I don’t hate Microsoft, per se. But I do hate dirty tricks, no matter who’s doing them. And this is what I found as an ad at the XML Files today: “Linux Reference Center” linking to anti-Linux pages on You-Know-Who’s website. Some of the rotating ads there use another image that says “Linus Reference Center, Sponsored by Microsoft.” Some of the ads link to http://devx.com apparently to give a more neutral appearance to the MS propaganda zone. Was that harsh? Maybe, but I don’t think M$’s “Linux Reference Center,” no matter where it’s hosted, is going to be the place to learn objectively about Linux. Just a feeling.

Ever wanted to just test some simple ASP scripts… or maybe individual functions… without going through the rigamarole of setting up a server on your desktop and explaining to it that no, you don’t want to build a world-eating, enterprise-worthy website right at the moment?

I recently discovered ASP Explore, and it fits the bill. It’s essentially a super-light Web browser that opens ASP files as well as HTML files; perfect for spot-checking ASP files or learning the technology. It also comes with a “setup maker” that allows you to not only bundle ASP files into a package, but make them into an executable file for easy installation on another system.

Since I’m studying ASP now, ASP Explore is a great help. Try it out.

On some Windows computers, Safari 3 passes Acid2 with flying colors. On others it gives the orange blindfold. Interesting, since those differing results can be seen on the same operating system, Windows XP, SP2. Who cares about badly rendering a test image, though? Firefox still doesn’t pass Acid2, but it renders pages properly. I’m more concerned about things like http://marinewebservices.com/products.php written with good HTML, CSS and Javascript, but Safari (and only Safari) breaks the page if you click the button on the bottom.

Earth to Apple: you’ve got some work to do.