Watch them. Laugh.

Via SuperNews

I have taken a quick look at the data gathered by my XBLCG Report Tool and have compiled some of the more basic stats. This is based on 17 reports, 3 of which have incomplete data.

Total Downloads: 100 890
Total Purchases: 9 366

Average Downloads: 5 935
Average Purchases: 551
Average Conversion Rate: 9.28%
Average Cost: 263 MS Points

Total Gross: $25 418.10
Total Net: $17 792.64

Average Gross: $1 495.18
Average Net: $1 046.63

Microsoft
Total Net: $7 625.42
Average Net: $448.55

Thanks to all the creators who submitted reports! As I get more data I will be able to produce better views including the all important price analysis we are all wanting to see.

Disclaimer: I am not responsible for anyone who messes up their computer after reading this post. If you are someone who isn’t confident with computers, stop reading now.

It seems everytime I visit an electronic store such as Best Buy I see at least one person talking to an employee about what antivirus software is best for Windows. As an average user they are taught to fear for the safety of their bits and taught that Windows has some open door policy for attacks. The scariest part of this is that they buy this software without really looking deeper into why it exists. They figure it is an absolute necessity because everyone talks about it.

A lot of these people will end up on message boards throughout the internet stating the same thing: “My PC is so slow after only three months!!! VISTA SUCKS!” You would think it was some crazy epidemic; that Vista implodes (or explodes?) and becomes slow from too much use. At least I figure this is what some people think since most other material position in life has this characteristic.

The big thing these people don’t realize is that some software is worse than the viruses and spamware they thought it would block. Users across the globe install this software not realizing it leeches itself on tons of different events and processes on their systems. For instance, AVG will latch onto Internet Explorer to tell you whether or not links are safe! Thanks AVG for installing an inefficiency on my system! Similar software like Norton will attach itself to your email client to make sure that everything you do is virus free!

I have been antivirus and anti-spamware free for roughly seven years now. Once I gave up the idea that I needed extra protection I stopped having problems. Coincidental? I think not! This anti-* software is good for some things though: cleaning up a mess you make. So it stands that if you don’t make a mess, you won’t need the software.

I plead you to join the revolution. Educate yourself a little into how attacks happen and how you are protected by Vista itself (ie. don’t turn down UAC). Don’t click oddball links that promise you something and be concious when you are using the computer. Use things like common sense and good judgement. If a long lost buddy is sending you an email with a program in it, think twice about opening that attachment. Join the millions of people who don’t run anti-* software because they don’t need it. Join us in not dishing out millions of dollars to companies that “protect” us only to be strapped into their system.

Designing and developing a site for every single browser available is a monumental task. Hell even getting a site to work between the top four or five browsers can be a living nightmare. I am working on some new design ideas for a site and decided to put it through its paces by testing in IE7, IE8, IE8 Compat View, FireFox 3.x, Chrome and the latest version of Safari. While working on the site’s template I noticed that each browser had its own set of quirks. In fact I found that IE8 seemed to be one of the more standard browsers in that if a problem showed up elsewhere, it usually showed up in IE8.

There are a few things I learned during this process:

1. Before you get to the fancy stuff, layout your divs with some nasty backgrounds (that are distinct!) so you know exactly where and how each one is being rendered. You can also use web developer extensions for the browsers, but I find these do not persist across page posts. For example the web developer plugin for FireFox will reset your outlining settings when you refresh the page. Having to reset this every time you change something becomes a pain. By coloring every div, every element, you get a clear picture of what is going on.
2. li:hover, as seen in the navigation here, is fixed in IE8 RTW (Release To Web)! But not in compatibility view. This is strange however since IE7 does li:hover elements just dandy.
3. Margins can suck it. Apparently when you have a div (div A) within a div (div B) and set a top margin on div A, it affects the top margin of div B. This seems retarded to me, but if you set a top and bottom padding of 1 pixel on div B, all is swell again (except in IE7). If you remove the margin and use a padding in div A, you get the desire results.
4. Extra Spaces suck too. The hardest part of developing for multiple browsers is hunting down the odd spaces that show up where you don’t think they will pop up. It could be due to how you have your paddings and margins setup on touching divs, but trust me when I say that these spaces will be the end of every web designer.
5. Standards mean nothing unless every browser follows them strictly! Why does IE8 have a compatibility view? Screw it, and screw every other browser’s quirks too. If a standards body is created and designs a set of rules for the browsers’ rendering system to follow, they should make sure they follow them exactly. That is why they are called standards right? They aren’t “guidelines you should follow to make developers’ lives easier but don’t really have to follow them because the developer doesn’t really care that much!”