Comparison betweem Firefox & Google Crome

FIREFOX VS GOOGLE CROME:

History of Firefox vs. Chrome

Dave Hyatt and Blake Ross began working on the Firefox project as an experimental branch of the Mozilla project. They believed the commercial requirements of Netscape's sponsorship and developer-driven feature creep compromised the utility of the Mozilla browser. To combat what they saw as the Mozilla Suite's software bloat, they created a stand-alone browser, with which they intended to replace the Mozilla Suite. On April 3, 2003, the Mozilla Organization announced that they planned to change their focus from the Mozilla Suite to Firefox and Thunderbird.

Google launched the Chrome browser on Tuesday, September 2, 2008 after making the announcement on Labor Day - September 1, 2008 through a series of comic strips about Google Chrome illustrated by Scott McCloud.

Differences in Firefox and Chrome tabs

• Tabs are at the top - In both browsers, the tabs are at the top of the application window, above the buttons for back, forward, refresh and, most importantly, the address bar.

• Tabs can be dragged from one window to another and they still retain their state.

Differences in menu

The Firefox menus - File, Edit, View, History, Bookmarks, Tools and Help - are absent in Google Chrome. Instead, on the top right and under the buttons to resize the application window, there are 2 icons -

• A 3-lined icon for customizing the settings and options.
• While the default tabs in Firefox are rectangular, tabs in Chrome are like tabs on paper folders, only inverted. 

Web Applications in Chrome

In Google Chrome, web applications can be launched in their own streamlined window without the Omnibox URL box and browser toolbar. This limits the browser chrome so as not to "interrupt anything the user is trying to do", allowing web applications to run alongside local software. 

Handling of File Not Found (404) errors in Firefox and Chrome

While Firefox displays a simple Not Found message when a 404 error is encountered, Chrome:

• displays a Google Chrome logo (this can be considered an advertisement for the Google brand)
• offers suggestions to go to the home page of the website returning the 404 error message
• attempts to break down the URL into a search phrase and suggests the user search for the phrase on Google (even if the user has selected another search engine to be the default).

Address bar (URL box) in Chrome vs. Firefox

• Google calls the Chrome address bar the Omnibox. As the user types into the address bar, it offers suggestions for searches, top pages the user has visited before and other popular pages.
• If the user is midway typing in the address bar, the autocompletion feature in Chrome takes the user only to the URL that was explicitly typed by the user before. 

Differences in browser home page

While Firefox allows the user to open a blank page, a homepage or a set of URLs on browser startup, Google Chrome follows a different approach that is closer to Opera's approach. Chrome shows the user thumbnails for the 9 most visited pages by the user. In addition, on the right the browser has a text box to search history and a list of recent bookmarks. 

Incognito mode in Chrome

Google Chrome has an "incognito" mode where the user's activity is not recorded in history. Firefox has a similar mode, it's under tools then choose "Start Private Browsing". 

Security features of Google Chrome vs. Firefox

Firefox and Chrome both have an anti-malware tool that warns users when they visit a web site that is known to install viruses, spyware and other malicious code. This tool also protects against known "phishing" sites. In addition, each Google tab is a separate process that uses (and frees up) its own memory. These processes are stripped of all rights to write files to the user's hard drive or read files from "sensitive areas like documents or desktop". This security feature does not, however, cover plugins. Since plugins may need a higer level of security access to run, some amount of protection is ensured by having them run in a separate process.

An early criticism of Google Chrome is the lack of a "Master Password" feature that Firefox supports. In the absence of such a feature, anyone who uses the browser will have access to the stored passwords. Both Firefox and Google Chrome allow users to view the stored passwords in plain text. However, Firefox's Master Password feature prevents unauthorized users to use this feature. 

JavaScript virtual machine in Firefox vs. Chrome

The JavaScript virtual machine developed for the Chrome browser is called V8. It is an open source engine developed by Google engineers in Denmark and is a significant differentiator from other browsers such as Firefox. Google claims that their tests have shown V8 to be faster than Firefox and Safari. Google Chrome's V8 engine also has features such as hidden class transitions, dynamic code generation, and precise garbage collection.

The V8 JavaScript engine is a standalone component that can be used by other web browsers also. Internet industry experts believe that V8 is the key in Google's competition with Microsoft. Microsoft is strong in the desktop application space and Google is competing with Microsoft by offering SaaS (Software as a Service) i.e. software over the Internet. While Microsoft's software runs on the computer's Operating System, Google's applications run on the browser platform (as do web applications from other companies). The browsers that provide this platform were not designed with applications in mind. Rather, they were designed for displaying web pages with some dynamic content. Therefore, the browser vs. Operating System platform is an inherent disadvantage for web applications like Google's. In order to make web applications more compelling for the users, Google has invested in developing a much faster, better JavaScript engine that enhances the browser platform.

Extensibility of Firefox vs. Google Chrome

Firefox is a flexible, open source browser with thousands of extensions that help users customize their browsing experience. Firefox extensions are the reason it is so popular. Since Google Chrome is also an open source browser, it is expected that several Firefox extensions will be ported to the Chrome platform and be made available for both browsers. However, this will depend upon the success of the browser with the user community as well as the extensibility of its architecture.

Differences Between Macs and PCs......which one is better..??

WAR BETWEEN APPLE AND MICROSOFT:

 If you were to wade into the middle of any large technology conference and shout out "Macs are whack" or "Apple rules, Microsoft stinks," you could start a riot. The conflict between Apple supporters and Windows fans has raged on college campuses, social networks and Internet message boards. It's a discussion that invites flame wars. Put on your fireproof britches, we're going to wade right into it.

Before we throw caution to the wind, we need to establish some definitions. In this article, we're comparing Apple computers running Mac OS X -- no hackintoshes to be found here -- and computers running the Windows operating system. While the term PC stands for personal computer and could apply to Macs, Windows machines and computers running other operating systems alike, we're using it in the common vernacular as shorthand for a Windows machine.

Given the passion often displayed by owners of both brands, you may be surprised to learn what a small share of the global computer market Apple actually controls. While the sales of iPhones, iPods and iPads provide a strong boost to Apple's overall earnings, Macs account for less than 5 percent of computers worldwide.However, the Mac boasts an impressive growth rate: Shipments increased 27.7 percent in the first quarter of 2011 over the same period in 2010, even as overall computer shipments dropped 1.2 percent.

So, which is better -- Mac or PC? Click through our list of 10 differences between Macs and PCs and decide for yourself.

DESIGN FACTOR:

This unconventional focus on design began with the very first Macintosh, introduced in 1984. Like many of the computers in Apple's current line, its CPU and monitor were housed in a single unit, reducing the number of cables necessary for operation and creating a sleeker profile. Perhaps Jobs's and Apple designer Jonathan Ive's most significant success was the iMac, introduced in 1998. With its translucent, candy-colored shell, this model reversed Apple's flagging fortunes and represented the start of its rise to present-day popularity. Today, some PC manufacturers are attempting to create more design-oriented models, but none have achieved the popular acclaim commanded by Mac products.

On the flip side, PCs don't come from a single manufacturer. There are hundreds of different designs of PCs on the market, ranging from the utilitarian design of most business PCs to the space-age aesthetics of Alienware's gaming PC line of computers. You might find some designs more compelling than Apple's approach, but there's no single vision guiding aesthetic choices when it comes to the design of the PC. That's not necessarily a bad thing -- if you don't like one design, you can look to a different manufacturer to consider other options. If you don't like Apple's design, you're out of luck if you absolutely have to own a Mac.

PRICE FACTOR:

The problem with comparing prices between Macs and PCs is that the computers are rarely comparable. Even if you did find two computers with the same processor speed, RAM, hard drive capacity, graphics, memory, number of USB ports, and so on, each of them would be preinstalled with vastly different software packages. The user may have to purchase additional software for whatever computer he or she chooses, like a virus program for a PC or Microsoft Office for a Mac. The bottom line is this: The relative value of a Mac or PC really depends on the consumer's needs.

If you just need a computer to perform basic functions like Web surfing or word processing, it might be hard to justify buying a Mac. There are plenty of PC choices out there that are less expensive. And this is where Linux fans can chime in -- even someone unfamiliar with the Linux operating system can buy a cheap computer, install a simple Linux distribution and access basic computer functions.

Operating System

Mac operating system has traditionally been more stable than Windows. The main reason for this is that Apple used to produce both the hardware (Mac computer) and the software (Mac operating system); they had better control over the integration of the entire system. Now Apple uses the same architecture as a PC, but is selective about the components within the system to ensure stability. Since the Windows operating system can run on hundreds of different types of computers, variations in hardware configurations within those computers can cause stability problems. Another reason for this is also that since PCs are the more popular choice in the Desktop market so most hackers and virus writers always target PCs making the MAC OS not a common target for virus attacks. Thereby making it more stable. As the popularity for MAC computers increase, it can be expected that the incidence of hacker and virus attacks will increase

Macs now ship with the Mac OS X operating system. Since Apple Macs now run on Intel processors, they can run Windows. Apple has also released a software kit called Bootcamp for running Windows on the Mac. 

User Interface

The most noticeable difference between Macs and PCs is in the user interfaces. While many computer users will proclaim one or the other “superior” or “best,” this is ultimately a matter of personal preference. Highlights of the UI in Mac OS X include Launchpad (a screen full of app icons for easily launching your favorite apps), hot corners that can be customized for various types of views, a "dock" that has icons for your favorite apps, full screen mode for apps, and "spaces" that create as many desktops as you like so you can minimize clutter. With Windows 8 UI highlights include a touch-friendly "metro" interface that contains "live tiles", rectangular boxes of varying sizes on the screen that represent an app and get refreshed with the latest content from the app. Several apps utilizing the "metro" interface are full screen apps like in tablet computers. 

Uses

Mac computers are most widely used in the creative professional market, including in journalism and desktop publishing, video editing and audio editing, but have also made inroads into the educative and scientific research sectors. PCs are also used with some of the video and audio editing and research purposes but are found largely as the Home or Office Computer. PCs are also widely used in gaming due to a wider variety of games available for the Windows platform.

Market share

Apple's share of the U.S. personal-computer market nearly tripled from 2004 to 2008 but hasn't gone up significantly since then, and stands at around 8.5 percent in August 2009, according to IDC.

In Q1 2008, worldwide PC shipments were around 70 million (up from 61 million in Q1 2007) whereas worldwide Mac shipments were around 2.3 million (up from 1.5 million in Q1 2007). Historical charts for PC vs. Mac shipments are available at http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/microsoft/archives/137350.asp

The market share of Mac for the July-Sept 2007 quarter was estimated at 3.2% for worldwide sales. While of PCs ( including major companies like HP, Dell, Lenovo, Acer and Toshiba) was a total of around 56%.

Interoperability

PCs and Macs can usually share peripherals if they connect via USB, FireWire, or Bluetooth, three industry standards available on every Mac. Most popular applications for Mac and PC use the same file formats, making it simple to exchange documents with friends and coworkers or move existing files from a PC to a Mac. 

Applications

Macs major applications include Ilife and Time Machine while the PCs most widely used application includes MS Office. Some popular games provided on a Mac are Mac Crack Attack, 3D Klondike while on PC are Solitaire and Virtual Pool.

There is a variety of software available for PCs, which are better than a Mac machine for use as gaming machines since most high-end games are created for the general PC. PCs and Macs can usually share peripherals if they connect via USB or Bluetooth, three industry standards available on every Mac. Most popular applications for Mac and PC use the same file formats, making it simple to exchange documents with friends and coworkers or move existing files from a PC to a Mac. 

Gaming

Traditionally PCs have had the upper hand when it comes to gaming because more publishers developed games for the PC platform. Dollar for dollar, PCs have also provided more powerful processors and speed is an important criterion when it comes to gaming. Some popular games that are available only on PCs are Age of Empires III and Crysis. Games that have both Mac and PC versions include Call of Duty 4: Modern warfare, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, Lego Star Wars II and Starcraft. 

Productivity Software

Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suite & Cloud are available for both Windows and Mac platforms. Other productivity software like OpenOffice and StarOffice is also available for all platforms. Apple's iWork office suite, which includes Pages (word processor), Numbers (spreadsheets) and Keynote (presentation maker) are only available on the Mac and iOS platforms. 

Mac PC war

Macs were hugely popular when the Macintosh was introduced in the mid-80s. They pioneered the GUI and the mouse. With Windows 3.1 and the wildly popular Windows 95, Microsoft gained a large market share. In the 1990s, Windows grew by leaps and bounds and Apple went downhill. After Steve Jobs was brought back to Apple, he introduced the iMac and revived Mac sales. Microsoft bought a 5% stake in Apple with a $150mn investment in non-voting shares in 1997.

Apple's Macs have always had a small but passionate fan base. In 2007, Apple released Mac vs PC ads showcasing the “cool” factor of Macs. These have been parodied online, often with a 3rd character (a woman) for Linux. 

A MAC into a PC (and vice versa)

By installing software like Boot Camp, or a virtualization solution, such as Parallels Desktop, a Mac can function like a PC machine. In other words, a MAC can run Windows on it.

Apple does not allow the use of its operating system on non-Apple hardware. So a Windows PC cannot run Mac OS X. However, the Hackintosh project allows users to run Mac OS on any supported Intel-based PC. 

Aesthetics

Attractive colors and curvy looks make the MAC aesthetically more appealing than the PC. PCs have also come a long way in changing their looks from the old white color computers but the look of a PC ultimately depends upon the manufacturer. Some PCs are more visually appealing than others. 

Price

The MacBook Air starts at $999, whereas the MacBook Pro costs $1,199 and up, depending on the model. PCs usually cost significantly less than Macs with comparable hardware. This is mostly because PCs are manufactured by a large number of hardware manufacturers, resulting in increased competition and lower prices.

HOW GOOGLE SEARCH WORKS

The Google Search Engine:

Google's search engine is a powerful tool. Without search engines like Google, it would be practically impossible to find the information you need when you browse the Web. Like all search engines, Google uses a special algorithm to generate search results. While Google shares general facts about its algorithm, the specifics are a company secret. This helps Google remain competitive with other search engines on the Web and reduces the chance of someone finding out how to abuse the system.

­Google uses automated programs called spiders or crawlers, just like most search engines. Also like other search engines, Google has a large index of keywords and where those words can be found. What sets Google apart is how it ranks search results, which in turn determines the order Google displays results on its search engine results page (SERP). Google uses a trademarked algorithm called PageRank, which assigns each Web page a relevancy score.

A Web page's PageRank depends on a few factors:

• The frequency and location of keywords within the Web page: If the keyword only appears once within the body of a page, it will receive a low score for that keyword.

• How long the Web page has existed: People create new Web pages every day, and not all of them stick around for long. Google places more value on pages with an established history.

• The number of other Web pages that link to the page in question: Google looks at how many Web pages link to a particular site to determine its relevance.

Because Google looks at links to a Web page as a vote, it's not easy to cheat the system. The best way to make sure your Web page is high up on Google's search results is to provide great content so that people will link back to your page. The more links your page gets, the higher its PageRank score will be. If you attract the attention of sites with a high PageRank score, your score will grow faster.

Google initiated an experiment with its search engine in 2008. For the first time, Google is allowing a group of beta testers to change the ranking order of search results. In this experiment, beta testers can promote or demote search results and tailor their search experience so that it's more personally relevant. Google executives say there's no guarantee that the company will ever implement this feature into the search engine globally.­


Google Services:

­As Google has grown, the company has added several new services for its users. Some of the services are designed to help make Web searches more efficient and relevant, while others seem to have little in common with search engines. With many of its services, Google has entered into direct competition with other companies.

Google's specialized searches are an extension of its normal search engine protocol. With specialized searches, you can narrow your search to specific resources. You can enter keywords into Google and search for:
Images related to your keywords
Maps
News articles or footage
Products or services you can purchase online
Blog entries containing the keywords you've chosen
Content in books
Videos
Scholarly papers

For these searches, Google has created specialized indexes that only contain relevant sources. For example, if you search for the term "Planet Earth" in the news category, the results will include only news articles that contain those keywords. The results will look very different from Google's normal SERP.­

In the last few years, Google has unveiled services that don't relate to search engines upon first glance. For example, Google's Gmail is a free Web-based e-mail program. When the service first launched, Google limited the number of users who could create accounts. The first group of users could invite a limited number of people to join the service, and so Gmail invitations became a commodity. Today, anyone can sign up for a free Gmail account.

Gmail organizes e-mails into conversations. This means that when you send an e-mail to someone and he or she replies, both e-mails are grouped together as a thread in your inbox. This makes it easier to follow the flow of an e-mail exchange. If you reply to your friend's response, Google will attach your message to the bottom of the thread. It's easy to navigate through the e-mail program and follow specific conversations.

Another free service from Google is Google Docs, a storage database and collaborative productivity software suite. It includes word processing, spreadsheet and presentation programs. Creating a Docs account is free and allows you to store up to 5,000 documents and images online. Each document can be up to 500 kilobytes, and each embedded image can be up to 2 megabytes. You can share documents on Google Docs, which allows your friends to view and make changes to documents. You can also store all of your documents on Google's servers and access them wherever there's an Internet connection.

LATEST NEWS ABOUT GOOGLE:

Google today announced a new feature for Google Search that highlights in-depth articles related to your search queries. Google says while many users just want a quick answer, its own research indicates that about 10% of people are looking for links to more in-depth stories. Over the next few days, then, the search engine will start highlighting these kind of articles in a new section in its sidebar.
It’s not clear how Google will determine that an article is “in-depth,” though chances are it will look for high-quality, long-form stories from a select number of sources. All Google will say is that the results “are ranked algorithmically based on many signals that look for high-quality, in-depth content.” The results, Google says, are meant to “provide high-quality content to help you learn about or explore a subject.”
For now, this feature will only be available on google.com in English.

TIMER ON GOOGLE: 

Google has a new fun tool built within their search. If you ever need a quick timer for something, grabbing your phone or a regular timer isn’t always convenient when you’re sitting at your desk – and you might not want to install one of the many web apps that do it.
But now you can type specific search query into Google's search box, and Google will create a timer for you right on the search results page.
To create your timer, simply type "timer for [duration]" such as "timer for 30 seconds" or "timer for 1 hour 30 minutes". It has a stop and reset option and it plays a beeping sound when the timer expires. You can have it open in one tab, and use another tab and you will still hear the audio alarm.
Google's timer will also give you a warning if you have an active timer and you try to close that tab or window. It does seem to work in all browsers, so it’s not exclusive to Google Chrome.
It is unknown how long it has been available for, but it seems to have been first pointed out on Reddit last week.

HOW TO USE TIMER ON GOOGLE:

Do you need a simple timer to remind you of upcoming tasks like picking up the laundary, making that phone call to your client or for sticking to the Pomodoro technique. There are good web apps, e.ggtimer.com for example, that let you create countdown timers in the browser quickly but you probably don’t need them anymore.
That’s because you can now setup online timers inside Google itself by entering the timer command in the search box in the following format (the word “set” is optional):

timer for <time> OR set timer for <time>

The <time> can use a combination of hours, minutes and seconds. For instance, you may use search commands like set timer for 20 seconds or timer for 1 hour 2 minutes and the timer will spring into action. When the time has passed, the browser plays a sound.
One more thing. Instead of setting the time in the search command, you can just use the search query “timer” inside Google and then manually set the timer.
This tip is courtesy Lifehacker. And while we on the topic of online timers, you should also check out timer-tab.com – this one lets you set any YouTube video as the notification alarm.

MS-DOS understanding and implimentation

About MS-DOS:

Short for Microsoft Disk operating system, MS-DOS is a non-graphical command line operating system derived from 86-DOS that was created for IBM compatible computers. MS-DOS originally written by Tim Paterson and introduced by Microsoft in August 1981 and was last updated in 1994 when MS-DOS 6.22 was released. Today, MS-DOS is no longer used; however, the command shell, more commonly known as the Windows command line is still used by many users. In the picture to the right, is an example of what a MS-DOS window more appropriately referred to as the Windows command line looks like under Microsoft Windows.

Today, most computer users are only familiar with how to navigate Microsoft Windows using the mouse. Unlike Windows, MS-DOS is a command-line and is navigated by using MS-DOS commands. For example, if you wanted to see all the files in a folder in Windows you would double-click the folder to open the folder in Windows Explorer. In MS-DOS, to view that same folder you would navigate to the folder using the cd command and then list the files in that folder using the dir command.

About dir:

The dir command allows you to see the available files and directories in the current directory. In addition to listing the contents of a directory, the dir command will also show the last modification date and time, as well as the file size. 

Displays a list of files and subdirectories in a directory.

DIR [drive:][path][filename] [/A[[:]attributes]] [/B] [/C] [/D] [/L] [/N] [/O[[:]sortorder]] [/P] [/Q] [/R] [/S] [/T[[:]timefield]] [/W] [/X] [/4]

About CD:

CD (Change Directory) is a command used to switch directories in MS-DOS and the Windows command line.

Windows XP and later syntax:

CHDIR [/D] [drive:][path]
CHDIR [..]
CD [/D] [drive:][path]
CD [..]

.. Specifies that you want to change to the parent directory.

Type CD drive: to display the current directory in the specified drive.
Type CD without parameters to display the current drive and directory.

Use the /D switch to change current drive in addition to changing current directory for a drive.

If Command Extensions are enabled CHDIR changes as follows:

The current directory string is converted to use the same case as the on disk names. So CD C:\TEMP would actually set the current directory to C:\Temp if that is the case on disk.

CHDIR command does not treat spaces as delimiters, so it is possible to CD into a subdirectory name that contains a space without surrounding the name with quotes. For example:

cd \winnt\profiles\username\programs\start menu

is the same as:

cd "\winnt\profiles\username\programs\start menu"

which is what you would have to type if extensions were disabled.

Complete List Of MS-DOS Commands:

Thats all about MS-DOS commands.
Apply and enjoy...