I find the unstructured nature of the web very inconvenient to search the USENET (read Google Groups). If you really want a disciplined approach towards accessing the USENET, make use of a dedicated client and a free newsgroups server...especially since these servers (unlike Google's) do not archive very old posts. I use Windows Live Mail Desktop and an Italian newsgroups server and they work perfectly in tandem.
If your searches are Microsoft-specific, you might connect directly to their own USENET server (which only hosts Microsoft related topics).
Certain Microsoft forums (from MSDN), however, do not have a USENET reflection. Though I'm forced to access the web to post a query in such a case, I can use an RSS reader (like FeedDemon) to access their rss feeds.
I pay Rs1000 ($25) per month for 256kbps and unlimited downloads in Bangalore. While this doesn't qualify for broadband speeds by western standards, I'm one of the luckier ones to have a connection in the first place.
Many of my acquantances have trouble getting a connection in Bangalore - India's IT capital. One friend got a connection exactly a year after applying for it. The ISP? Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, of course!
While over-promising and under-delivering is a way of life in India, let's hope at least a fraction of the WiMAX promise is kept.
How many of you are reading this post on a non-Windows machine? If Windows is really as buggy as you claim, what's stopping you from switching to Linux or Mac OS? Why is the desktop world so heavily skewed towards Windows? Is there a law prohibiting you from using non-Microsoft products?
As a rule, I pay for the Windows OS but use only the best free applications available (wherever possible). If there's a free alternative to a paid Microsoft product (OpenOffice to Microsoft Office), I choose free. It has worked well for me.
I had gained access to my blog via a site (besides Google's proxy servers) that was set up by a bunch of Pakistanis! I remember my thanks being acknowledged by someone from across the border. If this doesn't prove how the Internet is spearheading a borderless society, I wonder what does.
Being opportunistic is not necessarily bad. Linspire's move is a case in point. However, I would be shocked if the South Korean government accepted the offer. You need to be out of your mind to think of a mass migration from one OS to another (Windows to Linux or vice versa). What's more, do u think people would ever volunteer to such a move? Is Linux a complete OS at all? You'll find its components strewn all across cyberspace...and if the populace should contemplate the said shift, all users should think of earning a PhD in Computer Science! Let's face it: By no stretch of imagination does the mass migration seem likely. By it very nature, an OS that is user friendly and uniformly installed cannot be Open Source.
Linux is ill-suited to being a showcase product to flaunt open source and I have reason to believe Wikipedia is best suited to assume the role. In a span of only a few years, Wikipedia has amassed a considerable fan following. It's amazing how people power has launched the public encyclopedia into the big league and no one can deny that.
Of course, like everything else, there may be a noise factor involved in this project too. However, the powers of construction are more potent than the powers of destruction...and Wikipedia manifests it well enough.
After what seems like an eternity, the IM world is gradually inching towards interoperability. Yahoo! & Microsoft have reached a deal that will allow their instant messaging programs to talk to each other. This is expected to be in place by June 2006.
It's time for AIM & Google Talk to join the gang. Although Google is already using open standards that would allow compatible messengers to communicate with it, I'm not sure Yahoo! and Microsoft would be interested in taking it into their fold. AOL is already being sold in bits-&-pieces and Microsoft and Google are in talks with it for a stake. How things shape up remains to be seen and could well herald a new direction for instant messaging. One mustn't forget how ferociously AIM had protected its turf in the past. It's the original foe of interoperability! AOL then proceeded to buy the world's first and easily the best instant messenger of its time (ICQ)...and thoroughly ruin it. Even looking at the empty contact list in ICQ was a pleasure!
I had heard on Discovery that it is due to the rotation of the Earth's core that we have the concept of poles. Our poles keep switching their polarities. Is thare any indication that such a change is going to happen anytime soon? Going by statistics, our poles should have changed by now.
I'm in an MNC operating out of India. Being part of the workforce, I know pretty well the wretched condition Indian coders work in. Our training is inadequate, faculty is of poor quality, resources are lacking and we are always in a hurry. No wonder India has never produced a world renowned software product. At this rate, it never will.
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I find the unstructured nature of the web very inconvenient to search the USENET (read Google Groups). If you really want a disciplined approach towards accessing the USENET, make use of a dedicated client and a free newsgroups server...especially since these servers (unlike Google's) do not archive very old posts. I use Windows Live Mail Desktop and an Italian newsgroups server and they work perfectly in tandem. If your searches are Microsoft-specific, you might connect directly to their own USENET server (which only hosts Microsoft related topics). Certain Microsoft forums (from MSDN), however, do not have a USENET reflection. Though I'm forced to access the web to post a query in such a case, I can use an RSS reader (like FeedDemon) to access their rss feeds.
I pay Rs1000 ($25) per month for 256kbps and unlimited downloads in Bangalore. While this doesn't qualify for broadband speeds by western standards, I'm one of the luckier ones to have a connection in the first place.
Many of my acquantances have trouble getting a connection in Bangalore - India's IT capital. One friend got a connection exactly a year after applying for it. The ISP? Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, of course!
While over-promising and under-delivering is a way of life in India, let's hope at least a fraction of the WiMAX promise is kept.
How many of you are reading this post on a non-Windows machine? If Windows is really as buggy as you claim, what's stopping you from switching to Linux or Mac OS? Why is the desktop world so heavily skewed towards Windows? Is there a law prohibiting you from using non-Microsoft products?
As a rule, I pay for the Windows OS but use only the best free applications available (wherever possible). If there's a free alternative to a paid Microsoft product (OpenOffice to Microsoft Office), I choose free. It has worked well for me.
I had gained access to my blog via a site (besides Google's proxy servers) that was set up by a bunch of Pakistanis! I remember my thanks being acknowledged by someone from across the border. If this doesn't prove how the Internet is spearheading a borderless society, I wonder what does.
Being opportunistic is not necessarily bad. Linspire's move is a case in point. However, I would be shocked if the South Korean government accepted the offer. You need to be out of your mind to think of a mass migration from one OS to another (Windows to Linux or vice versa). What's more, do u think people would ever volunteer to such a move? Is Linux a complete OS at all? You'll find its components strewn all across cyberspace...and if the populace should contemplate the said shift, all users should think of earning a PhD in Computer Science!
Let's face it: By no stretch of imagination does the mass migration seem likely. By it very nature, an OS that is user friendly and uniformly installed cannot be Open Source.
Linux is ill-suited to being a showcase product to flaunt open source and I have reason to believe Wikipedia is best suited to assume the role. In a span of only a few years, Wikipedia has amassed a considerable fan following. It's amazing how people power has launched the public encyclopedia into the big league and no one can deny that. Of course, like everything else, there may be a noise factor involved in this project too. However, the powers of construction are more potent than the powers of destruction...and Wikipedia manifests it well enough.
After what seems like an eternity, the IM world is gradually inching towards interoperability. Yahoo! & Microsoft have reached a deal that will allow their instant messaging programs to talk to each other. This is expected to be in place by June 2006. It's time for AIM & Google Talk to join the gang. Although Google is already using open standards that would allow compatible messengers to communicate with it, I'm not sure Yahoo! and Microsoft would be interested in taking it into their fold. AOL is already being sold in bits-&-pieces and Microsoft and Google are in talks with it for a stake. How things shape up remains to be seen and could well herald a new direction for instant messaging. One mustn't forget how ferociously AIM had protected its turf in the past. It's the original foe of interoperability! AOL then proceeded to buy the world's first and easily the best instant messenger of its time (ICQ)...and thoroughly ruin it. Even looking at the empty contact list in ICQ was a pleasure!
I had heard on Discovery that it is due to the rotation of the Earth's core that we have the concept of poles. Our poles keep switching their polarities. Is thare any indication that such a change is going to happen anytime soon? Going by statistics, our poles should have changed by now.
I'm in an MNC operating out of India. Being part of the workforce, I know pretty well the wretched condition Indian coders work in. Our training is inadequate, faculty is of poor quality, resources are lacking and we are always in a hurry. No wonder India has never produced a world renowned software product. At this rate, it never will.