Reviewing articles
h3rald h3rald@h3rald.com
Sat, 16 Mar 2024 19:35:22 +0100
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</section> <section class="section"> <header> - <h1 id="h_2" class="toc">Using the Computer and the Internet</h1> + <h3 id="h_2" class="toc">Using the Computer and the Internet</h3> </header> <p>Back to that amazing and weird magic box called computer: I immediately enjoyed experimenting new stuff, playing with Windows (for me the word “Linux” at the time would have sounded not too different@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@
</section> <section class="section"> <header> - <h1 id="h_3" class="toc">The Pre-academic Period</h1> + <h3 id="h_3" class="toc">The Pre-academic Period</h3> </header> <p>In the meantime I was studying in a Liceo Scientifico, a kind of scientific high school where basically they make you study all sort of subjects (from geography, to maths to phylosopy, to Latin) mainly focusing@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@
</section> <section class="section"> <header> - <h1 id="h_4" class="toc">Alice in Wonderland</h1> + <h3 id="h_4" class="toc">Alice in Wonderland</h3> </header> <p>That was it, I remember exactly when I went to sign my pre-enrollment papers: IT Engineering. I was so happy to have made it! Now finally I would have studied what I was meant to.</p>@@ -201,7 +201,7 @@
</section> <section class="section"> <header> - <h1 id="h_5" class="toc">The Vanishing Cheshire Cat</h1> + <h3 id="h_5" class="toc">The Vanishing Cheshire Cat</h3> </header> <p>Up to today I could leave with it, I knew that abroad the situation was hopefully different, but I started to cope with the fact that I would have got my B. Sc. and in addition I knew more stuff than some of the others
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----- <p>This summer I finally had a chance to spend <em>a whole week</em> in London. The city itself was not new to me, since I visited it 6 times before this one, but this summer was different, in a word: Roxy (my fiancee)'s brother - Caspar was happy to host us at his place, for free.<a name="top"></a></p> -<h3>Table of Contents</h3> -<ul> - <li><a href="#pre">Preamble</a></li> - <li><a href="#trans">Transportation</a> - <ul> - <li><a href="#planes">Planes</a></li> - <li><a href="#trains">Trains, coaches and cabs</a></li> - <li><a href="#tube">The tube and buses</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li><a href="#food">Food</a> - <ul> - <li><a href="#rubbish">Rubbish Food</a></li> - <li><a href="#healthy">Healthy Food</a></li> - <li><a href="#brick">Brick Lane</a></li> - </ul> - </li> - <li><a href="#enter">Entertainment</a> - <ul> - <li><a href="#club">Clubbing</a></li> - <li><a href="#museums">Museums</a></li> - <li><a href="#theatres">Theatres</a></li> - <li><a href="#shop">Shopping</a></li> - </ul> - </li> -</ul> -<p><a name="pre"></a> <a href="#top">[Back to Top]</a></p> + Caspar was happy to host us at his place, for free. + <h3>Preamble</h3> <p>This summer I finally had a chance to spend <em>a whole week</em> in London. The city itself was not new to me, since I visited it 6 times before this one, but this summer was different, in a word: Roxy (my fiancee)'s brother@@ -46,12 +20,12 @@ news is that this Guide, although already lacking a lot of information (try describing everything you can do in
London in a single, not-too-boring article), will not contain any particular hints and tips on how to find accommodation in one of the most interesting cities in Europe – unless of course you get to stay at Caspar's place.</p> -<p><a name="trans"></a> <a href="#top">[Back to Top]</a></p> + <h3>Transportation</h3> <p>Getting there is relatively easy and if you come from Europe there's a quick answer to the universal traveller's question:</p> <p><em>“Is there any cheap, reliable and on-time airline?”</em></p> -<p><a name="planes"></a> <a href="#top">[Back to Top]</a></p> + <h4>Planes</h4> <p>Yes, there is. Apparently some Irish man thought he could make millions by buying loads of Boeing 737-800 and selling cheap flight tickets to everyone going to or from London, and he actually did. <a@@ -69,7 +43,7 @@ </p>
<p>Luggage check? Not bad, unless you plan to arrive or depart right after an unfoiled bomb plot like I did: I had to take off my shoes, got checked everywhere, they emptied out my hand luggage, turned on and off my laptop and confiscated my gel-ink pen. Way to go!</p> -<p><a name="trains"></a> <a href="#top">[Back to Top]</a></p> + <h4>Trains, coaches and cabs</h4> <p style="float:left;"><img src="/images/pictures/london/cab.jpg" alt="" /></p> <p>The next question of the London newbie arriving in Stansted airport is:</p>@@ -97,7 +71,7 @@ Me: “Bye”</p>
<p>Just an unregistered cab driver. There are apparently millions around and they can spot a foreigner (especially Italians, it seems) from miles. Be prepared, and be aware that a cab from Liverpool Street for a 5-minutes drive in the night should not cost more than 6 pounds…</p> -<p><a name="tube"></a> <a href="#top">[Back to Top]</a></p> + <h4>The tube and buses</h4> <p>Here are some tips for smooth travalling via the underground or buses:<br /> 1. Do not use a bus unless you can't use the Tube for some particular reason (e.g. you need to go to Zone 3 or@@ -113,7 +87,7 @@ time, and trust me, he <span class="caps">WILL</span> mind being stopped for no valid reason<br />
6. Mind the gap! (Especially at Bank station)<br /> 7. Mind the sweaty guys wearing suite and holding a briefcase, at peek hours, they can be deadly especially on escalators (See 5.).</p> -<p><a name="food"></a> “> Back to Top <”:#top</p> + <h3>Food</h3> <p>I already noticed this during the previous visits: in London you can eat everywhere. Quite literally, both in the city centre and surrounding areas. If you can – and also if you feel brave enough to try at random – the@@ -135,7 +109,7 @@ class="caps">KFC</span></a>, <a href="http://www.bk.com/">Burger King</a>…) are still there making
millions at every corner, in London as well. Well, not quite: I noticed they were less last time, and apart from a few kids fretting for their <em>Happy Meal</em>, they weren't so packed. I was pleased to notice that a load of new-ish healthier alternative are now available (see next section).</p> -<p><a name="healthy"></a> <a href="#top">[Back to Top]</a></p> + <h4>Healthy Food</h4> <p style="float:right;"><img src="/images/pictures/london/pret.png" alt="" /></p> <p>This was the relatively new surprise. Relatively new because I already noticed some of them last year, but this time@@ -162,7 +136,7 @@ “Go back where you belong, you <a
href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=emmet">emmit</a>!”</p> <p>Roxanne and Caspar both lived in (West!) Cornwall for years, and they really appreciated their fellow pirates trying to take over the world.</p> -<p><a name="brick"></a> <a href="#top">[Back to Top]</a></p> + <h4>Brick Lane</h4> <p><em>“Come in my restaurant… good food, cheap…”</em><br /> “No.”<br />@@ -183,14 +157,14 @@ literally dozens of them, and this fierce competition causes the owner to repeteadly offer “deals” to
potential customers: getting 25% off the bill is not unusual, and sometimes if you can argue it well you can even get free drinks. Caspar took us to a really good place he went before, and the curry and rice and other typical dishes were absolutely fabulous. Price? 11 pounds per head for a filling (and spicy!) dinner.</p> -<p><a name="enter"></a> <a href="#top">[Back to Top]</a></p> + <h3>Entertainment</h3> <p>So what can you do in London, other than meandering with the underground to get the most out of your Oyster card and eat out every day? Well, you can have fun of course! There's loads to do for every taste. This is an <em>incomplete</em> guide, so I'll just mention a few possibilities, but be aware that there's much, much more than this. </p> -<p><a name="club"></a> <a href="#top">[Back to Top]</a></p> + <h4>Clubbing</h4> <p>Each weekend, the following equation holds, for the average Londoner aged 20-30 at least:</p> <p><code>100 pounds + Club + Friends = Loads of booze + Fun + Terrible hangover and amnesia the day after</code></p>@@ -215,7 +189,7 @@ <p>Pity that English blokes (and birds too!) get way too trashed in the end: I reckon if you could place a single
half-sober, decent-looking Italian guy in a club like that, he'd have pulled almost all the (decent-looking) girls available by the end of the night. I'll definetely recommend some of my <em>free</em> (not as in software) friends to go over to London next summer.</p> -<p><a name="museums"></a> <a href="#top">[Back to Top]</a></p> + <h4>Museums</h4> <p>Enough clubbing and equally shallow activities, let's focus on culture, at once!<br /> London is the best city in Europe (OK, <em>followed</em> by Paris) for museums, and the best thing is that they are@@ -274,7 +248,7 @@ Jurassic Park, but only its rather shitty English-made cousin. <br />
The funniest thing of the whole visit? They tell you to donate “at least” three quid for their wonders, same as for the British Museum and the National Gallery. You know what? I'd rather give <em>thirty</em> quid to a random kid if he promise not to visit such “museum”…</p> -<p><a name="theatres"></a> <a href="#top">[Back to Top]</a></p> + <h4>Theatres</h4> <p>Luckily London theatres are still great. Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to go to a musical this time, but I'll definitely try to make it for one during my next visit. Adverts for the shows are all over the place,@@ -308,7 +282,7 @@ dub theatrical works, <em>as well</em>). A really, really good idea for students and half-broke youth who
shouldn't be denied of the pleasure of watching Shakespeare's masterpieces at the theatre. Please, keep it up. </p> -<p><a name="shop"></a> <a href="#top">[Back to Top]</a></p> + <h4>Shopping</h4> <p>Last but not least, I felt compelled to include a short section about <em>shopping</em> in London. The universal answer to the question “Where can I find [insert random item here]” is normally <a
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timestamp: 1141476813 tags: "internet|review|web20" ----- -Social Bookmarking[1] is not something <em>new</em> anymore; in fact, some people say they've seen too much of it already (imagine that!). One of the worst things - or best, depending on your point of view - of the whole Web 2.0[2] hype is that everything evolves at least ten times faster than it did in good ol' Web 1.0 (if you let me use the term): there are <em>many, many more</em> web pages created everyday by literally <em>anyone</em>, from web developers to total newcomers to the Web, to amateurs who just want to share their content because it's 'cool'.<br />However, this is not a rant. Web 2.0 is inevitably going to become more and more user friendly, and you can't do anything about it. Why? Because it pays. Who's most likely to click on the flashy banner on page X featuring product Y not knowing that by doing so company Z will get a penny: your grandmother who is just now learning how to use the Internet or your brother who's majoring in computer science?<br />However, this is not necessarily a bad thing. I strongly believe that the Internet becomes a much more user-friendly place everyday, and, to put it bluntly, the web developers and companies who understand this will become popular and make money.<br /><br />I remember when I first read about social bookmarking: people were screaming here and there that you <em>had to</em> share your bookmarks on the Net, and this 'delicious'[3] thing was getting more and more popular. Then it became 'delirious'[4], and it was <em>better</em>, because it also meant <em>free</em>...then the shadows[5] came...<br />I was never a big fan of the whole concept, I admit, but an old friend of mine from a community[6] turned up and asked me to try a new website he coded in <em>Rails</em>[7]: a new social bookmarking service, simple to use and free: ma.gnolia[8].<br />I immediately felt the impulse to reply (as this happened on IRC[9])<em>"i.dont.give.a.sh.**"</em>. I really didn't want to try <em>yet another</em> social bookmarking thing, as I had had enough of it even before I started to grasp the whole concept properly. Hoever, since the guy is a friend of mine whom I respect a lot, especially for his skills and knowledge, I decided to give ma.gnolia a try, and here's what happened.<br /><br /><strong>A website which <em>smells good</em></strong><br />One of the things any Web 2.0 business cannot afford to overlook is the design and user interface of their product. It <em>does</em> matter! If you want to please your customers, make something that looks good. This is not a new idea at all[10], and it has been shown to work in many situations.<br />The first impression I had about the ma.gnolia website was similar to the one I had when visiting CSSZenGarden[11] for the first time: <em>code is poetry</em>. I particularly like the latest trend in web design, which preaches simplicity, functionality, clean-looking pages, xHMTL+CSS instead of other assorted bloat, pastel colors, rounded corners, and so on, and there are no rounded corners in ma.gnolia.<br />The ma.gnolia website succeeds in making the visitor feel comfortable: it doesn't clutter the page with pointless images or weird widgets, but limits itself to only the essential items needed for usability - logo, banner, essential navigation (bookmarks, tags, people, groups, messages, profile, support and tools), content, a few well placed and unobtrusive images and icons, and a footer with the same usual boring-but-necessary links (copyright, about, terms of service, privacy policy, contact us), nothing more. What else do you need?<br />People might disagree, of course, and it's certainly not the answer for all tastes: there are some people who really can't stand 'plain' websites, and they think that the whole philosophy is pointless: <em>De gustibus non est disputandum</em> (There is no accounting for taste). We had the same concerns two thousand years ago and the Romans got it right. Even the Romans would have agreed that ma.gnolia is easy to use, too plain or not.<br /><br /><strong>Quick features overview</strong> <br />The obvious first step before starting to use ma.gnolia is signing up for a (free) account. Right? Wrong. For non-committers, or casual, let's-try-it-and-see-what-happens users there's a (free) trial account. You can start using fully functional ma.gnolia right away, but unless you register, nothing you do will be permanent. This seems to be a new Web 2.0 trend as well; before, you needed to make everything free to get people's attention, now it must be free <em>and</em> not require registration. Makes perfect sense.<br /><br /><em><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Adding bookmarks</span></em><br />Trial or not, you can start adding bookmarks right away through the form on the front page, which is simple enough. As long as you didn't discover bookmarks (or <em>favorites</em> for the browser-impaired) the day before yesterday, you probably already have your little collection of bookmarks meticulously catalogued in many different folders. Well, you can import them into ma.gnolia in a few very easy steps, and that, believe me, will save time. Some people may think I'm wasting my time stating the obvious here, but when I tried del.icio.us the import feature wasn't available, and this was enough to make me walk away.<br /> <br />'Casual user', 'non-web-savvy', 'non-geeks': ma.gnolia obviously targets these types of people. Everything on the site is well-documented and easy to use. Ma.gnolia's project manager said in a recent interview[13]:<br /><br /><fieldset><blockquote><br /><em>[...] The rest of us muddle along for about 30 seconds, and if we still don't get it and aren't enjoying the experience, we leave, never to return. To avoid that fate -- to make the complex simple -- our lead IA Tanya Rabourn put in the hours and the iterations needed to make Ma.gnolia comprehensible to the non- expert. </em><br /></blockquote></fieldset><br /><br />This makes sense to me: Web 2.0 seems to be more user friendly, simply because a lot of non-geeks are browsing the web everyday and clicking on adverts.<br /><br />Once you import all your bookmarks, you'll have an almost exact copy of your bookmarks collection, now available online! If you don't want to share them, because you believe in anti-social bookmarking or you just want to have a backup, you can import all your bookmarks as "private", and you can toggle the status by clicking <img src="http://ma.gnolia.com/images/icons/privacy-on.gif" alt="" /> or <img src="http://ma.gnolia.com/images/icons/privacy-off.gif" alt="" />, whenever you like: the magic of Ajax[14] will do the rest. <br />You can also rate your bookmarks from one to five stars, but <em>only</em> yours: ma.gnolia is not a pointless competition to be the one who links the most and best websites.<br /><br /><em>What if I want to delete a bookmark?</em> Quick hint: <img src="http://ma.gnolia.com/images/icons/delete.gif" alt="" /><br /><br /><em><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Yes, you can tag as much as you like</span></em><br />No, there are no folders. Forget it. For me it started with Gmail[15] and it was shocking enough: there are no folders, but you can tag your messages. This can be disorienting for some, but once you have overcome the initial trauma, you will realize that tags can be better than folders in some cases. At any rate, Web 2.0 uses tags everywhere, so you'd better get used to it. A tag is basically a virtual label you can put on something - here, a bookmark - to make it belong to a defined group. Tags normally don't have a hierarchy like folders, and each item can have more than one tag. Simple. <br /><br />Unfortunately, you can't directly tag (or rate) bookmarks that you add from the main page, but since you'll normally be using some sort of <em>bookmarklet</em> for Ma.gnolia, it doesn't really matter. Also, at the moment, once you create a tag you can't rename it, but this feature will be added soon.<br /><br /><br /><em><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Connecting people</span></em><br />If you tried some other social bookmarking services before and you really enjoy the philosophy behind it, you'll be pleased to know that Ma.gnolia is even more social than others. When you register an account you can optionally disclose your real name, age, and gender, add an avatar, a webpage and so on, and you can create your own profile, just like anywhere else on the Internet.<br />Furthermore, Ma.gnolia allows <em>groups</em>: you can create, join, and leave a group of bookmarkers who share the same interests as you. Why would you want to do this? The answer to that question is simple and self-evident: because what is enjoyed by one person will likely be enjoyed by other people who share the same interests. Once you are part of a group you can send a bookmark to that particular group (<img src="http://ma.gnolia.com/images/icons/send-to-group.gif" alt="" />), or at least that's that ideal; if you just want to send a particular address to only one person you can do so (<img src="http://ma.gnolia.com/images/icons/send-to-contact.gif" alt="" />), provided that that person is already in your contact list, and to do so there's a specific button (not icon this time) in everyone's profile. <br />You'll notice a <em>Messages</em> link in the main navigation panel, and that's exactly where the bookmark (and only the bookmark) will go once you send it to your friend. At the moment you <em>cannot</em> send a traditional message to someone, unless you send it along with a bookmark. This might change in the future, depending on user feedback, as well as the addition of some place to actually have some sort of discussion and comments - or so I've been told.<br />I'd be happy to see more community-specific functionalities being implemented, but there are some inevitable risks if Ma.gnolia decides to take this road. I'll let them decide, but for now, Ma.gnolia is more social than other services, but less social than, say, a discussion board.<br /><br /><em><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Pages, stats and search</span></em><br />Perhaps one of the coolest features Ma.gnolia offers is the possibility of saving pages online. When you bookmark a web page, Ma.gnolia attempts to save an exact copy of that page on its server, so that you can access that resource even if it is deleted at the source, like an improved personal version of the WayBack Machine!<br />Two things need to be said - and yes, they might be obvious for some people:<br />1) Pages which require some sort of authentication cannot be saved; and<br />2) Saved copies cannot be viewed by people other than yourself.<br /><br />Another feature is the ability to access basic statistics regarding bookmarks and people: most viewed or most recent bookmarks, hot groups, hot tags, as well as featured linkers, i.e., people who Ma.gnolia chooses to be displayed in some pages. They are generally well-known members or institutions that use the service.<br />However, the search function disappointed me a little bit. There is a very entertaining story on their About page[17] on how Social Bookmarking is supposed to help people to find things on the Web, and the last part in particular is pretty informative:<br /><fieldset><blockquote>[...]In Ma.gnolia, people can save website addresses (or the 'url') and "tag" them with that words they think people need to find them in a search. That way, when somebody else searches a term, the websites that show up are only the ones that are good enough for real people to want to find them.<br />With Ma.gnolia, that's really all the work you have to do. Organizing is a thing of the past, since tags do the organizing for you. Magnolia will even suggest when to give certain tags to bookmarks based on how you tag other bookmarks, to keep things consistent and up to date. And since it's a website, your Ma.gnolia bookmark collection can be reached by you and your friends from anywhere, any time.<br />If searching was the first day of the web, finding what you want must be the second. Ready to discover how Found is the New Search? Give Ma.gnolia a try, and see what we mean.</blockquote></fieldset><br /><br />It seemed logical, so I tried it myself. I searched for "ajax framework", and nine of the ten results on the first page led to this document:<br /><br />ASP.NET AJAX framework comparison [18]<br /><br />This is undoubtedly an interesting document, but not what I was looking for, and I certainly didn't expect almost the entire first page to consist of the same document. I asked for an explanation of this apparently odd behaviour, and it appears that the developer is aware of this, and explained me why this <em>must</em> happen: if someone saved <a href="http://www.zzine.org">www.zzine.org</a> as "zZine Magazine" and another person saved it as "Microsoft", someone searching for Microsoft - provided that we don't show duplicate links anymore, will find a link to zZine Magazine as one of the first results, and it would not be relevant. This is due to the fact that the system searches tags, titles, and descriptions even if the URL is the same, or known. Still, I'd try to limit the number of identical results, at least by grouping together entries which have the same URL and title, or something along these lines.<br /><br /><br /><em><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Tools to play with</span></em><br />There's a whole section of the site devoted to <em>Support and Tools</em>, to make the whole thing even more user friendly. Regarding the support part, even the greenest of visitors to a social bookmarking site will have no problems, as everything is explained in very simple terms, and full of examples and tutorials. This can be an annoying read if you already know how social bookmarking works and if you're used to similar services, so my advice is: <em>geeks stay out of this section</em> - it will save pointless rants.<br />The upside of this is that if I send someone who has <em>never</em> used something like this before, he'll like it and definitely start using it; if you try this with del.icio.us, you'll have one less non-geek friend.<br /><br />Regarding the tools subsection, I already mentioned the excellent bookmark importer (which worked perfectly, but should probably warn in case a page cannot be imported due to a 404 error). Ma.gnolia also offers:<br /><br />- a del.icio.us importer<br />- del.icio.us to ma.gnolia GreaseMonkey script - to keep your del.icio.us and ma.gnolia synchronized<br />- a link roll generator, to share your bookmarks on your blog or page<br />- a universal bookmark exporter<br /><br />Additionally, and most importantly, various bookmarklets[19] which allow you to instantly add a bookmark to your ma.gnolia collection with a single click, just like adding an ordinary bookmark. Not new, but useful and essential.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Conclusions</strong><br />Ma.gnolia is definitely the best social bookmarking solution currently available for non-web savvy users. If you don't like having to spend more than five minutes figuring out how social bookmarking works, Ma.gnolia will become your new home, and you'll get addicted to it. I don't consider myself a total geek, and I honestly started using Ma.gnolia because it's simple and does the job...<br /><br />...or perhaps the website is just so easy to use and nice to navigate that makes it harder to browse away!<br /><br /><br /><strong>Notes</strong> <br />[1]Social Bookmarking, Wkipedia: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_bookmarking">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_bookmarking</a><br />[2]Web 2.0, Wikipedia: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0</a><br />[3]del.icio.us Social bookmarking: <a href="http://del.icio.us">http://del.icio.us</a><br />[4]de.lirio.us Social bookmarking: <a href="http://de.lirio.us">http://de.lirio.us</a><br />[5]Shadows Social Bookmarking: <a href="http://www.shadows.com">http://www.shadows.com</a><br />[6]CyberArmy Community: <a href="http://www.cyberarmy.net">http://www.cyberarmy.net</a><br />[7]Ruby on Rails framework: <a href="http://www.rubyonrails.org">http://www.rubyonrails.org</a><br />[8]Ma.gnolia Social Bookmarking: <a href="http://ma.gnolia.com">http://ma.gnolia.com</a><br />[9]Internet Relay Chat, wikipedia: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat</a><br />[11]Windows XP Official Page: <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/default.mspx">http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/default.mspx</a><br />[12]CSSZenGarden: <a href="http://www.csszengarden.com/">http://www.csszengarden.com/</a><br />[13]Darren Barefoot's Blog, Sugar Ma.gnolia, Blossoms Blooming:<br /> <a href="http://www.darrenbarefoot.com/archives/2006/02/sugar-magnolia-blossoms-blooming.html">http://www.darrenbarefoot.com/archives/2006/02/sugar-magnolia-blossoms-blooming.html</a><br />[14]Ajax, Wikipedia: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajax_%28programming%29">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajax_%28programming%29</a><br />[15]Google Mail: <a href="http://mail.google.com/">http://mail.google.com/</a><br />[16]Archive.org: <a href="http://www.archive.org/">http://www.archive.org/</a><br />[17]Ma.gnolia - About: <a href="http://ma.gnolia.com/about">http://ma.gnolia.com/about</a><br />[18] Daniel Zeiss, "ASP.NET AJAX framework comparison": <br />http://www.daniel-zeiss.de/AJAXComparison/Results.htm<br />[19]Ma.gnolia - Bookmarkles directory: <a href="http://ma.gnolia.com/support/bookmarklets">http://ma.gnolia.com/support/bookmarklets</a><br /> +Social Bookmarking[1] is not something <em>new</em> anymore; in fact, some people say they've seen too much of it already (imagine that!). One of the worst things - or best, depending on your point of view - of the whole Web 2.0[2] hype is that everything evolves at least ten times faster than it did in good ol' Web 1.0 (if you let me use the term): there are <em>many, many more</em> web pages created everyday by literally <em>anyone</em>, from web developers to total newcomers to the Web, to amateurs who just want to share their content because it's 'cool'.<br />However, this is not a rant. Web 2.0 is inevitably going to become more and more user friendly, and you can't do anything about it. Why? Because it pays. Who's most likely to click on the flashy banner on page X featuring product Y not knowing that by doing so company Z will get a penny: your grandmother who is just now learning how to use the Internet or your brother who's majoring in computer science?<br />However, this is not necessarily a bad thing. I strongly believe that the Internet becomes a much more user-friendly place everyday, and, to put it bluntly, the web developers and companies who understand this will become popular and make money.<br /><br />I remember when I first read about social bookmarking: people were screaming here and there that you <em>had to</em> share your bookmarks on the Net, and this 'delicious'[3] thing was getting more and more popular. Then it became 'delirious'[4], and it was <em>better</em>, because it also meant <em>free</em>...then the shadows[5] came...<br />I was never a big fan of the whole concept, I admit, but an old friend of mine from a community[6] turned up and asked me to try a new website he coded in <em>Rails</em>[7]: a new social bookmarking service, simple to use and free: ma.gnolia[8].<br />I immediately felt the impulse to reply (as this happened on IRC[9])<em>"i.dont.give.a.sh.**"</em>. I really didn't want to try <em>yet another</em> social bookmarking thing, as I had had enough of it even before I started to grasp the whole concept properly. Hoever, since the guy is a friend of mine whom I respect a lot, especially for his skills and knowledge, I decided to give ma.gnolia a try, and here's what happened.<br /><br /><h3>A website that <em>smells good</em></h3><br />One of the things any Web 2.0 business cannot afford to overlook is the design and user interface of their product. It <em>does</em> matter! If you want to please your customers, make something that looks good. This is not a new idea at all[10], and it has been shown to work in many situations.<br />The first impression I had about the ma.gnolia website was similar to the one I had when visiting CSSZenGarden[11] for the first time: <em>code is poetry</em>. I particularly like the latest trend in web design, which preaches simplicity, functionality, clean-looking pages, xHMTL+CSS instead of other assorted bloat, pastel colors, rounded corners, and so on, and there are no rounded corners in ma.gnolia.<br />The ma.gnolia website succeeds in making the visitor feel comfortable: it doesn't clutter the page with pointless images or weird widgets, but limits itself to only the essential items needed for usability - logo, banner, essential navigation (bookmarks, tags, people, groups, messages, profile, support and tools), content, a few well placed and unobtrusive images and icons, and a footer with the same usual boring-but-necessary links (copyright, about, terms of service, privacy policy, contact us), nothing more. What else do you need?<br />People might disagree, of course, and it's certainly not the answer for all tastes: there are some people who really can't stand 'plain' websites, and they think that the whole philosophy is pointless: <em>De gustibus non est disputandum</em> (There is no accounting for taste). We had the same concerns two thousand years ago and the Romans got it right. Even the Romans would have agreed that ma.gnolia is easy to use, too plain or not.<br /><br /><h3>Quick features overview</h3> <br />The obvious first step before starting to use ma.gnolia is signing up for a (free) account. Right? Wrong. For non-committers, or casual, let's-try-it-and-see-what-happens users there's a (free) trial account. You can start using fully functional ma.gnolia right away, but unless you register, nothing you do will be permanent. This seems to be a new Web 2.0 trend as well; before, you needed to make everything free to get people's attention, now it must be free <em>and</em> not require registration. Makes perfect sense.<br /><br /><em><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Adding bookmarks</span></em><br />Trial or not, you can start adding bookmarks right away through the form on the front page, which is simple enough. As long as you didn't discover bookmarks (or <em>favorites</em> for the browser-impaired) the day before yesterday, you probably already have your little collection of bookmarks meticulously catalogued in many different folders. Well, you can import them into ma.gnolia in a few very easy steps, and that, believe me, will save time. Some people may think I'm wasting my time stating the obvious here, but when I tried del.icio.us the import feature wasn't available, and this was enough to make me walk away.<br /> <br />'Casual user', 'non-web-savvy', 'non-geeks': ma.gnolia obviously targets these types of people. Everything on the site is well-documented and easy to use. Ma.gnolia's project manager said in a recent interview[13]:<br /><br /><fieldset><blockquote><br /><em>[...] The rest of us muddle along for about 30 seconds, and if we still don't get it and aren't enjoying the experience, we leave, never to return. To avoid that fate -- to make the complex simple -- our lead IA Tanya Rabourn put in the hours and the iterations needed to make Ma.gnolia comprehensible to the non- expert. </em><br /></blockquote></fieldset><br /><br />This makes sense to me: Web 2.0 seems to be more user friendly, simply because a lot of non-geeks are browsing the web everyday and clicking on adverts.<br /><br />Once you import all your bookmarks, you'll have an almost exact copy of your bookmarks collection, now available online! If you don't want to share them, because you believe in anti-social bookmarking or you just want to have a backup, you can import all your bookmarks as "private", and you can toggle the status by clicking <img src="http://ma.gnolia.com/images/icons/privacy-on.gif" alt="" /> or <img src="http://ma.gnolia.com/images/icons/privacy-off.gif" alt="" />, whenever you like: the magic of Ajax[14] will do the rest. <br />You can also rate your bookmarks from one to five stars, but <em>only</em> yours: ma.gnolia is not a pointless competition to be the one who links the most and best websites.<br /><br /><em>What if I want to delete a bookmark?</em> Quick hint: <img src="http://ma.gnolia.com/images/icons/delete.gif" alt="" /><br /><br /><em><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Yes, you can tag as much as you like</span></em><br />No, there are no folders. Forget it. For me it started with Gmail[15] and it was shocking enough: there are no folders, but you can tag your messages. This can be disorienting for some, but once you have overcome the initial trauma, you will realize that tags can be better than folders in some cases. At any rate, Web 2.0 uses tags everywhere, so you'd better get used to it. A tag is basically a virtual label you can put on something - here, a bookmark - to make it belong to a defined group. Tags normally don't have a hierarchy like folders, and each item can have more than one tag. Simple. <br /><br />Unfortunately, you can't directly tag (or rate) bookmarks that you add from the main page, but since you'll normally be using some sort of <em>bookmarklet</em> for Ma.gnolia, it doesn't really matter. Also, at the moment, once you create a tag you can't rename it, but this feature will be added soon.<br /><br /><br /><em><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Connecting people</span></em><br />If you tried some other social bookmarking services before and you really enjoy the philosophy behind it, you'll be pleased to know that Ma.gnolia is even more social than others. When you register an account you can optionally disclose your real name, age, and gender, add an avatar, a webpage and so on, and you can create your own profile, just like anywhere else on the Internet.<br />Furthermore, Ma.gnolia allows <em>groups</em>: you can create, join, and leave a group of bookmarkers who share the same interests as you. Why would you want to do this? The answer to that question is simple and self-evident: because what is enjoyed by one person will likely be enjoyed by other people who share the same interests. Once you are part of a group you can send a bookmark to that particular group (<img src="http://ma.gnolia.com/images/icons/send-to-group.gif" alt="" />), or at least that's that ideal; if you just want to send a particular address to only one person you can do so (<img src="http://ma.gnolia.com/images/icons/send-to-contact.gif" alt="" />), provided that that person is already in your contact list, and to do so there's a specific button (not icon this time) in everyone's profile. <br />You'll notice a <em>Messages</em> link in the main navigation panel, and that's exactly where the bookmark (and only the bookmark) will go once you send it to your friend. At the moment you <em>cannot</em> send a traditional message to someone, unless you send it along with a bookmark. This might change in the future, depending on user feedback, as well as the addition of some place to actually have some sort of discussion and comments - or so I've been told.<br />I'd be happy to see more community-specific functionalities being implemented, but there are some inevitable risks if Ma.gnolia decides to take this road. I'll let them decide, but for now, Ma.gnolia is more social than other services, but less social than, say, a discussion board.<br /><br /><em><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Pages, stats and search</span></em><br />Perhaps one of the coolest features Ma.gnolia offers is the possibility of saving pages online. When you bookmark a web page, Ma.gnolia attempts to save an exact copy of that page on its server, so that you can access that resource even if it is deleted at the source, like an improved personal version of the WayBack Machine!<br />Two things need to be said - and yes, they might be obvious for some people:<br />1) Pages which require some sort of authentication cannot be saved; and<br />2) Saved copies cannot be viewed by people other than yourself.<br /><br />Another feature is the ability to access basic statistics regarding bookmarks and people: most viewed or most recent bookmarks, hot groups, hot tags, as well as featured linkers, i.e., people who Ma.gnolia chooses to be displayed in some pages. They are generally well-known members or institutions that use the service.<br />However, the search function disappointed me a little bit. There is a very entertaining story on their About page[17] on how Social Bookmarking is supposed to help people to find things on the Web, and the last part in particular is pretty informative:<br /><fieldset><blockquote>[...]In Ma.gnolia, people can save website addresses (or the 'url') and "tag" them with that words they think people need to find them in a search. That way, when somebody else searches a term, the websites that show up are only the ones that are good enough for real people to want to find them.<br />With Ma.gnolia, that's really all the work you have to do. Organizing is a thing of the past, since tags do the organizing for you. Magnolia will even suggest when to give certain tags to bookmarks based on how you tag other bookmarks, to keep things consistent and up to date. And since it's a website, your Ma.gnolia bookmark collection can be reached by you and your friends from anywhere, any time.<br />If searching was the first day of the web, finding what you want must be the second. Ready to discover how Found is the New Search? Give Ma.gnolia a try, and see what we mean.</blockquote></fieldset><br /><br />It seemed logical, so I tried it myself. I searched for "ajax framework", and nine of the ten results on the first page led to this document:<br /><br />ASP.NET AJAX framework comparison [18]<br /><br />This is undoubtedly an interesting document, but not what I was looking for, and I certainly didn't expect almost the entire first page to consist of the same document. I asked for an explanation of this apparently odd behaviour, and it appears that the developer is aware of this, and explained me why this <em>must</em> happen: if someone saved <a href="http://www.zzine.org">www.zzine.org</a> as "zZine Magazine" and another person saved it as "Microsoft", someone searching for Microsoft - provided that we don't show duplicate links anymore, will find a link to zZine Magazine as one of the first results, and it would not be relevant. This is due to the fact that the system searches tags, titles, and descriptions even if the URL is the same, or known. Still, I'd try to limit the number of identical results, at least by grouping together entries which have the same URL and title, or something along these lines.<br /><br /><br /><em><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Tools to play with</span></em><br />There's a whole section of the site devoted to <em>Support and Tools</em>, to make the whole thing even more user friendly. Regarding the support part, even the greenest of visitors to a social bookmarking site will have no problems, as everything is explained in very simple terms, and full of examples and tutorials. This can be an annoying read if you already know how social bookmarking works and if you're used to similar services, so my advice is: <em>geeks stay out of this section</em> - it will save pointless rants.<br />The upside of this is that if I send someone who has <em>never</em> used something like this before, he'll like it and definitely start using it; if you try this with del.icio.us, you'll have one less non-geek friend.<br /><br />Regarding the tools subsection, I already mentioned the excellent bookmark importer (which worked perfectly, but should probably warn in case a page cannot be imported due to a 404 error). Ma.gnolia also offers:<br /><br />- a del.icio.us importer<br />- del.icio.us to ma.gnolia GreaseMonkey script - to keep your del.icio.us and ma.gnolia synchronized<br />- a link roll generator, to share your bookmarks on your blog or page<br />- a universal bookmark exporter<br /><br />Additionally, and most importantly, various bookmarklets[19] which allow you to instantly add a bookmark to your ma.gnolia collection with a single click, just like adding an ordinary bookmark. Not new, but useful and essential.<br /><br /><br /><h3>Conclusions</h3><br />Ma.gnolia is definitely the best social bookmarking solution currently available for non-web savvy users. If you don't like having to spend more than five minutes figuring out how social bookmarking works, Ma.gnolia will become your new home, and you'll get addicted to it. I don't consider myself a total geek, and I honestly started using Ma.gnolia because it's simple and does the job...<br /><br />...or perhaps the website is just so easy to use and nice to navigate that makes it harder to browse away!<br /><br /><br /><h3>Notes</h3> <br />[1]Social Bookmarking, Wkipedia: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_bookmarking">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_bookmarking</a><br />[2]Web 2.0, Wikipedia: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0</a><br />[3]del.icio.us Social bookmarking: <a href="http://del.icio.us">http://del.icio.us</a><br />[4]de.lirio.us Social bookmarking: <a href="http://de.lirio.us">http://de.lirio.us</a><br />[5]Shadows Social Bookmarking: <a href="http://www.shadows.com">http://www.shadows.com</a><br />[6]CyberArmy Community: <a href="http://www.cyberarmy.net">http://www.cyberarmy.net</a><br />[7]Ruby on Rails framework: <a href="http://www.rubyonrails.org">http://www.rubyonrails.org</a><br />[8]Ma.gnolia Social Bookmarking: <a href="http://ma.gnolia.com">http://ma.gnolia.com</a><br />[9]Internet Relay Chat, wikipedia: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat</a><br />[11]Windows XP Official Page: <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/default.mspx">http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/default.mspx</a><br />[12]CSSZenGarden: <a href="http://www.csszengarden.com/">http://www.csszengarden.com/</a><br />[13]Darren Barefoot's Blog, Sugar Ma.gnolia, Blossoms Blooming:<br /> <a href="http://www.darrenbarefoot.com/archives/2006/02/sugar-magnolia-blossoms-blooming.html">http://www.darrenbarefoot.com/archives/2006/02/sugar-magnolia-blossoms-blooming.html</a><br />[14]Ajax, Wikipedia: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajax_%28programming%29">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajax_%28programming%29</a><br />[15]Google Mail: <a href="http://mail.google.com/">http://mail.google.com/</a><br />[16]Archive.org: <a href="http://www.archive.org/">http://www.archive.org/</a><br />[17]Ma.gnolia - About: <a href="http://ma.gnolia.com/about">http://ma.gnolia.com/about</a><br />[18] Daniel Zeiss, "ASP.NET AJAX framework comparison": <br />http://www.daniel-zeiss.de/AJAXComparison/Results.htm<br />[19]Ma.gnolia - Bookmarkles directory: <a href="http://ma.gnolia.com/support/bookmarklets">http://ma.gnolia.com/support/bookmarklets</a><br />
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timestamp: 1134215626 tags: "review" ----- -Get a full comparative and analytical view of the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray disc formats. Why do we need them? Are they the perfect answer? Which one of them (if any...) will eventually take the throne? The answers to all these questions (and more) are inside! <br /><strong>The endless quest for space</strong><br />I remember when I showed a 3.5" floppy disk to my dad and he said, "That's so small, and it can store 1.44MB of information! That's over a million bytes!" He was used to working with big tapes of data that probably held much less, so I guess a floppy disk a big shock for him, at the time. <br /><br />When I got my first computer, it had a CD-ROM drive, and the CDs were supposed to hold 500MB of data. They eventually started supporting more, and got up to 900 in the end. Finally, we got DVDs, which are able to store up to 4.7GB of data, and once people noticed they could write another layer of data, the capacity doubled. <br /><br />Over the years, storage devices have evolve, and it seems now more than ever that mankind is on an endless "quest for space" - not with NASA (which nowadays is being much more careful before sending out a shuttle), trying to go where no one has gone before, but with a bunch of leading OEM companies, IT industries and Hollywood studios trying to write unbelievable amounts of information on a 12cm disk made out of plastic and other lesser known materials. <br /><br />Furthermore, despite me persuading my family to buy a "new" DVD player, the industry now claims that this relatively new commercial technology is going to be dead: apparently we'll soon have disks capable of holding 15-25 GB of data <em>per layer</em>, which will come to the aid of High Definition TeleVision (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDTV">HDTV</a>) which will deliver images at 1920x1080 pixels (versus 640x480 pixels on a normal DVD). This means that you'll be able to see - with your brand new HDTV-capable home theater - the imperfections of Jessica Alba's skin when she's dancing in <em><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0401792/">Sin City</a></em> if you look close enough, which brings up another question: "who wants this kind of technology?" - if nothing else, you'll have to pay a lot for it!<br /><br />As I previously stated, the evolution in storage media is unstoppable and yet necessary at the same time: having more storage space available proved to be a key factor for computer development.<br /><br /><br /><strong>A New War has Begun</strong><br />As the history of the computer industry has shown us, when the possibility of innovation arises, there's never just one group who tries it out. In the past, this led to the determination of two or more <em>de facto</em> standards by competitors promoting similar solutions. Perhaps the most familiar cases in the recent past were the introduction of the VHS and DVD formats. The first standard - for VHS - was adopted after a "war" against Sony's Betamax format - which was supposedly technologically superior - and the determining factor (or one of the main ones, anyway) was that Sony, "jealous" of its proprietary format, didn't want to license support for it to all the Original Equipment Manufactors (OEMs), while JVC and Matsushita [Panasonic]'s VHS licenses were basically given to anyone who even remotely suggested adopting the format. <br /><br />Sony was involved in another "war", for the successor of the CD format: they pushed for their Multimedia CD (MMCD), while Toshiba had their Super Density CD (SD). Perhaps because Sony was wary of another defeat, history didn't repeat itself this time, and the two manufacturers agreed to develop a hybrid format which is now widely known as the Digital Versatile (previously "Video") Disk, or more commonly, the DVD.<br /><br />However, once again, Sony is proposing its own format for next generation DVDs, called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc">Blu-Ray Disc</a> (BD) and once again, it's opposed by Toshiba (and others) with the High Density Digital Versatile Disk (HD-DVD). Both formats aim to increase space by using a blue laser for writing instead of the traditional red one used for DVDs. Other than that, the two formats are (for now) quite incompatible with each other as they use two different approaches to this same technology. Most of the following technical information is taken from an <a href="http://www.cdfreaks.com/article/186/">article</a> that appeared on CDfreaks.com.<br /><br /><br /><strong>The Contenders: HD-DVD</strong><br />Let's now examine the first of the two contenders to the "throne": High Density Digital Versatile Disk (<a href="http://www.hddvd.org/hddvd/">HD-DVD</a>). This format was the one that appeared first and is mainly promoted by Toshiba, along with NEC and Sanyo. The capacity is around 15GB per layer and it could be defined - for its structure mainly - as an application of newer laser technology to the older DVD format. <br /><br /><em><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Disk structure</span></em><br />As the diameter of the disk is the same and the information is coded roughly in the same way, the areas of improvement obviously reside in optimizing the physical space of the disk to hold more information. As with CDs and DVDs, data on a disk is written in tracks following a spiral path, from the center to the border of the support: in a CD, the gap between the two rows of the track (the <em>Track Pitch</em>) was 780nm; then it was reduced for DVDs (650nm), and again for HD-DVDs (400nm), so that we can store more information in the same space (because there are more rows). In order to achieve this, the laser must be more sensitive to be able to detect tracks correctly (that's why the laser is now blue; blue has a smaller wavelength), and the lens that gathers and concentrates the light needs to be changed. The measure that defines the shape (convexity) of the lens is called <em>Numerical Amplitude</em>: for CDs, it is 0.45, 0.6 for DVDs and 0.65 for HD-DVDs. These "tweaks" made more space available on the disk, and HD-DVDs, as previously stated, can store up to 15GB single layer and 30GB in double layer.<br /><br />Another characteristic that makes HD-DVDs similar to DVDs is the amount of the disk which is used for actual data storage and the amount which is used as "protective coating": HD-DVDs are 1.2mm thick, with 0.6mm used to store information and 0.6mm for protection.<br /><br /><br /><em><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Information processing and error correction</span></em><br />Data sent through a channel is subjected to "noise" of various kinds, and a similar phenomena occurs when writing information on a support, so various ways of preserving the data and correcting possible errors were developed. HD-DVD, in particular, uses a particular type of modulation called ETM (Eight to Twelve Modulation), which is once again similar to the technique used in CDs and DVDs: each byte of data is converted into twelve bits, and all bits set to 1 must satisfy an RLL(1,10) code (all '1' bits must be separated by at least 1 and at most 10 zeros).<br />Furthermore, disks must be able to bear scratches and other damage which could potentially corrupt bytes. Personally, I found that CDs are much more scratch-proof than DVDs, partly due to the fact that when you scratch a DVD (don't do it, just trust me!) more bytes get corrupted because of a higher data concentration: imagine what will happen now with 3-5x more data in the same space!<br />HD-DVD has the same correction techniques and data containers as the DVD format, the only exception being that the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Error-correcting_code">ECC</a> blocks on HD-DVDs are twice as large, resulting in a longer correctable burst error length (7.1mm, where DVD is about 6mm).<br /><br /><br /><em><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Writing formats and copy protection</span></em><br />Even though HD-DVD has so far been quite similar to DVD (except for the obvious differences in laser, lens, and track pitch caused by the technology), there's an exception concerning the Rewritable format: it can hold more data than the ROM format (20GB instead of 15). This has been achieved by employing some technologies used in DVD-RAM. Despite the improvement, it might represent a problem for OEMs, because it makes HD-DVD RW handling totally different from the read-only format.<br /><br />For protection against piracy and illegal copying in general, HD-DVD format abandons the Content Scrambling System (CSS) used in DVDs (which has been shown to be unsuccessful) in favour of AACS (Advanced Access Content System), which uses a completely different key scheme.<br /> <br />AACS has been introduced for both HD-DVD and Blu Ray formats, and it involves the so-called "device keys": a unique key is assigned to each player's model, and before playing a protected disk, the player will have to retrieve its key (encoded in a three-way tree on the disk). Obviously, if a particular key is cracked, the manufacturers will be informed and will update the key in newer disks (which won't play in the cracked player at all). The technology is quite controversial at the moment, because "protection" is achieved at a high price: if someone cracks the key of your player, it simply won't play newer HD-DVDs, even if you weren't actually involved in any illegal activity. Solutions are currently being debated.<br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>The Contenders: Blu-Ray Disks</strong> <br /><br />Where Toshiba's HD-DVD adopted a somewhat conservative strategy, basing itself more or less on the DVD standard, Sony decided to use a much more experimental approach for its <a href="http://www.bluraydisc.com/">Blu-Ray</a> (BD) format, which appears to be more technologically advanced and offer even more space. <br />Blu-Ray disks can hold up to 25GB of data per layer, and this represents a great leap over HD-DVD's 15GB, but this has been achieved at the price of compatibility. <br /><br /><br /><em><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Disk structure</span></em><br />In order to reach the capacity it does BD uses the same type of blue/violet laser of HD-DVD but - as a necessity - the <em>Numeric Amplitude</em> of the lens has been increased to 0.85 (vs. 0.65 on HD-DVD), and the <em>Track Pitch</em> has been decreased to 320nm, so the additional space is explained by noting that the distance between the spiral rows is even smaller!<br /><br />Furthermore, BD can vary the length of the "pits" where data is written; by reducing it, more space on the disk can be obtained. Currently BD has 3 sub-formats, corresponding to 3 different capacities (23.3, 25 and 27GB), and associated to three different pit lengths (160, 149, and 138nm respectively) while HD-DVD has a fixed pit length of 204nm.<br /><br />Another innovation was introduced regarding the amount of disk used for data and for protection: disks are still 1.2mm thick, but 1.1mm are used for data storage and only 0.1mm for the protective coating!<br /><br />This was necessary in order to achieve the improved values for NA and Track Pitch, because the laser goes through only 0.1mm of protection before reading the data, meaning it can be more sensitive, but this also means that BDs are MUCH more vulnerable to scratches than HD-DVDs. Luckily, TDK immediately announced a new hyper-resistant protective coating which can offer improved protection from scratches and still be 0.1mm thick. <br /><br /><br /><em><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Information processing and error correction</span></em><br />BD decided to adopt its own modulation system (instead of using ETM like HD-DVD), called "17PP". The acronym basically means that each "1" must be separated by 1-7 "0" bits [RLL(1,7)] and also that the modulated sequence must have the same parity as the original data plus additional rules.<br />Error correction is then achieved using two codes similar to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reed-Solomon_code">Reed-Solomon</a> code: LDC (Long Distance Code) and BIS (Burst Indication Subcode). Without going into too much detail, these two proprietary techniques can achieve almost the same result as HD-DVD's ECC, being able to correct corrupted data up to more than 7mm, which is quite remarkable considering the particularly delicate disk structure.<br /><br /><br />Blu-Ray also introduces two new modulation methods: the first one is called ?MSK-cos? (Minimum Shift Keying ? cosine variant), which is a special frequency modulation, and the second one is called ?HMW? (Harmonic Modulated Wave), which consists of replacing parts of the sine wave with sawtooths.<br /><br /><em><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Copy protection</span></em><br /><br />BD originally proposed its own control system, BD-CPS, for copy protection, but recently seems to have opted for AACS. This means that the same situation arises for both formats: they are both planning on implementing an advanced exchange key-based system to fight piracy.<br /><br />As another anti-piracy method, both formats also introduce a sort of "signature" called a <em>Volume Identifier</em> which will be very difficult to duplicate on a cloned disk.<br /><br /><br /><strong>The World Takes Sides</strong><br /><br />After discussing the two formats sufficiently in depth, it's now possible to itemize the pros and cons of each format:<br /><br /><em><span style="text-decoration:underline;">HD-DVD</span></em><br />Pros:<br /><ul><br /><li>Backward compatibility with CD/DVD will be available soon</li><br /><li>Reduced production costs, both for disks and players - cheaper to buy</li><br /><li>Improved durability</li><br /><li>Available relatively soon on the market</li><br /></ul><br />Cons:<br /><ul><br /><li>Incompatible with the competitor's format</li><br /><li>Less space than competitor's format</li><br /></ul><br /><br /><em><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Blu-Ray</span></em><br />Pros:<br /><ul><br /><li>Backward compatibility with CD/DVD will be available soon</li><br /><li>More space than competitor's format</li><br /><li>Technologically more advanced, longer life-span</li><br /><li>Higher recording speed</li><br /></ul><br />Cons:<br /><ul><br /><li>Incompatible with the competitor's format</li><br /><li>More expensive to produce and to buy</li><br /><li>More vulnerable to scratches </li>(the TDK solution notwithstanding)<br /><li>Still relatively experimental</li><br /></ul><br /><br />At this point, HD-DVD seems to be the "natural" successor to the DVD format: it inherits already-tested technologies and offers acceptable improvements regarding capacity. On the other hand, Blu-Ray is an innovative alternative, which, while more technologically advanced, needs to be tested more fully and is more expensive because of its innovation. Manufacturers will have to have separate machinery to produce Blu-Ray disks, while it appears that only some tweaks in existing structures will be necessary to support HD-DVD production on a mass scale at contained prices.<br /><br />Obviously, all the industries with interests in these new magnetic supports took sides with one or the other format:<br /><br /><em>HD-DVD:</em>Toshiba, Sanyo, NEC, Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, New Line Cinema, Warner Bros Studios, Time Warner, and, apparently, <em><strong>Microsoft</strong></em>.<br /><br /><em>Blu-Ray:</em> DELL, HP, Hitachi, LG-Electronics, Mitsubishi Electric, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, TDK, Thomson, 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney, Texas Instruments, Sun Microsystems, Electronic Arts, and Vivendi Universal Games.<br /><br />HD-DVD is supported mainly by film studios (Paramount and Universal) and multimedia companies (Time Warner). This is expected, since these industries advocate a product which is cheap, tested, and reliable. On the other hand, Blu-Ray is supported by IT industries that see a new technology for improved capacity and high recording speed. However, Walt Disney and 20th Century Fox seem to support this format, and they represent a sizable share of the family entertainment movie business.<br /><br />Microsoft recently seemed to <a href="http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsoft-Sides-With-Toshiba-Against-Sony-s-Blu-ray-3798.shtml">support HD-DVD</a> technology. This was predictable, at least to a certain extent: Microsoft and Toshiba have always had a strong and productive working relationship, and Microsoft is probably trying to oppose Sony, who will probably use Blu-Ray for its upcoming PlayStation 3. Microsoft will probably opt for HD-DVD for the XBox, but it's too soon to say, especially since the big names of video games (like EA) seem to support Blu-Ray.<br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>The End of the War</strong><br />So a new <em>Standards War</em> has begun, and it's still too soon to know how it will end. Recently, the possibility of a hybrid standard has seemed more plausible, even if Toshiba's format arrives on the market much sooner than Blu-Ray. Toshiba itself advocates a <a href="http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/73241/hddvd-bluray-marriage-back-on.html">single standard</a>, but seems also keen on <em>seeing how it goes</em> first, when both the two products are on the market. <br /><br />Actually there's <a href="http://news.softpedia.com/news/The-chronicles-of-a-futile-battle-Blu-Ray-vs-HD-DVD-631.shtml">someone</a> who predicts a different ending for this war: no one format will win, especially if the "conflict" lasts for too long. There's a chance that <a href="http://www.techtree.com/techtree/jsp/article.jsp?article_id=57500">Holographic Versatile Disks</a> (HVD) will eventually destroy both contenders by offering, on the same disk, 1TB of space at 1Gbps transfer speed! <br />As a matter of fact, Japan's <a href="http://www.optware.co.jp/english/what_040823.htm">Optware Corp.</a> might be the revelation that <em>saves the world</em>... <br /> +Get a full comparative and analytical view of the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray disc formats. Why do we need them? Are they the perfect answer? Which one of them (if any...) will eventually take the throne? The answers to all these questions (and more) are inside! <br /><h3>The endless quest for space</h3><br />I remember when I showed a 3.5" floppy disk to my dad and he said, "That's so small, and it can store 1.44MB of information! That's over a million bytes!" He was used to working with big tapes of data that probably held much less, so I guess a floppy disk a big shock for him, at the time. <br /><br />When I got my first computer, it had a CD-ROM drive, and the CDs were supposed to hold 500MB of data. They eventually started supporting more, and got up to 900 in the end. Finally, we got DVDs, which are able to store up to 4.7GB of data, and once people noticed they could write another layer of data, the capacity doubled. <br /><br />Over the years, storage devices have evolve, and it seems now more than ever that mankind is on an endless "quest for space" - not with NASA (which nowadays is being much more careful before sending out a shuttle), trying to go where no one has gone before, but with a bunch of leading OEM companies, IT industries and Hollywood studios trying to write unbelievable amounts of information on a 12cm disk made out of plastic and other lesser known materials. <br /><br />Furthermore, despite me persuading my family to buy a "new" DVD player, the industry now claims that this relatively new commercial technology is going to be dead: apparently we'll soon have disks capable of holding 15-25 GB of data <em>per layer</em>, which will come to the aid of High Definition TeleVision (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDTV">HDTV</a>) which will deliver images at 1920x1080 pixels (versus 640x480 pixels on a normal DVD). This means that you'll be able to see - with your brand new HDTV-capable home theater - the imperfections of Jessica Alba's skin when she's dancing in <em><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0401792/">Sin City</a></em> if you look close enough, which brings up another question: "who wants this kind of technology?" - if nothing else, you'll have to pay a lot for it!<br /><br />As I previously stated, the evolution in storage media is unstoppable and yet necessary at the same time: having more storage space available proved to be a key factor for computer development.<br /><br /><br /><h3>A New War has Begun</h3><br />As the history of the computer industry has shown us, when the possibility of innovation arises, there's never just one group who tries it out. In the past, this led to the determination of two or more <em>de facto</em> standards by competitors promoting similar solutions. Perhaps the most familiar cases in the recent past were the introduction of the VHS and DVD formats. The first standard - for VHS - was adopted after a "war" against Sony's Betamax format - which was supposedly technologically superior - and the determining factor (or one of the main ones, anyway) was that Sony, "jealous" of its proprietary format, didn't want to license support for it to all the Original Equipment Manufactors (OEMs), while JVC and Matsushita [Panasonic]'s VHS licenses were basically given to anyone who even remotely suggested adopting the format. <br /><br />Sony was involved in another "war", for the successor of the CD format: they pushed for their Multimedia CD (MMCD), while Toshiba had their Super Density CD (SD). Perhaps because Sony was wary of another defeat, history didn't repeat itself this time, and the two manufacturers agreed to develop a hybrid format which is now widely known as the Digital Versatile (previously "Video") Disk, or more commonly, the DVD.<br /><br />However, once again, Sony is proposing its own format for next generation DVDs, called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc">Blu-Ray Disc</a> (BD) and once again, it's opposed by Toshiba (and others) with the High Density Digital Versatile Disk (HD-DVD). Both formats aim to increase space by using a blue laser for writing instead of the traditional red one used for DVDs. Other than that, the two formats are (for now) quite incompatible with each other as they use two different approaches to this same technology. Most of the following technical information is taken from an <a href="http://www.cdfreaks.com/article/186/">article</a> that appeared on CDfreaks.com.<br /><br /><br /><h3>The Contenders: HD-DVD</h3><br />Let's now examine the first of the two contenders to the "throne": High Density Digital Versatile Disk (<a href="http://www.hddvd.org/hddvd/">HD-DVD</a>). This format was the one that appeared first and is mainly promoted by Toshiba, along with NEC and Sanyo. The capacity is around 15GB per layer and it could be defined - for its structure mainly - as an application of newer laser technology to the older DVD format. <br /><br /><em><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Disk structure</span></em><br />As the diameter of the disk is the same and the information is coded roughly in the same way, the areas of improvement obviously reside in optimizing the physical space of the disk to hold more information. As with CDs and DVDs, data on a disk is written in tracks following a spiral path, from the center to the border of the support: in a CD, the gap between the two rows of the track (the <em>Track Pitch</em>) was 780nm; then it was reduced for DVDs (650nm), and again for HD-DVDs (400nm), so that we can store more information in the same space (because there are more rows). In order to achieve this, the laser must be more sensitive to be able to detect tracks correctly (that's why the laser is now blue; blue has a smaller wavelength), and the lens that gathers and concentrates the light needs to be changed. The measure that defines the shape (convexity) of the lens is called <em>Numerical Amplitude</em>: for CDs, it is 0.45, 0.6 for DVDs and 0.65 for HD-DVDs. These "tweaks" made more space available on the disk, and HD-DVDs, as previously stated, can store up to 15GB single layer and 30GB in double layer.<br /><br />Another characteristic that makes HD-DVDs similar to DVDs is the amount of the disk which is used for actual data storage and the amount which is used as "protective coating": HD-DVDs are 1.2mm thick, with 0.6mm used to store information and 0.6mm for protection.<br /><br /><br /><em><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Information processing and error correction</span></em><br />Data sent through a channel is subjected to "noise" of various kinds, and a similar phenomena occurs when writing information on a support, so various ways of preserving the data and correcting possible errors were developed. HD-DVD, in particular, uses a particular type of modulation called ETM (Eight to Twelve Modulation), which is once again similar to the technique used in CDs and DVDs: each byte of data is converted into twelve bits, and all bits set to 1 must satisfy an RLL(1,10) code (all '1' bits must be separated by at least 1 and at most 10 zeros).<br />Furthermore, disks must be able to bear scratches and other damage which could potentially corrupt bytes. Personally, I found that CDs are much more scratch-proof than DVDs, partly due to the fact that when you scratch a DVD (don't do it, just trust me!) more bytes get corrupted because of a higher data concentration: imagine what will happen now with 3-5x more data in the same space!<br />HD-DVD has the same correction techniques and data containers as the DVD format, the only exception being that the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Error-correcting_code">ECC</a> blocks on HD-DVDs are twice as large, resulting in a longer correctable burst error length (7.1mm, where DVD is about 6mm).<br /><br /><br /><em><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Writing formats and copy protection</span></em><br />Even though HD-DVD has so far been quite similar to DVD (except for the obvious differences in laser, lens, and track pitch caused by the technology), there's an exception concerning the Rewritable format: it can hold more data than the ROM format (20GB instead of 15). This has been achieved by employing some technologies used in DVD-RAM. Despite the improvement, it might represent a problem for OEMs, because it makes HD-DVD RW handling totally different from the read-only format.<br /><br />For protection against piracy and illegal copying in general, HD-DVD format abandons the Content Scrambling System (CSS) used in DVDs (which has been shown to be unsuccessful) in favour of AACS (Advanced Access Content System), which uses a completely different key scheme.<br /> <br />AACS has been introduced for both HD-DVD and Blu Ray formats, and it involves the so-called "device keys": a unique key is assigned to each player's model, and before playing a protected disk, the player will have to retrieve its key (encoded in a three-way tree on the disk). Obviously, if a particular key is cracked, the manufacturers will be informed and will update the key in newer disks (which won't play in the cracked player at all). The technology is quite controversial at the moment, because "protection" is achieved at a high price: if someone cracks the key of your player, it simply won't play newer HD-DVDs, even if you weren't actually involved in any illegal activity. Solutions are currently being debated.<br /><br /><br /><br /><h3>The Contenders: Blu-Ray Disks</h3> <br /><br />Where Toshiba's HD-DVD adopted a somewhat conservative strategy, basing itself more or less on the DVD standard, Sony decided to use a much more experimental approach for its <a href="http://www.bluraydisc.com/">Blu-Ray</a> (BD) format, which appears to be more technologically advanced and offer even more space. <br />Blu-Ray disks can hold up to 25GB of data per layer, and this represents a great leap over HD-DVD's 15GB, but this has been achieved at the price of compatibility. <br /><br /><br /><em><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Disk structure</span></em><br />In order to reach the capacity it does BD uses the same type of blue/violet laser of HD-DVD but - as a necessity - the <em>Numeric Amplitude</em> of the lens has been increased to 0.85 (vs. 0.65 on HD-DVD), and the <em>Track Pitch</em> has been decreased to 320nm, so the additional space is explained by noting that the distance between the spiral rows is even smaller!<br /><br />Furthermore, BD can vary the length of the "pits" where data is written; by reducing it, more space on the disk can be obtained. Currently BD has 3 sub-formats, corresponding to 3 different capacities (23.3, 25 and 27GB), and associated to three different pit lengths (160, 149, and 138nm respectively) while HD-DVD has a fixed pit length of 204nm.<br /><br />Another innovation was introduced regarding the amount of disk used for data and for protection: disks are still 1.2mm thick, but 1.1mm are used for data storage and only 0.1mm for the protective coating!<br /><br />This was necessary in order to achieve the improved values for NA and Track Pitch, because the laser goes through only 0.1mm of protection before reading the data, meaning it can be more sensitive, but this also means that BDs are MUCH more vulnerable to scratches than HD-DVDs. Luckily, TDK immediately announced a new hyper-resistant protective coating which can offer improved protection from scratches and still be 0.1mm thick. <br /><br /><br /><em><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Information processing and error correction</span></em><br />BD decided to adopt its own modulation system (instead of using ETM like HD-DVD), called "17PP". The acronym basically means that each "1" must be separated by 1-7 "0" bits [RLL(1,7)] and also that the modulated sequence must have the same parity as the original data plus additional rules.<br />Error correction is then achieved using two codes similar to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reed-Solomon_code">Reed-Solomon</a> code: LDC (Long Distance Code) and BIS (Burst Indication Subcode). Without going into too much detail, these two proprietary techniques can achieve almost the same result as HD-DVD's ECC, being able to correct corrupted data up to more than 7mm, which is quite remarkable considering the particularly delicate disk structure.<br /><br /><br />Blu-Ray also introduces two new modulation methods: the first one is called ?MSK-cos? (Minimum Shift Keying ? cosine variant), which is a special frequency modulation, and the second one is called ?HMW? (Harmonic Modulated Wave), which consists of replacing parts of the sine wave with sawtooths.<br /><br /><em><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Copy protection</span></em><br /><br />BD originally proposed its own control system, BD-CPS, for copy protection, but recently seems to have opted for AACS. This means that the same situation arises for both formats: they are both planning on implementing an advanced exchange key-based system to fight piracy.<br /><br />As another anti-piracy method, both formats also introduce a sort of "signature" called a <em>Volume Identifier</em> which will be very difficult to duplicate on a cloned disk.<br /><br /><br /><h3>The World Takes Sides</h3><br /><br />After discussing the two formats sufficiently in depth, it's now possible to itemize the pros and cons of each format:<br /><br /><em><span style="text-decoration:underline;">HD-DVD</span></em><br />Pros:<br /><ul><br /><li>Backward compatibility with CD/DVD will be available soon</li><br /><li>Reduced production costs, both for disks and players - cheaper to buy</li><br /><li>Improved durability</li><br /><li>Available relatively soon on the market</li><br /></ul><br />Cons:<br /><ul><br /><li>Incompatible with the competitor's format</li><br /><li>Less space than competitor's format</li><br /></ul><br /><br /><em><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Blu-Ray</span></em><br />Pros:<br /><ul><br /><li>Backward compatibility with CD/DVD will be available soon</li><br /><li>More space than competitor's format</li><br /><li>Technologically more advanced, longer life-span</li><br /><li>Higher recording speed</li><br /></ul><br />Cons:<br /><ul><br /><li>Incompatible with the competitor's format</li><br /><li>More expensive to produce and to buy</li><br /><li>More vulnerable to scratches </li>(the TDK solution notwithstanding)<br /><li>Still relatively experimental</li><br /></ul><br /><br />At this point, HD-DVD seems to be the "natural" successor to the DVD format: it inherits already-tested technologies and offers acceptable improvements regarding capacity. On the other hand, Blu-Ray is an innovative alternative, which, while more technologically advanced, needs to be tested more fully and is more expensive because of its innovation. Manufacturers will have to have separate machinery to produce Blu-Ray disks, while it appears that only some tweaks in existing structures will be necessary to support HD-DVD production on a mass scale at contained prices.<br /><br />Obviously, all the industries with interests in these new magnetic supports took sides with one or the other format:<br /><br /><em>HD-DVD:</em>Toshiba, Sanyo, NEC, Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, New Line Cinema, Warner Bros Studios, Time Warner, and, apparently, <em><strong>Microsoft</strong></em>.<br /><br /><em>Blu-Ray:</em> DELL, HP, Hitachi, LG-Electronics, Mitsubishi Electric, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, TDK, Thomson, 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney, Texas Instruments, Sun Microsystems, Electronic Arts, and Vivendi Universal Games.<br /><br />HD-DVD is supported mainly by film studios (Paramount and Universal) and multimedia companies (Time Warner). This is expected, since these industries advocate a product which is cheap, tested, and reliable. On the other hand, Blu-Ray is supported by IT industries that see a new technology for improved capacity and high recording speed. However, Walt Disney and 20th Century Fox seem to support this format, and they represent a sizable share of the family entertainment movie business.<br /><br />Microsoft recently seemed to <a href="http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsoft-Sides-With-Toshiba-Against-Sony-s-Blu-ray-3798.shtml">support HD-DVD</a> technology. This was predictable, at least to a certain extent: Microsoft and Toshiba have always had a strong and productive working relationship, and Microsoft is probably trying to oppose Sony, who will probably use Blu-Ray for its upcoming PlayStation 3. Microsoft will probably opt for HD-DVD for the XBox, but it's too soon to say, especially since the big names of video games (like EA) seem to support Blu-Ray.<br /><br /><br /><br /><h3>The End of the War</h3><br />So a new <em>Standards War</em> has begun, and it's still too soon to know how it will end. Recently, the possibility of a hybrid standard has seemed more plausible, even if Toshiba's format arrives on the market much sooner than Blu-Ray. Toshiba itself advocates a <a href="http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/73241/hddvd-bluray-marriage-back-on.html">single standard</a>, but seems also keen on <em>seeing how it goes</em> first, when both the two products are on the market. <br /><br />Actually there's <a href="http://news.softpedia.com/news/The-chronicles-of-a-futile-battle-Blu-Ray-vs-HD-DVD-631.shtml">someone</a> who predicts a different ending for this war: no one format will win, especially if the "conflict" lasts for too long. There's a chance that <a href="http://www.techtree.com/techtree/jsp/article.jsp?article_id=57500">Holographic Versatile Disks</a> (HVD) will eventually destroy both contenders by offering, on the same disk, 1TB of space at 1Gbps transfer speed! <br />As a matter of fact, Japan's <a href="http://www.optware.co.jp/english/what_040823.htm">Optware Corp.</a> might be the revelation that <em>saves the world</em>... <br />
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timestamp: 1119989539 tags: "review|webdevelopment|php|databases" ----- -The first and most obvious difference between, say, a C++ programmer and a PHP developer is that the PHP developer needs a server with PHP support up and running somewhere in order to "show" others that the application is working. This normally means that a PHP developer must either have remote access to a server, or have one set up on his machine. Installing and configuring a server can be tricky sometimes, especially if you want to configure it "properly", but in some cases - for Linux/BSD users mainly - there are some pre-configured servers you can download and install. <br /><br />I won't examine all these methods in this article, but I'll describe three alternatives for installing and run a webserver on windows in 10 minutes or less.<br /><br /><strong>Preliminary considerations</strong><br />Let's assume that you just want to have a server set up on your computer for <em>internal use</em> only, for testing purposes. That means that you wouldn't need to be concerned about "security" or similar issues - you just want to be able to run your PHP scripts and access your database(s) quickly and easily. <br /><br />As I said earlier, Linux users would probably opt for some package available for their favourite distros - they would only have to download and install an .rpm or .deb package for (presumably) Apache httpd, PHP and MySQL, and just use a basic configuration. There are other tools around which can help if you want to compile or configure Apache, but that is beyond the scope of this article.<br /><br />Let's just focus on Windows users, then. Normally they like things that are easy to install and can be configured in a few minutes <em>maximum</em> or not at all. Finally, let's assume that as a Windows user, you don't want to spend more money for a new operating system with a bundled server, like Windows 2003, because you can use <a href="http://www.apache.org">Apache</a> on Windows as well, for free. Having said this, I actually found 3 possible solutions that are handy for PHP (or Perl) developers who don't want to spend time learning how to configure a server. There are people like that, including myself to some extent.<br /><br /><br /><strong>WAMPserver</strong><br /><a href="http://www.wampserver.com">WAMP</a> stands for "Windows Apache MySQL PHP", and I must say that this product happens to be my choice. The current version, available at the time of writing, offers:<br /><br />- PHP 5.0.4<br />- Apache 1.3.33<br />- MySQL 4.1.10a<br />- phpMyadmin 2.6.1-pl3<br />- SQLitemanager 1.0.4<br /><br />This is basically a fully working PHP5 environment, with other tools like phpMyadmin to administer your MySQL database even more easily (more laziness!), and, if you're into the new functionalities of PHP5, it also comes with sqlitemanager, a php application similar to phpMyAdmin but for sqlite databases, which are supported by default in PHP5.<br />You download it, you start the installation program, and it's DONE. That's it. In 5 minutes you have your own little apache/php/mysql(ite) environment up and running and you can start showing off your sites to your friends and co-workers right away.<br /><br />The program also installs two services which can be run at startup, a little icon in the system tray to access all the tools and, of course, <a href="http://localhost">http://localhost</a> in your favourite browser.<br /><br />If all this is still not enough for you, and you want more things more easily, you can install addons to set up PHP4 (and seamlessly switch between the two with a single click!), Perl, Zend Accelerator, and so forth.<br /><br /><br /><strong>EasyPHP</strong><br />The second suite I will briefly describe is <a href="http://www.easyphp.org">EasyPHP</a>. This is a French project (like the previous one, actually), which offers PHP4, MySQL and Apache, plus phpMyAdmin to administer the MySQL databases. However, it doesn't offer PHP5 support yet (so it's not my favourite) and thus there's no sqlite support either.<br /><br />Apart from that, it works exactly like WAMP: you download it, you install it, and it's done. Services are installed and you have - again - your little icon on the system tray to access all its functions and tools. It works well, but it doesn't seem to have any add-ons available like WAMP does.<br /><br /><strong>XAMPP</strong><br />This is by far the most complete distribution of the three I am focusing on. This project is developed by <a href="http://www.apachefriends.org">Apache Friends</a> and has a lot of features and flavours. XAMPP currently includes:<br /><br />- Apache HTTPD 2.0.54<br />- MySQL 4.1.12<br />- PHP 5.0.4 + 4.3.11 + PEAR + Switch<br />- MiniPerl 5.8.6<br />- Openssl 0.9.7g<br />- PHPMyAdmin 2.6.2-pl1<br />- XAMPP Control Panel 1.0<br />- eAccelerator 0.9.3<br />- Webalizer 2.01-10<br />- Mercury Mail Transport System for Win32 and NetWare Systems v4.01a<br />- FileZilla FTP Server 0.9.8a<br />- SQLite 2.8.15<br />- ADODB 4.63<br />- Zend Optimizer 2.5.7<br />- XAMPP Security for Windows 98, 2000, XP<br /><br />Honestly, you can't ask for more! If by chance you want to run this suite on other platforms, there's a version for Mac OS X, Solaris, and even Linux.<br /><br />The installation method for XAMPP is slightly more difficult than the other suites - you actually have to download and unzip it in a folder of your choice. Then you're off and running.<br /><br />Unfortunately (or fortunately), there's no icon on the system tray, so you need to actually access <a href="http://localhost">http://localhost</a> to get a list of services and tools. It also doesn't come with sqlitemanager, but you can download it and install it in the documents folder (like I did).<br /><br />I actually use XAMPP - the "lite" edition, which is smaller and has less features - for my USB drive. Since it doesn't require any services to be installed in order to run, you can simply copy it onto a USB stick and run it from there!<br /><br /><strong>Conclusion</strong><br />I'm quite impressed by all of the server packages I reviewed; WAMP and XAMPP in particular. I can now carry around my websites and applications and instantly run them or show them to anyone who has a computer with a USB port.<br /><br />As I said in the beginning, these programs are NOT meant to be used in a production environment or to be accessed publicly, therefore, security is not a consideration here. In my opinion, they are simply excellent for testing purposes, and for now, that's what I need them for.<br /> +The first and most obvious difference between, say, a C++ programmer and a PHP developer is that the PHP developer needs a server with PHP support up and running somewhere in order to "show" others that the application is working. This normally means that a PHP developer must either have remote access to a server, or have one set up on his machine. Installing and configuring a server can be tricky sometimes, especially if you want to configure it "properly", but in some cases - for Linux/BSD users mainly - there are some pre-configured servers you can download and install. <br /><br />I won't examine all these methods in this article, but I'll describe three alternatives for installing and run a webserver on windows in 10 minutes or less.<br /><br /> + +<h3>Preliminary considerations</h3><br />Let's assume that you just want to have a server set up on your computer for <em>internal use</em> only, for testing purposes. That means that you wouldn't need to be concerned about "security" or similar issues - you just want to be able to run your PHP scripts and access your database(s) quickly and easily. <br /><br />As I said earlier, Linux users would probably opt for some package available for their favourite distros - they would only have to download and install an .rpm or .deb package for (presumably) Apache httpd, PHP and MySQL, and just use a basic configuration. There are other tools around which can help if you want to compile or configure Apache, but that is beyond the scope of this article.<br /><br />Let's just focus on Windows users, then. Normally they like things that are easy to install and can be configured in a few minutes <em>maximum</em> or not at all. Finally, let's assume that as a Windows user, you don't want to spend more money for a new operating system with a bundled server, like Windows 2003, because you can use <a href="http://www.apache.org">Apache</a> on Windows as well, for free. Having said this, I actually found 3 possible solutions that are handy for PHP (or Perl) developers who don't want to spend time learning how to configure a server. There are people like that, including myself to some extent.<br /><br /><br /><h3>WAMPserver</h3><br /><a href="http://www.wampserver.com">WAMP</a> stands for "Windows Apache MySQL PHP", and I must say that this product happens to be my choice. The current version, available at the time of writing, offers:<br /><br />- PHP 5.0.4<br />- Apache 1.3.33<br />- MySQL 4.1.10a<br />- phpMyadmin 2.6.1-pl3<br />- SQLitemanager 1.0.4<br /><br />This is basically a fully working PHP5 environment, with other tools like phpMyadmin to administer your MySQL database even more easily (more laziness!), and, if you're into the new functionalities of PHP5, it also comes with sqlitemanager, a php application similar to phpMyAdmin but for sqlite databases, which are supported by default in PHP5.<br />You download it, you start the installation program, and it's DONE. That's it. In 5 minutes you have your own little apache/php/mysql(ite) environment up and running and you can start showing off your sites to your friends and co-workers right away.<br /><br />The program also installs two services which can be run at startup, a little icon in the system tray to access all the tools and, of course, <a href="http://localhost">http://localhost</a> in your favourite browser.<br /><br />If all this is still not enough for you, and you want more things more easily, you can install addons to set up PHP4 (and seamlessly switch between the two with a single click!), Perl, Zend Accelerator, and so forth.<br /><br /><br /><h3>EasyPHP</h3><br />The second suite I will briefly describe is <a href="http://www.easyphp.org">EasyPHP</a>. This is a French project (like the previous one, actually), which offers PHP4, MySQL and Apache, plus phpMyAdmin to administer the MySQL databases. However, it doesn't offer PHP5 support yet (so it's not my favourite) and thus there's no sqlite support either.<br /><br />Apart from that, it works exactly like WAMP: you download it, you install it, and it's done. Services are installed and you have - again - your little icon on the system tray to access all its functions and tools. It works well, but it doesn't seem to have any add-ons available like WAMP does.<br /><br /><h3>XAMPP</h3><br />This is by far the most complete distribution of the three I am focusing on. This project is developed by <a href="http://www.apachefriends.org">Apache Friends</a> and has a lot of features and flavours. XAMPP currently includes:<br /><br />- Apache HTTPD 2.0.54<br />- MySQL 4.1.12<br />- PHP 5.0.4 + 4.3.11 + PEAR + Switch<br />- MiniPerl 5.8.6<br />- Openssl 0.9.7g<br />- PHPMyAdmin 2.6.2-pl1<br />- XAMPP Control Panel 1.0<br />- eAccelerator 0.9.3<br />- Webalizer 2.01-10<br />- Mercury Mail Transport System for Win32 and NetWare Systems v4.01a<br />- FileZilla FTP Server 0.9.8a<br />- SQLite 2.8.15<br />- ADODB 4.63<br />- Zend Optimizer 2.5.7<br />- XAMPP Security for Windows 98, 2000, XP<br /><br />Honestly, you can't ask for more! If by chance you want to run this suite on other platforms, there's a version for Mac OS X, Solaris, and even Linux.<br /><br />The installation method for XAMPP is slightly more difficult than the other suites - you actually have to download and unzip it in a folder of your choice. Then you're off and running.<br /><br />Unfortunately (or fortunately), there's no icon on the system tray, so you need to actually access <a href="http://localhost">http://localhost</a> to get a list of services and tools. It also doesn't come with sqlitemanager, but you can download it and install it in the documents folder (like I did).<br /><br />I actually use XAMPP - the "lite" edition, which is smaller and has less features - for my USB drive. Since it doesn't require any services to be installed in order to run, you can simply copy it onto a USB stick and run it from there!<br /><br /><h3>Conclusion</h3><br />I'm quite impressed by all of the server packages I reviewed; WAMP and XAMPP in particular. I can now carry around my websites and applications and instantly run them or show them to anyone who has a computer with a USB port.<br /><br />As I said in the beginning, these programs are NOT meant to be used in a production environment or to be accessed publicly, therefore, security is not a consideration here. In my opinion, they are simply excellent for testing purposes, and for now, that's what I need them for.<br />