I have been spending a lot of time on the computer these days. Virtually everything I do these days involve the use of the browser and an internet connection. What has caught my attention recently, though, is that many software has followed Google’s lead in releasing perpetual Betas. I use Aptana, Thunderbird and Firefox regularly and they all regularly ask to be updated so instead of getting something done in two minutes you have to spend ten or even fifteen minutes while the software you want to use is updating. I am not opposed to updates, but isn’t there a better way or time to update the software than at start up (usually in the ” I have two minutes to do this thing” mode)?

apple · Aptana · beta · firefox · Linux · software · Thunderbird · windows

Recently while I was on the run I needed to find a location on a map and of course I immediately fired up my trusty new netbook and launched Firefox. Lo and behold, I could not get Google Maps to display whatsoever. I tried refreshing the page, I tried relaunching it and finally I had to fire up Internet Explorer to access the map. Since I usually avoid using Internet Explorer at all costs, this was really an exception.

I thought it might have something to do with my connection setup, but after a little bit of digging and retracing of my actions, I remembered that I had just updated Skype and I noticed that it installed an add-on onto Firefox. After I disabled this add-on from Skype, Google maps loaded effortlessly. Since I do not know what this add-on does and why it is there in the first place, I am probably not going to miss it.

So if your google maps not loading in Firefox 3.0, do not hesitate and disable that plug in to get your maps back. Someone at Skype needs to check this.

add-on · broken · firefox · google · google map · location · maps · skype