Weird!!!!

Firefox Browser is on high and its growth has been mercurial ever since its launch in January 2005. This how the stats looked, when it was launched in 2005.

2005	IE6	IE5	Fx	Moz	N7	O8	O7
November	62.7%	6.2%	23.6%	2.8%	0.4%	1.3%	0.2%
September	69.8%	5.7%	18.0%	2.5%	0.4%	1.0%	0.2%
July	67.9%	5.9%	19.8%	2.6%	0.5%	0.8%	0.4%
May	64.8%	6.8%	21.0%	3.1%	0.7%	0.7%	0.6%
March	63.6%	8.9%	18.9%	3.3%	1.0%	0.3%	1.6%
January	64.8%	9.7%	16.6%	3.4%	1.1%		1.9%

In just two years it has captured the browsing space of nearly 40% of users. Today the stats looks something like this.

2008	IE7	IE6	IE5	Fx	Moz	S	O
April	24.9%	28.9%	1.0%	39.1%	1.0%	2.2%	1.4%
March	23.3%	29.5%	1.1%	37.0%	1.1%	2.1%	1.4%
February	22.7%	30.7%	1.3%	36.5%	1.2%	2.0%	1.4%
January	21.2%	32.0%	1.5%	36.4%	1.3%	1.9%	1.4%

The much hyped idea of IE 7 launched in 2007 with tabbing feature, was introduced way back by firefox when it was launched. Leaving out all these comparison of IE7 Vs Firefox, there are few questions that need to be answered.

1. Why most web sites along with financial and banking sites, still do not offer a support to Firefox or just offer a partial support.

2. Even the open source supporter Google, always displays a message "Orkut is best viewed in Internet Explorer than Firefox".

Ok... This is a personal Intuition. Using Firefox could lead to an addiction. This is based on couple of my friends experience and also my addiction towards firefox since I started using it a year before. If the websites are going to deprive the addicts, then I think they are earning the wrath of users. Some may agree to this and some may not.

Adios..

www.windowsvista.com/login.html - :-))))

Its been quite few months, since I have been thinking on dream of Web Technology to introduce Online Operating system. Though, some of the smaller research centers have come up with a prototype, (https://www.youos.com/) its been in the news that Google is coming up with a new robust online Operating System. But I am trying to understand, what really the term Online Operating System is going to mean.

Now this is what we may forsee as an Online Operating System. When I key in "www.googleOS.com" its going to show me a Login page which would take me to my Online Home Page Settings (like the Desktop settings). This stands fine, but my question is

1. To Key In "www.googleOS.com", I need either a browser or some other connectivity medium, which could help me navigate to the Online Operating System.

2. Now this browser needs to run as an desktop application in my system.

3. For this desktop browser application, we would still require a base application(our installed Operating System) in the Machine. It could be a small Light weight OS which gets initiated by the Bootstrapper and loader.

So finally we end up saying, hey there is going to be smaller version of OS or RTOS installed, up and running in our machine, which would take us to the complete Online Operating System.

Fair enough, now this worries me more with few more questions.
1. Lets assume, over the next five years, the Internet connectivity speeds reach all time high of 10 Gbps for a home user. Also lets assume that every Application of the Online OS will be built using the concepts like AJAX which could provide quick response to user action simulating the experience of Desktop operating system. But to what extent, is it going to match the performance of our current desktop system. Every year, the processor speeds are exceeding the Moore's law. Will a dedicated user of Online OS, expect the same performance of system as the Desktop system.

2. One fine day, a Submarine moves tangentially over the Fiber optic Internet cable running from Florida to Chennai? So all the users of system are devoid of an Operating system for next couple of weeks? Oh... thats going to be a nightmare and I do expect the animal in Man to be exposed during this horror.

The title for this blog was a dream that Windows Operating system has a web version, free of cost. www.windowsvista.com/login.html :-))) .

Let me know your thoughts on what could be the result and solution to this....

Adios..

iPhone Fever ???
An Excerpt ........

" Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, on introduced their hotly awaited mobile phone, still
named iPhone although Cisco, through Linksys had previously launched an Internet
phone with the same name.

At Macworld 2007, Jobs managed to bring the audience to awe with his well-thought
presentation of the new technological gem by Apple. But, as the dust settled,
analysts and experts have also pointed out that it may well not be a perfect gem.

Basically, the iPhone is a touchscreen phone, with the capabilities of an iPod,
running OSX, with built-in WiFi (802.11b/g) and Bluetooth 2.0,
as well as a 2.0-megapixel camera. It’s 11.6 millimeters thin,
it has an 8GB storage capacity (unknown right now if that's expandable)
and it recognizes unintentional input. The device is a 2.5G quad band GSM and
EDGE mobile phone. iPhone supports push e-mail, mobile telephone, text messaging,
Safari web browsing and other wireless information services. It also features a widget engine,
although it is not clear how significantly different this is from the Mac OS X Dashboard.

Let's see the advantages:

- spelling-correction software, that almost instantly “figures-out” what you wanted to type (in case of a typo) and if you decide that is the word you wanted, you can press space to continue
- impressive MultiTouch touch screen technology which lets the user navigate the on-screen controls with
nothing more than bare fingers (see also cons)
- orientation sensor switches the screen from portrait to landscape mode simply by turning the device on its
side
- built-in WiFi and Bluetooth (see also cons about connectivity)
- size and weight (it's 11.6 millimeters thin!)
- loads of apps (see cons)
- design (it's an Apple)
- advanced technology makes it an all-in-one phone, mp3 player, digital camera, browser, etc.
The Wall Street Journal's Walter Mossberg, who played with a prototype for an hour,
sums it up, "It has the largest and most beautiful screen I've ever seen on a
cell phone, even though it's incredibly thin. ... It has a brilliant new user interface;
the handsomest email program and Web browser I've ever seen on a phone;
a full-blown iPod music and video player built in; and even a cool new voicemail system."

Now, for the disadvantages:

- legal battle over name with Cisco's Linksys. Computerworld says: "An Apple executive told PC World that because the Cisco iPhone is a voice over IP (VoIP) phone and the Apple iPhone is a cell phone, Apple is not violating Cisco's trademark." But Cisco has another opinion on the matter. “Today’s iPhone is not tomorrow’s iPhone. The potential for convergence of the home phone, cell phone, work phone and PC is limitless, which is why it is so important for us to protect our brand,” said Mark Chandler, senior vice president and general counsel, Cisco.

- price: $499 for entry level (4GB) and $599 (6 GB) for premium version (you can buy the premium version of PS3 for $600)
- locked on Cingular GSM networks (this also means no access to faster CDMA-2000 internet connectivity); also not compatible with GSM's latest 3G network. "Cingular executives I've spoken with say they anticipate people will change (mobile phone) carriers so they can buy an iPhone -- I doubt that," says Sascha Segan, chief mobile phone analyst for PC Computing Magazine. "People choose call carriers on (cell-phone) coverage, call quality and price -- not device."
- quality issues (some analysts are questioning if iPhone will be able to resist to scratches and drops, as an usual phone is)
- on-screen keyboard may be hard to use (hard to type on such a small surface with your thumbs)
- it’s still unclear it will support third party applications, and Steve Jobs suggested it won’t: “We define everything that is on the phone,” Jobs said. “You don’t want your phone to be like a PC. The last thing you want is to have loaded three apps on your phone and then you go to make a call and it doesn’t work anymore. These are more like iPods than they are like computers.”

Jobs said Apple plans to sell 10 million units by end of 2008. Many can't see that happening in real life, although it's almost certain people will line up in June when the iPhone (or whatever its name is going to be then) will hit the shelves. Apple also promised it's going to work hard on improvements before the product is going on the market.

I guess it comes down to whether you think the iPhone's unquestionable innovations outweigh its flaws. It remains to be seen if iPhone will follow the iPod in sales. What I can say for sure at this moment is that is certain iPhone will secure a certain niche of buyers, especially among Mac users."

Mozhi - A short Description

At one point of time i was carried away by thought that only few directors like Mani Ratnam, Shekar Kapoor, and to name a few can bring back the sense and sensibilities of Indian cinema.Only few like Adoor Gopal Krishnan can recreate the SatyajitRay act. But for past couple of years few Indian cinemas and directors have started giving life to Indian cinema by relating itself to every day Indian life.Mozhi written and directed by Radha Mohan is one among them.

Mozhi has a very simple story about how a musician(Prithiviraj) falls in love with a girl(Jyothika) who cannot speak and hear and how the hero succeeds in convincing the girl that physical disabilities should not be considered as factor of hindrance in love .The film brings in very strong message.The message is very clear that happiness of human relation do not need speech,words,and physical beauty. All it needs is matching frequencies between hearts.The message was also clear, do not treat people with physical deviations as an object of mercy but live with them as we do with others. This will help to wipe of the unavoidable inferior complexity from them and add more meaning to their life as well as ours.

Jyothika as a girl with physical deviation was at her best.It can be well assured that every matured viewer would have had imagined Archana(Jyothika) with the character not only in the movie hall but carried home the imagination of her as Archana as she truly lived with the character close to two and half hours.Kudos to director Radha Mohan, the way Jo's character was Sketched and the way she was given a scope to perform in every scene.It is as though she acted with her ears plugged and acted by only understanding the lip movements of director. Prithiviraj was sensibly loquacious as he had to speak for Jo also.Almost every character film had an opportunity to bring in realism.Bhaskar who is casted a professor with lost mind is very natural.

Sense of humour in film is enjoyable . There is not a single scene where a father in cinema hall would have twisted and turned in uneasiness,unable to sit and watch the scenes with his young son.Best thing about the movie was to see a grand old conservative lady of around 70's in movie hall enjoying through out the length of movie.The Oldsters out numbered the youngsters.This proves that the long standing justification of directors and producers wrong that films are stuffed with glamour, as it is the only way to draw crowds and lure young bloods.

The Music and re-recording by Vidyasagar was mellifluous.Re-Recording flowed smoothly along the film.The film theme is strongly based on Music and Vidya sagar does a complete justice to it.Music is not just what we hear but it is something which has to be felt ,realized by soul.This is what the director terms as Music in this film.

In one of the scenes prakash raj says "we have lot of things to learn from these people(Archana)" It should serve as a tonic to people with physical deviations.Films like these not only helps to raise hopes of people with physical deviation,it helps us to change the perspective , the way we look at these people.

Not that the film did not have commercial elements or it is a documentary movie.It had all the ingredients of commercial movie like romance,comedy, songs but they all blended to realism of what we have in everyday life.Also i feel the success of these kind of film should help to raise the hope of raring story tellers who are fighting to cope up with synthetic requirements of commercial cinema and their realistic story telling approach.

I do not want to say that the film was perfect 10 out of 10 ,but i feel its better to appreciate these films, make cinema more creative.The best experience about the film is we can learn few basics of sign language ,May be useful enough to understand and help the cause of few.
cheers....

Gone are those days when...
My forefinger soaked,in a blue colored fluid,throught the day, and top layers of the skin remained adsorbed with colored fluid just like a skin tinge of a Chameleon.

Gone are those days when....
Every day i posed challenge to myself pledging to fight against the colored forces
from the city of bril or camalin.Though i lost the war almost daily in school preventing the blue colored fluid invading the epidermis of fingers. I feel proud that i must have surpassed the record of Mohammand Ghori .

Gone are those days when.....
In process of paying attention to blue colored fluid i had to sacrifice the art of hand writing, and made mess of the art of writing.In tamil we term it as "koyzi Kerukkal" a simile of Hand writing with hen's scratching.

Gone are those days when.....
Every day it was a challenge to my mom as well as the detergent, removing the colored fluid from my shirt.

Gone are those days when.....
I felt if the coloring habbit of my forefinger continues it may not be too long that one fine morning i will have a plain blue tatoo.

Interstingly "The sultan of Egypt in 953 A.D demanded a pen which would not stain his hands or clothes, and was provided with a pen which held ink in a reservoir and delivered it to the nib via gravity and capillary action" which paved the way for fountain pen".

Thats was what i was talking about. Its been a long time since i have written(or done a kozhi kirukkal) in fountain pen.I think it must be the same in with you all too.Recently I heard a program in Radio Mirchi that the ink pens in school have been replaced by use and throw ball point pens.So new pens every week. But I have decided to give it a shot and start using fountain pen when ever possible.

Two fundas to remember with fountain pens..

Resource management - Buddy u got to make sure you take two or three hero pens for history exam else u have lot more to write but u will end up with red fluid in your eyes.

Resource Maintenence - Make sure u take care and feed ur pen well else u cannot expect it to be like a faith full dog on the D day of ur exams.

Here is the link to wikipedia which speaks more on the origin,history of fountain pens. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountain_pen

Not too often do we hear such words from a sports person who are unbeatable inside their arena. This guy is one of that kind.
I am talking about Roger Federer who was recently in India as an UNICEF ambassador of good will visiting a remote village Thazhanguda in Cuddalore (Tamil Nadu) which was an important strike point of killer Tsunami waves.This is what the swiss had to say

“I am in my prime time in Tennis and i am getting lots of attention. I am making an incredible amount of every year and i want to use it for a proper way”and thats charity.

“My dreams came true when i became a tennis player and i still hope all these children will have their dreams fulfilled too. My goal is to try and help these kids and inspire them .I strongly believe that they will inspire me back by becoming doctors or world famous sports persons”

Truly Inspiring.

Imagine how would our country look if politicians in our country start thinking like this ??

OMKARA-Music by Vishal Bharatwaj
After long time it was nice to listen to some pure hindi music with some fusion in it to add spice .you  can listen
 to the tracks at  http://www.raaga.com/channels/hindi/movie/H001066.html.

Team India

  January….
150 days of cricket….
1000 hours of live telecast…
Expert interview…and commentary round the clock…
this is what boasted a top sports channel…on the first week of the January
I could sense electrical impulse of enjoyment running through my spine. I thought
Its going to be great watching newly christened ‘team India’..


March….

The Indian tigers or lion or what ever valorous being they are related to ,where ferocious in their den .

Success was streaming and ‘team India’ heroes have become the most 'sort after'
heroes of the Indian advertisement industry…
it made me feel proud that this new generation cricket team is really smart in every department…

It was as if like come 2007 world cup ,the giants aussies will have run for their money.


June….

Indians  began their hunt in the Caribbean…
As a typical Indian cricket fan I was able to visualize Indian cricket lover boy captain Rahul Sharath Dravid to lift the one day trophy amidst the partying windies crowd, drums banging.. dancing girls moving in sync with the music…but….

Time 3.20 am

As a cricket fan and a couch potato I was watching the game 3 against the windies
Suddenly heard sweetest sound of willow from the middle of bat…and ball rocketed
In the trajectory path. . I could see the windies spectator watching the ball till it disappeared with sheer enjoyment….it was like Abdul Kalam and his ISRO colleagues watching Indian first space satellite to moon in disbelief…

The shot was from Brian Charles Lara…an reply to Ramesh Powars flighted delivery.. Hopes Shattered and India lost the match as well as the series 1-4….
The Indian wickets fell like nine pin
India once again re established their reputation of bringing the minnows and out of form teams and players to winning ways..

Time 3.40 am

I was in my bed in a hung state… few abstract questions rose in my mind and probably would like you guys to answer me…


Post mortem analysis

Q1..
Does team India know what is consistency…
Its not just 17 victories in sub continent but winning away from sub continent..
Q2…
Why was Mr Hemang k Badani dropped after his valiant efforts in Pakistan.
Was it because he committed a sin by raising himself to international cricket playing or Tamilnadu.. i feel he is just one victim…the list is really big

Q3
Where is Mr Vijay Bharathwaj and what he is doing now..
If I can recall he became a member of team India for series against Proteas in Nairobi
And was crowned as man of series in his debut….but then never played for India again.

Don’t you feel its high time Indian sports learn to respect talent rather than origin of state or something else….

July 8, 2006

As I post this blog the Indians have won the test series against Windies after a gap of 35 years….

Quite a roller coaster….and my opinion on Indian cricket ‘ expect the unexpected’.