DEBRIS.COMgood for a laugh, or possibly an aneurysm

SF Chronicle tech columnist David Lazarus offers this skewed interpretation of the “browser war:”

Most of us would probably say that the browser war had been settled long ago, and that, for better or worse, Microsoft was the clear winner. … But AOL Time Warner’s Netscape unit apparently didn’t get the memo. …

But I have no problem acknowledging that Microsoft kicked Netscape’s butt the old-fashioned way — it built a better mousetrap. Internet Explorer is now sturdier and more functional that Netscape’s browser, and that’s why most users switched.

It is sad that this sort of misinformed opinion can get printed in a large regional newspaper. Lazarus’ view ignores critically pertinent facts, and draws a conclusion that is most likely untrue: he claims that users “switched” to IE, when in fact it is more likely that the vast majority never bothered to try Navigator in the first place, because it did not come preinstalled on the system.

One of the key complaints in the DoJ’s suit against Microsoft was that MS forced each of its system vendors to bundle IE with the OS, or risk losing their status as Windows licensee. (See Wired’s timeline of the US vs Microsoft trial, item 10/27/97.) In contrast, PC vendors had no compulsion to bundle Navigator, and according to some reports were pressured by Microsoft not to install Navigator.

Remember, too, that MS offered to sacrifice MSN to AOL if AOL would promote IE over Navigator. That alone accounts for a couple of million AOL users who probably didn’t have to “switch” to IE.

So, whether or not IE in 2002 (3+ years later!) is a “better mousetrap” than Navigator, Lazarus’ opinion is woefully underresearched, which is embarrassing given that Google turned up all the above-referenced documents within three search attempts.

(This weblogging thing is a whole lot easier than keeping a journal.)

The Moller Skycar: "No matter how you look at it the automobile is only an interim step on our evolutionary path to independence from gravity." (Thanks to Aaron for the link.)

The $50,000 communications satellite "PCSat" has antennas made from a metal tape measure from Home Depot. See also the PCSat site, which has photos.

Jacque Harper points out that SatireWire has a seemingly endless supply of great content today:

• Bush Faints After Choking “The” Pretzel, Not Choking “On” Pretzel
• Surprise Settlement Evenly Splits Microsoft; One Firm To Make Software, Other To Make Patches
• The Sou’wester Alliance: Afghanistan’s Forgotten Warriors

The Earth at Night — an awesome photograph (or composite) of the planet at night, depicting the spread of industrial civilization. Be sure to click the photo on the page above. This is part of NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day series. (Thanks to Chuck for the pointer.)

JWZ contributes an amusing-but-sad anecdote about public urination. I have to admit the main reason I’m mentioning that here is I’m looking forward to having lots of Google users, in a quest for “public urination” information, surf here in a few weeks.

A fantastic story of how AppleScript helped keep sensitive data from the prying eyes of a thief and helped recover a stolen iMac. (Seen at Camworld.)

How the Wayback Machine Works, an interview with Brewster Kahle about the construction of the Internet Archive’s 100-Terabyte archive of the WWW.

Scientific head-scratchers survive describes some common phenomena that you’d think we can explain… but we can’t. Why do flags flap in the wind? Who said all fingerprints are really unique?

Body odor could prove stronger than looks: “Study suggests women may be able to sniff out genetically compatible mates”

I can always tell when it’s a holiday because there are three times as many people as usual at the gym. As they sweat it out, red-faced and panting, two-sizes-too-large T-shirts pulled down to cover hips packed with years of dairy-product-based abuse, I grit my teeth and conceive of what could easily be the next fad diet plan, and make me immeasurably wealthy too: The Holiday Diet! Participants can eat and drink whatever they want all year round, but on the 8-10 US work holidays that occur during the year, they must give in to the staggering guilt and show up at the local gym early in the morning and work out as hard as possible. Then, assuming they have not had a heart attack, participants can reward themselves with a huge breakfast, and then lay around the house all day in a food coma, congratulating themselves for not working out more often because it makes them feel so bad when they do.

OK, so I probably won’t make any money on it, but at least I wouldn’t have to wait in line for a treadmill.