Whatever happened to open-source projects being released according to development readiness, rather than an arbitrary release schedule? Mozilla seems to have forgotten this, with the New York Times reporting that the upcoming Firefox 3.0 set to ship with only 20% of its remaining 700 “blocker” (serious enough to justify postponing a release) bugs resolved before it ships.
Of course, Mozilla has already fixed over 11,000 bugs, according to Mozilla developer Asa Dotzler. Even so, that doesn’t answer the apparent fact that the Firefox development community is planning to ship a product before a wide range of known blocker bugs are resolved. (Firefox 3 meeting notes can be perused here.)
For now, the mountain to climb appears quite high, as the New York Times notes:
As Mozilla pushes to post Beta 1 of Firefox 3.0, it has asked developers to prioritize already-identified bugs so that the most important can be fixed. But according to notes of yesterday’s Firefox 3.0 status meeting, that will leave about eight in 10 [remaining] bugs untouched.
“We have 700 bugs currently marked as blockers,” the notes read. “That’s too many. We’re asking [requiring] component owners to set priorities on blockers, as a first pass of what bugs should be Beta 2 blockers. You want it to be about 10% of blockers, or what you can get done in four weeks.”
On the positive side (and I mean that sincerely), Firefox 3.0 continues to miss its stated deadlines. I think this is good. It means that, in fact, Mozilla is prepared to put quality of code before an arbitrary release schedule. My life will go on if I continue using Firefox 2.0. In fact, Firefox 2.0 works exceptionally well.
What I don’t want is to transition to a presumably “ready” Firefox 3.0 only to have it routinely die on me. Fix the bugs first, Mozilla. There’s just no need to hurry the release.
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According to a new study by Barracuda Networks, a manufacturer of security, software and hardware, stated that more than 50% of all businesses block MySpace and Facebook from their employees for many reasons.
The two highest reason are for security and productivity.
Dean Drako, the president and CEO of Barracuda stated that companies block MySpace, and Facebook 70% of the time due to security concerns. They block them 52% of the time due to producitvity concerns.
Nearly 25% of all companies block MySpace.
The study was done to look at data from more than 2,000 customers of the Barracuda Web Filter program. Barracuda as a company itself blocks both MySpace and Facebook.
Lew Maltby of the National Workrights Institute of Princeton, New Jersey stated “The fact that so many companies are blocking social-networking sites doesn’t particularly bother me. Companies onviously have the right to make sure that their employees are being productive.”
Drako stated “Spyware is a major concern. Although the full implications of spyware are not always understood, many customers worry about spyware effects on productivity and security, and therefore want protection.”
Maltby stated “It’s unrealistic to expect that employees won’t do any personal Web surfing at work.”
It seems that MySpace and other social networking sites such as Facebook are huge time-wasters in the workplace. The key according to Maltby is to allow web surfing, but to restrict certain sites such as these.
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With Windows still managing to find its way to over 95 percent of the desktop computers sold each year, it’s not surprising that one can find plenty of people interested in giving their feedback about what future versions of Windows should be able to do. A few years ago, before Windows Vista had even shipped, Microsoft sent out a wish list form asking people what features they would like to see in the next version of Windows, currently code-named Windows 7. The top wished-for features in this list were recently leaked to the public and have popped up at various sites (e.g., Neowin). While anonymous sources at Microsoft tell us that they bear no relationship to the actual feature set Microsoft is currently writing for Windows 7, the list does provide interesting insight into what the Windows-using public most wants from Windows.
The features are listed in no particular order, but they break down into various categories depending on what part of Windows the feature request falls under. Many requests for improvements in Internet Explorer, such as a session restore function, are fairly obvious wishes for features that already exist in competitive products such as Firefox and Opera. Other suggestions, such as a tabbed Windows Explorer, look for features from web browsers to migrate into the general user interface.
Some of the feature requests are clearly unrealistic, such as the desire to “back up” Xbox 360 games to the PC (yeah, I don’t think Microsoft will be doing that one). Others are minor user interface enhancements that would be nice additions but wouldn’t really change the Windows experience, such as a progress bar when hibernating the system. However, there are a few that make good sense and would be welcome additions to the operating system, such as a built-in video and audio codec manager.
A Windows 7 insider who wishes to remain anonymous told Ars that the leaked feature list was gathered before any real development on Windows 7 was started, and readers should not expect to see requests from the list necessarily implemented in Microsoft’s next major Windows release.
The Windows 7 team was directed to look at all major desktop operating systems, including the latest Linux distributions and Apple’s OS X Leopard, but this was more for general impressions than to look for specific features to implement. Development of Windows 7, which is being built off the Windows Vista code base, is apparently proceeding at a fairly brisk pace, with about half of the desired features already implemented. Unlike the tortuous development process for Windows Vista, the Windows 7 team is actually ahead of schedule at this point, although as with all major software projects, this may not last.
One thing that Windows 7 is likely to contain is a new look for the user interface. The same Microsoft insider told Ars that several options are currently being considered, with the general goal being a cleaner look rather than adding on more gloss and shine. Of course, this too could change before Windows 7 hits the shelves. Microsoft has not committed to a firm release date for Windows 7, but a target date of somewhere between late 2009 and early 2010 is the current goal.
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