Random Stew » Firefox http://www.randomstew.com It seemed like a good idea at the time. Wed, 11 May 2011 00:58:57 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Firefox To The Rescue http://www.randomstew.com/2008/04/30/firefox-to-the-rescue/ http://www.randomstew.com/2008/04/30/firefox-to-the-rescue/#comments Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:11:05 +0000 mike http://www.randomstew.com/?p=78 I recently purchased a new laptop for work. Of course, I've spent a good portion of time cursing Vista (we won't go into that now) and loading software onto the box.

One of the pieces of software that I needed to load was Microsoft's .NET 2.0 Software Development Kit -- 354 megabytes of software development kit! But I have a fast Internet connection, so I downloaded the file and ran the setup.

No go. While extracting the bundled files, the setup process bombed out, saying one of the CAB files was corrupt. Hmmm...maybe the file was corrupted in transit. So, I download the file...again.

Once again, I run the setup. Again, the process bombs out with the same error message.

On a lark, I fire up Firefox -- a very good free browser -- and download the file...again. Once again, I run the setup. Lo and behold, the files extract and install successfully!

How ironic is it that Microsoft's SDK for a core component of their operating system is corrupt when downloaded from their site using their browser, but works when downloaded with an alternative browser.

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]]> http://www.randomstew.com/2008/04/30/firefox-to-the-rescue/feed/ 0 Tiny Dancer In My Head http://www.randomstew.com/2007/10/14/tiny-dancer-in-my-head/ http://www.randomstew.com/2007/10/14/tiny-dancer-in-my-head/#comments Sun, 14 Oct 2007 15:14:00 +0000 mike http://www.randomstew.com/2007/10/14/tiny-dancer-in-my-head/ Spinning dancerI ran across this today and found it interesting. Do you see the dancer spinning clockwise or counter-clockwise? According news.com.au, you use more of the right side of your brain if you see the dancer spinning clockwise.

Personally, I first saw the dancer spinning counter-clockwise (no big surprise there), but by looking away and back again, I can see her spinning in either direction now. Although, try as I might, I can't see her change direction while looking at her.

Update: The animated dancer illustrates an interesting browser difference. In Internet Explorer, the dancer moves jerkily, leaves blips on the screen, and consumes an inordinate amount of memory. Firefox, on the other hand, displays a smooth animation with no blips and only uses 20%-25% of memory compared to IE.

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