April 16th 2007
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Internet, Programming, Technology
I saw in the news yesterday that Microsoft released its competitor to Adobe’s (formerly Macromedia’s) hugely successful and widely-used Flash presentation software and ActionScript scripting language. Microsoft hopes that its Windows Presentation Foundation/Everywhere, now Silverlight, will claw some market share from Flash’s monopolistic grip on the web. Employing already established JavaScript and Microsoft’s proprietary XAML language, Silverlight would seem to be something to watch, even at this early stage. Today I decided to take a go at it and see if even I could use it. I’ve had limited experience with ActionScript and XML so I wanted to to compare it to my previous experiences. Here’s how I got on.
Before you read on, to view the things I’ve made, go to the download page and download the cross-browser plugin.
Silverlight Basics
I’m not going to turn this into a tutorial on how to setup everything - it can all be found in the official SDK, also available on the download page - but I will show the XAML and relevant JavaScript files that accompany each of the things I am to show.
The SDK’s quickstart guide was a really simple and easy explanation of the process of creating very simple shapes at first. I was a little confused at first because the XAML files I create utilise the canvas tag and initially I got it mixed up with the HTML tag of the same name. Firstly you create the canvas you’re going to ‘draw’ in. [Nearly] everything else goes inside this. The layers on the canvas, or z-index, are defined by the order the objects are created - those created later on in the script are on the top layers.
My first foray into it was a simple monochrome target which just created several ellipses in each other with the smallest one having a border instead of a fill. Here’s the .xaml file:
You can view the example’s finished product if you have the plugin installed.
Using Images
Next I did a bit of playing around with images. There are several ways you can use images on your canvas which include using them as a filling for an object or importing them on their own. In this example, I’ve created a rectangle and used an image of a pound coin and then overlayed it with 4 rectangles of differing colours with an opacity set. Along side it, I’ve added a gradient overlay to the image.
You can view the example’s finished product if you have the plugin installed.
Adding Multimedia
Adding media like music and video is incredibly easy for beginners to grasp. A single deceleration is used for both music as well as video which is rather handy. Controlling the media object is also incredibly easy and my quick look over the documentation for the MediaElement object showed a lot of options are available for controlling it. Firstly I tried just simply embedding a sound:
Next, I added the parameter to stop it automatically playing when loaded and added the controls for stop, pause and play the file. These controls also work with video media, as shown in the quick start guide provided in the SDK. The code involved this XAML code and the following JavaScript.
And this JavaScript, inserted either in the head of the page or an external JavaScript file:
You can view the example’s finished product if you have the plugin installed. Click the play, pause and stop buttons to test it out.
Lighting up the web?
Obviously I have to take into account the infancy in terms of development of Silverlight but it’s wide array of features is quite appealing. It took me a quarter of the time to stream a video in Silverlight than it did to do it manually in Flash via ActionScript. At the moment, Silverlight isn’t anywhere near Flash in terms of functionality but even at this early stage it does have some advantages over Flash in terms of the time saving it allows.
I’ve quite enjoyed doing some stuff in it and I’m sure that the abilities of Silverlight go far beyond drawing circles and streaming media. One nice example of the capabilities is this page turning program and this interactive WYSIWYG editor. For me it still feels like it’s a glorified version of the HTML canvas element with some JavaScript added. It doesn’t feel smooth like Flash and currently feels slightly buggy and laggy but I hope this will change in future revisions.
I’ve enjoyed using HTML, XAML and JavaScript and I think that it will eventually catch on - if it doesn’t then Microsoft will probably force it on us in some way. At the moment the plugin is available for both Windows and OSX but I hope Microsoft don’t make the mistake Adobe made by not keeping the Linux community up to date. Try it out.
April 14th 2007
Internet, Technology
Yesterday, a friend pointed me to Blogmusik and I’m glad he did. The new look version officially launched on the 9th of April, Blogmusik is a free and on demand music player already with a huge following and even more planned upgrades. Unlike Pandora which provides you with music recommended to you via the types of music you like, Blogmusik is a straight forward search and play service.
Although the functionality of the service is some what limited at the moment, the dream is there with custom playlists, the ability to upload your own songs and even more in the pipeline. If the ability to add songs or albums to playlists is there, I can’t find it and it may be due to the rather unintuitive user interface on some points.
The song database is actually quite varied. From ‘Beautiful World’ by Colin Hay to Counting Crow’s cover of ‘Big Yellow Taxi’. There’s some recent artists such as Mika and Fall Out Boy as well as some golden oldies like Elvis and Lulu.
The site’s legal stance basically allows them to escape any blame if organisations such as the RIAA, BPI or IFPI came a knocking on their door. All the blame is placed on the user - you and me. I’m not going to go into the legality of the service - you can make your own mind up whether or not you want to use it. But, it’s a nice ‘jukebox’ service and helped me dig up some songs I’d long forgotten but wanted to hear again.
January 31st 2007
Life, News, Technology
So, Microsoft’s next version of its popular Windows operating system, Vista, has officially been released. Hundreds of millions on pounds have been spent in the UK alone advertising and promoting it and Bill Gates certainly seems very excited about it. But, is all the hype about Vista really going to encourage people to buy it? Is all the over-promotion going to make consumers look past the hefty price tag, costly minimum requirements and insane restrictions applied to the software? My opinion says yes.
Windows Vista has been five years in the making with over 1 billion beta testers during this time and 140 families from seven countries helping to make Vista the most tested operating system ever made by Microsoft. It’s the safest operating system they’ve ever made and probably the operating system that has been in the public spotlight the most. Vista has relatively high hardware requirements to run its most advertised features such as the Aero theme and it’s Media Centre add-on.
Sky’s the Price
There are several different versions of Windows Vista - and even more here in Europe (N versions) - and each has their own feature set. There’s Home Basic, Home Premium, Business and Ultimate each increasing in price and features. A comparison chart can be found at the official website. The prices for retail editions range from £180 for Home Basic up to £370 for Ultimate. I personally will not be paying over £300 for an operating system and I don’t think the average consumer would knowingly either. The average consumer would just have bought a new computer, most likely especially for Vista, and spending maybe half of the new systems cost on the operating system seems insane to me.
Unlike most consumers, I know about OEM versions of the operating system. Although, as with XP, there is a severe limitation on how many times you can install the software, the price is under half of the retail price - a very good incentive. But, as you can only install it on one computer it means that the computer I install it on would have to be a new one. This is the main reason why I have no plans to purchase Vista just yet.
Hefty Requirements
Vista demands more from the hardware than ever before with the recommended requirements now pushing up the standard configuration you’ll find in laptops and desktops you can buy in high street shops. This also means increased prices for the average consumer - he or she won’t build their own computer; they’re more likely to turn to Dell or take a trip down to their local PC World store or Currys.
Most computers bought in the last three or four years will run Vista without a sweat but for those without a computer or those with computers that are not up to the challenge will either have to buy a brand new computer or upgrade their current configuration - most consumers won’t consider upgrading it themselves and most will see buying a new system as the easiest and sometimes cheapest option although this is not always the case.
Brainwashed Buyers
Microsoft have made a lot of public fuss about Vista and by rights they should be able to celebrate a project that has finally materialised after over five years of development. I feel though that there is a more sinister objective in Microsoft’s efforts to spread the word. The aim for every business is to maximise their profits and I think that Microsoft is sort of pushing information at its discretion into the public’s ear. 
For example if consumers do buy from a company such as Dell or Ginger6 then they cannot reinstall Vista on a different computer due to the restrictions on it. Consumers seem to not know this and when the time comes, they’re going to wonder why they ever spent £300 on it.
My Thoughts
There are several reasons why I have no plans to buy Vista in the near future. Personally, the price isn’t really an issue with me. I would go and buy an OEM version of Home Premium or Ultimate tomorrow but my main reasons lay with my current hardware configuration. I don’t want to buy Vista and install it on a computer that I think isn’t quite up to the job. My current rig will run Vista, as I have been doing with a few of the beta versions, but I don’t want to install it on outdated hardware.
Vista seems to have me asking myself whether to buy a new computer system or upgrade my current one. I don’t know why I am even asking myself this as I have a perfectly good computer that does what I need it to do and more. There are not much benefits to upgrading to Vista and those that do make it worth while can be achieved on XP with a little extra work.
Microsoft’s made a big effort to get the word out about Vista and I think all their marketing efforts will be rewarded but I fear that spending £370 on an operating system that is to be eclipsed by the next version in 5 years time is just not worth it. Spending maybe £500 on a new computer just for Vista isn’t worth it - there has to be some other reason too, not just because you want Vista.
January 15th 2007
Internet, Life, Technology
Today I came across a search service that I’d never heard about before. Although it was pointed out to me as a way of completing my ICT task with ease, ChaCha has got my attention and has fascinated me. ChaCha gives you the option to search the web with a guide - another person who is payed to quickly assist you in your quest to find what you want. I don’t know of any other service that actually puts you in contact with another human who will help you search - and for free. There’s also the option just to search the web normally but I think in some situations, ChaCha could be an invaluable tool for some people with little time and with little patience.
About ChaCha
ChaCha was launched late last year and has grown to a company with thousands of guides. The basic principle of it is that you search for whatever and you’re connected to a guide who is experienced in searching on that particular topic. He or she provides a number of links for you which they deem most likely to be what you want. When you’ve got the information you wanted, you then have to rate the guide - either good, okay or bad. Hence why they’ll always be nice to you. This service is free.
The ChaCha Experience
I’ve been playing with ChaCha for a few hours now and I am a little impressed with the service. When I first used it I thought that it would be much easier just to search for the things myself. Although this was true in some respects, in others it wasn’t. The times when the service was most useful was when I was searching for a particular type of document or a website for a company or organisation that isn’t well known. I tried searching for the same things with Google and it took me quite a bit longer to find the same documents they had provided me. Other requests such as the website for Dell and Microsoft was a waste of time.
All the guides that I used were very friendly and actually used proper English unlike other live chat applications I’ve used (ahem Dell, Linksys). Another plus about this service is that is leaves you to do other things while the guide is fetching your results. This could be particularly useful in the workplace and I found it useful searching for sample business plans during ICT class.
Final Thoughts
As it’s a free service, it must get most, if not all, of it’s earnings from advertising displayed next to the search results. This, I would imagine, would not provide a lot of money for them so I think that there will have to be a limit to the number of guides they hire. At $5 to $10 an hour, they get payed a reasonable amount for what they do but the limiting of the number of guides leads to another problem. If ChaCha gets extremely popular then there won’t be enough guides to satisfy the number of requests; and as being a guide is supposed to be a part time appointment, the number available will be even lower. This will not please the users.
As I said earlier, ChaCha is both a normal search engine and a search engine made personal. I don’t think Google or Yahoo have anything to worry about any time soon but I do feel that ChaCha is a very useful outlet to find specialised items of interest and is a lot quicker than searching for them yourself. Try it out for yourself. You’ll obviously get a varied response because there are many guides waiting to help you but give it a go and leave a comment.
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