An experiment, life without Java
Today I was reading about some of the security concerns with running Java. Source
What I had not anticipated was quite how much of my daily web surfing would be affected. A lot of stuff is just broken, missing features and in some cases your right out of luck. Looking at GMail it’s like I have been transported back in time, Calendar just wont work and most of the web based services I have become attached to simply don’t work.
This has gotten me thinking, how did I use my computer and what was my relationship with the internet ten years ago. Well I had broadband but it was one hell of a lot slower back then. I’m trying to remember, maybe 512k? Sure as heck not the 75Meg I get today!
What we did then was to use different programs for different tasks. These days it the web browser for a whole chunk of stuff. So if I’m not to use my web browser for anything but browsing the web, I need to find applications to replace all of these features.
Firstly email, there is of course Thunderbird, I was a user of it back in the day. Then I got thinking about what a friend of mine said recently. He has started using as much MS stuff as possible. Doing his best to use MS unless MS don’t make an alternative. He mentioned something about stability, speed and some other stuff I don’t remember. So with this in mind back to the choice of email client, Windows Live Mail it is then.
In fact the Windows Live Essentials pack solves a few issues in one go. As well as the Mail client with calendar built in there is also what I’m typing this blog post on, Windows Live Writer. I already use SkyDrive and the movie maker for my YouTube stuff.
The only things left out are the family security and messenger. I figure I’m a middle-aged geek and don’t need the family security on my workstation. Along with Apple’s iTunes any form of MS messenger will never see a hard drive of any computer I own! I’m not against Instant messaging just MS messenger, ICQ went the same way many years ago.
The mail client grabbed my Gmail account right away as I use my Gmail address as my login with MS services. The one thing I have found a little odd is I also have an Outlook.com email address, and this MS product has no idea how to handle it. Funny how I don’t have to know the pop server for Gmail but Microsoft’s own email servers it knows nothing about, well it made me smile…
Next the biggie, the elephant in the room, Internet Explorer! It has been so many years, ridiculing others that use IE. High brow geek sniggering at the thought of it. LifeHacker attempted some months back attempted to tell the wider geekdom that IE wasn’t all bad. Internet Explorer Doesn’t Suck?
So a return to IE, can I survive without my Google Chrome? Well first off IE doesn't have any of my bookmarks, or should I call them Favourites? Good old XMarks to the rescue, the bookmark’s it has are a little old now as it’s the first time I have used it for a while. Come to think about it, quite a while as Chrome and Firefox both save their own data.
So the experiment will continue, I will do my best to use MS where ever possible, and to return to the origin of this post life without Java…
