Unexpected MOOX Benefit
I decided to try out the optimized MOOX Firefox builds today (I used the SSE-ready M2 build of Firefox 1.0). An interesting quirk I observed is that the text reflow bug #217527 that caused havoc on Slashdot goes away with this build. This is consistent with how timing bugs sometimes vanish, although by the same token the MOOX builds could introduce several other bugs. I have now switched off Raefer Gabriel’s Slashfix extension and Slashdot renders well again. Lucky me.
15 November 2004 3:16 pm
November 17th, 2004 at 10:32 am
I have got the 0.9.3 verion of Firefox and am delaying the ypgrade to 1/1.1 till extensions are there?
But I have to ask, is the Moox optimisation observably fast? I have got a weak system (Pentium III, 600 Mhz, 128 MB SDRAM), so I aminterested in this stuff.
Also, I must say I found your site via /. and really like your commentary as it gives me fresh perspective and you mostly touch issues that are of interest to me.
I soon look forward to your comments on the broadband rollout. (check out RIMweb for Reliance rumours,they are launching two types of services, and then there’s BSNL’s dataone)
November 17th, 2004 at 11:13 am
Thanks Ankur. I’m writing this on a Pentium III 700MHz Coppermine with 384MB RAM, it did make a difference to me (although in your case adding more RAM would help if you want to run other things in addition to Firefox).
Extensions: check out extensionmirror.nl (seems to be temporarily down now), they have repackaged many of the more useful extensions for 1.0., for example Scribe and SuperScroll.
Someone on the india-gii mailing list already noted that Reliance was offering broadband in select Bangalore localities. Lucky them, it’s not available in Chennai yet. I’d love to see 256kbps+ service around Rs 1000 per month without stupid download caps.
November 18th, 2004 at 3:06 am
Thanks about that; I am just too cheap to get more RAM. Rather save every penny of AMD 64 + nForce; eventually…
About broadband: I have read at many places that the one of the requirements about advertising broadband services is that the downloads should be unlimited. Now, that sounds almost too good to be true (this is India after all, the mentality….), but I think what many ISP’s are going to do is to stay mum about most users and go after the top 5-10% bandwidth hoggers.
Then again, I keep reading that it’s not the download as much as upload that pisses off ISPs.
Still, this would be a great improvement over the current “broadband” being offered at ridiculous caps like 0.5-2 GB per month when I can download about 3-5 GB’s of data comfortably over my trusty BSNL dial-up just by scheduling downloads at night. (No ISP charges 11-8!, and fixed monthly bill of Rs 550).
Reliance already have announced the rates on their website, I think some “taxes” may be extra. BSNL are in typical sarkari rollout mode, the bigger challenge is going to be provide/maintain the DSL service over their regular copper! I foresee much misery.
I am very concerned about the security aspect. The general IT awareness levels in India are pathetic. How many people do you think will actually have an openBSD gateway/firewall to their shiny new BSNL/Reliance connection? But who cares as long as we can download playboy videos faster….
November 21st, 2004 at 8:27 pm
But incidentally, the other Bug that I’d reported to Bugzilla still remains unfixed. Bah! And I still have the Slashdot bug - wonder why. Either way, I’ve found that when you do a Ctrl + and a Ctrl - (or vice-versa) the bug disappears.
November 23rd, 2004 at 7:17 am
broadband ????…thats a term used by reliance to fool the net users in india…read the inside story in the DIGIT magazine this month…