As always, we followed a very rigorous QA testing process and our QA team had signed off on the cross browser testing of the application, The QA team had tested the website on PC, MAC and mobile browsers. They had tested on Firefox (versions 2, 3 and 3.6), Internet Explorer (7 and 8), Opera, Safari and Chrome. This testing was done on different resolutions.

After taking care of all these variations, we confirmed to the clients that the website was fully ready to go live. The client also tested from a machine at home and said that everything was fine.

Then started the nightmare.

The client went to the office and tested again to realize that their entire left menu did not work. The best part is, it worked right on a few machines and did not work on a few. I tested on a IE7 machine and it was messed up, It worked fine on another IE8 machine.

As we continued our investigation, we found out that with IE7 and IE8, Microsoft has introduced a new feature called ‘Compabitibility View’. As per Microsoft’s explanations on Compatibility view, Compatibility view exists to accomodate those features that were used in older sites.

In addition, we noticed that Javascript was disabled by default in IE7 and IE8. It is very difficult to believe that Microsoft just decided to strengthen the security and make such huge change on Javascript related features. Many of the online users would not even know where to go to enable it.

This problem was solved by enabling compatibility view or by enabling javascript. We are still trying to find out the exact set of steps that happen when we enable compatibility view, so that we can try and see if we can programmatically enable it if required.

The best case scenario will be where we develop the sites, test it across standard browsers and it works without any exceptions. We do remember the nightmare we went through with IE6 testing and we felt better after taking the decision to discontinue support for IE6 and provide only on demand support for IE6 for the websites we develop.

Will provide an update after we investigate this further.

Less than a year ago, Google had announced its entry into the mobile devices hardware market with its launch of Nexus One. Right after the launch they used their muscle power in the advertising space to show the Nexus One phone in front of every single person. It appears that the customers have shown their muscle power and reminded Google as to who the final decision maker on this market is.

Nexus One sales have been extremely poor with Apple just ruling the market both in the mobile phone segment with their iPhone and also introducing iPad, which has been selling like hot cakes.

Google has followed one of the good fundamentals of business which is to identify losses as early as possible and stop further losses. With the discontinuing of the mobile hardware division, Google can now focus on the mobile software division, where their support of Android is catching up well with the iPhone apps on mobile devices.

A huge advantage that Google has over iPhone in the mobile software market is that they can have their apps visible on unlimited number of devices, as long as the device is ready to adopt the Android mobile operating system. This power will lead to a natural evolution process, which defines that certain effects cannot be stopped by any force, as the need is much stronger. With iPhone apps stuck to devices that are propreitory to Apple, Android apps will overtake them in just a matter of time – unless Apple does something drastic to disrupt the cause – ie ease of adoption of good apps on multiple devices.

Google’s Vik, who is one of the most popular strategists in Google, is now heading the mobile apps division and that shows the amount of seriousness that Google is showing on this.

With the fact that mobile devices are going to be the primary device of choice globally, it is no surprise that everyone is rushing to get the biggest piece of the pie. Though Microsoft is way behind in the online world, it will be interesting to see how they react to such a move from Google.

This partnership will make their combined search strengths as the best competition to date to the Google Search monopoly. Even now, Google controls over 60 percent of the search market share, but this partership might change that landscape.

The official communication below:

Microsoft, Yahoo! Change Search Landscape
Global Deal Creates Better Choice for Consumers and Advertisers

SUNNYVALE, CA and REDMOND, WA — 29 July, 2009 — Yahoo! and Microsoft announced an agreement that will improve the Web search experience for users and advertisers, and deliver sustained innovation to the industry. In simple terms, Microsoft will now power Yahoo! search while Yahoo! will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers.

For Web users and advertisers, this deal will accelerate the pace and breadth of innovation by combining both companies’ complementary strengths and search platforms into a market competitor with the scale to fuel sustained development in search and search advertising. Users will find what they care about faster and with more personal relevance. Microsoft’s competitive search platforms will lead to more value for advertisers, better results for web publishers, and increased innovation and efficiency across the Internet.
Under this agreement, Yahoo! will focus on its core business of providing consumers with great experiences with the world’s favorite online destinations and Web products.

“This agreement comes with boatloads of value for Yahoo!, our users, and the industry. And I believe it establishes the foundation for a new era of Internet innovation and development,” said Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz. “Users will continue to experience search as a vital part of their Yahoo! experiences and will enjoy increased innovation thanks to the scale and resources this deal provides. Advertisers will also benefit from scale and enjoy greater ease of use and efficiencies working with a single platform and sales team for premium advertisers. Finally, this deal will help us increase our investments in priority areas in winning audience properties, display advertising capabilities, and mobile experiences.”

Providing a viable alternative to advertisers, this deal will combine Yahoo! and Microsoft search marketplaces so that advertisers no longer have to rely on one company that dominates more than 70 percent of all search. With the addition of Yahoo!’s search volume, Microsoft will achieve the size and scale required to unleash competition and innovation in the market, for consumers as well as advertisers.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said the agreement will provide Microsoft’s search engine, Bing, the scale necessary to more effectively compete, attracting more users and advertisers, which in turn will lead to more relevant ads and search results.

“Through this agreement with Yahoo!, we will create more innovation in search, better value for advertisers, and real consumer choice in a market currently dominated by a single company,” said Ballmer. “Success in search requires both innovation and scale. With our new Bing search platform, we’ve created breakthrough innovation and features. This agreement with Yahoo! will provide the scale we need to deliver even more rapid advances in relevancy and usefulness. Microsoft and Yahoo! know there’s so much more that search could be. This agreement gives us the scale and resources to create the future of search.”

“This deal fits the long-term strategic direction of Yahoo! to remain the world’s leading online media company and Carol Bartz has the full and unanimous support of the Yahoo! Board behind this deal,” said Roy Bostock, chairman, Yahoo! Inc. “This is a significant opportunity for us. Microsoft is an industry innovator in search, and it is a great opportunity for us to focus our investments in other areas critical to our future.”

The key terms of the agreement are as follows:

- The term of the agreement is 10 years;

- Microsoft will acquire an exclusive 10 year license to Yahoo!’s core search technologies, and Microsoft will have the ability to integrate Yahoo! search technologies into its existing web search platforms;
Microsoft’s Bing will be the exclusive algorithmic search and paid search platform for Yahoo! sites. Yahoo! will continue to use its technology and data in other areas of its business such as enhancing display advertising technology.

- Yahoo! will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers. Self-serve advertising for both companies will be fulfilled by Microsoft’s AdCenter platform, and prices for all search ads will continue to be set by AdCenter’s automated auction process.

- Each company will maintain its own separate display advertising business and sales force.

- Yahoo! will innovate and “own” the user experience on Yahoo! properties, including the user experience for search, even though it will be powered by Microsoft technology.

- Microsoft will compensate Yahoo! through a revenue sharing agreement on traffic generated on Yahoo!’s network of both owned and operated (O&O) and affiliate sites.

- Microsoft will pay traffic acquisition costs (TAC) to Yahoo! at an initial rate of 88% of search revenue generated on Yahoo!’s O&O sites during the first 5 years of the agreement.

- Yahoo! will continue to syndicate its existing search affiliate partnerships.

- Microsoft will guarantee Yahoo!’s O&O revenue per search (RPS) in each country for the first 18 months following initial implementation in that country.

- At full implementation (expected to occur within 24 months following regulatory approval), Yahoo! estimates, based on current levels of revenue and current operating expenses, that this agreement will provide a benefit to annual GAAP operating income of approximately $500 million and capital expenditure savings of approximately $200 million. Yahoo! also estimates that this agreement will provide a benefit to annual operating cash flow of approximately $275 million.

The agreement protects consumer privacy by limiting the data shared between the companies to the minimum necessary to operate and improve the combined search platform, and restricts the use of search data shared between the companies. The agreement maintains the industry-leading privacy practices that each company follows today.

The agreement does not cover each company’s web properties and products, email, instant messaging, display advertising, or any other aspect of the companies’ businesses. In those areas, the companies will continue to compete vigorously.

The transaction will be subject to regulatory review. The agreement entered into today anticipates that the parties will enter into more detailed definitive agreements prior to closing. Microsoft and Yahoo! expect the agreement to be closely reviewed by the industry and government regulators, and welcome questions. The companies are hopeful that closing can occur in early 2010.

The companies have established a website at http://www.choicevalueinnovation.com to provide consumers, advertisers and publishers with additional information about the benefits of the agreement.

Conference Call – 5:30 a.m. PDT, Wednesday, July 29
Yahoo! and Microsoft will host a conference call with Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to discuss the agreement at 5:30 a.m. Pacific/8:30 a.m. Eastern Time today.

To listen to the call, please dial 1-866-515-2908 in the U.S. and Canada; +1-617-399-5122 international, reservation number: 47968026. A live webcast of the call can be accessed through Yahoo!’s Investor Relations website at http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/results.cfm.

The companies have also established a website at http://www.choicevalueinnovation.com to provide consumers, advertisers and publishers with additional information about the benefits of the agreement. In addition, an archive of the webcast will be available through the same link. An audio replay of the call will be available for two weeks following the conference call by calling 1-888-286-8010 in the U.S. and Canada; +1-617-801-6888 international, reservation number: 91217610.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures
This release refers to operating cash flow (operating income before depreciation, amortization of intangible assets, and stock-based compensation expense, or OCF), which is a non-GAAP financial measure. The most comparable GAAP measure is income from operations. The estimated annual OCF benefit of $275 million included in this press release is the estimated annual benefit in income from operations of $500 million less approximately $225 million of estimated annual savings in depreciation, amortization and stock-based compensation expense.

Since I got fascinated by the power of the iPhone and also the wow factor in Wii, I thought I should write about it right away.

Wii is not popular in India and so I am including a basic introduction about the device and then my thoughts about it.

Wii is a video game device from Nintendo, similar to Sony PlayStation and Microsoft XBox. All these three gaming consoles allow you to connect to a TV and control it using controls – with more than one player being able to play – watching the TV monitor for the output.  The one difference Wii has brought is the fact that the controllers are wireless. So the players can actually swing their arms (like in bowling or golf) and the response can be seen on TV. Wii has also come up with an additional device for exercises called Wii Fit, which is even more amazing. This video shows some of the features in Wii Fit

The iPhone on the other hand is a cell phone, which has revolutionised the concept of games on cell phones. iPhone has a feature in it based on which it can sense the direction in which the phone is being held. With this powerful feature, iPhone developers have developed new games which cannot be developed to be played on the regular desktops.

Seeing these two new technologies rule the world of games, I could not help writing about them.

While iPhone has its APIs exposed, allowing the iPhone developers to develop new games for the iPhone, Wii has a set of APIs exposed to talk to the remote and hence control the responses.

Going by the new direction given by iPhone and Wii, we can only expect to see the competition heat up in both the markets, but these devices have already achieved the first mover advantage.

At Auro Infotech, we are still in the early stages of developing applications for these two technologies. With more focus on our Technology Research Programs, we hope to catch up with this before the end of the year.

Too good to be true, right?

I guess so too, but the fact is that Microsoft is trying to catch up in the online space and their strategy might well click.

At Auro Infotech we have stayed away from Office as we are quite comfortable with OpenOffice for a simple reason that it is free and does the job. Having used Microsoft Office also in parallel for over ten years now, I can say that MS Office is definitely a more appealing product than OpenOffice when it comes to richness of features. So if the news is really true, we will surely give the online version a try and see how it works.

They have also released an advisory update / patch on this topic which is available here.

At Auro Infotech, we chose an alternate strategy which has been working well for quite some time now. This solution is called Using Firefox with NoScript.

Those who feel it is necessary to use Internet Explorer, please remember to visit the Microsoft Support Site. Others, please try our recommended solution out and let us know if you think it does not work out for you for any reason.

This is the first time that Google is taking Microsoft head on in its territory, ie the Operating Systems. Microsoft Windows currently holds 85% of the market share and this will surely create a dent in this share.

With this move, Google has also attempted to capitalize on the fact that most users who upgraded to Vista, the latest version of Microsoft’s OS, are quite disappointed with its poor performance. With no option for them to seamlessly downgrade to XP and with the next version not planned at least until October of this year, it appears that Google has given the right response to Microsoft.

It is interesting to note that Google started with its key area of focus ie. Search. Microsoft launched Bing earlier this year and it has emerged as a strong competitor to Google Search. Microsoft started with its key area of focus ie. Operating Systems. Now with Google’s Chrome announcement, it appears that they are trying the reverse of what Microsoft is trying.

So each one is trying to step into the strong hold of the other. While some believe that this competition will result in better technology, others believe that Google might start interfering with the privacy of the desktop. Eg. Will the users be forced to see sponsored links when they search for their documents in their machines?

One advantage might be that Chrome might really not be a PC based OS, but a variation with an extremely thin client sitting on the PC leveraging the distributed applications available online already. This way there will be a single sign on into the PC as well as mail, chat, documents, applications, phone, etc.

The news is that it will initially target Netbooks, the smaller version of the laptops. The plan appears to take into consideration that Windows OS is extremely huge in size and slow down the Netbooks which are already low in processing power. In addition another issue is that XP is the recommended operating system that ships with most netbooks today, but IE6 is the browser that comes with XP and IE6 browser has lots of issues with reference to CSS.

It will be very interesting to see this space, especially with reference to the fact that Google had announced their vision of Google Wave earlier this year.

All roads appear to lead to better technology for the future. We will do our best to keep up with the pace.

We recommend Web Hosting Talk website to any one with interests or inclination towards learning the latest aspects in web hosting industry. We hang out on web hosting talk quite often as it provides the latest scoop on all the things that happen in this industry.

Various aspects of web hosting are discussed on this site such as shared hosting, VPS, dedicated hosting, etc. I have seen experts in each area such as Payment Gateways, SSLs, eCommerce, Bandwidth providers, etc share their thoughts on relevant fields.

The nature of the audience to this site is small and medium web hosts with a huge number of new entrants coming into web hosting industry, hanging out there quite often. The exponential growth of web hosting industry around the world is primarily due to the proportionate growth in internet broadband usage and spread around the world, thus resulting in more and more businesses trying to establish a online presence. The industry is considered to grow to a multi-billion dollar one in the near future and that is one reason why big players like Amazon, Microsoft, etc are trying to get their hand on this pie using the cloud computing model, which is a logical extension of today’s web hosting models.

We have also spent some time on Web Hosting Talk in the past and believe that it is one of the ideal forum models for any business trying to build a forum based community online.

Do check it out and share your views here.