Gettin' Geeky 1: Personal to-do list

Personal to-do list:

Deadline: Whenever.

- Install second hard drive (has Windows XP), put it in lede position. Reconfigure Grub boot loader. Partition; XP may get 10 gigabytes if I'm feeling generous. Use the rest for experiments.

- Install Vector Linux 5.9 on back end of "new" hard drive. Test it; potential blog TK. Want to pay attention to how it handles wireless; was a deal-breaker in v. 5.8. Potential blog entry?

- Check out website on getting Chrome to work through WINE emulator. Maybe give that a shot?

Google Chrome license agreement fixed

Update on Google Chrome: The End User License Agreement has been fixed to remove the most objectionable qualities (the ones I mentioned in previous posts).

This looks a whole lot better. (This is taken from the download page, as you can see from the "accept and install" button.)

Personal footnote: Nealy all of the software I use is under the GNU GPL, what the folks there call a "copyleft." So, to me, the Chrome EULA seems a little heavy, but it wouldn't be if you're used to using proprietary software anyway.

(Still waiting for the Linux version of Chrome; I must test it out.)

Some stats ... 'cause I can

Just for giggles, I was able to compile stats of the last 50 people who browsed on the sister site, The Column Reloaded, to illustrate which operating systems and Web browsers are being used by my readers.

Operating systems:

4 used Windows Vista.
38 used Windows XP.
7 used Apple OSX.
1 used what was called an "unrecognized" operating system.

Web browsers:

22 used Internet Explorer. Of those, 13 used version 7.0, and nine ran 6.0.

22 used Firefox. Of these, 16 used version 3.0, five were on 2.0, and one used version 1.5. Interestingly, that one was running the unrecognized OS.

6 used Safari.

(I used The Column, Reloaded because this tech blog is too new to generate any meaningful statistics.)

My blog is certainly not a real good sample of what people are using in their computers. In fact the numbers are practically useless, though they are interesting.

Interesting that Vista hasn't shown up more in my readership; I'd figured with all that hype somebody would have bought the system. But even brand-new, made-for-Vista-with-the-system-preloaded can be downgraded to XP, and I understand quite a few people have gone that route.

Being a dyed-in-the-wool Linux user, I'm disappointed there are no fellow penguinistas in the mix.

If I was a betting man, I'd say that "unrecognized" operating system is a BSD type. More of an industrial-strength UNIX, largely unknown among the masses but there's a following there. I'd fooled with BSD systems here and there, but really little more than a test drive. (Linux, too, is built from a UNIX base, and OSX -- the MacIntosh system -- has its roots in BSD.)

I'm intrigued by that even split between Firefox and IE. Now that's a real anomaly; in the real world Firefox doesn't have that big a market share. Most computer users, I'm afraid, think that big "e" icon on the desktop means Internet.

I'm also surprised no one was using Opera. I've run that off and on, and always liked it. It's fast, but you can't add all those extensions like you can with Firefox.

As for myself, I'm using a Debian Gnu/Linux derivative, with the Sid (unstable -- bleeding edge) build. To surf the Web I'm using Iceweasel, an unbranded version of Firefox 3.0.

Where did I get my statistics? Through Feedjit, which provided that "Playing In Traffic" box on this site. Another of those cool tools every blogger should have.

Google promises privacy fixes in Chrome

Google is taking steps to mask the identities of those who use the new Chrome browser, the Washington Post reported.

According to Jane Horvath of Google, the company -- which dominates the Internet search world (when people do a Web search they're more likely to say they're "googling" it, making the company name into a verb) -- will anonymize IP addresses and cookies in the interest of privacy.

The privacy issue has been a major one on the Internet, and intensified as Google released the browser last week.

"My main concern is the ability to collect users' Web addresses, and
therefore your complete surfing on the Web could be tracked," Germany's
data protection commissioner, Peter Schaar, said of Chrome. "The Web
is, in fact, a second life. A virtual mirror of one's real life, with
information about one's interests, activities, perhaps sexual
orientation."


All of which is true. If you want to stay totally private, forget the Internet. The question, though, is whether the browser will make that much difference.

=========

Meanwhile, columnist Gary Cutlack of Tech Digest suggested there's little difference between Google Chrome and the Firefox browser -- some of the Chrome features that turned his head were already in Firefox, except he had to hunt for them.

"All Google's effort has done is left me appreciating Firefox even
more, and extra-extra confused about why Google has gone to so much
effort to put out a product so incredibly similar to its rivals," he wrote. "So
thanks very much, Google. You've made me bring my browsing habits bang
up to date. I'll remember to click on a few of your adverts some time
as a thank you."

OK. Bottom line here. Am I going to try Chrome when the Linux version comes out? Of course. If for no other reason than to satisfy my own curiosity, I must give it a shot.

Am I going to like Chrome? Hard to tell, though probably not. For me, the selling point will be its speed. Firefox occasionally blows up real big in memory, especially when I have a lot of browser tabs open. That, and whether the privacy issues and license agreement are ironed out.

License agreement for Chrome has ugly aspects

With all the publicity of Google's new Chrome browser, there are a few issues that are turning up.

There seems to be a security vulnerability with it, as outlined in Infoworld. It can be serious especially if you're not all that computer savvy.

"... serious vulnerability could result in Chrome users downloading malicious code. The problem is due, in part, to the fact that Google uses an older version of WebKit, the open-source browser technology also used in Apple's Safari browser, that includes the vulnerability."

OK. Chrome is in beta, meaning it's still being fixed. Allegedly.

But there's something even more serious. The End User License Agreement (EULA), which is all that fine print you usually ignore when you download something, has some really ugly problems.

An example is with the rights to anything you pass through that browser: "By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a
perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive
license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly
perform, publicly display and distribute any content which you submit,
post or display on or through, the services."

Also, Google has the right to update Chrome automatically, whether you want it done or not. Shades of America Online, and more recently Windows.

From the EULA: "You agree to receive such updates (and permit Google to deliver these to you) as part of your use of the services."

Ugh.

If this EULA is a problem with you, then you just may want to stick with Firefox. Or Opera. Or Konqueror. Or Lynx. Maybe even (I must be kidding here) Internet Explorer.

I'll still check it out when it's available in Linux, but the EULA makes me nervous.

(My sources here: Slashdot and CNet.

(There probably will be more to come on this matter.)

Poll: Is "About You" freaky, or what?

OK. I did kind of put the issue of Internet security in your face here. It's a little hard to miss, those "About You" graphics at the top of this blog.

What do you think? Did they freak you out, or what? Why or why not?

Let me know by answering the poll on this site. Hey, I might even make a blog entry out of that.

OK. I'll start it off ...

Google goes Chrome

I'm watching as the new kid on the browser front, Google Chrome, makes its first real flight in the wild. I'm reading the reviews, and so far they seem pretty good. A lot faster and less memory-intensive than Firefox, the early reviewers say. As a sample, here's one from Information Week.

As soon as it's ported out to Linux, I'm going to give it a try, and you'll probably find something on it here. Stay tuned ...