Dump the IE.. You are Vulnerable

If you’re still looking for a reason to finally switch loyalty from Internet Explorer over to one of many competing browsers, trust me, this is it.

A major flaw in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer that allows hackers to gain the password details of the user has been revealed.

This is not a rumor, it has been confirmed by Microsoft who in fact announced the discovery themselves admitting a “vulnerability in Internet Explorer” that “could allow remote code execution.” Not Good.

Microsoft are preparing an emergency patch to resolve the flaw.

MICROSOFT SECURITY ADVICE

Change IE security settings to high (Look under Tools/Internet Options)
Switch to a Windows user account with limited rights to change a PC’s settings
With IE7 or 8 on Vista turn on Protected Mode
Ensure your PC is updated
Keep anti-virus and anti-spyware software up to date

Unsurprisingly, “switching browsers” isn’t on that list.

“I cannot recommend people switch due to this one flaw,” said John Curran, head of Microsoft UK’s Windows group. “At present, this exploit only seems to affect 0.02% of internet sites. In terms of vulnerability, it only seems to be affecting IE7 users at the moment, but could well encompass other versions in time.”

To summarise, SWITCH. And better SWITCH to Firefox

Why is firefox so popular?

Over the last 4 years, firefox is becoming more and more popular, and its market share is increasing by 5% each year over the last 4 years. But since one has to actively download and install the program (on Mac and Windows), why do people choose to download and install Firefox? Why not Opera, Safari, Konqueror or any other browser?

This week, several articles I read brought the breaking news that the market share of Microsoft’s internet explorer is shrinking to below 70% for the first time since 1999 (http://marketshare.hitslink.com/browser-market-share.aspx?qprid=1). Internet Explorer gained a near monopoly, simply by forcing it to the customers by bundling/integrating it with the operating system Windows, and I believe this is the major reason why this browser still holds such a big percentage of market share. Many people simply use the browser they are given, unless there is an alternative that has significant advantages.

On the other hand, apparently, the near-monopoly has made Microsoft extremely lazy, resulting in a browser that does not even meet the open web-standards, it is slow and has to catch up with alternative browsers. The lack of meeting open standards is an increasing frustration with web-designers and alternative producers of web-browsers like Opera (http://www.opera.com/press/releases/2007/12/13/). Having to catch up with other browsers is painfully clear when simply looking at tabbed browsing and extensions. The tabbed browsing was introduced by Opera in 1994 and only after practically all other browsers supported the “tabbing”, Microsoft introduced this feature in Internet Explorer 7, more than ten years after Opera did.

Also speed is in favor of Opera, when compared to the top-4 of the web-browsers, and also in this case, the market-leader (Internet Explorer) does not do a very good job (http://lifehacker.com/396048/speed-testing-the-latest-web-browsers). Firefox is left somewhere in the middle.

The only field where Firefox beats all competitors is when it comes to extensions. Though there an amazing amount of well-designed and useful extensions (or widgets) for Opera, and a few extensions for Internet Explorer, the real master of extensions is Firefox. Its open source code combined with a decent market share apparently is a very attractive combination to developers and resulted in more than 5000 Firefox extensions in just a few years (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/customize/), and the number of extensions is growing rapidly. There are many types of translators, weather add-ons, but also highly specific add-ons such as “biofox”, “FireMath” and “Water Levels of German Rivers” (if someone finds a more weird add-on please let me know!!!). The most curious extension that is being worked on is one provided by Microsoft and is called the Open XML Document Viewer, which allows you to view OOXML document right in your browser (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKSF6w0EK0s). Also the look of Firefox is highly flexible and you can install many different themes.

When looking at features like speed and innovation, Firefox and Opera are a close match and Internet Explorer is lagging far behind. Looking at the market share trends however, Opera and Internet explorer are no match for Firefox, probably due to the numerous extensions, though there might be several other small advantages that add to the popularity of Firefox.

Ain't Nobody like my Desigirl :(

Well this is what i can say after beinng away from India since 5 months :(

dekh lakh lakh pardesi girls,
ain't nobody like my desi girl.
whoz the hottest girl in the world.
my desi girl.
my desi girl.
thumka lagaikey she'll rock your world.
my desi girl.
my desi girl!

But the million dollar question is Who is the Desi Girl? Keep guessing!!!

The rise and fall of Chrome!

In a Computerworld report that summarizes recent Net Applications data, interest in Google Chrome has now died down to a standstill. Most of the people still downloading it are either night owls or from countries outside of the US, such as China, because the only activity is at night.Chrome searches have now fallen in line with Firefox. This, after a week or hype and unforeseen inmade it seem like Google was going to a) take over the browser market b) usher in the end the OS as we know it and c) probably make Google really rich.

It turns out that Chrome is just another fast browser without any really compelling features that will make people switch once and for all. It may even just be merely a developer tool and not a real browser at all. Yet, there are a few things that have contributed to the flat-lining interest, issues that Google could still fix if they get busy, well - today or sooner.

1. Chrome is relatively stable, but minor irritants such as the undo bug make you wonder why you are using it. Chrome is not like a low-level beta app that sort of works and where you put up with bugs because it is so new and innovative. Instead, a browser is the main tool we all use every day, and it better work - we have no patience for buggy browsers like IE.

2. Google has not released an obvious Chrome 1.1 update yet to address bugs, although they have released point upgrades and you can get new versions through a developer program. Huh? A developer program? In Internet time, it has been eons since Chrome was released, and no one wants to figure out how a developer program works just to get a more stable version.

3. There were early concerns over how Google was going to use your private data. They fixed the problem, but a minor glitch at the launch of a social networking site like Lively is nothing compared to a minor glitch with a browser. Everything is more critical and higher profile.

4. Google tends to use very simple anchor pages for their products, but it also makes people think the product is under supported. I'm sure there is a Chrome support forum; the issue is that it is not easy to find and that makes the average user nervous. Are they serious about Chrome? Or was it just an internal browser they used for testing that runs fast and decided to release it publicly? Wait, that's exactly what it is.

5. As Opera has learned, you have to keep the momentum going. Google obviously move don quickly to hype Android and will be in Android mode for some time. Here's the reality check: Google is not Microsoft. They do not have several hundred people working on one product at a time. It's more like a few people or maybe 50. No one knows for sure except Google, but at least on the outside Chrome still seems like an internal project and not a serious product.

6. I wonder where Google can really go with Chrome. For starters, you can't really put advertising on the browser wrapping and on the pages as well. You can tie a search box to advertising, but they already do that with Firefox. It's kind of too late to really beef up the features, and that has never been the goal of Google anyway. Look at Gmail - it is about as barebones as you can get - it runs much faster than Hotmail but has nowhere near as many features. That minimalistic concept works okay with Web software, not as well when it comes to a browser.

7. It's interesting to note that Android is really the first Google product you will be able to hold in your hands - you can literally touch the interface. More importantly, it will be a product you buy - for $180 from T-Mobile. (Google does make an enterprise search appliance but that doesn't really count.) Everything else, including Chrome, is free and in persistent beta.

8. (Updated) Here's one last major issue with Chrome: compatability. I just tried watching a Netflix streaming movie and of course Chrome is not supported. It doesn't work with Movielink or Cinemanow, either. I can imagine that these kinds of sites have no plans to support Chrome, especially when many of them just started supporting Firefox or are still working on Firefox support. As with any software, Web site operators must consider the field: which browser is the most popular?

So will Chrome stick around for years? Probably. But my opinion today is that it rose to quick prominence and then died out just as quickly. It may never come back.

Why is Microsoft scared of Linux?

Microsoft is frightened. Even Ballmer is telling users that they can skip Vista, which tells you everything you need to know about Vista's failure. In the past, Microsoft wouldn't have sweated this kind of flop. "What can users do?" they'd say. "Move to Linux or Macs? Ha!" That was then. This is now.

Today, major PC vendors are selling netbooks like hotcakes on a cold Vermont morning and three out of ten of those are running Linux. As my comrade in arms, Preston Gralla observes, "Microsoft isn't just worried about ceding 30 percent of the netbook market to Linux. It's also worried that if people get used to Linux on netbooks, they'll consider buying Linux on desktop PCs. Here's what Dickie Chang, an analyst at research firm IDC in Taipei, told Bloomberg about that: 'It's a real threat to Microsoft. It gives users a chance to see and try something new, showing them there is an alternative.'"

Exactly, and that's why Microsoft is rushing out Windows 7, which is a stripped down Vista SP2, as fast as they can and jerking out features so it will run on netbooks with minimal hardware. Gralla thinks Windows 7 will kill Linux on the netbook, I don't see that.

For all the mistaken excitement about Windows 7, the earliest anyone is going to see Windows 7 is the 2009 holiday season. That's eternity in Linux terms. Linux is already better than Vista and the equal to Microsoft's best desktop operating system, Windows XP SP 3. By the time Windows 7 appears, Fedora, openSUSE and Ubuntu will have all gone through at least two more generations of upgrades.

Windows is a slow dinosaur competing with the fast-moving Linux mammals. It's not a race I expect Windows to win.

Linux is already more stable, more secure, vastly faster boot times, and it's far less expensive than Windows. With efforts afoot to make desktop Linux even more new user friendly and its much faster evolution, I'm not worried about Windows 7 sweeping Linux off the desktop. But, I can certainly see why Microsoft would worry about Linux gaining a substantial, say 30%, of the desktop market or even more if Windows 7 isn't a rip-roaring success.

The days when Microsoft ruled the desktop are numbered and Windows 7 is Microsoft's frantic attempt to forestall the inevitable.

Joker n the Oscar

Warner Bros has publicly begun its push with this Variety advertisement for Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight for a Best Supporting Actor nomination. Academy Award ballots are mailed on December 26th, polls close on January 12th, and the nominations are announced on January 22nd.

I hope that the "Joker" wins this time!!!

Mumbai blasts - What needs to be done!!

We need to act and we need to do it now….here are a few pointers

Mumbai city, and its people, have been held hostage by 'militants'. This is a clear indication that we are on the global terror map. This was NOT a gang war. The whole reaction from the state and central machinery was slow. Now when we talk of steps to be taken there are a lot changes required on many fronts.

Our leaders need to resign
I am not all upset that the chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has been asked to resign. Shivraj Patil should never have been made the union home minister in the first place. Just as you need an able and responsible police director general and commissioner, we need an equally responsible and able home minister.

We want new leaders who will NOT just announce new plans. We want a timeframe within which we will see a new NSG formation, funds for security, funds to improve the lives of the police, whose morale is below zero. The state should improve training for Anti-Terrorist Squads, and new security agencies. They will procure on an immediate basis new guns, ammunition and weapons that will help our police force. Our poor baton-wielding constables have played a major role in foiling the plans of these hardcore militants. We lost 14 constables in this attack. The constables only had wooden batons. But let me tell you, the captured militant has admitted that they could not believe that even a constable chased them to bust their operations. I salute these heroes who were committed to their jobs and lost their lives so that the city could rest peacefully.

Accept that we are on the global 'terror' map
The minute we realise that foreign militants are using Indian turf for terror, we will be able to plan and activate various agencies from the village level to national. We will be able to get a holistic picture of international militancy. Many great scholars ridicule readers who love espionage and thrillers. But one reason I keep reading them is to get a perspective on global militancy. The way their minds work, the way they operate, from local to international networking.

Now when I heard that the Jewish couple was held hostage, it was a natural instinct for me to understand this is something larger than what the government authorities are saying. This was NOT an attack. This was a full-fledged militant war.

Activate ground workers, Khabris
You may ask how khabris can help in the war of terror? Well the fact that these militants ordered 200kg mutton from the local butcher in Colaba, who expressed shock, is a vital clue. This incident would never have gone unreported had our khabris been a part of the Anti-Terrorist Squad network or even part of the local police network. Let us not forget the 1992 riots, and the 1993 blasts that isolated many minority groups, especially Muslims. Most butchers are Muslims. The fact is had the informer network been active this information would have helped the police.

Security must be beefed up along our coast
In 1993, after Mumbai city was rocked by RDX bomb blasts, it was noted that how, due to poor coastal security, all the RDX came from across the border to the Raigadh and Konkan coast. Have we learnt from our mistakes? No. But if the PM or president is in town every helicopter is used to protect them. This should be stopped.

Instead we should have more regular air surveillance can spot suspicious movement along the coast. We need a more alert tourist police. Not those who drink at night and come along pushing a baton into people's stomachs, but those who check identification papers, and keep constant vigil.
We need a pro-active Coast Guard. This time round there were NO coast guard boats at the Yellow Gate when it was reported that few militants had landed using ferries from Porbunder. Three days prior to the attack, fisher folk had held protests on the seafront near Bandra. Our so-called alert Coast Guard had taken their boats there for vigilance.

A source in the CG admitted that the officers did not call back the boats, instead they let them remain at Bandra. This lapse has proved very dear to us. We can't afford such lackadaisical approach when we have a huge coastline.

We need more non-corrupt and efficient navy that doesn't simply use the Mumbai's ports to anchor their ships. We need khabris within the dockyard workers, staff and naval police, who will alert the navy. We need the navy to do its job with as much commitment as our local police have done in the last 60 hours.

Respond like the armed forces
Once we treat this issue like an insurgency we need to tackle and respond like armed forces. This whole combat operation that took place on Friday should have taken place on Thursday itself. The government and security agencies could have taken the hotel management into confidence, asked them of their preparedness for blowing up the building in order to kill the militants. The US armed forces deal the problem of militancy at their level. They utilise police in the city for local operations, maintaining law and order, however, the real operations are handled by top bosses in the US army. They attack at the ground level; they give a specific time for the exchange of fire but do not lose time finishing off the militants. They accept full responsibility for the civilians killed.

Instil fear in the minds of insurgents and militants
We looked as if the whole country was scared and so was our government. We need to study other countries. They talk tough; their body language is serious. The leaders of most countries do not look like they have stepped out of their beds, like ours did. We were completely at sea for 60 hours. We need to instil fear in the minds of the militants.

They need to realise Indians aren't soft. To the world we look like soft targets, which we are, let's accept that. Our leaders, negotiators and NSG or army need to talk tough. They must realise we are serious about dealing with this issue of terror war.

Electronic media needs to mature
Our electronic media is in its infancy. Yes, of course if we send young little reporters who have NO experience to cover a war situation they will treat it like common local crime. It was shoddy reporting. Anchors, who have sadly become icons and idols for wannabe reporters, conducted dramas and soap operas at the scenes where military operations were going on. They revealed the locations of the armed forces, the NSG, their movements and screamed out how these operations have gone wrong. This wasn't an ordinary situation; it wasn't local crime. I expected lot more mature reporting. We should have seen how the foreign media sent its experts - who by the way were oldies with grey hair. But the fact that you need experienced hands, who know the city well, the issue well, and who have experience in covering such disasters. Our reporters don't seem mature at all. The government should have blacked out the news channels right at the beginning.

Public needs to be more mature
The onus of a disciplined nation lies on us citizens. We are a very political race, Asians and Indians. However we lack manners and maturity. The government had asked its people to sit at home. So many revelled at home, had their drinks and holiday snooze.

Later they came out on to the streets. Bystanders, passersby, and absolutely lukkhas whiled away their time laughing at the media and wanting to see the attacks. The police totally failed in controlling the crowds. They in fact pushed the media behind a cordon, screamed and shouted at us. While they allowed the crowds to pile up near the places where combat operations were going on. People came with their pets, toddlers, infants and couples who took time out to romance near these three places. Mumbai has shown complete disrespect to those who fought for us and gave up their lives. People had too much curiosity and breached all norms and rules of civil society. Their children were shooting pictures with flashes -this was all within the one kilometre of the attacks!

People had come to 'see' and inspect these three spots. We are a nation that simply doesn't realise someone else's problem is one's own problem. Till we don't get affected the middle class is NOT concerned at all. We treat it casually and in an immature manner. We have to realise this is regarding our national security, coming to the sites and laughing, clapping, and treating it like a tamasha is a breach of our security, and shows disrespect to the hostages and our forces. We need to see footage of 9/11 to see how their citizens behaved and how they helped, rather than treat these incidents as a joke.

Live repoting!! - Banned??

"Several foreign nationals are trapped in the Taj Hotel Mahal"

"The top management of a multinational corporation was meeting…"

"Terrorists are suspected to be on the 9th floor…"

"NSG troops are about to have arrived in Mumbai…"

"NSG commandos have entered the Hotel…"

The above is just some of the information telecast live by all news channels on last week's terror attack on Bombay.

News channels have an objective—to fetch the latest news and share them with viewers, much before a competitor channel does that. But I feel this habit of indiscriminate live reporting, while a combat operation is in progress, can be catastrophic for the success of the military operations against terror.

Let us just think for a while. Do we really need to know everything on a ‘as soon as it happens’ basis? I feel not. Whether NSG commandos have just arrived at airport, or have entered the hotel or are on the first floor or second at this moment, is not necessary to be revealed to the general public on a realtime basis.

Showing such news live, will be immensely useful only to terrorists and their supporters outside.

Consider this. The commandos only know that the militants are somewhere inside the hotel, but the militants know everything about the movements and positions of their pursuers through TV.

Like:

• Who is on their trail (Army/ NSG/ local police, etc)
• What is their ETA (estimated time of arrival), which tells them, how much time they have before a gun battle would begin)
• Where they are right now, at the main entrance/ just entered their floor
• How is the world responding? Is there pressure mounting on the government to succumb to the demands of terrorists to get the hostages freed (so that they can act tough during negotiation)?
• How many of their friends are alive or dead (so that they can assess their strength)?
• What has been the impact of their strike-how many police and civilian dead, the current morale of police, who all as been detained/suspected?
• Live visuals of the street-to assess a possible escape strategy
• What information about them the outside world has (which floor they are in, their head count etc. And much more…

In my view, all this information, while useful to viewers and relatives of victims, also helps the terrorists/ militants to consolidate their position and pose a greater challenge to commandos trying to hunt them down and/ or rescue the hostages.

Why is our media helping them by airing live all the sensitive information about the anti terror operations?

The common man does not need to know them on a live basis.

Can’t the information & broadcasting ministry think of banning live reporting during a hostage crisis? Let the channels air the news with a delay of few hours, so that the police and security agencies will have a lead time of few hours, wherein terrorists would be as equally uninformed as they are.

Please note that I am not advocating censorship. I am all for free speech and expression. What I am proposing, is that security agencies should have the power to impose a delay of say three to six hours w.r.t live reporting of anti-terror operations.

Let the TV channels record whatever they want, but they should be aired only after a gap of few hours. I do not think anyone loses anything with this.

The movie A Wednesday also shares same opinion.I feel the good old days of once in a day news bulletin was far better.

What do you think?

Why is Open Source/Community Developed Better?

I have recently have debated (three times now) with a person I know over why open source and community developed software is better than software that you buy or that comes pre-installed on a computer. Our debates included Linux versus Windows versus Macintosh, Gimp versus Photoshop, and Internet Explorer versus Firefox versus Opera versus Safari versus Chrome. Wow, that's a lot of web browsers.

Anyway, just in case anyone was wondering, we are still arguing over which software is better, and I don't think we will ever stop, even if it is clear open source software has several advantages. What kind of advantages? Many: portability, enhancement, minimization, security, and dedication.

To begin, since the source code of open source programs is out in the open (hence the name), if one person wants to use the program on a platform that it is not available on, they might port the program to that new platform, and eventually a whole group of dedicated people will to manage the port will arise. This is all possible because certain sections of the code (which is available to everyone) are compatible across platforms, and the few sections that aren't might easily be changed.

Since anyone and everyone (with an interest) will view the source code, the internal workings of an open source program will inspire developers to enhance the current program, or create a new program completely based on the internal workings of a current program. Basically, open source programs produce other programs.

Since everyone who wants to is helping develop these programs, you can be guaranteed that the software you are getting successfully does what it has to in the least amount of code. The more people that work on a program, the more likely it is that there is going to be less useless code.

Yes, it's true that being able to view the source code of a program may allow hackers to develop bugs more easily for code, but this openness will also allow security programmers to more easily develop patches for the software and find the errors before they are exploited. What should minimize security actually increases it. The population of dedicated developers working on an open source program will also provide benefits when a bug is found: patches for this type of software will become available more quickly than patches for commercial software would.

Also, because the community is managing all this open source software, we will not have reluctant programmers creating this software. The people who are developing Linux, Firefox, and every other piece of free software are dedicated programmers who are doing this for their own personal satisfaction and the enhancement of computing all over the world. A person getting paid will not put their heart into the program. Sure, money helps in some aspects, but money can't buy love. (Wow, classic bollywood dialogue!)

So that's why open source and community developed software is better. I still don't see how my friend can argue with me. But I don't even care anymore. He can continue using Windows Vista, Internet Explorer, and Photoshop. Even if he has to pay a buttload of money for it all. Most people just pirate it all anyway.

Why Travel?

The thrill of exploring the unknown,
The adventure of going down a road that you dont know,
The mystery behind the tun that you are about to take,
The feeling when you meet new people and you try to come across as interesting,
The realization that you get once you know that you are yet another human being,

are simply too rewarding and too tempting to make you seek travel.

What is the big deal about the Dabbawala of Mumbai?

The big deal is that The Economist decided to cover a topic like ‘Dabbawala’ in it’s business section on July 12, 2008 issue. These guys go to the IIMs and ISB to give guest lectures on their style of "Management". It is a big deal that BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) produced a documentary on Dabbawalas and Prince Charles visited them in 2003, during his visit to India. The New York Times reported the growth rate of Dabbawalas in 2007 and Harvard Business School has produced a case study on the ‘Dabbawalas’. It is certainly a very big deal.

The system of Dabbawalas (delivery of lunch boxes) originated in Bombay around 1890s. Who actually started the service is debatable, but it was formally organized by Mahadeo Havaji Bacche, a migrant from rural areas of Maharashtra. The lunch delivery service was attractive because the distance between the residential areas and the business district in Bombay, made it difficult for the workers to go back home for lunch. Initially, some 100 unemployed Ghattis (men from the hills of Maharashtra) were contracted to deliver home food to a small group of office going people. Bacche tried to unionize this force in 1930 but failed. ‘Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Trust’ was registered in 1956 as a charitable trust. By 1968, the trust was converted to a commercial entity called “Mumbai Tiffin Box Carriers Association”.

The Dabbawala phenomena has prevailed over the last 100 years and more. Today, some 200,00 meals are delivered in Mumbai (Bombay) everyday, by approximately 5,000 strong work-force at a service charge of eight dollars or Rupees 325 per month. The Dabbas (Tiffin Boxes) are picked-up form the residences at 9:00 am sharp and delivered at the offices between noon and 1:00 pm. Once the lunch is finished, the empty Dabbas are collected and returned to respective homes by 5:00 pm every single day, six days a week. Indians work 6 days a week. The Dabbawalas are paid Rs. 5,000 ($125) per month on equitable basis.

Free market capitalism - Boon or Curse?

Free-market capitalism has nothing to do with the current financial crisis. Competition was good then and it is good even today. Government intervention was bad then and it is bad even today. The main problem is the American over-confidence in their ability to manage events and crisis around the world. Europe is their alter-ego. They would rather not use their own brain but go by the American decisions. Just in case they use it all up! Asia talks about its own identity but catches cold whenever America sneezes. It is time the world asserts itself and not let some American bureaucrats set their agenda. It is time the rest of the world takes some responsibility.

Ronald Reagan changed America, starting January 20, 1981. He preached living larger than life. His clarion call was, “This is the greatest country on the face of this earth”. American lapped it up, not thinking exactly what it meant! All presidents since 1981 urged Americans to go out and spend to grow the economy, and they did. The people in the United States have spent 20% more than they have earned for the past 25 years. Now that the bills have come due, nobody has the money. This would translate in learning to live within your means. In other words, ‘Economic Contraction’! The economy would contract by roughly 20% in real terms and the consumer market would also contract by some similar percentage. The Europeans would follow like loyal subjects. It is time Asian countries show some leadership!

I can see me loving nobody but you, for all my life

Have you been confused before, been depressed and angry at the same time? Your feelings for her, did it ever fade away. Have you seen yourself and her parting ways and walking away from each other? Have you even walked in those lonely roads, longing to be able to hold her again?

People speak less about their love when it is going good, but they speak so many things to so many people at once when it is going bad. Speaking at a really basic idiotic laymen terms, that is.

But you, I can see me loving nobody but you, for all my life.

So happy together…

GM Bailout - Go or no go?

This really makes for an interesting case study. The largest US automaker GM has only enough money to last until Dec 2008. Banks don't want to lend money and the commercial paper market has dried up making it impossible for GM to raise money from the market.

Here are some of the facts:

1. GM employs 266,000 people. Together with its subcontractors employ close to 500,000.
2. For each car GM sells it loses about US$600 (vs Toyota which makes $700).
3. Because of unions, the hourly pay for GM workers is US$78 per hour. The US autoworker is paid in 2 days the monthly salary of a Thai worker on the Toyota assembly line in Thailand.
4. If GM goes bust, the estimated cost to govt in terms of lost taxes, unemployment benefit payouts etc is $200B. GM needs a bailout of $20B to remain a going concern.

The best thing to do according to George Bush is let it go bust - GM is has an uncompetitive business and it should be allowed to fail. Rescuing GM using tax payer's money will be a moral hazard - other uncompetitive businesses will want govt bailouts. It is not fair for the govt to use tax payers money to help some people (like overpaid autoworkers) and not others. The Democrats argue that it does not make sense to let GM fail because it will cost the economy 500,000 jobs and tax payers more money. Many analysts suggest the best and most practical way forward is to bailout GM and squeeze its unions and management for pay cuts and concessions...force a restructuring of the company to make it competitive again. Letting it go bust is just too horrendous to consider for the US economy which ia already falling off the cliff. However, if GM remains uncompetitive, it will need more infusions in the future. IMHO, whether to bailout a business depends on whether it will eventually become competitive.

Lewis Hamilton: a deserving F1 world champion?

For those Formula One fans who committed to watch the deciding grand prix, they were rewarded with a dramatic race that saw Lewis Hamilton go from losing to winning the championship within the space of a few corners on the very last lap. The predictably unpredictable rain of Brazil's Sao Paula circuit started and finished the race and came within seconds of costing McLaren's Hamilton the fifth place he needed to secure the 2008 Drivers' title. As Ferrari's Felipe Massa crossed the line first, Hamilton was only sixth after being overtaken with two laps to go by the sport's other champion-in-the-waiting, Sebastian Vettel. But a slow final lap by Toyota's Timo Glock, struggling on dry tires on a slippery track, allowed Vettel and Hamilton to sail through to take positions four and five respectively. It was a typical see-saw race that just about summed up a season in which both Hamilton and Massa have had more than their fair share of unconvincing moments. Hamilton ran into the back of Fernando Alonso's Renault at the second race in Malaysia, but more embarrassingly crashed out of the Canadian Grand Prix in the pit lane, taking Kimi Raikkonen with him. Massa, though, looked like an amateur at the wet at Silverstone, spinning multiple times before finished dead last, and was comprehensively out driven by Hamilton at the tracks considered to be real driver's circuits: Monaco and Spa. However, the bullet-proof reliability that has helped Ferrari dominate F1 in recent years has also deserted them at times this season, with Massa suffering a couple of engine failures. These were compounded by pitstop errors, famously in Singapore, when Ferrari's auto-release system was engaged prematurely for Massa, costing the Brazilian the race. Hamilton, though, should also have been world champion before this final race. The farcical stewards' decision at the Belgian grand prix that relegated Hamilton from race victor to third, with the officials deciding to penalise the Brit for what to most people seemed a brilliant overtaking move on Raikkonen. Hamilton's performance in 2007 was more impressive overall than this year, but in my opinion the McLaren driver just about deserved to edge the title in 2008 - to become the youngest champion in F1 history. Out of the two drivers, Massa has looked the most consistent driver this season, but Hamilton has looked the better raw racer - with a number of skillful and gutsy overtaking manoeuvres. What did you make of the 2008 Formula One season, and did the right driver win the championship?

Socha hai??

In the recent past,there's one song that's just blown me away..yup,a hindi song:).

Asama hai neela kyun.paani geela geela kyun
Gol kyun hai zameen?
Silk mein narmee kyun.aag me hai gaarmi kyun
do aur do paanch kyun nahin?
Ped ho gaye kam kyun.teen hai yeh mausam kyun
Chand do kyun nahin?
Duniya mein hai jang kyun,behti laal rang kyun
sarhadain hai kyun har kahin?
socha hai...
yeh kya kabhi
socha hai..
yeh hai kya sabhi
socha hai...
socha nahin,toh socho abhi..

**hats off to javed akhtar**
Probably these lyrics don't make literal sense..but,i just love the honesty of the lyrics.These lyrics make me think about the greatest gift given to man(which he rarely uses), thinking and ability to question..Children make the most use of their brain,because they question,the curiosity within them makes them question,even if it is as naive as "why don't i have a third ear?".But as man grows older,he loses his ability to question,he ignores it.He just flies through life,not bothering to stand,analyse and question,because it's just a waste of time.He wants to get on with his life,wakes up every morning,finishes his job,runs back home.He wouldn't dare to question "why doesn't the goverment do anything about the bihar floods?",because it's not related to him,its not his job.
I cannot generalize,but i can say,the greater proportion of the people fail to question.If it has been a long time since you questioned,look at the mirror now,and ask yourself"Where do i stand?","What do i look forward to everyday?"..you will discover a lot.

Hello - Hell No !!!

Watched Hello!! yesterday...... 10 minutes into the movie, you get to realize why the name of the movie is Hello!! It is, I guess to ensure that people do not leave the cinema hall halfway....

Jokes apart, a truly horrible effort at trying to make a movie out of a book. For those of you who liked 'One Night at a call Center', by Chetan Bhagat, you will hate the movie..... And for those of you who did not read the book, you will hate the movie!!! The only thing that stands out at the end of the movie is the solace in the fact that Atul Agnihotri is a consistent guy. He is as bad at directing as he ever was at acting.... (Remember the song on the bike??!!)

Well, the movie starts off with an item number by Mr Khan with mind bogling lyrics as 'Bang Bang Bang, Boom Boom Boom'!! (what was he thinking!!) After the item number, he gets ready to leave when his departure is delayed due to a technical fault with his chopper!! While sitting there, Katrina Kaif sits next to him as she needs to use the charging unit for her laptop and that is the only place where she can get it. She then starts off the narration of a 'oh so pathetic' story on the condition that Mr Khan makes a movie out of it....

Focus shifts to Connexions, a fictional call center in every sense of the term..... It is a rainy night an everybody is getting ready to get to their shift in time. And whether you believe it or not, everybody has his sob story in life starting from the supervisor Shyam, son of divorcees Vroom, the ever dutiful wife Radhika, aspiring model Isha, aged Military uncle and the soon to be married to a NRI gal, Priyanka. They are all part of the same team which handles Customer care calls for an appliance company... They are all cribbing about their lives at work when we get to know that Shyam and Priyanka were going steady before they broke up and Vroom likes Isha.... Between all this, there is news of employee retrenchment by their manager Mr Bakshi, an America loving SOB manager.... Due to a system issue and rise in tempers, they all decide to take a break from work and go and booze before making their way to office... (Wonder how!!??)

On the way back, Vroom is drunk and so eh crashes through a construction site, the car thus ending up at the very precipice of an under construction 'something'(Never got to know what it was!!) here, amazingly, none of them are able to get any signal on their mobiles... And then God calls!!!!!

Most of the conversation is one sided and illogical.. Basically God asks them to stand up for themselves and follow their mind in what they do. After all this they go back to office, teach a lesson to Bakshi and stop employee retrenchment....

The way they stop employee retrenchment by increasing calls is phenomenally crazy!!! During a fire drill the same night, Shyam and Vroom convince everybody assembled that they have to receive more calls to enable retention. Therefore, the suggestion, call up all customers and tell them that there is a mysterious virus attack on the US through appliances (whoa!!) and by keeping on calling, they can somehow annihilate the attack!! (Basic premise here is all Americans are dumbasses!!!!) And thus all is well that ends well.

And hey BTW, if you are not bored by the sheer idiotic of it all, you come to know at the end that Katrina is God!!!! My God!!!

The movie to talk about in a few words is a slap on the book, a slap on the faces of each and every employee of the burgeoning back office industry through its potrayal and and therefore deserves a slap on the face of Mr Agnihotri, Mr Bhagat and all of the cast!!!!

Even if you are supremely bored, I suggest you watch a crappy movei on Zee Cinema or Set Ma rather than sitting through this joke of a movie!!!!

Is I-Banking dead?

The depressing news on Lehman and Merrill Lynch has got me thinking (read: worrying) about I-banking's future. There's no sugarcoating the fact that last year, the five of the biggest banks on Wall Street were Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bear Stears, Lehman Brothers, and Merrill Lynch. Now 3 out of those 5 are gone.

What exactly is in the cards for finance guys coming out of business school who want to go into I-banking? I can imagine tons of offers being rescinded in the upcoming weeks/months. I guess this will put a lot of pressure on the other major career choice for top B-school candidates: consulting. Now it will be that much tougher to get into consulting as well. Plus with a weak economy, I can imagine consulting hiring will be down as well. This really sucks!!!
This from a Chicago GSB student posting on GMATClub:
*****************************
Today during a part of our orientation, we had a Finance professor explaining some courses of the curriculum, he started saying:"As you may notice, we have 2 major sub-concentration, one is for those who want to go to Investment, Portfolio and Risk management - also called sometimes as Capital Markets. The second I might as well not spend your time talking about as there are no jobs available, people call this sub-concentration Corporate Finance, and those who studied it used to be called Investment-Bankers."

Then, he said out loud: "For those who want to change careers to IB it's going to be tough, and my advise is not to do so, but as everybody says here: You know You best."

I didn't know if I was supposed to laugh or cry. But it's true, it's going to be HARD, extremely HARD for those seeking banking.
*****************************
So when will the finance sector start to recover? When will banks start hiring again? 2011, 2015, 2020, never again...? We'll just have to wait and see, but waiting of course is the hardest part. The future of I-banking looks bleek.

I found a really clever presentation through BW forums for anyone looking for a simple explanation of the mortgage mess that got Wall Street into so much trouble:

http://docs.google.com/TeamPresent?docid=ddp4zq7n_0cdjsr4fn&skipauth=true&pli=1

It sure cleared up any confusion that I had regarding the current situation. Doesn't make things any better, but it may bring a smile.

Stock Markets tumble!!!

The world stared fear in its eyes yesterday. The stock markets went on a one-day steep fall starting with Asia followed on by Europe and finally hitting home in the US.



Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 3.58% to close below psychological 10,000 level at 9955. The Straits Times Index (STI) declined 5.6% to 2168, which was not seen since June 2005 (more than three years ago).



The various stock indices had fallen sharply losing between 58.7% to 25.8% from January this year.



6 Oct 08 2 Jan 08 Change (%)

Dow Jones (USA) 9955 13043 - 23.6

S&P 500 (USA) 1056 1447 - 27.0

FTSE100 (UK) 4589 6416 - 28.4

Germany DAX 5387 7949 - 32.2

Paris CAC40 3711 5550 - 33.1

Nikkei 225 (Japan) 10473 14691 - 28.7

Shanghai Composite 2173 5272 - 58.7

Hang Seng (HK) 16803 27560 - 39.0

Mumbai BSESN 11801 20465 - 42.3

Australia All Ord 4540 6434 - 29.4

New Zealand NZX50 2990 4033 - 25.8

STI (Singapore) 2168 3461 - 37.3



The credit crisis has moved on from US to affect the European financial institutions.



The fear now is that the world economies will slow significantly resulting from this financial crisis. It is a case of loss of confidence by investors after watching their investment portfolios dwindling in values by the days. They are cutting back on consumer expenditure hence hurting the economies in the process.



It is tempting to go into the stock market and buy shares of companies which have come off from their peaks and plumping new depths. The reality is when one buys into a stock and no sooner the share finds another new low.



The advices from most analysts have been that this is not the lowest level yet. It may still drop further and it may take six months to a full year in order to see a clearer trend for the stock market.

Rock On - A Review

I was talking to a friend yesterday, and i got to know that she has not yet watched this movie yet.. So for i hope she will watch the movie atleast after reading this review!!

Rock On is a brilliant movie – a very simple concept converted into a brilliant motion film supported by terrific performances by debutant actor Farhan Akhtar and Arjun Rampal, and the whole cast ensemble.

Rock On makes you swing emotionally, making you laugh and cry, and teaching you to revel in the joys of life. It is a story of four friends who live music and run a rock band fondly named Magik. Things move good and then things turn bad and they move apart. They are again gelled together, courtesy wife of Farhan Akhtar, who is an affluent investment banker and a reticent. All four friends have moved on and chosen the path never meant for them.

I am sure all of us have had great friends during our school or college time and then lost touch with them. Now, due to Orkuts, LinkedIns and FaceBooks we are able to trace them; that’s good for you, but there are people who we lose in lives and even if we trace them on SNSs we will not contact them. Either we had a fight with them or things turned so sour that we are afraid to take an initiative. In any case, we are so engulfed in our current work-life balance that old contacts hold very little relevance.

Rock On glorifies this divide between 20s and 30s very well. All of us move on and hardly care for what has been left behind us. A once-talented poet has no inspiration to write and would waste his life doing stocks; a drummer would spend his life selling diamonds to beautiful rich women; a super-talented guitarist would never be successful because he is too ethical and over-sensitive in this manipulative and money-minded world; a keyboard expert would be lonely in India’s most crowded city. That’s what the four friends of Rock On become.

When life brings these four friends together again, they are now matured adults who want to prove nothing to the world but to their collective ego. When their hearts call out to be with each other, you know that finding reasons behind everything is not logical. Logic is for those who live life too seriously; those who live life, live it from their heart, they listen to their soul and are often termed crazy in the contemporary world. Rock On only makes me believe in this more.

Rock On shows that if you lose friends you are not fortunate to get them back always; they may be in the last stages of their life, and you will realize that you lost precious time. It makes you realize that the love you took so much for granted and left behind is now being embraced by your worst friend or best enemy. Not everyone is as fortunate as Farhan; he kicks away his love to only find someone more considerate and angel-like! We need to learn from this movie but also notice our script is not written by a benevolent Bollywood writer. It is written and destroyed by us.

I guess I have written more of a philosophical message than a movie review. You will love the music too! For me, the best movie of this year so far at least musically. I have now lost the count of the number of times i have played the tracks from this movie!

Jeffrey Archer - A Prisoner of Birth

Jeffery Archer released his latest novel entitled “A Prisoner of Birth” and is now available in paperback. The title was most apt for the storyline that was written.

I spent past few days reading it and I could hardly leave the book. The storyline captivates you and you just wanted to read till the end to see how it develops and ends. That explains why I have not been able to blog for the week.

Jeffrey Archer still has his magic and able to weave a story that has its fair share of unexpected twists and turns. However, at most times, you would have expected the outcomes that you intended. In this case, it pampers and writes for the readers in mind.

Jeffrey Archer’s stint in the prison came through very well in the book. I believed that allowed him to write with such authority and convictions in that part of the story. It is real and believable. It takes personal experience, though not so pleasant and even traumatic, for writer immersed in the situation to write that well.

As I journeyed with the lead character in the story, I became the character wanting to do what he set out to do. Jeffrey Archer's major strength is in writing witty exchanges in the various criminal court hearings. You have to read it to appreciate and savour the power of the English language used, which is his native tongue.

I will leave readers to read the novel and experience it for themselves.

Microsoft new commercial with Bill Gates and Jerry Sienfeld

I have one word to describe the new Microsoft commercial with Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld. Horrible.

The news is a bit old by now, but I thought I’d make a statement on the new commercial I just saw with Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld that takes place in shoe store. It really has nothing to do with the Microsoft operating system, or any of Microsoft’s products at all. It’s a stab at comedy, and Jerry Seinfeld does show a little comedy, but all it really did was make me say “what the hell?”

I find it sad that Microsoft’s new $300 million marketing campaign can’t do a little better than this.

Here’s the embedded video, as well as the direct link to YouTube.

Microsoft Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates Commercial

Linux Myths: Busted!

One of the main reasons that most people are afraid to try Linux is because they have this preconceived notion about linux being too hard to use and difficult to maintain; or that they have to do something drastically differ ant and there is a steep learning curve to using linux. Most non-linux users are very ignorant about linux. So here is an attempt to dispel some of the myths surrounding Linux:

Myth# 1: Linux Installation is difficult.

This is fairly popular Linux myth. Maybe 5 years ago; I would have agreed with you, it’s simply not true anymore. Let’s talk about the most popular linux distro at the moment, Ubuntu. On a brand spanking new computer, if you were to install Ubuntu from scratch, you would basically have to follow that same configuration options like selecting language, keyboard type and username/password, as you would do in a new vista installation. On the upside, there is every reasons to believe that your linux installation will be finished a lot sooner than a windows installation; and there will be less restart, if any.

Myth# 2: I have to know the Linux terminal in order to use Linux.

False. There is absolutely no reason why a regular computer user can’t use linux for years, without having to use the terminal. Windows has CMD (or command.com, or now powershell) just like Linux has the terminal. It is meant for power users or developers to tinker with fine points of linux (or show off to their friends). Windows has a suite of applications that has no graphical front-end for server and system administrators (Windows Sysinternals anyone?), same holds true for Linux. One can also look at Mac OS X; which is based on BSD and has a terminal just like linux. But a Mac user will probably never use one in his lifetime.

Myth# 3: There is no one-click installation in linux. I have to compile everything.

Wrong again. Windows one-click installation is possible thanks to MSI windows installer; and just like linux windows also has it’s fair share of differant installers. In Linux, Debian and RPM installers (or package managers) are the two most widely used linux installers out there. They install applications the same way a windows installer installs an application, minus the step by step configuration. So this one is also busted. :)

Myth# 4: Linux Lack applications.

Just official debian repositories alone has more than 18000 applications. Lack of applications is the least of linux’s problem; just like windows, linux has many applications that performs the same task. You can also use Wine to run windows applications that might not have a suitable alternative for linux. You can find a list of windows applications that can be used with linux using wine; including photoshop CS2 and MS Office 2007.

Myth# 5: Can’t play my movies or use my itunes/ipod.

Wrong and wrong. VLC for linux plays many popular formats including, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, DVDs, VCDs, HD DVD and various streaming protocols, and with more than 96 million users; you can’t get wrong with that. itunes works fine with wine for linux, if for some reason you can’t get itunes to work you could always use itunes alternatives like Banshee, amaroK and Xine.

These are some of the more common myths surrounding linux, that I know of. I am sure there are many more that I didn’t cover. Personally, I use Vista, Debian/Ubuntu and (more recently) OS X; I love them all. Even though I have a soft corner for linux, it would be unfair for me to try to shove linux down all non-linux users throat. However, users needs to get the right informations so that they can decide whats right for them.

Federer a Champion Again

Thirty-four consecutive wins in Flushing Meadows? Roger.

Five consecutive US Open Championships? Roger.

Thirteen Grand Slam Singles Title? Roger.

The best tennis player ever? Roger.

Roger Federer added another milestone to his tennis legacy after beating Andy Murray in straight sets 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 to win his fifth consecutive US Open Trophy. A feat not done in almost a century.

The win is a vindication for Federer that he is still on top of his game after a year that appears "disappointing" because of "so many losses" and "missing out" on the first three grand slam events of the year. Not to mention, slipping to number 2 in the world.

Look at the three phrases inside quotes above. For other players, the year Federer had is great enough. Roddick was quoted as saying he would gladly take what Federer had this year. Andy Murray said that Federer's year was phenomenal.

When 2007 ended, Federer is predicted to match and maybe surpass Pete Sampras' all-time record of 14 grand slams. He was that dominating then that a year with more losses that his previous years of supremacy and not winning any of the first three grand slam events looks like Federer is sliding downward.

Adding more to that notion is the rise of Rafael Nadal. He recently replaced Federer as number one in the world rankings. He captured his fourth straight French Open after demolishing Federer. He again beat Federer in the best epic Wimbledon final, Federer's best surface. And he added the Olympic Gold.

In retrospect, the turn of events could be a blessing in disguise. Before, all other players have an extra motivation to beat Federer. Now, Federer will have the extra drive to be on top again.

Frankly, all I want to see is for him beating Nadal in the French Open final.

The iPhone in India:My Take on marketing!

Mobile telephony is set to reach the next stage of evolution after the two largest GSM operators, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar, launched Apple Inc.'s iPhone on last friday.

Paradoxically, the iPhone may have everything, yet nothing, to do with the changes it's about to unleash.

The iPhone launch by the two service-providers came after weeks of hype and hoopla, but sadly, proved to be a damp squib. Although the smart phone's amazing new features kept the "wow factor" intact, the long-winding lines that sprang up in front of iPhone stores elsewhere in Asia ahead of the launch were conspicuous by their absence.

The reason? The iPhone pricing is so steep that several potential customers were massively disappointed, even outraged, going by local media reports. The princely sum of 31,000 rupees for the 8-gigabyte iPhone and 36,100 rupees for the 16 GB version was too high for even such a cool gizmo.

Additionally, Bharti is asking for a deposit of 5,000 rupees, while Vodafone is reportedly seeking twice as much. What's worse, India has yet to auction the frequency spectrum required by mobile operators to start offering 3G, and a formal 3G launch is estimated to take up to a year. So even the rich, cool dudes who manage to get themselves an iPhone will only be able to enjoy the low-speed applications that they had access to anyway on their phones earlier.

During the April-June quarter, Bharti earned 350 rupees a month as average revenue per user, implying that the company's average customer can continue using the old phone for 9.8 years more, if he or she decides against buying a 16 GB iPhone, at a cost of 41,100 rupees (phone cost of 36,100, plus deposit of 5,000 rupees).

Put another way, a fresh graduate recruited by one of India's leading software companies will have to pay 1.6 times his or her pretax monthly salary of 25,000 rupees to satisfy an impulse to own the iPhone.

Needless to say, Apple needs to rework its iPhone pricing in India if it hopes to attract a respectable number of customers in this poor but rapidly growing economy. Even if it doesn't, other mobile operators and other handset makers probably have much to gain from the iPhone's launch anyway.

The iPhone's biggest contribution to India will likely be the power of persuasion it brings along. For every iPhone user flaunting the smart phone's cool features, there could be at least a dozen others who may want to upgrade their own phones to handsets that offer more features, but are more modestly priced. And several others may be tempted to explore the world of value-added services, in addition to voice and text messages.

The mobile services industry in India has thrived over the past few years as call tariffs continue to fall, even after seemingly touching rock bottom. As compared to around 16 rupees a minute or more in the late 1990s, local outgoing calls now cost 0.60 rupees a minute. Local service providers are currently adding an average eight million customers each month, making India one of the fastest-growing mobile-service markets in the world.

The industry's average revenue per user, meanwhile, has been testing new lows each quarter, as providers penetrate deeper into the country, bringing on board new customers who can't, or won't, spend more than Rs. 500 a month on their phone bills. Most of those customers have so far been quite content using just voice, and perhaps, text messages.

Getting customers to use value-added services such as downloads, or for bill payments, has been a bit of a challenge for local service providers so far. But that could change now, as the iPhone helps improve awareness about the possibilities and raises the bar of expectations. And all industry players, not just Bharti and Vodafone, will gain from the iPhone, whether or not Apple does.

Three Idiots - Five Point Someone!

Wondering what would be the next flick of Aamir Khan? It’s Three Idiots. The movie has been inspired from Five Point Someone of Chetan Bhagat.

Neha will be played by Kareena Kapoor. I guess Neha’s dad Prof. Cherian, HOD of Mech Dept. will be played by Boman Irani. Hero of the book, Hari (Kumar) will be probably played by Aamir Khan, Alok (Gupta) by Sharman Joshi and Ryan (Oberoi) by R. Madhavan.

Shahrukh Khan was initially casted to play Hari and Kajol to play Neha. Later the star cast had to be changed. I am glad they did. Not that I don’t like Shahrukh but I see Aamir suiting Hari Kumar character more than Shahrukh. Yes, Kajol obviously would have been better than Kareena for Neha, the sweet girl next door character.

The movie is currently being shot and it is due for release in the early 2009. Hope it will be a smash hit.

Watch out for Ghajini release on December 26th, the day after Christmas, if you are a Aamir Khan fan, like me.

Let’s wait for this great movie to show us “What not to do at IIT”.

Microsoft Pulls on Firefox’s Tail

Microsoft fired the latest volley in the new browser wars on Wednesday, releasing the latest version of Internet Explorer to the public. Microsoft wouldn’t need an ad campaign featuring Jerry Seinfeld if it came out with more products like this.

Earlier this summer, Mozilla, released the latest version of its Firefox Web browser. Mozilla made the launch the centerpiece of a campaign to set the world record for most software downloads in a 24 hour period, which it achieved in part because the record didn’t exist previously. Firefox now has about 19% of the browser market, according to Net Appliances Applications, up from 11% in June 2006. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer still has the lion’s share of the browser market – 73% according to Net Appliances – but that’s slowly eroding.

Microsoft isn’t letting its market share disappear unchallenged, though. The company released Internet Explorer 8.0 as a so-called beta, a version that’s not quite complete but still available for anyone to download.

My Confession: I use Firefox whenever possible, mainly because it has “tabs” that allow me to open multiple Web pages in one window. IE 8 has tabs as well, plus a handful of other cool features. One I particularly like: Microsoft has added “accelerators” that facilitate common tasks like emailing a Web site, mapping an address, or looking up a word. Just highlight text on a Web page and a accelerator displays the map or definition in the same window. The bad news: The accelerators that Microsoft includes are Microsoft products – the software giant’s mapping software, email program, and encyclopedia – none of which are my preferred tools.

There’s also a nice feature that makes tabs that are related to one another the same color and a button that shows miniature versions of all open tabs on one screen. Considering the number of tabs we usually have opened at any given time, these features could be real time savers.

I am not willing to switch just yet, but I am impressed with IE 8 and will definitely keep testing it out. I also can’t help but think that one reason there’s real innovation in the new version of Explorer is that Microsoft is facing real competition. Just imagine how cool the Windows or Office would be if Microsoft had real competitors nipping at its heels!!!

Oh by the way you can download IE 8 here

Federer Making His Final Stand at the U.S. Open

I remember watching Roger Federer “battle” Pete Sampras in an exhibition match in March. It was something to see: two of the greatest tennis players of all time (and the best of the past two generations) facing off in the world’s most famous arena.

It was also a farce. Federer, killing time and cashing a check, played along gamely, losing points on purpose to keep the match close before the ultimate swatting-away of Sampras in the final set. Sampras worked hard enough, but his best years were a decade ago; at one point, Sampras swung and whiffed on an easy volley. The crowd groaned, Sampras scowled, and Federer, to his credit, resisted a giggle. The display did no favors to either’s legacy. But that wasn’t the point, at least not for Federer; it was a payday, yes, but it was also a way to turn himself from robotic tennis machine into a global superstar. The process was well in motion; he was setting up endorsement deals in Dubai, making Time’s list of the 100 most influential people, and getting photographed by Annie Leibovitz. But New York was the real prize. Making a major splash here could turn him from a notoriously bland Sampras-type into something closer to the marketing behemoth that is his friend Tiger. But you couldn’t help but wonder: For all the tangential benefits of goofing around with Anna Wintour and Pete Sampras, didn’t this guy have an actual tennis career to be working on? He was two major titles behind Sampras’s record of fourteen; this couldn’t be the right way to go about breaking that, could it?

And here we are, five months later, and it has all backfired. While Federer was playing in exhibitions, noted rival Rafael Nadal was planning his ambush, one that culminated in the epic Wimbledon final last month. Since that night at MSG, Nadal has usurped Federer in every possible fashion. He beat Federer in the French Open for the third straight year, won that Wimbledon, took over his No. 1 world ranking, and, for good measure, won a gold medal in Beijing. Meanwhile, Federer was looking more mortal than ever. Not only was Nadal beating him on a non-clay court (finally): Federer lost to James-freaking-Blake in the Olympics.

Theoretically speaking, if there were ever a time to remind the world that he’s Roger Federer, dammit, this would be it; Wimbledon has the tradition, but the U.S. Open is where stars are made. But, in the strange world of professional athletics, Federer might be too old to recover. He turned 27 last week, which seems young until you realize that Nadal, who finally vanquished his perpetual conqueror, is five years younger and clearly hungrier. And age certainly matters in tennis. Bjorn Borg won his last Grand Slam at 24 (and made an ill-advised comeback thirteen years later); John McEnroe’s came at 25. Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras are the exceptions, and they had styles more based in guile and volleys than Federer’s power; in baseball, they would say that Federer has “old player skills.” (Think Ryan Howard; when they reach a certain age, they tend to decline rapidly.) Federer has never been challenged like this in his career, and it’s an open question as to whether he has the desire, or moxie, to rebound in time.

Federer thought he would come into next week’s U.S. Open as the conquering hero, the superstar with all the glamour he supposedly lacked. That was the point of the Sampras exhibition and Anna Wintour friendship. Now? He has lost his top ranking, his theoretical “best player of all time” title, and, if you haven’t noticed, it’s not him who’s on the cover of the fashion magazines (and this one): It’s Nadal.

No Gmail in Germany!

Whether you know or not!!!

A recent movie's tagline says " When do you know it's love? ". Good question!!! Because I really wanna know when we know its love... After the other person gives the nod to our proposal?

Some of the cliches that would trace their source to mostly Bollywood would be
1) Sleepless Nights
2) Sudden attraction towards romantic movies and songs - esp DDLJ types!
3) Singing those songs or breaking out into a dance in the middle of the street
4) Day Dreaming and increased absent mindedness

These are some that I can think of right now. The rest is for you to answer. When do I know its love? When exactly???

Knol: Google Takes on Wikipedia

Some people hailed the new Google Knol as an alternative for Wikipedia, but it’s not just for Wikipedia: it’s written chaotically by random people: both people holding PhDs and people who don’t know much about the subject. Knol appears to be more like the Web itself, but completely under the control of Google.

Every big corporation wants captive customers, and Google is afraid that its customers would be able to escape. People would search less on google and instead head off to Wikipedia for information, to Web 2.0 sites when wanting to browse something interesting and to their favourite shopping portal when in need to buy something. Knol is the solution, as Google holds the content on its servers and it can monetize it with adsense.

Wikipedia, because of its wealth of information, was indeed seen as a threat for Google, but they can’t do anything to their Search engine results to penalize Wikipedia somehow, because that would result in lower quality results overall and that could affect its market place. On many topics, the only reasonable article on this is the Wikipedia’s and Google is surely wishing it would be able to monetize it.

Knol allows, due to the way the Google algorithms work, that everyone can place in front in the google results with an article, so that they’ll be able to “steal” a part of Wikipedia’s traffic and control and monetize it.

Is Windows a virus???

No, Windows is not a virus. Here's what viruses do:

1.They replicate quickly - okay, Windows does that.

2.Viruses use up valuable system resources, slowing down the system as they do so - okay, Windows does that.

3.Viruses will, from time to time, trash your hard disk - okay, Windows does that too.

4.Viruses are usually carried, unknown to the user, along with valuable programs and systems. - Sigh.. Windows does that, too.

5.Viruses will occasionally make the user suspect their system is too slow (see 2) and the user will buy new hardware. - Yup, Windows does that, too.

Until now it seems Windows is a virus but there are fundamental differences: Viruses are well supported by their authors, are running on most systems, their program code is fast, compact and efficient and they tend to become more sophisticated as they mature.

So Windows is not a virus.

It's a bug. So avoid the bug - Switch over to LINUX

Gaming on Linux

Gaming is always described as one of Linux' achilles heels. And while its certainly true there are more good windows games than Linux games, I've been pleasantly surprised by what is available for Linux. Two of my current favorites:

Quake Wars: Enemy Territory

I was a big fan of the original Wolfenstein Enemy Territory game. I must have played it for hundreds of hours. Not only was it free, it was an absolute blast to play. Not as insanely fast paced as Quake or Unreal Tournament, set in a realistic looking and feeling WW2 environment with more or less realistic weapons and with absolutely brilliant cooperative teamplay.

W:ET now has a more than worthy successor called Quake Wars: Enemy Territory. ETQW remains true to the original in many ways. Although it has picked up some speed (or am I getting old?) and it is no longer set in a WW2 environment but rather something slightly futuristic, everything that made W:ET so great is still present. Wonderful maps and missions, gorgeous graphics, varied classes with different abilities and weapons giving a teamplay that is second to none. And it works absolutely perfect on Linux.

Here is an "instructional" video that shows off the game and might help you get started:

ETQW is no longer a free game, although there is a free demo with 1 large map (the one explained in the video above) which is already sufficient to have countless hours of fun. You can download the Linux demo here:
http://zerowing.idsoftware.com/linux/etqw/

World of Padman

World of Padman was perhaps my biggest surprise so far. This is a completely free and opensource Quake 3 Arena based shooter with a very original comic style. The graphics are nothing short of stunning and the whole game is so incredibly polished in every detail, its hard to believe it is not a commercial game.

The gameplay itself is not fundamentally different from other shooters, but the atmosphere most certainly is. With its comic style and "plastic" weapons (bubble guns to name just one), its perhaps also something you'd prefer to see your children play. But make no mistake, its fun for adults too! Here is the trailer (which hardly does justice to its actual visual appeal):





Download the full game here:
http://www.worldofpadman.com/

Federer, why do all good things come to an end?

Among all tennis players that I admire, Roger Federer is the best player in the history of the game, I always thought that Pete Sampras was the best, but personally I believe that Federer has better skills, but of course Pete Sampras is a great a player and he was my favorite in the past. Other players that I cheered for where Steffi Graff, Martina Hingis, Justine Henin, Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic, Novak Djokovic and Andre Agassi. But of course on top of them is Federer.

If you watch Federer playing, you will definitely notice how smart he is, I’ve never seen someone playing like him, the way he puts the ball on the line, the incredible back-hand shot that drives the opponent outside the field, not to mention the great aces. One can tell that his skills, his mind, and his amazing attitude are the reason that he ruled tennis for more than 4 years, being number one for 4 consecutive years is something that no one could achieve more than half of it.

Out of the 4 Grand Slam tournaments, Federer failed just like Sampras to win the Roland Garros, my personal favorite championship, when he announced that he hired a coach that specializes in clay fields I though it could be a good idea but I was afraid that he loses his outstanding performance on the rest of fields, and I’m not sure if this is what happened.

Unfortunately all good thing will eventually come to an end, this year wasn’t quite the good year for the this glittering star, throughout 2008 he couldn’t win any major title, not the Australian Open, nor the Roland Garros or Wimbledon, which I took for granted.

Tennis is all about concentration, if you lost it for a microsecond you lose the ball, and I guess this is what is happening to Federer, he is not focusing on the game, and so his results were really disappointing this year, but the good part is that he still got it, he still has his magic, he still shoots great shots, but he can’t focus, and so he isn’t able to win.

Now he is losing the number one ranking, which he kept for 4 years in row, to the player that I really hate, Nadal, I don’t know why but I really hate him, he looks so mean, he plays a lot of mind games, and what is worse is that he kills the game, the more the ball remains in play the better, the best part to of a tennis match is the rally, but then Nadal wastes like 15 seconds before he serves, I don’t really care if that’s legal, but it shouldn’t be more than 4 seconds, let the game be more vibrant, faster, more continues.

At the end, Federer will remain the best, even if he lost, and I don’t think I will enjoy tennis knowing that Nadal is number one, I just can’t. And the question remains, will Federer end up like Hingis? I hope no.

Where the mind is without fear...

Where the mind is without fear
And the head is held high
Into that heaven of freedom,my father
Let my country awake ...
---Rabindranath Tagore

The Federer era - a tribute

It’s official now: Rafael Nadal will supplant Roger Federer as the #1 men’s tennis player in the world. In two week, the rankings will show Nadal in the #1 position, thanks to Federer’s recent failures to match last season’s performances. Nadal certainly deserves it - now we wait to see how long he can hold on.

Federer’s reign as #1 may be over for now, but his period of dominance will not be forgotten. First off, he spent 235 consecutive weeks at #1. Before that, the record was 160 by Jimmy Connors; Federer surpassed that by almost a year and a half. The great Pete Sampras’s longest reign was 102 weeks. Here’s something even more incredible: Nadal has been #2 for 158 weeks, almost as long as anyone other than Federer was #1!. That means that for three years Nadal has been there, but he couldn’t get past Federer. Translation: Federer was consistently better than Nadal over that time.

Next, let’s compare Federer’s period of dominance with Sampras’s most impressive span of dominance. I’ve looked at the best five year performances for them. I’m including 2003 for Federer rather than 2008, since his winning percentage was better that year. For Sampras, I’m looking at ten years before Federer: 1993-1997. I’m going to look at their performances each year, then the cumulative totals. Specific title wins will be listed for Grand Slams, Masters series events, and the Tennis Masters Cup.

2003 Federer: 78-17 record, 23 tournaments, 9 finals, 7 titles. Won Wimbledon and Masters Cup.

1993 Sampras: 85-16 record, 24 tournaments, 9 finals, 8 titles. Won Wimbledon, U.S. Open, and Miami Masters.

2004 Federer: 74-6 record, 17 tournaments, 11 finals, 11 titles. Won Australian Open, Wimbledon, U.S. Open, Masters Cup, Indian Wells Masters, Hamburg Masters, and Canada Masters.

1994 Sampras: 77-12 record, 22 tournaments, 12 finals, 10 titles. Won Australian Open, Wimbledon, Masters Cup, Indian Wells Masters, Miami Masters, and Rome Masters.

2005 Federer: 81-4 record, 15 tournaments, 12 finals, 11 titles. Won Wimbledon, U.S. Open, Indian Wells Masters, Miami Masters, Hamburg Masters, and Cincinnati Masters.

1995 Sampras: 72-16 record, 21 tournaments, 9 finals, 5 titles. Won Wimbledon, U.S. Open, Indian Wells Masters, and Paris Masters.

2006 Federer: 92-5 record, 17 tournaments, 16 finals, 12 titles. Won Australian Open, Wimbledon, U.S. Open, Masters Cup, Indian Wells Masters, Miami Masters, Canada Masters, and Madrid Masters.

1996 Sampras: 65-11 record, 19 tournaments, 9 finals, 8 titles. Won U.S. Open and Masters Cup.

2007 Federer: 68-9 record, 16 tournaments, 12 finals, 8 titles. Won Australian Open, Wimbledon, U.S. Open, Masters Cup, Hamburg Masters, and Cincinnati Masters.

1997 Sampras: 55-12 record, 20 tournaments, 8 finals, 8 titles. Won Australian Open, Wimbledon, Masters Cup, Cincinnati Masters, and Paris Masters.

All right, let’s tally up the totals for those five-year spans:

Sampras: 354-67 record, 106 tournaments*, 47 finals, 39 titles. Won 9 Grand Slams, 3 Masters Cups, and 8 Masters Series events. (*- I’m not entirely sure about the total tournaments played since Wikipedia doesn’t say for him. I added his titles to his losses to come up with this number, but that’s assuming he went 3-0 in round robin play at the Masters Cup. Sampras very well may have lost one match in round robin play in some years. This total, though, is no more than five off.)

Federer: 393-41 record, 88 tournaments, 60 finals, 49 titles. Won 12 Grand Slams, 4 Masters Cups, and 13 Masters Series events.

That is flat out stunning: Federer rules every category of that comparison. He won more Grand Slams, Masters Series events, Masters Cups, and overall titles than Sampras. (In case you were wondering, the five year span I selected for Sampras was his career best by far. He won 39 tournaments in that period and only 25 for the entire rest of his career.) Federer’s overall record was tremendously more dominant than Sampras’s. Consider just these two facts:

1. In his entire career, Sampras won 10 tournaments in a season only once (1994). Federer did it in three consecutive seasons (2004-2006).
2. In a full season (at least 15 tournaments played), Sampras never had fewer than 10 losses in a season. Federer accomplished that four seasons in a row (2004-2007).

Here are a few more of Federer’s amazing records:

• Grass court winning streak: 65 matches from 2003 to 2008. Second best: Bjorn Borg 41.
• Hardcourt winning streak: 56 matches from 2005 to 2006.
• Consecutive finals won: 24 from 2003 to 2005. Second best: John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg 12.
• He is the only player to win at least three times in three separate Grand Slam tournaments (3 Australian Open, 5 Wimbledon, 4 U.S. Open).
• He is the only player to win three Grand Slam tournaments in a single season three times in his career (Australian Open, Wimbledon, U.S. Open in 2004, 2006, 2007).
• He has the record for consecutive Grand Slam finals reached: 10, from the 2005 Wimbledon to the 2007 U.S. Open.
• He has a current streak of 17 consecutive semifinals reached in Grand Slam tournaments. Second best: Ivan Lendl 8. (By comparison, Rafael Nadal’s best streak, albeit current, is 3.)
• Highest rankings point total ever: 8370 at the end of the 2006 season.
• From October 2003 to January 2005, Federer won a record 26 consecutive matches against top 10 opponents.

I think this final stat tells Federer’s dominance story the best. In Borg’s streak of five straight Wimbledon titles, he lost a total of 19 sets. In Sampras’s streak of four straight, he lost 14 sets. In Federer’s five-year streak, he lost only 8!

Nadal may be #1, but he has a long way to go to ever be considered along with Federer as the greatest of all time.