Countdown to the end of IE for the Mac: (Notice on “mactopia,” the Microsoft website for Mac users of its software)

“In June 2003, the Microsoft Macintosh Business Unit announced that Internet Explorer for Mac would undergo no further development, and support would cease in 2005. In accordance with published support lifecycle policies, Microsoft will end support for Internet Explorer for Mac on December 31st, 2005, and will provide no further security or performance updates. Additionally, as of January 31st, 2006, Internet Explorer for the Mac will no longer be available for download from Mactopia. It is recommended that Macintosh users migrate to more recent web browsing technologies such as Apple’s Safari.” (via: MacDailyNews)

Ironically, on the “What’s New in Internet Explorer” page on mactopia, it still says:

“From top to bottom, Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 for Mac OS X has been redesigned to perform the way you’d expect. Simple, fast, and efficient, Internet Explorer 5 lets you unlock the power and fun of the Web.”

Technorati Tags: apple, microsoft

Wikipedia roundup: WSJ.com’s Jason Fry (no relation to Jason Fried) has a rehash (no relation to remix) of the last two weeks of Wikipedia news (free feature). His bottom line is similar to one familiar to readers of this weblog.

Quote:

But there’s one thing that’s disturbing about Wikipedia that no amount of tweaking can resolve — and, not surprisingly, it’s something disturbing and impossible to solve about the larger Net as well. And that’s the fact that we put far too much faith in technology. Even though we’ve heard innumerable times that the Web has let anyone be a publisher, too often we treat print on a screen as if it’s been through the quality-control processes behind books, magazines or newspapers — not that such publications are anything close to infallible. To this oft-unconscious bias, add in the magic of search engines that spit out dizzying amounts of information in response to our silliest query. A Web search feels like we’re doing something complicated and rigorous, and when what comes back is a well-designed Web page or Wikipedia entry, it feels like we’ve done something right. Arriving at such a page should just be the start of assessing the information we’re given and deciding how much to trust it, but too often we treat it as the finish line.

Technorati Tags: wikipedia

What Chris Anderson said: Chris is on a “long tail” roll about the “probablistic age”:

Is Wikipedia “authoritative”? Well, no. But what really is? Britannica is reviewed by a smaller group of reviewers with higher academic degrees on average. There are, to be sure, fewer (if any) total clunkers or fabrications than in Wikipedia. But it’s not infallible either; indeed, it’s a lot more flawed that we usually give it credit for.

Britannica’s biggest errors are of omission, not commission. It’s shallow in some categories and out of date in many others. And then there are the millions of entries that it simply doesn’t–and can’t, given its editorial process–have. But Wikipedia can scale to include those and many more. Today Wikipedia offers 860,000 articles in English - compared with Britannica’s 80,000 and Encarta’s 4,500. Tomorrow the gap will be far larger.

I’m no mathematician, but I’ll put forth my “theory of probability.” After following his weblog during its writing, my theory is that Chris’ book has a high probability of being a huge success when it comes out in June.

Spinning the Google-AOL deal: I have been somewhat perplexed by the motivations (beyond beating Yahoo or Microsoft) that led Google to invest $1 billion in AOL for a 5% stake. The “defensive” reasons didn’t hold water when considering the downside of grabbing hold of the AOL tar baby. John Battelle has a theory: It’s the chance for Google to participate in the spinning off of AOL. While this may, or may not, be correct (and let there be no mistake: I have no idea), it seems enough of a smoke screen to prevent Google shares from tanking on Monday.

Technorati Tags: aol, google

He’s not just hanging out: Steve Hines spends his time looking for gold at the Nashville Public Library. And he’s found some: obscure works by famous authors that are now in the public domain.

Quote:

“Hines found a forgotten (Louisa May) Alcott story titled “Patty’s Place” while looking through a 1920 copy of St. Nicholas magazine for children in the Nashville library. He published that story as “The Quiet Little Woman,” along with another story he found, “Kate’s Choice,” and sold about 350,000 copies.”

Technorati Tags: nashville, publishing

Not very delicious: Trying to bookmark something to del.icio.us/rexblog and this is all I get: “del.icio.us is down for emergency maintenance. we’ll be back as soon possible.”

Technorati Tags: delicious

Why are big companies buying startups? Dare Obasanjo explains why a big company acquires a startup. Of course, long-time readers of the rexblog have a word for it: Acqhire.

Technorati Tags: acqhire, web2.0