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Firefox Mobile - first look
Image by Dekuwa via Flickr
The application was easy to install and worked fairly smoothly - you can choose between the phone's built-in browser and Firefox. On starting Firefox there's not a hugely obvious difference between it and the phone's own browser, although Firefox looks a little better.
It's possible to swipe across the screen to get tabs (on one side) and page options (on the other). We couldn't figure out how to zoom into the text on a page - the standard double-tap didn't seem to work - but internet searching suggested we just weren't double-tapping hard enough.
Firefox Mobile allows for add-ons in the same way as its full-size sibling - you can download these from the internet, and although so far there aren't very many, they look quite useful. There's even an ad-blocker.
The password manager is particularly useful, and something that's lacking from most mobile browsers. The Awesome Bar from the standard version of Firefox has also made its way over - this allows users to search their bookmarks, history and more just by typing in what appears to be the standard address bar.
It's a shame the application is limited to two Nokia phones and a handful of others at the moment, but expect that to change soon.
Windows 7 and network file storage problems
At first glance an article about getting Windows 7 to work with the Samba file server software might seem overly techie. But this software is often used by network attached hard disks.
If you have been having problems this article from LinuxPlanet.com has some helpful hints on how to fix problems in Windows 7 by changing network settings. It seems a shame that the solution is to turn off some Windows 7 security features but, as Charlie Schluting points out, it is often not possible to upgrade the software on network attached storage devices.
There’s no getting away from non-free software
Free software evangelist Richard Stallman has written a piece about the problem of Javascript for those who want to avoid any proprietary software.
Javascript is a programming language used in web pages for anything from drop down menus to the sophisticated websites like Google Docs or Zoho.
It presents a problem because you don’t necessarily get to find out whether the Javascript code is free (available in this context) before accessing the website.
The other problem is that it is not easy to run a modified version of the program. One of Stallman’s essential software freedoms is the ability to edit software.
Part of me understands what he is saying, and even sympathises to a degree, I just think it unlikely that anything will happen.
Live CDs can be dangerous
I know I shouldn’t, but I couldn’t help laughing at this story of a server wiped by a live CD.
Sorry to sermonise, but there is one important lesson. If you do run a server, DON’T use it as an ordinary computer. It’s not worth the risk of an innocent mistake. Servers like my Excito bubba have a definite advantage in that you cannot use them as an ordinary computer; there’s no monitor or keyboard sockets so all access is remote.
On an interesting aside, Windows Server won’t let you shut down or restart the computer without giving a reason for the system log. It’s a good way of making people think before they do something.
And set up user accounts properly if you don’t want people to do things they shouldn’t.
Maybe also disable booting from CD until you need it.
They’re a lot of work these computers aren’t they?
Open office tip for hiding unwanted zeros
The Open Office help blog has an interesting tip about suppressing unwanted zeros from large spreadsheets. I’m all in favour of options like these; it makes a spreadsheet far more accessible to the people who didn’t make it and avoids the time consuming workaround of adding an IF condition to every cell.
There are also instructions for turning the zeros off when printing a document.
