Google Chrome

Microsoft has been a little worried about Google and for good reason. Google's new web browser, Chrome, is the latest product offering by the company that's adamant that they're not taking over the desktop. For a first release Chrome isn't bad. It does everything a browser should do quite well.

• Rendering web pages: Its rendering engine seems like someone's slaved over it and has come up with a product that unlike safari is more concerned with showing up "real world" web pages as they were intended rather than just sticking to standards. It's able to show most pages very well and very quick.
• Speed: The browser is quick. A lot of browser claim they're fast but I've yet to come accross any browser that's as quick. I don't have figures as yet but its the perceived delay that matters to the ultimate user isn't it?
• Tabs as different processes: Helps, definitely helps in case one of the tabs crashes its not supposed to take the entire browser down. However I've had a case in which all of Chrome crashed!!!

Problems:

• Downloads: Didn't see an option to pause and restart downloads. Once I cancel a download there's no option to restart it either.
• The colours: Blue under XP... that's the only colour that the browser's tiny task area's available in and doesn't take the colours assigned in the OS and doesn't seem to support skins.

Wishlist:

• Full screen mode
• Easier access to plugins.

Just a note to people who go on about the integrated search in the address bar! IE and Firefox both have it in case you've not realized yet.

umount (but in windows)

Here's the command. Its similar to umount in linux.

rsm eject /pf"VOLUME_LABEL"

Some places where its useful.
- scripting automatic backup
- when your SA has too much power ;-)

Yahoo!

Since everyone's got an opinion about the takeover of yahoo by Microsoft, I thought I'd add my 2 cents worth in this $44 billion bid as well.
I'm one of the few who think Microsoft deserves every bit they've got because they've earned it by making sure they are besides agents of change also extremely good at the business they're in. Just imagine what the world would be like if there wasn't any Windows or Office. Would it have forced others to work this hard in making all the new operating systems and improving the user experience?
So keeping this in view I'm glad that Yahoo and MS are going to be one, however I'm also a big advocator of free and open source software and Yahoo has done a lot in that space and Microsoft hasn't been as open with its code base for most software they've put out.
The other problem is that Yahoo has done some really good stuff with certain companies they own, flickr being one major one and I just don't like the thought of flickr being owned by Microsoft. Maybe it'll be good and it'll become more open then again it might not and we might have to deal with Microsoft thinking they can make something better by using their products.
If Microsoft uses Yahoo as a pool of great programmers and set of great applications that they're going to support two thumbs up but one is left with the feeling that they won't be un-interfering parents.