outside the audio tag -->
<p>Download Audio: <a href="__AUDIO__.MP3">Audio Format "MP3"</a> | <a href="__AUDIO__.OGG">Audio Format "OGG"</a></p>

The line break in line 8 is due to a bug in IE. I'm not sure if it applies to the audio tag as well, but no harm being safe. A more compact version of the source code follows.

<audio controls="controls">
	<source src="__AUDIO__.OGG" type="audio/ogg" />
	<source src="__AUDIO__.MP3" type="audio/mpeg" />
	<!--[if gt IE 6]>
	<object classid="clsid:6BF52A52-394A-11D3-B153-00C04F79FAA6" width="320" height="45"><!
	[endif]--><!--[if !IE]><!-->
	<object type="audio/mpeg" data="__AUDIO__.MP3">
	<!--<![endif]-->
	<param name="url" value="__AUDIO__.MP3" />
	<param name="autostart" value="false" />
	<param name="uiMode" value="full" />
	<object height="24" width="320" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="__FLASH__.SWF" id="audioplayer">
	<param name="movie" value="__FLASH__.SWF" />
	<param name="FlashVars" value="playerID=audioplayer&amp;soundFile=__AUDIO__.MP3" />
	<img class src="__POSTER__.JPG" width="128" height="135" alt="Title" title="No audio playback capabilities, please download the audio below" />
	</object><!--[if gt IE 6]><!-->
	</object><!--<![endif]-->
</audio> 
<p>Download Audio: <a href="__AUDIO__.MP3">Audio Format "MP3"</a> | <a href="__AUDIO__.OGG">Audio Format "OGG"</a></p>
Usage notes:
  • Replace __AUDIO__.MP3 with the path to your MP3 encoded file
  • Replace __AUDIO__.OGG with the path to your OGG encoded file
  • Replace __FLASH__.SWF with the path to your flash player. I use the standalone version of WordPress Audio Player
  • Replace __POSTER__.JPG with your JPEG image file for fallback purposes

One reason to put the download links outside the audio tag as said by Kroc for his Video for Everybody code: Give people your audio files—you want them to hear the audio anyway and you are fooling yourself if you think that they shouldn’t be allowed to download the audio.

I am not very confident when it comes to writing codes and explaining. In fact I suck at it, so please contact me if you spot any mistakes in my post. Any kind of help to further improve the code is welcomed as well.

Microsoft copying Apple?

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I recently read about the grand opening of Microsoft’s first retail store, named “Microsoft Store“, idea of the name taken from “Apple Store“? Very likely.

The layout of the store is almost the same as well, but you can’t really blame them, there really isn’t any other way to showcase computers……NOT. Those people at Redmond have been constantly trying to copy and compete with other operating systems, mainly Apple’s Mac OS X, but failed drastically. Quoting Peter Bright from ars technica on the new Windows 7 review:

Once up and running, after briefly admiring the new start-up logo, you’re presented with probably the ugliest default wallpaper of any current OS; even the fecal brown of Ubuntu is more aesthetically pleasing

The styling is inconsistent with the visual cues in the rest of the operating system (it doesn’t follow from the theming of either the new startup screen or the logo on the Start orb, or anywhere else that the logo is used), it’s inconsistent with the Aero Glass appearance that 7 inherits from Vista. And, most importantly, it’s just irredeemably ugly and horrid.

Microsoft did not only tried to copy operating systems, but ads as well. Not so long ago they forked out a large sum of money to make a commercial with Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld in it to counter Apple’s “Get A Mac” ads. 2 episodes were released, and it was a huge failure. It was meaningless and it was nowhere near interesting. It was just a total waste of time. Then they came out with their “Laptop Hunter” ads, which was a step-up from the Jerry Seinfeld ads, but didn’t quite his consumers too.

Apart from copying video ads, I’ve noticed that they might have also been starting to copy poster ads as well. I’m not going to say that they are, but the possibilities of it is undoubtedly high. While reading through the grand opening article, I noticed this picture:

Infinite Possibilities

Infinite Possibilities

An ad consisting of what looks to be like somewhat of a collage of Windows software images on the top and bottom of the poster, with a tag line in the middle.

As fas as I know, Apple has been using the collage method for quite awhile before it started to appear on Microsoft’s said poster.

App Store 500 Million Downloads

App Store 500 Million Downloads

App Store 1 Billion Downloads

App Store 1 Billion Downloads

App Store Turns 1

App Store Turns 1

So is Microsoft copying Apple? My take on it would have to be yes. I was a Windows user, since Vista, it has been giving me tons of problems. Problems that are better off solved with reformatting my hard drive, rather than spending countless hours going through and fixing files and registries, which is not a definite-problem-free solving method. I was convinced by a very persuasive, long time, childhood, friend, Keefe, to make the switch to a Mac. I was skeptical at first, mainly because of the price. But that bitch-ass mouth of his made me emptied my pockets to get this aesthetically pleasing piece of metal, a piece of metal that made me love computers all over again. Since the change, I never have the need to use a Windows based computer again. But under certain circumstances I will still have to face the dreaded Windows logo start button, which then I will go on ebuddy and start bitching about how my applications would crash unexpectedly. Or how it would take 3 minutes to start up Firefox because IE is piece of shit.

If Microsoft doesn’t stop with all the copycat business, we will probably be seeing things like these:

Microsoft Store Fifth Ave

Microsoft Store Fifth Ave

Zune Vending Machine

Zune Vending Machine