Flash Player 9 Beta (Windows, Linux, OSX)
On the browser:
Dave Winer says:
Add to the list of reasons not to switch -- doesn't run on Mac OS.
I am probably wrong about this, but it seems to me that IE7 just gives us another browser to support, without giving much back in return.
Their was a site recently that I had to visit for my Visa/immigration stuff. IE6 only. I am sure if I had IE7 installed on that machine it wouldn't have worked. And its not like I had a choice about it. I can't opt to not use the site because it works with only a particular browser. I am too lazy to go about futzing with the user agent string to make the site believe that I am using IE6 (I shouldn't have to do this in the first place). Which means that I should perhaps leave a box lying around that doesn't have IE7 installed. Which sucks! Whats the point of upgrading to IE7 if you're not sure that all the sites that you have to visit will work on it. We'll have to see how it goes, but as a person who does web development, this doesn't make me happy.
Firefox 2 on the other hand is another story. I can't wait for it to come out. I want to see if it performs better on my Powerbook as opposed to 1.5. Plus the ability to specify an external RSS reader is something I've been looking forward to. Plus it will run on every system of mine (OSX, Linux/*BSD, Windows). Its not like I don't have complaints about Firefox. Each time I have firefox configured with the right extensions and preferences, the software becomes too slow for daily use on the Powerbook. Leading me to try out a whole bunch of other browsers. Camino, Safari, Webkit build of Safari, Shiira! Then back to firefox, with less extensions. Then the browser becomes slow again.
Lately I've been using Google Reader, which is an awesome aggregator, but its too damn slow in Firefox. Hence my move to Camino. Don't know how long it will last though. Firefox has way better web developer tools!
Flash Player
More cross platform video/screencast goodness. Though I must admit I prefer screencasts that are downloadable.
