Image via Wikipedia

IE8 is finally out, well it has been, but it now no longer has the “beta” tag. IE8 has a few upgrades from IE7 in many cases, but it has some major problems that would make it really hard for the masses to sing its praises.

We’ll look at some of the good things first. The look of IE8 doesn’t change much from IE7, so it’s not like you have to learn how to use it all over again or figure out where all the buttons are. The privacy mode is a very helpful tool because it doesn’t store any details of your browsing session, as long as it’s on.

The tab system has a new feature, color-coding. When you open a new tab by following a link on a website, it’s instantly given the same color as the parent tab, helping you keep things in order. As for now, this is where the neat things end.

As for the cons, we’ve found that IE8 is less stable then IE7, and we’re talking more than just crashes. Hang-ups seem to be frequent, to the point where you can’t even close the window. It’s kind of odd considering that IE8 only uses (18MB) of memory upon launching, compared to Firefox (26MB) and Safari 3 at (34MB), so it’s not that it’s gobbling up memory.

You’re also going to see slow page downloads somewhere around 4.3 seconds, compared to 3.4 seconds for IE7, that’s the slowest of the three major browsers. You’re probably thinking “so what? It’s one second”, but when you’re looking at the average user only spending around 9 seconds on a page before he or she bounce’s, that’s not what web designers want to hear.

A new tool that you’ll need a lot is called “Compatibility Mode,” which lets IE8 pretend its IE7. The button is located to the far right of the address bar and the reason is, for years, designers have been making two versions of their site, one that will work in IE and one for everyone else. Now with IE8 finally changing its engine, those “IE” versions wouldn’t look so hot without the use of this feature.

There is also another good reason IE8 is equipped with this feature. Big names like eBay, Apple.com, Facebook, Google, and even their own site, Microsoft.com do not render properly in IE8. Microsoft however has implemented a running table of sites that automatically falls back to “Compatibility Mode” so you won’t even see the icon when you visit these sites.

Are you excited about the new changes IE8 has made to make it more mainstream for designers and viewers? Or has it gone on too long that it just creates more problems trying to fix the existing one?

Image via CrunchBase

Below is a video, which shows the new features that will most likely be in the new iPhone 3.0 OS that will be out sometime this summer.

I didn’t catch all of the video, but I did not see anything mentioning the fact that it will have flash enabled browsers, which was at the top of many iPhone user’s wish list. I’ve heard that iPhone users will have to wait for Adobe to release that first.

A lot was crossed off the wish list with this Beta version, such as, cutting and pasting, landscape view while texting, sending images through texting and my personal favorite is being able to turn your Bluetooth on with the push of an icon instead of going through three pages in the “general settings” page!
Have an iPhone yourself? What are hoping to see from 3.0 when it is released this summer?

Image via Wikipedia

In the past, IBM has mostly focused its acquisition efforts on companies that will bolster its software and services businesses, rather than its hardware, but that may change. IBM is currently in talks to acquire Sun Microsystems offering to pay Sun at least $6.5 billion, or double Sun’s Tuesday closing price of $4.97, according to a report on Reuters.

If the two companies can reach a deal, it will be IBM’s largest-ever acquisition, pushing the company to the forefront of the high-end computer server market. Many analysts see the potential deal as a recent trend in consolidating major brands, where server equipment providers such as Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Cisco Systems compete for the lucrative corporate data center market to supply network equipment to high-end computers.

It has long been speculated that Sun would be bought out by a major IT company, and the company has been seeking a buyer in recent months, according to bankers. So far, IBM is leading the data center market as top supplier of servers in the fourth quarter of 2008, with a market share of 36.3 percent, says market researcher IDC.

Trailing behind in second place is HP with 29.0 percent, followed by Dell with 10.6 percent, Sun with 9.3 percent, and Fujitsu with 4.2 percent.
With Sun’s shares falling 71% in the past year, it says it would soon be cutting around 6,000 jobs, or 18 percent of its workforce.

Image via Wikipedia

IT managers are running out of space not only in London, where space is at a premium, but also in the US as a data center space shortage looms, according to Transitional Data Services Michael E Bullock, president and co-founder.

Bullock examines the escalating costs for data center space and warns those in charge of IT departments to plan for a “critical resource shortage,” lest they squander much of their budgets.

In London, England, data center space constraints have already hit, where the city’s facilities are more than 85 percent full, resulting in lease costs doubling in just the last 12 months. In May 2008, London’s electricity supplier halted data center building in preparation for the 2012 Olympics to limit data centers’ toll on London’s already-taxed grid.

Not immune from the same effects driving up prices in the UK, Bullock notes that colocation space state side in New England have increased nearly seven times over the past five years. “In the metro New York market, don’t be surprised to see prices in the $45 to $50 range,” Bullock wrote.

Bullock also debunks the myth that the economy’s downturn will drive down data center costs just like real estate prices. He explains that real estate only accounts for no more than 10 percent of a leased or newly built data center so the cost of real estate barely factors into the cost.

Image via Wikipedia

We all know the state of the global economy now a days, but despite a number of companies announcing delays of their data center construction projects, users and industry experts say that the facility buildouts are still going relatively strong. Google, Terremark Worldwide and Verne Holdings have all announce delays of their data center projects in Oklahoma, Santa Clara and Iceland, in the past few months.

According to Richard Sawyer, vice president and engineer for EYP mission critical facilities at Hewlett-Packard, construction on financial data centers has slowed down, but new government data centers buildouts continue to pick up. Companies that are directly related to government objective will soon see significant growth, says Tom Roberts, the data center facility management director for healthcare organization Trinity Health.

Roberts says that as the government continues to digitize all health information, Trinity Health will eventually have to double or triple its data center space over the next couple years.
Additionally, data center colocation continues to be a top priority.

However, there has been a shifting approach in building colocation facilities, says Jim Simonelli, APC and a member of AFCOM’s advisory board. He says that companies are more carefully planning these data centers to exact specifications, which can lead to a longer timeframe for construction.

Image via Wikipedia

There is little that Microsoft is revealing about its Windows 7 upgrade plans, although some information has come to light.  The most important is that both Windows XP and Windows Vista users will be entitled to upgrade to Windows 7.

Microsoft has not revealed a pricing structure yet but there is a strong rumor that Windows Vista users who purchase the operating system shortly before the release of Windows 7 will receive a free upgrade.

What Microsoft has officially released is that Windows XP users will get a discount when purchasing Windows 7, but will not be able to update Windows XP to Windows 7 directly.  Windows 7 is an independent install which also means that users will have to find a way to move data from the old operating system to the new one.

Windows Vista’s release reminds me of the bomb they called Windows ME.  Do you feel that Microsoft is just a money greedy company or a necessary evil?  And do you think that the Windows 7 upgrade was needed?

Related articles by Zemanta

• Does Windows 7 have too many editions? (lockergnome.com)
• 10 things Windows 7 must do to succeed (infoworld.com)
• How To Replace Windows XP With Windows 7 (ghacks.net)

BarCamp 2009 will be taking place in October and we are hoping that you and your company will be joining us as leaders and supporters of Nashville’s technology industry.  We know that cash can be hard to come up with in this economy so if you don’t have sponsorship dollars, please make time to get involved on the BarCamp Crew, speak or participate in any way possible.

Giving back to our community is the best way to ensure that we have what Nashville needs to continue to grow.

Thank you to all the PodCamp volunteers who will help make tomorrow the most successful PodCamp Nashville event yet!

See you there!

Related articles by Zemanta

• NAMM: Anybody Who Is Somebody Is Going (idiomag.com)