In the last one year we saw both the high-tech companies (Microsoft & Google) releasing their versions of mashup editors to help us create web 2.0 applications without having to write even a single line of code. Today I review both of these services to actually see which of one these 2 services has the edge over one another?

Microsoft Popfly

Popfly is Microsoft’s version of a mashup editor. It’s built using Microsoft Silverlight platform which gives it all that slick look and ease of use. Using Popfly, we can create online mashups easily by using what they call as "Blocks". There are many blocks already available to provide data from different web services like Facebook, Wikipedia, Digg, MySpace, Flickr etc. We can also create gadgets easily by just dragging and dropping that works both on Windows Vista and Windows Live. 

Popfly also enables us to create games without even having to write a single line of code. These games works also on Xbox Live.

Popfly is designed in such a way that it’s very easy to jump in and design a simple application even if you don’t have any coding experience.

Pros:

1. Simple & easy to use.
2. Eye-candy interface.
3. Enables us to create games on the fly.

Cons:

1. Not as customizable as Google’s Mashup Editor.

Google Mashup Editor

Google Mashup Editor is targeted towards more advanced developers. What this means is that it takes more technical approach than Popfly, hence only appealing to real hard coders.
This technical and not so easy approach is going to limit Google’s service to very limited user base but it surely has great appeal for those who really want to have freedom of having to code everything down.

The service enables us to create mashups using CSS, JavaScript, HTML and some special XML tags.

Pros:

1. Its advanced and technical nature allows us with much more customization.

Cons:

1. Too complicated for those with limited knowledge of development.
2. Interface - Not as easy to use as Popfly.
3. The service is still in private testing phase.

Conclusion

After having played with both the services, I came to the conclusion that for average Joe, Popfly is by far the best choice for creating mashups whether it be for creating websites, gadgets or for games.

Taimur Asad (Via Startup Meme)

Sabeer Bhatia sold Hotmail to Microsoft in 1997 for around $400 million. After selling Hotmail, Sabeer tried new ventures but none of  them were very successful. Now Sabeer has decided to challenge the cash cow (Microsoft Office) of the same company that made him a millionaire.

Today he has launched Office Live Documents - an online+offline Office suite of programs similar to Word, Excel and PowerPoint.  Like Zoho Office and Google Docs, Live Documents lets you create, edit and share Office documents in the web browser.  All your edits are automatically synchronized with all other copies of the documents.

And if you own a copy of Microsoft Office, you can download a Live Documents toolbar that makes it easy to upload documents from your Office programs to the Live Documents cloud (very similar to Office Live Workspace). Live Documents is done in Flex so should work on any system that has the Flash plug-in. Overall, Live Docs sounds like a good concept but they are definitely up against some heavyweights notably Google and Microsoft.

Request invite for Live Documents here.
Official site: live-documents.com

Source: www.labnol.org

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

Ballmer has some more interesting insight into looking at the world through Microsoft-colored glasses.

At a recent Tokyo press conference, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had some interesting things to say about Google and its new Android OS, the mobile phone OS that Google has in development.
Ballmer has a penchant for colorful remarks; for example. he recently likened his relationship with Microsoft founder and good friend Bill Gates to a marriage which has produced many, many children.
Ballmer was at it again, raining harsh criticism on Google, dismissing Android OS as nothing but a press release.
He also stated that he would like to welcome Google into "Microsoft's world," apparently referring to t

he mobile phone market.
He said, "Right now they have a press release, we have many, many millions of customers, great software, many hardware devices and they're welcome in our world."
His remarks seem slightly curious as Microsoft is dominated in market share of the mobile phone market by the more widespread Symbian OS.
Ballmer refused to comment on the Android software itself, instead simply sticking to a general critique of Google policy.  He said that he felt that Android OS was vaporware at the present and could not be compared to Microsoft's mobile phone OS, Windows Mobile.
"Well of course their efforts are just some words on paper right now, it's hard to do a very clear comparison [with Windows Mobile]," he said.
Perhaps he might be able to comment soon, as Google has released a concrete initial version of its Software Development Kit for the Android OS, something that competitor Apple Inc., still has been unable to do for the iPhone due to alleged security issues.  Google also spread even more love by offering a $10 million USD bounty for "Cool Apps" from third parties for the platform.
Ballmer says he is not threatened by Google, but that Microsoft is watching them like a hawk.
"So we have great momentum, we've brought our Windows Mobile 6 software to market, we're driving forward on our future releases and we'll have to see what Google does," said Ballmer.
Google's Android OS is based on Linux and is under a modified open-source Apache license.  It is being co-developed by "the Open Handset Alliance," which includes industry giants such as T-Mobile, Sprint Nextel, Samsung Electronics, and LG Electronics.
Google's Android OS generated a tremendous amount of buzz in the online community months before its true nature was unveiled.
Ballmer is not the only one who has been making comments deriding Android OS.  Symbian OS CEO Nigel Clifford, also made a similar remark at a Tokyo press conference several days prior.
"One of the reactions [to Android OS] is, it's another Linux platform," Clifford stated. "There's 10, 15, 20, maybe 25 different Linux platforms out there. It sometimes appears that Linux is fragmenting faster than it unifies."
Whether Android OS will be a hit or miss remains to be seen, but it appears to be making competitors slightly antsy and generating some new interesting comments to add to Microsoft's colorful public relations history.

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

A significant number of Mac owners upgrading to Leopard on Friday reported that after installing the new operating system, their machines locked up, showing only an interminable -- and very Windows-like -- "blue screen of death."

Easily the heaviest-trafficked thread on the Leopard support forums as of late Friday, "Installation appears stuck on a plain blue screen" told how after a successful Leopard install using the default "Upgrade" option and the required restart, some users' Macs refused to budge from the blue screen. Although many gave up after 30-60 minutes and rebooted, others were more patient and let their Macs be as long as six hours.

"Hmmmm. I feel like a windoze user now," said Doug Mcilvain. I have re-installed and it has been sitting there with a blue screen for 4 1/2 hours."

Almost everyone who added to the thread -- which included more than 200 messages and over 7,400 views by 10:30 p.m. Friday, Pacific time -- selected the Upgrade option. Set as the default, Upgrade is the least intrusive of the three install options. "Most of your existing settings and applications are left untouched during an upgrade," Apple states in an online support document. In fact, some reports speculated that the glitch might be related to a third-party program that installs a base-level framework that modified OS X.

Frustrated users who rebooted to the install DVD then upgraded a second time using the "Archive and Install" option reported success, and no lingering blue screen after restart. "I grew impatient after the first hour and rebooted to DVD and then reinstalled choosing the Archive/Install option," said volksapple. "That worked just fine. Despite this small hiccup, it's far better than any Windows upgrade I've suffered through."

Other users, however, waited it out, or were told to by Apple support personnel. One user, James Mitchell9, said the blue screen finally vanished at the 75-min. mark. Others claimed they had been told the long blue-screen-of-pause could last as long as two, or even three, hours.

Still others jumped in with instructions to manually uninstall APE (Application Enhancer), a framework created by Unsanity LLC for use with its Mac customizing haxies such as ShapeShifter. "Please note that this does involve manipulation of files from the root prompt," cautioned Chris Mcculloh, who first made the suggestion. "This is not for the faint of heart, or those who are unfamiliar with the UNIX file system/command structure."

Mcculloh listed the steps as:

• Reboot into single-user mode (hold Command-S while booting)
• Remove the following files by typing each line below:
  rm -rf /Library/Preference Panes/Application Enhancer.prefpane
  rm -rf /Library/Frameworks/Application Enhancer.framework
  rm -rf /System/Library/SystemConfiguration/Application Enhancer.bundle
  rm -rf /Library/Preferences/com.unsanity.ape.plist
• Exit, to continue booting normally, type:
  exit

For those who have not yet installed Leopard, the Unsanity APE app provides an uninstaller that can be used first to remove the framework before the new OS is installed. Alternatively, users can use the "archive and install" option, which places a new copy of Leopard on the user's computer while moving older OS files to another folder. That would have the effect of moving the potentially offending APE software to a location where it can do little to interfere with the installation process.

Apple was not available for comment Friday night, but an Australian user claimed support said the phones had been ringing "non-stop" over the problem since 9 a.m. local time. Australia was one of the first countries where Mac users got their hands on Leopard.

A few took the install screw-up in stride, or at least kept their sense of humor. "I don't remember seeing the option in setup under Installation Type that said 'Wait indefinitely while you stare at a blue screen and eventually go mad'," said Phill Horrocks1.

Computerworld's Ken Mingis contributed to this report.

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)