White

loo-cure-ative

2009-07-27T11:16:00.000-07:00

What would you do if you went to a loo and after finishing your actions realise that the water fountain is broken and does not let out water and there are no tissues left?

Writing Spree

2009-07-22T12:41:00.000-07:00

The only reason why i am writing this post is because i realised that all this while it has never happened that i posted 3 posts in one day!

So this becomes the first time i am writing a third post in a single login to blogger.

My Dear Lappy...

2009-07-22T12:29:00.000-07:00

My Lappy is broken. Not the hardware but the software. Windows, after a long time, has crashed on me. Ironically, what made it crash was the chkdisk utility. So the story goes -

I was working simultaneously on my lappy and cell fone. When suddenly, my cell fone decided to jump from my hands and hit the lappy with all the force it could muster. The result was that my lappy restarted! I assumed this to be the end of the incident. However, God had other plans.

The next day when i switched on my lappy, it ran chkdisk. I let it complete but it gave me some errors about rundll files which i happily ignored assuming that it was just some routine messages. However, what i came to know later was that chkdisk for some wierd reason had corrupted the copy of windows by deleting (and in other cases duplicating) system files.

Now my lappy boots up but randomly restarts explorer which is really very irritating! I can hardly work on it.

So now i need some time to work on it and fix it. Hopefully it ends with a reinstall of Windows. I would really not like to format my hard disk! But i heard He works His work in mysterous ways. So be it.

I am without my lappy currently. This I am writing from my office desk. :(

What is life

2009-07-22T12:25:00.001-07:00

I found this blog entry from a very early blog i used to write obviously not from this blog. The reason why I am posting it here now is because it still hasnt lost its relevance. After something over four years since i wrote it though! Read on...

I am in a train. Travelling at 80kmph going north - northeast. I do this almost every weekend. I work in a city different from where i was born and brought up. So i go back to my home town to stay with my folk for the weekend. And then on Sunday evening I come back. But this weekend is different. Thats because I am coming back on Monday instead of Sunday. I have taken Monday off.

So here I am in a train along with my friend who thankfully has taken a leave too and hence is keeping me company. All is going well. I really like it when I am not working on a Monday. Thats when my friend decides to ruin it all. "What is life to you?", she asked me innocently. Many would dismiss the question. Many would give absurd replies. But not me. I can't say anything. I have wasted countless hours thinking about an answer. And the problem is that I hardly seem to get near it.

The Age Of Warriors. Unsheathed swords. Warlords. The fear they command. The respect they get. Maybe I have been born in a wrong time. Maybe i was not meant to be here. At this moment. "Bol naa", she breaks my chain of thoughts, "what are you thinking?". Somehow I explained to her that I would never be able to explain it to her(!!) and even if I did, she would never understand! Conversation over. We start talking about other things. But in my mind, I am still thinking about it.

The best answer I got to this question was in a movie in a foriegn language with English subtitles that I saw initially cause I did not have anything better to do and then as the movie progressed cause it was really interesting. I never came to know the name of the movie but this is the answer that a charater from the movie gives..."I dont know what life is. But I like to think that it has some meaning and we all will know it someday." Very simple. Very straightforward. There is nothing philosophical to it. But it is the truth. People can go on talking about life. But they would never be able to give you a convincing answer.

But my viewpoint of life is something that even I fail to understand sometimes. I am living just for the sake of living. I do not know how many lives would be affected with my non-existence. Probably none. Because if I was not born, no one would miss me. They would not know who I am. I do not know how many lives would be affected if I die tomorrow. None again. Many would weep and many would be filled with sorrow. But their life would go on. I must have probably led more than a third of my life considering the average life span of a human but i have not done anything that would bring me glory.

Maybe that is why i feel i shouldn't have been born in this age. I would have become a war hero. Go to distant lands. Travel far and wide. And everyone would recognize me. Would respect me for who i was. My enemies dare not stand in front of me. My friends know that they are protected sitting beside me. My family can sleep peacefully even in days of war knowing that only my name can terrorise my enemies.

Then one day I would like to take a walking stick and take a path which has never seen the feet of man. Venture out where none have. I would probably have died upon a sword. But it would have been a glorious death. People would have remembered me for ages.

Would it have been a better life? Better than travelling in a train at 80kmph north - northeast?

Rain Rain Come Again

2009-07-14T11:14:00.000-07:00

No matter how much we curse the rick-wallahs in Pune city, I noticed one thing today which I thought is commendable - which is the rain-shelters that have come up on all the rickshaws during the monsoon season.

Technically, the rain-shelters that they put on one (and ocassionally both) sides are not mandatory or legally binding for them to put. However, whether it is to protect the seats from rain water or to protect the passengers sitting on them, or whether by innate character, they do have them and it does make huge difference.

I think they deserve a good round of applause :)

Bike-ready

2009-07-14T11:01:00.000-07:00

After three near-hits in the last but one week, i finally got back my midas bike-touch!

I came back from a trip to Leh on Sunday (more about that later) and went on my bike yesterday to try my hand out on some old tricks which nearly cost my life in the earlier weeks. It seems i finally got all of them right! I deliberately went on roads with heavy traffics to check out if i could manage them and how. But it seems after all that the break i took (read Leh trip) helped me get my focus back.

So i went for a spin today as well. And guess what - I am back!

Father of Man

2009-06-28T08:33:00.000-07:00

Why is it that whenever I travel by train alone that there has to be a small kid on the seat across?!?

It is just so irritating that I have to put up with the atrocities of an infant that has no care of what he is doing why he is doing it or where he is!

Children can be so illogical at times that I just can’t stand them sometimes which is where my philosophy takes root that everyone should be born an adult.

Of course it does mean a lot more to the ladies and I am sure they would have already started making plans to kill me but coming to think of it, it does not have to be so bad after all!

What could have been a quite good (I assume) replacement for the current life cycle is something like this -

Once the female egg is fertilized, it could be passed out after the zygote is formed. The zygote at this stage would not be fully formed and the necessary nutrition would be provided by the lining in which the zygote would presumably be placed for protection as well as for perseverance.
Once the baby is fully developed, it can tear open the lining. The initial 2 months of the baby’s life should be in complete hyper drive where the baby spends most of its time sleeping or hibernating and the body growth is accelerated due to the deceleration of all other bodily functions.

In the next 2 months therefore, the physical growth would be accelerated and after 2 months, the body would be completely grown as a teenager.

Since the child had been sleeping for the most of these months, it would not have experienced any of the living worlds. Thus the brain - which is nothing but a learning computer - would infact still be of a just born child.

To overcome this problem, there should be one chromosome which would carry experience from generations to generations. Thus things like the mother tongue would be known to the child inherently. Other things like the logical analysis of life threatening situations, perception of danger, etc would also be already known to the child.

Now wouldn’t that be a better world to live in!

Maybe not :) but I still hate kids! And there is one more hour to go until I alight this train and rid myself of this torture! Hopefully my better half - if and when that happens - is better with kids or my kid would have it!

Fade

2009-06-25T08:04:00.000-07:00

A short poem from LOTR - The return of the King -
Home is behind
The world ahead
And there are many paths to tread

Through shadows
Through the edge of night
Until the stars are all alight

Mist and shadows
Cloud and shade
All shall fade
All shall fade...

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

2009-06-20T11:57:00.000-07:00

I saw X-Men Origins last Thursday. Long time since i saw a good movie. The last movie i had seen was 99 and it was not the kind that i would remember. But X-Men was a pleasent change.

Very few movies out there for which you can use the words "trilogy" and "great" in the same sentence! The action sequences were great. And what you can easily notice is that they were very good even when they didnt involve Wolverine. So Agent Zero, Gambit, Victor all had their special moments and Wolverine did not always steal the show.

The cinematography was great. With a very strong story-line to support. The story almost perfectly fit the X-Men Plot with a very few and unimportant "mistakes" in this plot that were actually contrary to what was present in the previous two X-Men movies.

All in all a very good movie. Must watch for all X-Men fans.

Just A Thought

2009-06-10T09:39:00.000-07:00

...contd from http://www.saifee.net/2005_10_01_archive.html

“Well, it does not matter now does it?” George continued; “Although in this particular instance, I wish the world agreed with you” George smiled.

It was amazing, John thought, how a man could smile in the face of destruction! He always respected George for this. In the 5 years John had worked with him, he never saw George loose his cool. “So what now?” he asked George.

“Well, we can’t sit idle! The government has ordered every software company specialising in computer security to act on it. Every company has to form an independent team and submit a plan within the next hour. “

This sounds interesting, John thought. Being one of the brighter and promising employees of the organization, he was sure he would be on the team. It was time to save the day – John to the rescue! And finally a way to impress Suzanne – The one girl he was trying to impress the most and the one girl who didn’t seem to care.
John was generally good with girls. He never had problems managing friendships with them – But not with Suzanne. The more he tried, the more he made a fool of himself. The more he made a fool of himself, the harder he tried the next time. This went on for some time until one day he realised it was never going to happen. He gave it up as a lost cause although he never lost his interest for her.

John met Suzanne when she joined his team. He was to mentor her. At that time he was already seeing someone – Geeta – a girl from India. Geeta and John were going strong until one day she had to go back home to get married to a guy her family had chosen for her. John was shattered.

In all his mentoring days, he never took much notice of Suzanne. He generally kept friends – or interests for that matter – separate from his work team. Even when John was single again, he did not break this rule.

One day John was explaining Suzanne the heuristic rule based engine used by primitive virus scanners. John was overly preoccupied that day. It was Geeta’s first birthday after she left and images of her previous birthday just kept flashing before him. Hardly able to concentrate, he was making a lot of mistakes while explaining and frequently missing links. Suzanne noticed this.

“Let’s get some coffee. I am exhausted”, she said.

John did not particularly like the thought. In all the past six or so months, he had hardly talked to Suzanne over non-work related issues. He always felt awkward going for coffee with people like Suzanne. They would just keep staring at each other thinking what else to say when they had finished discussing the weather.

Nevertheless, he couldn’t say no especially since she had already mentioned that she was exhausted and more so because they were the only two people left there late as it was.

“Okay.”, he found himself saying.

In the next couple of minutes, they had locked their workstations and had already reached the pantry. John took tea. Suzanne had the coffee that she wanted.

Like John expected, they discussed the weather. He was just about to ask her to join him back at the workstation and finish the rest of the coffee while discussing work but that’s when something happened he did not expect.

“So...tea huh?” Suzanne asked.

“Yeah”, he said, ” I am not a fan of coffee. Besides, tea keeps me awake.”

“But why do you want to stay awake? I thought we were almost done.”

“Yes. But i am not in a mood to sleep as soon as i reach home. I would prefer to stay awake for some time.”

“And why is that?”

“Just.”

“Just what?...I mean i understand if you don’t want to talk. But i just noticed that you made a hell lot of mistakes back there. You are obviously lost or distracted and you hardly seem to notice the time!”

“Shit! I am so sorry. I should have noticed! It’s late and you should already be on your way home! The last cab already left 15mins back. The next cab is now only after 2 hrs! You should have reminded me!”

“No, it’s fine. Besides, i thought you shouldn’t be left alone. You obviously need to talk to someone.”

“No! Nothing like that. I am just thinking too many things. That’s all. Nothing much to it.”

“Hmmm...so it means you don’t want to talk about it. Makes sense. We know each other for only –how long? – 6 months.”

“No that’s not it. It’s just that...it’s Geeta. My ex-girlfriend. We broke up some time back. She went back home to marry. Today is her birthday and i seem to be missing her an awful lot!”

“Ohh...i am sorry! But why did she marry someone else?”

“Well, firstly we are not the same religion. She was an Indian. Her parents would never allow her to marry outside her religion. They are too orthodox. And secondly, they have this notion that the girl’s groom is selected by the parents and the girl has to simple marry him!”

“That’s harsh!”

“Yes it is. But this is their tradition. Anyway, i hope she is happy today. She enjoys having her birthday celebrated.”

For the first time that evening, Suzanne saw John smile. She smiled back.

“Let’s leave. We will continue tomorrow. But wait. How will you go back? I can drop you if you want. No use staying back for 2 hours for the cab!”

“Hmmm...okay. if it is not a problem for you”

“Sure not!”

So John and Suzanne left office in John’s car. Suzanne’s house was not too far from the office but the road was deserted. Especially at this time of the night.

When they reached Suzanne’s apartment, she asked him to come up.

“No. I need to get going.” John replied.

“C’mon. You shouldn’t be left alone or you will get lost in your thoughts again! Besides, i would prefer company for dinner.”

John succumbed. As much as he had refused, he knew how much he would like company to talk to someone.

They had dinner and then they sat down to talk near the window. Suzanne’s house was not too big but had a very comfortable feeling to it. Things were messed up in a good sort of way giving the house that warm feeling. The hall had large French windows through which you could see the far off highway with cars going up and down, a few buildings which were as high as this one and some rooftops. There was also a restaurant at a crossroad which had a huge blue neon light. The light from it was falling straight on Suzanne’s face.

This was when John realised how pretty she was. Just about 5 feet tall with a slender but firm body she didn’t exactly have super-model looks but she had big almost dove shaped eyes which were very arresting. And dark black hair which was very slightly curly with the curls sometimes falling on her face which she instinctively pulled back. Her nose was small – almost precarious. And it used to twitch when she talked about something she did not like. John found this very distracting but in a funny kind of way.

It was amazing he thought, that he had been working with Suzanne for such a long time but had hardly noticed her the way he had today.

They talked through the night and when the first rays of the sun filtered through the window glass and fell on them, they realised how late it had been.

John left for home but that day changed a lot for him.

He soon realised how much he admired and liked her. They became good friends after that. John never showed his true feelings though. He just kept guessing what her next move would be and whether in fact, she too liked him.

However, he found that after that day, Suzanne and he never came so close. Either of them was busy in their work at any given point of time and no more magic moments happened between them. John tried a few times to get some time alone with her but every time he tried, he ended up embarrassing himself. Sometime after that Suzanne shifted to another team and they started seeing even less of each other until after a few weeks, they hardly even got a chance to talk to each other.

However, John never forgot that night. He used to keep track, from common friends and colleagues, about what Suzanne was up to and how she was going.

Getting selected in the team to kill Necsoft and winning would for sure increase his chances of impressing her to a point where they could at least start meeting each other more frequently. If it happened of course!

“John! You with me?” John’s thought were suddenly interrupted by George.

“Of course!” replied John, coming back to reality.

“I know what you are thinking John. But i am sorry. You are not on the team.” George said with as straight a face as he could make.

“What!” John replied trying in no way to hide his surprise. After all, he was one of the best they had!

“Yes. It was a management decision. They think we need experienced people on this team. It is a big opportunity for the company to prove something. They don’t want to take a risk. Apparently, 5 years is not a long enough time for them. I tried talking them into taking you but they did not agree.”

“How can they not? Didn’t Mr. Covey say something?”

“He did ask for you.”

“So? Doesn’t the word of the CEO mean anything?”

“It does, but you were not traceable. We tried calling your cellfone. But you were unreachable! They couldn’t wait any longer. The list of names had to reach the government office in 15mins.”

“This is insane! They could have just added my name in there! What do i have anything better to do than saving the world?”

“I know. But they couldn’t take a chance. What if you were sick!”

“Nonsense!”

“John, its over. The list is already sitting on the PM’s desk right now. No matter what you and i think, you are not on the team and that is final!”

“So now what am i supposed to do? Sit down and enjoy the show?”

“I have some popcorn if you need!”
...to be cont'd

Just A Thought

2009-06-03T10:09:00.000-07:00

I was going through some of my old posts just now simply because i have nothing better to do right now waiting for an idiotic SQL query to finish which, by the way, should have ended an hour back!

Anyways coming back to the point, i was particularly going through these two blogs - http://www.saifee.net/2005_10_01_archive.html and i have decided to continue the story from where i had left. A lot of people told me to complete it and a lot asked me to keep it like this.
Well, i have listened to both seemingly by keeping it incomplete for 4 long years which i shall now try to complete :)

Stay tuned for this one. Although be advised that my writing style would have definitely changed a lot in the past 4 years and so you might find the story discontinuous. Please bear with me.

Something i forgot to mention earlier - all characters, names in the story are fictitious and purely a figment of my imagination :)

Did you know?

2009-06-03T10:06:00.000-07:00

On an average a healthy human being tends to loose 50-100 hair strands per day!

Zen And Other Things

2009-05-27T12:33:00.001-07:00

I had gone yesterday on a bike ride. I had made a new year resolution of sorts to go on one atleast once a month. I didnt follow it religeously but i am sure you did not expect me to!

But well i went on one yesterday. The road i took was the Pune-Solapur Highway. I went around 60km into that road (that is 120km round trip).

The highway is beautiful. It starts as a 4lane wide road which after some time narrows down into a 2 lane one. The highway here is covered on both sides by old trees which create a canopy through which you may pass. Occasionally, there were villages appearing on either side of the road which seemed to be like good places to eat especially if you are a fan of Dhabe ka Khana. Although i did not stop because it was already growing dark.

I turned back after a village called Chaufula since it was getting dark then. But i have decided to go sometime again during the day time to experience the roads better.

The entire trip took me around 2.5 hrs which gives me an average speed of 50kmph - low of course but considering that i had gone on the trip to take my time and not speed at all, its a pretty good average speed to maintain!

PlayStation Anyone?

2009-05-27T12:21:00.000-07:00

Apart from the treasure hunt thing that happened today, i was also gifted a Sony PS3 (40Gb) for my birthday and you can already see that this birthday is just getting better and better!

While I am yet to explore all the possibilities of the PS3, i have already done a few things - like upgrade the firmware, play around with bluetooth and WiFi capabilities (although i could not for some reason get it hooked on to my WiFi network and had to settle down for the wired one), and of course try out some cool gaming.

I only have 2 games as of now - Metal Gear Solid 4 and Resident Evil 5.

Metal Gear Solid 4:
This was one game i enjoyed playing on the PC (the first part of course) when i was still in college. The PS3 version it seems was one of the best games in 2008. I liked the game well except for the fact that it is single player unless you play online and secondly that you are not exactly on one team. So the rebels and the agents are all fighting against one another and you could avoid or shoot at both! However, the graphics are very detailed and some features in the game are very good. All in all a good game to have.

Resident Evil 5:
I bought this game againts buying a GTA 4 was because this was a dual player game. I enjoyed this one a lot and it becomes more fun if you are playing with a human parter rather than the computer. Once again the graphics are detailed and all in all a good game to have.

As i keep adding new games to my colllection, expect to see some more reviews with expert comments :)

Surprise Surprise

2009-05-27T12:11:00.001-07:00

You can never take the zing out of a good surprise...even if it is a tad late!

I realised this today when my birthday was celebrated by my friends and it was one of the best surprises I got.

An elaborate treasure hunt of sorts with gifts at every "checkpoint" was what was arranged by my friends for me. I can straightaway see the effort involved especially since many of the gifts were personalised and well thought of. The hunt ended with some good food at one of the restaurants in ABC Farms followed by a treat to one of my fav sweet dishes. There was of course the birthday cake which found more of my face than peoples mouth but that is the way it always is!

Thanks to my friends, this will be a birthday to remeber!

Happy Birthday Saifee!

2009-05-22T15:00:00.000-07:00

This is what I am thinking right now -
...................................................................

That's right - nothing worth writing!
I once read - I am not sure if my memory is failing me or I am not doing anything worth remembering anymore!

99 The Movie - Review

2009-05-22T14:38:00.000-07:00

In my last blog i made a passing comment on watching a movie. It is time now that i do justice to the movie and write a quick review :)

The movie i watched was 99 starring Kunal Khemu, Soha Ali Khan, Boman Irani and Cyrus Broacha.

Kunal has tried to act and you can see the effort. Cyrus thinks that it is still a TV show and tries to not act at all. Soha Ali Khan is present in the movie to strictly act as a love interest. The only bouyance that the movie gets is from Boman who once again outshines everyone else in the movie.

The humour comes in isolated parts and is sometimes too sofisticated for the average cinema goer to decipher. Especially since people generally tend to not like to be made to think before they can get the joke. In many cases, the jokes come so fast in succession that you seem to miss out on a few.

The chemistry between Soha and Kunal is incomplete. Although the end does seem to make some sense. Spoiler Alert!!! After all which female working as a floor manager of a five star hotel with a steady income of easily 50k pm would let go of her job just to be with a guy who has nada!

The movie is strictly a one time watch unless you want to see it the second time to check out all the jokes you missed the first time around.

Braking for life

2009-05-19T14:06:00.001-07:00

I dont know how many of you have experienced this...but I sure have...and on more than one occasion.

Its a feeling you can't describe but it is also the one that urges you to describe itself - like an ice-cream which is too cold to eat but too warm to not start melting in your hands. Seems like life is not very different after all.

I want to break free. But i dont know from what! Its like the weight is pushing me down. To depths unknown. To places unseen. Where I am lost. No one to talk to and no one to speak. Yet, i feel I need time alone with myself. Time that will help me know what it is that my heart desires.

Today was one such day. For it happens rarely to me that I do not enjoy watching a movie. I might not like the movie but the experience always elevates me. But not today. All I could wish for sitting there in that movie hall was solitude. And maybe one person who would listen...It is funny how sarcastically ironical situations can be. Yet it is the undying optimism that lives within.

And while writing here i realise - it is not about finding peace, it is about stopping the search...

Linkin Park - By Myself

2009-05-12T08:05:00.000-07:00

What do I do to ignore them behind me?
Do I follow my instincts blindly?
Do I hide my pride from these bad dreams
And give in to sad thoughts that are maddening?
Do I sit here and try to stand it?
Or do I try to catch them red-handed?
Do I trust some and get fooled by phoniness,
Or do I trust nobody and live in loneliness?
Because I can't hold on when I'm stretched so thin
I make the right moves but I'm lost within
I put on my daily fa�ade but then
I just end up getting hurt again By myself (Myself)

Pre chorus: I ask why, but in my mind
I find I can't rely on myself

I can't hold on To what I want when I'm stretched so thin
It's all too much to take in I can't hold on
To anything watching everything spin
With thoughts of failure sinking in
If I turn my back I'm defenseless
And to go blindly seems senseless
If I hide my pride and let it all go on
Then they'll take from me 'till everything is gone
If I let them go I'll be outdone
But if I try to catch them I'll be outrun
If I'm killed by the questions like a cancer
Then I'll be buried in the silence of the answer (By myself)

Pre chorus Chorus
How do you think I've lost so much
I'm so afraid, I'm out of touch
How do you expect I will know what to do
When all I know is what you tell me to
Don't you know I can't tell you how to make it go
No matter what I do, how hard
I try I can't seem to convince myself why I'm stuck on the outside

Bak!

2009-04-23T12:29:00.000-07:00

Its been a reaaaallyyyy long time since my last post. I wouldn't be surprised if you have forgotten me. I certainly have. What with so many things going on in my life. So many changes. It is amazing how much i have changed in the past few years. My last blog was in Sept of 2006. It is almost May of 2009. Three years and i can barely even recognise myself...
Well, its not my fault altogether. A lot did change in the last 2 something years in my life. Some for worse. But mostly for good. Some casual changes. Some really serious ones.
Some things have stuck with me though - like for example i still enjoy watching movies :)

These plethora of changes was also a reason i stopped blogging - I was too busy changing. Not literally though!

I think that this would also lead to a very genuine question - why am i back? Is the metamorphosis over?
Not really. But somewhere down the line i realised that i am filled with too much - too much thought, too much to do, too much work, too much emotions. And for some reason, i dont see a way out. The people nearest to me - in proximity and otherwise - dont seem to understand. Or so i like to think. Ultimately, it comes down to how much i understand and how much i can communicate and i know i have been failing on both counts; though not utterly. So for no fault of theirs, they get blamed.
Hopefully things change now. I hope. I pray.

Leaving all this crap aside, i have decided to start blogging regularly now. Or at least as regularly as my thoughts and time permit. But before i do that, i am just writing below the things i am doing currently so that if i mention them in my blogs further, you are not surprised -
1. I am trying to learn Arabic. Although i know how to read it i am starting to learn the true meaning and talk.
2. I am thinking of gifting myself a car. Had been thinking of a Honda City earlier but i have changed my mind; or so i like to think
3. I am working very hard. What with production of my project postponed 4 times, the project has gone from bad to worse. A lot of pressure and eyes on me to fix things.
4. I am mentioning this last because it has had the biggest impact on my life and is the hottest topic for me - I m preparing for IAS :) yes you heard it right. Although i had never thought of it, things have changed. Partially due to the attacks on Mumbai. Helping me out in this is a friend of mine who is also started studying with me. So i get company while studying which is great considering my extremely short attention span.

So more about all 4 points later. Since i plan to continue blogging, you should hear of all of them a lot.
Till then - njoy!

The End of Microsoft Or Why Microsoft shouldn't push for Genuine Windows Part 3

2006-09-28T02:41:00.000-07:00

If the last article was successful in convincing you about the popularity of Microsoft and to that end its superiority over other OS’, then that’s not the end of it.

Microsoft, as I mentioned earlier, had a vision of a computer for every human being on the face of this planet. And although it hasn’t quite achieved its vision yet, but it certainly came close. Closer than people imagined it would come. The reason along with those I discussed earlier, was majorly the easy availability of Microsoft Windows. Pirated or otherwise. Everyone from the IT professional to the babus in government office to the panwaala below has a computer now. And if he does then chances are that it has Microsoft Windows installed on it. And if it has Microsoft Windows installed, then chances are that it is pirated. Everyone is happy and all is well.

Many who use Windows are not as computer literate as others. So they might have enabled the automatic updates feature of Windows. And in no time their computer would be infested with a spyware-like-program called the Windows Genuine Advantage Tool. And then all hell breaks loose for the poor guys.

It is of some importance to note that a statistics, if there was, about the percentage of users using a non-genuine Windows to the total number of Windows users would indeed be substantial. The reason being that except corporations, businesses, people with branded PCs, all others almost always go for the pirated version.

If the tool continues to work its way through, more and more people would be infected by it and start getting bugged. Slowly and steadily, people will be saturated with all the notices on their machines about Windows being non-genuine and that will be the time when people will start looking for alternatives.

Alternatives to Windows are not an easy job. Like we discussed earlier, there is no “suitable” alternative to Windows at present. But as more and more people start looking for alternatives, there would be more and more pressure on Open Source OS like UNIX and LINUX to get better and better. With increasing public support, it would not be as difficult a job. A fact that would prove conducive to this would be that this time people would not be looking for an OS which is better than Windows, but necessarily something as good as Windows or even slightly worse would do.

At this time when the general masses would be looking towards LINUX for an answer to Windows desperately, either the answer would come from LINUX or from a small-time OS which is GUI based and which sheepishly entered as a Free OS. Earlier the OS might have been rejected out and out but this time the very same people would appreciate it and accept it with open arms. This would precisely mark the end of Microsoft.

Once people get accustomed to the new OS, they will soon forget Windows. The shortcomings of Windows, which quite logically will not be present in the new OS, would be criticized and there would be a mass boycott of the Windows OS.

But this does not mean that Windows would be completely out. It would still be used for many other areas including Servers, corporations, businesses, and some other loyalists.

A point that I would like to make here is that if infact Windows is still used by businesses then, is purely my own indulgence. It might happen that the new OS is much more stable and secure as compared to Windows and as a result of this is accepted even among corporate circles.

But the acceptance of a new OS will by and large mean the end of the Microsoft winning spree. With Microsoft Office being the only second largest selling software for Microsoft, the company may survive if it does not push forward the Office Genuine Advantage Tool.

What Microsoft decides to do is yet for us to see…

The author uses genuine Windows Vista Beta, genuine Windows XP Pro and genuine Microsoft Office 2007
This is the concluding article of the series.

The End of Microsoft Or Why Microsoft shouldn't push for Genuine Windows Part 2

2006-09-21T06:50:00.000-07:00

To understand what I had mentioned in the first part about Microsoft facilitating its own end, it is of prime importance to understand how Microsoft is on the top and how it manages to remain on top and more importantly what represents the actual Microsoft.

You see, it is a common view to term that Microsoft has outdone its competitors. How it manages to do this is what I am about to explain. And it is not rocket science. It is because of the popularity that Microsoft enjoys. Exactly why it is so popular when there are other GUI OS present and some might be better than Windows. One point to clarify here – I am not saying that there IS infact an OS better than Windows. What I am trying to suggest is there can be. There might be. For all the people who are reading this – how many of you have actually tried out a GUI OS besides flavors of Windows? (let us leave Mac OS for now). I am sure that more than 60% would have said none. Now if I say leave Mac OS and Linux? I think not more than 10% would have.

This is exactly the reason why Windows is so popular. Because people are too reluctant to try out another OS even if it was better than Windows. They are comfortable with Windows. The result translating into failure for such small OS’.

Mac OS

The Mac OS has its own fan following. People revere it. Even worship it. But then again, they are very few. The reason being very simple. Mac has the same strategy since its inception – create elite personal computers and deliver end to end. So their OS is tied down to the Mac. It is possible to install a Mac on some other machine. But its way too much trouble. Mac is a premium PC. Only bought by a few. So naturally its not the peoples choice.

Linux

Anyone who has used Linux would agree how much pain it is to first install the OS and then use it. People who are hardcore Linux fans are so because they hate Windows more than they love Linux. If they were new to computers and were given a choice between selecting Windows and Linux, I am sure they would select Windows. Because no matter how hard people protest, Windows is much more user intuitive than Linux and Linux is still a geek-friendly OS. Again it is but natural to reject it. One more reason which is probably less in the talks is the fact that all the time Linux flavors try to emulate Windows. It is a general human tendency to debase things that copy and uphold things being copied. So somewhere in the subconscious of the people there is a thought that since Linux tries to copy Windows all the time, maybe Windows is better than Linux. So why settle for Linux when I can get Windows?

Windows

Windows on the other hand is largely platform independent, is freely available, is highly user-intuitive, gives you all that you would want, and there is a huge software base to support it. But something which compliments and supplements all of the above is that you can get a pirated copy of this piece of code. This makes it practically priceless for less price! Naturally people want to use Windows. And this in turn increases the popularity of Windows all the more!

The author uses genuine Windows Vista Beta, genuine Windows XP Pro and genuine Microsoft Office 2007

The End of Microsoft Or Why Microsoft shouldn't push for Genuine Windows Part 1

2006-09-12T07:33:00.000-07:00

I am sure that by now almost all who use Windows would have encountered this sweet little “critical update” called the Microsoft Genuine Advantage Tool.

For the uninitiated, this tool installs itself and is supposed to give genuine users of Microsoft an edge over those who do not own a genuine copy. What it actually does is, well, a completely different story. Since Microsoft had a very different strategy plan when they first shipped out Windows, there was not a lot of stress put on preserving the “genuineness” of Windows. Translated into simple English it meant that earlier, any EU could get a copy of Windows pirated or otherwise, install it and forget about it.

A law suit and a decade later, Microsoft changed. Things were looked at differently. Microsoft now wanted to change the rules of the game. They started stressing about security, anti-piracy…

A small tool to check whether the operating system installed on a machine is genuine or not was written. It became a hit with the company. They started using it to restrict downloads to some software which was earlier allowed without any questions asked. People dismissed the tool as just another idiotic attempt to stop piracy. As if it would help! The software that Microsoft restricted non-genuine users from downloading could easily be gotten from elsewhere. But Microsoft was quick to realize this and it went a step ahead. It forcefully got this tool installed on each and every computer which was ready to install any updates from Microsoft.

In effect, this tool will stop you from getting updates from Microsoft, pop-up messages of windows being non-genuine, add a flash screen at startup which asks you to buy a copy and so on. So instead of giving an edge to genuine users, the tool successfully manages to chip off the advantage of non-genuine users. Critics might point out that chipping off advantage of competition isn’t a new thing for Microsoft, but let us not get into that.

No doubt this tool immediately became and remained the center of controversy for a very long time among both fans and critic. But this tool hasn’t finished its damage spree and it would be instrumental in doing what competitors couldn’t do for 5 years now – kill Microsoft. This brings me to the name of the topic and as to why I chose to write about this tool.

It is my sincere effort to explain as to how, if unchecked, this tiny little tool would spell doomsday for Microsoft. As to why Microsoft fails to notice what I am about to write; well, it does, but there is a reason as to why it is ready to take this risk. Of this I will talk about in my next series of articles. But for now, we will stick to the tool and its after-effects.

This is the first part of a series of articles. I will try to be regular in posting the parts but cannot promise!
The author uses genuine Windows Vista Beta, genuine Windows XP Pro and genuine Microsoft Office 2007

Pirates Of The Caribbean - Dead Mans Chest

2006-08-07T06:34:00.000-07:00

This weekend I got lucky again! Watched Pirates Of The Caribbean - Dead Mans Chest

Before you watch this movie, a word of advice - the movie does NOT have an ending. You will have to wait for the third part of it. Once you are okay with this, the movie is very much enjoyable.
Johnny Depp manages to do it yet again. Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley, although over-shawdowed by Johnny Depp, pack enough punch to get noticed. The special effects are as good as the first part.
As with all movies (expect LOTR) its not as good as the first part. If the first part was 10/10, this one deserves 8.5/10.
But all in all, its definitely worth the dough.

PhotoSynth

2006-08-07T06:28:00.000-07:00

Whatever others do, Microsoft has to be one step ahead! :)
So while Yahoo is working on the new Yahoo Photos which is more intuitive and uses Ajax extensively, Microsoft has come up with something way ahead of others - PhotoSynth

This software is supposed to "read" your digital photo collection and create 3D images out of it! Well, I can't wait to get my hands on this one! :)