XWebs megabrowser

Quote:

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Wired.com
A 16-year-old Irish student has startled the Internet world by creating a new Web browser that may -- or may not -- be able to goose browsing times by 600 percent.

But the speed claims for the browser -- which comes with 120 search engines, all the major media players, a DVD player, and an HTML and WAP editor built in -- have drawn criticism because no one has yet been able to clock it.
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Osmani said he has developed an algorithm that speeds up the way information is handled inside the browser. The technique takes advantage of the features of a particular type of server used widely on the Internet.

The browser handles multiple requests for information, he said. So, instead of a single stream of information, several streams are processed simultaneously. In essence, the task of bringing over a Web page is divided into a set of smaller tasks, cutting the time it takes to reassemble a Web page on the computer screen.

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True? Or just another 16-year old looking for attention? Place your bets...

Here's something Adnan posted on a blog:

Quote:

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I dont think you webheads realise that Im only 16 years old!...The software goes at 4 times faster (maximum 6 times) than normal browsers..and yes, it does work.What I cant understand is why people want me to give out source code as if its theirs to ask...I mean you dont ask Apple to give out core details about their speed increases or a source code sample so why is everyone expecting me to...Im not going to give away a free (Decompillable!) demo so don't hold your breath...if the critics give me a break I "might" give you a video clip of the program in action...

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Doesn't sound like someone who'd be able to write a browser if you ask me...

Wonder if perhaps she "borrowed" code from someone else to write it? Opera has always been pretty zippy. Maybe she's followed their route. Or perhaps she's just removed a lot of the more fancier interpretation and scripts.

I don't think it's impossible for a 16 year old to do this sort of thing, but the tone of the comments lead me to believe that the claims are probably exxagerated, if not an outright lie. If the program is that good, why not show it off? They wouldn't have to give out source code, or even demo binaries. Just give an unbiased demonstration to a objective audience and let them decide. I think they're just looking for fifteen minutes of fame. It really wouldn't surprise me if they 'accidentally' erased the hard drive and all the browser work so it couldn't be tested.

I wrote a browser. A very small one, but it is one. I'm not going to tell you my age, but I believe a 16 year old can write one. It won't be really advanced though, unless he has some friends to help him. Mine is really simple, doesn't have any real plugins. It get's pages and pictures, displays them, that's it. The idea of having multiple connection to a webserver to speed up the loading isn't new though. Many download accelerators use that and if I'm not mistaking IE does that to. Besides that there isn't much to speed up because everything is limited to your internet connections speed. Another thing that can be sped up is the webpage handling inside your computer. IE doesn't load fast on a 486. If a guy tweaks his browser to his own needs, he will surely be able to speed that up. If the browser was entirely written in assembler and it wouldn't be spread through the entire os like IE and other are, womthimes with 1000ths of files all over the place. Things could be build more efficient. I don't believe in secret algorithms that speed up the loading of a 6k .gif file on a 2 gHz computer by 600%.

I think the first article is bullshit. The second could be true. If I was in that possition I wouldn't just give the source either with the same motives he gave. He could have written a browser... Who knowns... the future tells if he is a loser or not.

i posted on this days after he won the scientist competition but i can't find it now to give out a link. this thread is all that comes up for "Osmani". i probably spelled it wrong before.

at the time there were claims that he wrote over one and a half million lines of code, but that included the libraries he used. he makes it up to six times faster by messing around with sockets, how the browser actually goes and gets the information. to get the full six times faster, you would need the cooperation of your isp. if i can remember correctly, i think he made his browser download different parts of the page at the same time using multiple sockets, i would compare this to how p2p software works when downloading media, it doesn't get it all from start to finnish, more like, different parts off different people at the same time. i could be way off now, he won't release his code!

and yes, it was reportedly tested by computer science profs. or lecturers (or "academics") at the university college dublin. they also said they talked to him about it and came to the conclusion that he seemed competant enough to have written it himself.

first time i heard that both his parents were doctors though, i bet they move in some pretty fancy schmancy social circles...influence...*blah blah*...politics...etc, free nose job...

edit: "Young Scientist" returns 0 in the forum search, not even this thread, and i am sure i said that exact phrase in the other thread i wrote about this in. hopefully threads are not sprouting legs and running amuck, fiddely search thing.

(V)/\>< > I did a search on "xwebs" and "Osmani" before I posted this... sorry if I stole your thread ;) His parents indeed both are doctors.

i don't mean to take the "you stole my thread" attitude here, i think i put a few links in the other one that may explain more and are appropriate here, seeing as i can't remember exactly what the articles say, i thought i would say that there should be one here. it's odd that i can't find it, so i wouldn't think you could find it either Negative. my appologies to all, for i am not bothered or motivated enough to go search for the links again.