Microsoft on "Pay as you go" model for PC & software

You can read about this article at ComputerWorld. I recently wrote a comment on this, I'm just posting it here.

Once again MS comes up with an approach of making more money without the necessary effort. How about a good performance on their OS or fewer bugs, or a weight loss program for it? They seem to work overtime on making new themes for the same OS (Vista, Windows 7) & copying everything they can find on the way - Konfabulator widgets (now Yahoo), Google gadgets & of course the Mac OS X for almost everything.

It seems their think tank only has MBAs or Accountants. They lack any kind of creativity. They have never been pioneers in any kind of software or hardware. Mouse - Xerox, Apple. OS - Apple, Zune - ipod Apple, Xbox - PS2, Xbox 360 - PS3 & now muscling their way against Wii by heavy discounts.

How can a giant a$$ company lack any kind of creativity or passion? M$ seems to have a complete wrong mentality. They are too proud to learn from anybody but shameless to copy everybody. They just play catchup to everybody!

To buy or not to buy?

I have a Nikon D80 and a Nikkor 18-135mm lens. Its a pretty good setup for amateur-enthusiast photography, and yet often I find myself researching the Nikon D300 or the new D700. Sometimes even the old D200 strikes my fancy and before I realize I am drooling all over my iMac. Then there are lenses. I fancy a Nikkor 70-300 mm VR and wish I could afford a 80-200mm f2.8. I go through this torment of oggling at the camera/lenses - features, quality, the kind of photographs I could take and then the budgeting. This is just the camera.

Then there are other interests:  Sports cars (BMW M3 E92, rather an E46 for me pls., or Mercedez SL65 AMG Black-edition) or  a Media system: perhaps a custom built: recevier, subwoofer, speakers etc. Bose Companion 5* just doesn't cut it, Computers: has to be a Mac and then sometimes I want to build my own monster with Nvidia SLI twin graphics cards 512 MB RAM each, 7.1 surround sound, 1Ghz FSB Motherboard, a RAID configured HD stack 7200rpm, a Blue Ray disc player, a liquid cooled cooling system, Phones: Nokia n series, a Blacberry Storm, or the ubiquitous Apple iphone*.

Well, the intention behind this particular blog is not to rant about the poor me not affording the pleasures of driving a Mercedez Benz SL65 AMG Black edition ($150K) a V12, 600 hp & 700 lb-ft torque, not snapping pictures with the shweet D700 ($2K) full frame at 5 fps, talking on the iphone, with my ears still numb from listening to the custom built Denon+Velodyne+NHT Home Theater System ($8K), and perhaps gone blind double checking if I am getting any resolution benefits using a Blue-ray disc on 42" 1080p plasma screen ($3K).

Nor is it to offer excuses and beleiving in the fable of sour grapes. The humble intention of this blog is to dissect the human urge behind possessing these wonderful material things. Before you roll your eyes and assume this is another of the Zen arts of living boringly, let me please goad you to read on.

I wish I had all these gadgets and more. I strongly believe in being Happy, no matter what it takes. (Pls. insert here your own sense of ethics, personal integrity in acquiring the means and the uncompromisable character for avoiding excessive indulgence).

Hinduism & Buddhism tell us otherwise. Material needs and material goods can only fill this void superficially making us more empty and definitely broke (No Chapter 11, bankruptcy claims here!).

But we are only human; with dreams and desires. I just want to insist on clarity in actions and reactions. Action being the purchase & the reaction being what I get having acquired the object of my drool (yikes!). Moving on..

Camera: I like my camera, Nikon D80, and as many wise professional photographers have said its not the camera that takes the photograph its the person behind it. But I still want a D300, there is a desire to possess something this awesome (& now affordable $1450).

And I don't fight this. I just ask myself..Why?
I guess its not the camera that I want. Because, I am not thinking of the photographs that I can take with the new one. Nor the passion of photography. Having an active d-lighting and magnesium alloy body is not going to change my pictures.

What is my passion for cameras?
I want to take good pictures and the thrill of capturing light, just the way I see it, or a perspective or a vision of something not so obvious; an exaggeration of the mundane.

So, "To buy or not to buy"?

Its just the passion of photography or my need for speed, exquisite car handling, the thrill of cornering a turn on a track at 90 mph or a need for loosing sense of the surroundings & life itself into the music & the movies made by some of the most brilliant and imaginative artists of this day.

Just identify the real passion and the real outcome of what you are investing in. Possessing a material object does not grant the possessor the same pride and satisfaction of the creator and obviously not the profits of the sale.


P.S: *
I am never going to buy a Bose. They are pretty good speakers, but they create an illusion of perfect sound by offering good bass and treble and not much of the mid range frequencies. Do I care? Illusions are just fine too! But heck, they are expensive for being "Bose". So here I have some budgetary concerns along with some pride for being taken for a false ride.

I don't want to buy an Apple iphone. Why? It seems, now that it has become seemingly affordable at $200 & $79 a month AT&T 2 yr contract, everybody has it. Nope! I will not be among everybody.

Now here we have pride and ego. Too bad Apple will not make one and only one just for me. If they did I would not afford it anyway. I also have this resent in becoming an iChimp. I bought an ipod and instantly became one. It gained spiritual importance as if it defined me. I guess a lot of Apple product owners feel such a spiritual upliftment by possesing an ipod, Macbook Pro or the invisibly thin MacBook Air. As if the device projects their own personal value! Hah! Talk about low self esteem! Having said this, I own two ipods 30 GB, 60 GB 5th genration, a powerbook since '05 & the new iMac laucned in '07. I often break down in tears looking at the new all solid aluminum MacBook Pro or the devine Mac Pro with a Cinema Display. Hmm!

Windows Must Have Applications and Tweaks

As usual, I hunt for better tools to perform the mundane tasks on a PC. In my experience, I have found the following applications absolutely necessary. I always setup my machines whereever I go, so all these apps/tweaks are handy. These all are mostly Windows XP applications.


1. Cygwin* - xemacs, openssh, rsvt (x11 terminal), Personalized .bash_login*, .vmric*, .xemacs*
2. Firefox -
Firebug, Adblocl Plus. All in Sidebar, AniDisable, Download Status,
DownloadThemAll, FlashBlock, Foxmarks* - Bookmakrs & Password Syncrhonizer, Better Gmail 2, Webmail Notifier (Gmail, yahoo, etc.),
Google Calendar Notifier, Tab mix plus, Undo closed button,
Greasemonkey - Gmail full width, Regular expression tester, remove marque (I find this really annoying!), dragdropupload, Secure Login, ScribeFire, Ctlr-Tab.
3. Notepad++ : Really good notepad with advanced features. Somewhat better than Textpad. And yes its free!
4. Console 2  - Tabbed shell.
5. QTTabBAr - Tabbed explorer*.
6. Beyond Compare - Its not free, but an awesome app for comparing files and folders!
7. Microsoft Power Toys: Tweak UI, Clear Type Fonts - MUST, Alt Tab Replacement
8. Ditto - mulitple clipboard*
9. JD GUI Java Decompiler*

10. CuteWriter - PDF printer

Some time later I might elaborate more on the purpose of these *.

ScribeFire Firefox extension for blogging

In my pursuit for new ways of blogging, I have encountered ScribeFire. Its a Firefox (FF) extension for blogging. For me it serves as a sneaky way to blog while in office. Also, the editor splits the browsing window, so I could be reading something online, or have my references open. Also, its a snap to add a hyperlink to these references.

Somehow a lot of tools could be integrated with FF and it has become an indispensible tool for browsing and so many other things.

When time stops!

When time stops!

Every moment seems so long. All my thoughts have been thought before and they have rebounded several times. Its like a large cave where the echoes have had their echoes and now agonize the walls. Now there is a stillness when now emotions translate to a nothingness, prolonging every moment.

Its just funny, that life has come to a stand still and yet I brace myself for several storms ahead; good and exciting. This illusion of calmness is very intimidating. I believe I am taking the necessary steps to safety and yet I seem to hurtle myself to a gorge. Its like I am craving for feelings, can’t feel anything though; mine exhausted. This desire for dreams within a nightmare is strange.

Their seems eons to waste and moments frozen.

Stress

I wonder, what is Stress?

A situation that does not change. A state of mind that is stuck. My best analogy; its like a chewing gum stuck in hair. I am comparing this silly thing with stress because the knee jerk reaction is the same. Get this thing off my head as soon, and as any means may!

Stress is a state and change is not instantaneous. It’s not necessarily just a state of mind, but a real situation: job, money, people. So the change is gradual, facilitated by my own actions and thoughts.

Thoughts:
Is freedom of thought consrtained by an easy way out. Most desirable is a quick fix than the commitment to slow cook a change.
How does the survival instinct kick in if the optimism clings on to hope? When does one take the matter in their own hands and declare a full scale war? Is all this faith and hope just another form of fear? Fear that a complete war may result in a complete loss?
Why is there a belief that justice will prevail that prayers will go answered? Why do we all believe so badly in miracles?

People:
This stale mate in my personal life could have been avoided, by being more cynical about the human beings.
Why is there is much faith in people doing their own work? Will people do what is right? What motivates anybody to be ethical?
Do I have the luxury to beleive in people? Do I trust people and let them control aspects of my life?

Now What?
Its easy to say NO. And yet I am here stuck with people and situation that is driving me nuts!

Stress might disappear but what will remain is the actions I take.

VIM Command Short list

Unix vim command short list or references:

Command	Description
vi +[num] ~/dsk/2DO.txt	: Position cursor on line "num" when file is opened

Note:
All these commands are written from the vi man page or other valuable posts made by geeks on the internet. I am mere compiling this list for my quick reference & if anybody else that may be interested.

Recurring RegEx short list

Regular Expression>>Matches
[0-9]\.>>1.

Eclipse: Ctrl+F, w/ Regular Expressions

Find {100 in "{100,"asas"}, {200,"asas"}}.." and replace the number 100 with a string "" to get
{"100","asas"}, {"200","asas"}

Find: \{([0-9]+) .. () marks a group
Replace: \{"\1"  .. \1 identifies the 1st marked group.. so the number matched is retained when replaced.

Find: ^\(.*\)
Replace: <span id="time_stamp">$0</span>
e.g,:
(10:42:59 AM) ..
<span id="time_stamp">(10:42:49 AM)</span>

Find: (A{2})(B{2})
Replace: $1, $2
e.g,:
AABB ..
AA, BB

(\b[a-z]{4}?:)(\s.*?$)
<span id="name">$1</span><span id="chat">$2</span>
e.g,:
AJ: ahoy!! there!!
<span id="name">AJ:</span><span id="chat"> ahoy!! there!!</span>

Democracy.. or something like that! Part I

Long long ago, there was an ideal of democracy. Where some wise people realized that if they can't have all, no one shall. Not like this but perhaps experience taught these noble men that power corrupts and we are only human?

Democracy is meant to distribute power, so as to facilitate the greater good - justice, fairness & to defend the rights of every person.

Then why this ranting? Did something go wrong? Oh yes indeed! I am going to talk about US and not about the largest democracy in the world, India. Again, pls. keep in mind that the "IMHO" will be applicable to all entries on the blog; hence the blog and not the NY Post!

Power is available to a select few: Oligarchy! If your Daddy is not a politician, bad luck.

Public service is missing the "Public". Only politicians, Lawyers & public servants retain the power. Again we have this word "public"? Why is the Government not afraid of the people; their right to vote, to accept or deny what the government is doing to the people.

Why does the Law make it so difficult to sue a public servant?

Why can a law laid out by a court, learned people in the profession of justice & public service seem to go against common sense? Why is common sense so under rated & it seems necessary to have a warning on a step saying "Heres a step!"

Now like a monarchy we can inherit public services; say being a Governor or a President.

From the movies that I have seen, the court seems to be lenient with any kind of crime if the defender pleads insanity. So what if you want to get away with breaking all sorts of laws, where you decide to break the constitutional right of the people, or condone people who are being convicted of breaking the law. Well media spins it off as humor & people can get away with anything.

Is doing the right thing a political career suicide? How can we sack a politician for screwing it up? How can the Congress feel the heat from the people for creating crappy legislators?

Why can't we just scrap the stupid laws & legislations made over the past 30 yrs? Will we loose a lot of wisdom or our proclivity to dumbness.

Where the Supreme court seems to always decide 5:4 in favor. What are the other 4 justices thinking? Cases being pleaded by the Supreme court could be decided unanimously. The importance of the matter should be self evident, being the Supreme court & yet, 4 justices are against it.

.. I will continue later.

What do I do with this blog?

Its difficult to imagine an audience for this blog. Then the question is, "Is this blog for some audience?". I guess until there is an audience its difficult to say anything. So for the most part this blog is empty...

Let this blog, perhaps, be a mere record of the random urges to write something.