Jon Peltier takes the data I published last week on browser trends and gives it a visual makeover:

Where do you think a “time line” got its name? Use a line chart. At a glance you see all of the data, using a single pair of axis scales. It’s obvious that Ed looked at data at irregular intervals, first six months, then twelve. Probably not relevant to the final analysis, but good to show it. You can also see the increase in Chrome that corresponds to the decline in IE and Firefox.

Here’s one of the charts Jon came up with:

Nicely done, and it’s worth going to the source to read the whole thing (keep reading when you get to the comments, because there are some updated charts there too). And the whole topic is apropos, as I’ll be diving into the Excel section of Office 2010 Inside Out beginning next week.

I’ve read an awful lot of truly bad April Fool’s Day jokes today, with a few brilliant ones mixed in. So why do I wish every day could be like April Fools Day?

Because we’re all skeptics on April 1. When you read a story online today, your first thought is probably “Is that really true?”

Frankly, that’s the reaction I wish more people had every single time they read something on the Internet, 365 days a year. Healthy skepticism is a good thing. If more reporters would check their facts instead of blindly regurgitating whatever they just read, the pool of information we all share would become immensely more worthwhile.

Meanwhile, here’s my contribution to the April Fools Day madness, over at ZDNet:

Save Windows XP? Ha! I have an even better idea

At my editor’s insistence, I put a big April Fools banner at the top of the post, and still—still!—some people thought I was seriously arguing that Microsoft should bring back Windows 3.1.

After I posted this, I heard from a reader who said he still has a PC running Windows 3.11 with AOL 3.0. “Really?” I said. “Can I get a picture?” No problem:

A few minutes later, I received the e-mail message that had been captured on this screen. The message headers contained a line I hadn’t seen in over a decade:

X-Mailer: AOL 3.0 16-bit for Windows sub 60

How awesome is that?

By the way, if you have a TechNet subscription, you can download Windows 3.1, 3.11, or 3.2 along with MS-DOS 6.22. Trying to run that old stuff on a modern machine is a problem, though. For starters, you need a floppy disk drive. And a floppy disk. And given that the operating system was designed for a time when 4 MB of RAM was a lot, it tends to freak out when it sees 1000 times that much installed RAM.

Honestly, I don’t want to go back to those days, but it was fun seeing this.

Who knew this book-writing stuff was so time-consuming?

While I’m heads-down over in the corner here, please enjoy the latest installment of Wondermark, by David Malki, which you should all be reading regularly:

Back shortly.

I haven’t taken a close look at this site’s browser stats in nearly two years. The last time I looked was in mid-2008, shortly after the release of Firefox 3. At that time, Internet Explorer had a 57% share among visitors to this site and Firefox was just over 38%, with Safari and Opera fighting for scraps.

Things have changed a lot since then. Firefox is now up to version 3.6. Microsoft released Internet Explorer 8 roughly a year ago. And most important of all, Google Chrome entered the lineup. Google has a hit on its hands, and according to my stats Chrome’s success is coming at the direct expense of not just Internet Explorer but also Firefox.

To see the trends, I looked at three separate snapshots covering fall 2008, early 2009, and early 2010. Each snapshot was 30 days in length and included a minimum of 100,000 site visits.

Continue reading “Chrome takes a bite out of IE and Firefox” →

I remember hearing about Calista Technologies when Microsoft bought the company a couple years back. It looks like their work is about to see the light of day. This post from the Windows Virtualization Team Blog explains:

With Microsoft RemoteFX, users will be able to work remotely in a Windows Aero desktop environment, watch full-motion video, enjoy Silverlight animations, and run 3D applications – all with the fidelity of a local-like performance when connecting over the LAN. Their desktops are actually hosted in the data center as part of a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) or a session virtualization environment (formerly known as Terminal Services). With RemoteFX, these users will be able to access their workspace via a standard [Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP)] connection from a broad range of client devices – rich PCs, thin clients and very simple, low-cost devices.

[…]

RemoteFX is not a new standalone product from Microsoft. Rather, it describes a set of RDP technologies – most prominently graphics virtualization and the use of advanced codes – that are being added to Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1; these technologies are based on the IP that Microsoft acquired and continued to develop since acquiring Calista Technologies…

The idea that your PC and its full computational resources can be available to you anywhere is really exciting. Can’t wait to see this stuff close up.

 

This hit my mailbox earlier this week but I’m just getting around to passing it along.

Ceton Corporation’s eagerly awaited quad digital cable tuner technology is delayed. The new date for retail availability is now May 31 (two months later than the previously announced date of March 31.

If you want to get one of the first units from the first production run, you can pre-order the  InfiniTV 4 now from any of the following retail outlets:

• Cannon PC
• Fluid Digital
• Zones.com

According to Ceton, all three outlets will require a valid credit card to place the order, although the card will not be charged until units ship on May 31. Don’t expect any discounts from the full retail price of $399 (plus shipping and taxes).

I’m curious from looking at this unit whether it will work in a low profile chassis. I’m also awaiting the first reviews. Has anyone actually gotten their hands on one yet?

I’m here in Las Vegas at the Microsoft MIX10 conference with some fellow Microsoft bloggers. Follow along as we liveblog the Day 1 keynote.

I laughed until I cried at the latest Wondermark:

Update: Thanks for all the inquiries, folks. This one is sold!

I’ve got a Dell Latitude XT, purchased in November 2008 that’s looking for a home.

Very thin, very light (3.5 pounds). Convertible form factor, with 12-inch 1280×800 screen. Core 2 Duo 1330 CPU, 3GB RAM, 80GB hard drive, Windows 7 Professional, all the latest drivers, very lightly used (I’ve replaced with a Latitude XT2). Under warranty until November 2011.

Pictures and specs are available the Dell Outlet site here. Similar configurations sell as refurbs at Dell Outlet for $850+.

 My price for this unit is $680, including shipping (US only).

If you’re interested, leave a comment below, including your real e-mail address (it won’t be published), or use my Contact form.

Are you ready to spring forward? In the U.S., at least, Daylight Saving Time begins this weekend.

I know because Windows told me so:

Gosh, it seems like only yesterday that we were falling back.

It’s hard to get used to this earlier start for DST.