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Fiddler – My Mistakes

On a flight back from Redmond last week, I finally read Linus Torvalds’ 2002 memoir “Just For Fun.” I really enjoyed its picture of Linux (and Torvalds) early in its success, with different chapters varyingly swooning that Linux had 12 or 25 million users. But more than that, I enjoyed some of the “behind theContinue reading “Fiddler – My Mistakes”

Parallel Downloading

I’ve written about File Downloads quite a bit, and early this year, I delivered a full tech talk on the topic. From my very first days online (a local BBS via 14.4 modem, circa 1994), I spent decades longing for faster downloads. Nowadays, I have gigabit fiber at the house, so it’s basically never myContinue reading “Parallel Downloading”

Certificate Revocation in Microsoft Edge

When you visit a HTTPS site, the server must present a certificate, signed by a trusted third-party (a Certificate Authority, aka CA), vouching for the identity of the bearer. The certificate contains an expiration date, and is considered valid until that date arrives. But what if the CA later realizes that it issued the certificateContinue reading “Certificate Revocation in Microsoft Edge”

Extending Fiddler’s ImageView

Fiddler’s ImageView Inspector offers a lot of powerful functionality for inspecting images and discovering ways to shrink an image’s byte-weight without impacting its quality. Less well-known is the fact that the ImageView Inspector is very extensible, such that you can add new tools to it very simply. To do so, simply download any required executablesContinue reading “Extending Fiddler’s ImageView”

“Batteries-Included” vs “Bloated”

Fundamentals are invisible. Features are controversial. One of the few common complaints against Microsoft Edge is that “It’s bloated– there’s too much stuff in it!” A big philosophical question for designers of popular software concerns whether the product should include features that might not be useful for everyone or even a majority of users. ThereContinue reading ““Batteries-Included” vs “Bloated””