GCalendar from Google?

Somebody posts something about a bot’s (supposedly from Google) hyperactivity on a calendar oriented site and then some people link to some very irrelevant blog posts about possible things Google could provide and then what you get is a complete speculation in the whole Internet community of Google building a killer calendar application.

It would be real splendid if Google actually does come up with a feature packed online calendar. And so would it be if they built the IM that they were again thought to be building, what with all those acquisitions and all. Probably you must read about it on an earlier post of mine: Google rolling out a new instant messaging client.

And if you wish to have more details of the Google Calendar speculations,

• “My prediction is: Google Labs will be releasing a Google Calendar tool soon. “
• Google Calendar…
• What I want: Google Calendar

The real priority of Open Source

ZDNet.com has a very interesting article that raises a very simple question: What should be the priority of Open Source? FREE or OPEN?

The free side sees complex software licenses as an enemy, binding each algorithm to different conditions, making real progress impossible.

The open side calls the GPL the “most restrictive” possible license, because it obligates you to offer what you make with GPL tools under the GPL.

Not everyone loves Firefox

In a world that is ever so cruelly dominated by IE, we are fortunate to have with us alternatives. And so we all get busy figuring out which is the best alternative! Not everyone will love Firefox, or for that matter hate IE, and understandably so. Individual preferences vary and so does the usage pattern. So when it comes down to drawing a comparison between these alternatives, it ain’t an easy job. All the more difficult, when the alternatives happen to be much superior to the original and similar to each other in ways more than one the way Opera and Firefox are.

There is no denying that Opera is the fastest browser around. Yes, faster than Firefox too. But then, Firefox comes studded with splendid extensions. AdBlock for one, thus providing an opportunity to get out of the clutches of advertisements and have a hassle free experience. Also the way Firefox handles JavaScript secures poinst over Opera and the fact that Firefox is more stable makes it the browser I prefer. Then there are secondary issues. About new links not opening up in tabs in Firefox. which I presume is very easily compensated for with Tabbrowser extension. So Firefox and Opera draw level again. Printing- Firefox does a much better job. Mouse Gestures- Opera scores better, much better. A deadlock.

Again, these are individual preferences, and the comparisons may go on and on without us ever being able to substantially claim which is better!

Outsourcing is Insourcing of competence

A few days ago, I had the opportunity of attending a talk by management guru C. K. Prahlad, the propounder of the concept of “core competence”. Amongst a variety of topics he had covered in his lecture, he talked of the recent evolution of the entrepreneurial culture in the country, the needs of grassroots innovation, and the tremendous opportunity to tap the market of the poor and building businesses for the masses, citing examples of success stories such as the IndiOne Hotels, a low-cost hotel conceptualized by the man himself.

Also, he made a very intriguing comment: “Outsourcing = Insourcing of competence“. A very subtle remark but when we dwelve deeper, it has a whole lot of significance. The tremendous amount of success in Outsourcing business is lending confidence and experience, to the leaders of tomorrow, helping promote innovation and also the intricacies of managing global level opertaions.

Talking of the role Outsourcing can play in cultivating entrepreneurship, the MIT Technology Review has a very interesting article:

Big outsourcing providers like Infosys may not be fountains of innovation, but their presence will have—in fact, is already having—trickle-down effects. Outsourcing, many Indians argue, is training India’s next generation of tech entrepreneurs.

Firefox – 99 days, 25 million downloads

Sheer demonstration of ther power of open source.

The world is on fire!

Programmer or a Software Engineer

Whoever believes that there isn’t any difference between a programmer and a ‘software engineer’ is living in an illusionary world. By the way, when I talk of a software engineer here, I refer to a person who tries to address the requirements of the client applying the rules of engineering systematically (I don’t understand why people so often use this title incorrectly), in a substantial contrast to the way a programmer would have gone about the same task.

Well, to be honest, all my escapades into the world of software engineering have only lead me to develop this opinion: You remove fun from programming, include a whole lot of responsibleness and bring in hierarchy, what you get then is ‘software engineering’.

Software engineering is all about ensuring quality, cost effectiveness, thereby in some ways having to put aside creativity, and innovation! Now that does not necessarily go down well with a programmer. For years, since we were in high school, we’ve been coding, writing the most imaginative pieces of codes, driven by some hidden zeal for creativity and innovation, all for fun. And now when we have to do all these things with a great vigil over us, with continuous monitoring and control, all in an environment that is more hostile than motivating, we realize that the shift from a programmer to a software engineer is not entirely a smooth sail.

For all its great features, I wonder if guys at Rational hadn’t build all those innumerous functionalities, I wouldn’t have had to do so much work 😦

Newsburst: Yet another Web Based RSS Reader?

I am currently playing around with c|net’s Newsburst. It might just be another web based RSS reader, but certainly it looks nice to use.

What is interesting here is that this reader is provided by one of the biggest news providers via RSS itself. This launch of newsburst follows the launch of similar branded RSS readers by The Guardian and LA Times last week. The question we need to ask is why are news companies rolling out these branded RSS Readers? According to The Internet Stock Blog,

“Branded RSS readers come pre-loaded with RSS feeds from the content provider. That locks in customers and guarantees traffic. Hosting the RSS reader on the content provider’s web site also makes that site the customer’s destination of choice.”

And we must also remember that such branded RSS Readers bring to the user not just its own contents but those of its competitors too. Now isn’t it an interesting way to stop people from visiting your competitors websites? It’s like getting people to come to your site to get contents from your competition!

Screenshot of Newsburst RSS Reader from c|net

Web Services explained

From Business Week, What exactly are web services?

• Web services refer to a set of programming standards used to make different types of software talk to each other over the Internet, without human intervention.
• Like Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) that’s the face of all Web programming, no one owns these technologies.
• Web services can also refer to technology that’s delivered to a consumer or business over the Internet. It means less up-front costs for the customer. It means the customer gets software updates more frequently. And it means the people who wrote the software — the ones who know it best — are the same people running it on a day-to-day basis.
• Today’s Web-service companies design their software from the ground up to be delivered over the Internet as a service. That’s a big difference. It means their business model can scale, and the bigger they get, the more profitable they become because they’re building on that initial research and development investment.

Comment System overhaul from Blogger!

Blogger has just overhauled its comment system. And an overhaul it certainly is. The work done by the team is simply fantastic. This new system now comes with:

– option to show or hide the original blog post that the comments relate to.
– display of any comments that have already been made.
– and the profile photos of the comment authors too (setting based.)
– comments in pop-up window (setting based again.)

And the biggest plus- the identity options! Post as a blogger user, anonymous or any ‘other’ user.

The new Blogger comment system enables commenting in a new window.

All previous comments along with the Blogger Profile picture are displayed neatly to the left.

UPDATE:

Current Blogger templates on your blogs will, however, behave slightly differently. The comments link which is below every post, like

takes you first to the individual post’s archived page and from there you click on Post a comment to go the newly designed Comment posting page.

Now, if you wish to override the post-page and jump directly to the comment-posting page without reselecting a template (and thereby losing all the tweaks you made to it) , then you’ll need to make a minor change in your existing template as shown below:

<a class=”comment-link” href=”<$BlogItemPermaLinkURL$>#comments”>
<$BlogItemCommentCount$>comments </a>

<a class=”comment-link” href=”<$BlogItemCommentCreate$>”
<$BlogItemCommentFormOnClick$>><$BlogItemCommentCount$>comments </a>

The replacement of text in red with the one in grey will simply update your template and so, when one clicks on the comments link, he’ll be directed straight to the comment posting page without having to go the archived post page.

The predicament

This Friday happens to be a special day. No not just because I pay an honoured visit to the Lecture Theater for Prof M’s sake, but for it also is my good friend’s birthday. (You might recall him as the one with Orkut profile in red boxers! ) Now, ever so cruelly, when everybody was busy kicking his ass at the stroke of midnight , I was snoring (which in itself is a kind of an achievement,though.) So now I am left with no options but to make it up.

But then, now I have no idea how to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his move out from his mother’s uterus. I might have all friends gather and sing “happy birthday” and even give him the ceremonial salute (which recently is being used here only for some real bond people), but as you may realize all this requires a whole lotta planning and “I dont know what I’ll do the next minute” sort of a person, just doesn’t do that.