Victory's Blog

Shame on you Coke!

2011-11-25T18:17:00.001-08:00

Coke's arctic campaign is a sham. They make you buy multi-pack bottles or cans and make note of some stupid code printed on an obscure part of the packaging to match just 1$. Shame on you coke!

Why buying a BMW is irresponsible and selfish?

2011-06-07T23:11:00.001-07:00

I love the beauty and power of the BMW. But, I have never been able to justify owning one myself and here's why:

It is a gas guzzler that is harmful to the climate and to all the societies that are exploited for energy.
It is expensive. Buying one diverts valuable funds from the hundreds and thousands of charitable causes around the globe.
Its powerful engine is wasted driving within the paltry speed limits of most roads and highways. A fuel efficient, inexpensive Honda or Toyota is good enough.

Oh, well. Selfishness is core to human nature. I'll just continue cursing every time I see a BMW owner.

Mera neta chor hai - I support Anna Hazare

2011-04-07T12:05:00.001-07:00

Mera neta chor hai - I support Anna Hazare

Yahoo's amazing audio player

2011-01-09T11:27:00.000-08:00

Yahoo has an amazing audio player that can be embedded into your website to support the playback of audio files linked on your site. This is an amazingly simple way to embed MP3 songs on your site without having to deal with any of your own javascript mess.

Click on the link or play button below to see the player in action:
SPB - Keladi Kanmani - Mannil Indha (Courtesy: TamilWire.com)

Thank you, Yahoo!

Ciao

Finger drawing on my Droid X

2011-01-07T09:02:00.000-08:00

Thanks to an awesome app called Draw(er) on Android

Inside the mind of Julian Assange

2011-01-05T09:07:00.001-08:00

Go to the source at Visual News

Infographic by: TheVisualNews

Eclipse Maven site issues

2011-01-02T21:09:00.000-08:00

Following up on my previous posts about Maven, Eclipse on Tomcat, I ran into a a very interesting problem that I wanted to share with you so that you don't waste time like I did.

Running 'mvn site' from Eclipse does not generate reports

Problem

As I was getting ready to release my Maven project in Eclipse, I wanted to generate a project site with FAQs, javadoc and junit reports. So, I decided to use the standard 'mvn site' command.

I edited my pom following the instructions at http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-site-plugin/ and http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-javadoc-plugin/examples/selective-javadocs-report.html.

With my pom edited, I ran the mvn site command from Eclipse. The site was generated but it had no reports and no javadoc. I had no idea why this was and searched all over the Maven forums and Google but, had no luck.

I then decided to fall back to the reliable command-line and presto, the site generated with all the reports and javadoc. I came to the sudden realization that Maven may not have been configured properly in Eclipse.

Root Cause

I found that my Eclipse Maven installation was using the default embedded version of Maven which was at 3.0. And, the changes I had made in my pom were intended for Maven 2.2. Due to incompatibility issues, my Eclipse Maven was ignoring the reporting tags in my pom.

Solution

The solution was straighforward. I just had to go to Workbench -> Preferences -> Maven -> Installations and add the path to Maven 2.2 installed on my filesystem.

I hope the above information is helpful to you and saves you some time.

Ciao!

Maven, Eclipse and Tomcat

2010-12-31T18:12:00.000-08:00

Following up on my previous post, I went through another frustrating experience trying to develop a webapp that was built using Maven and deployed into Tomcat through Eclipse.

The challenges I ran into were as follows:

Tomcat 6.0 supports only Java 1.5 and Servlet 2.5. But, the Java and Dynmaic Web Module facets in Eclipse pick Java 1.6 and Servlet 3.0 by default.
The Dynamic Web Module facet in Eclipse looks in a folder called WebContent for the web content whereas Maven maintains the web content in src/main/webapp.
The Dynamic Web Module facet once applied to a project cannot be modified i.e, you cannot change from 3.0 to 2.5 after you discover that your Tomcat will not support Servlet 3.0.
Eclipse does not provide a way to remove the Dynamic Web Module facet from your project.

Before I go into the steps for integrating a Maven webapp with Eclipse and Tomcat, let me first address the challenges of modifying or removing incorrect web facets.

How do I modify the Dynamic Web Module facet for my project ?

In Eclipse, if you try to remove the Dynamic Web Module facet, you will get an error saying "Dynamic Web Module 2.5 cannot be uninstalled". The only way to modify the facet is to first remove it and then reapply it. To learn how to remove it, read the next section.

How do I remove the Dynamic Web Module facet from my project ?

Step 1. Right-click on your project in Eclipse Package Explorer and select Close Project.
Step 2. Open a command-line terminal and go to your project folder.
Step 3. Open the .project file in a text editor and remove the following lines:

Step 4. Open the .classpath file and remove the following lines:

Step 5. Go into the .settings folder and delete the following files:

Step 6. Go back into Eclipse, right-click on your project and select Open Project Your project should now have all facets removed and should appear like a regular project.

What are the steps to integrate a Maven web archetype into Eclipse Tomcat ?

Step 1. I assume you already have a Maven web app in your Eclipse workspace. If not, here are some quick steps.

(i) In a command-line terminal, enter the following command:

mvn archetype:create -DgroupId=com.mycompany.app -DartifactId=my-webapp -DarchetypeArtifactId=maven-archetype-webapp

You can find out more about this command at Maven - Guide to Webapps

(ii) In Eclipse, select File -> Import ... -> Existing Maven Projects. You will be prompted to select the directory the project located on your filesystem. This should complete the Maven webapp creation in Eclipse.

Step 2. Select your project in Eclipse Package Explorer and select Properties.

Step 3. Select Project Facets in the Properties window and click on the "Convert to faceted form ..." link

Step 4. Select Java 1.5 from the list of facets.

Step 5. Select Dynamic Web Module 2.5 from the list of facets.

Step 6. Click on "Further configuration available..." link below the list of facets.

Step 7. In the Modify Faceted Project window that opens, change the value in the "Content directory" field to reflect maven's target folder.

Step 8. Click OK and OK.

Your project is now both a Maven project as well as an Eclipse Dynamic Web Module project.

If you want to deploy to the Tomcat instance that you setup in Eclipse, just right-click your project in Package Explorer and select Run -> Run on Server. You will be prompted to select your Tomcat instance and the application will be deployed.

If you need instructions on how to setup a Tomcat instance in Eclipse, refer my earlier post at Tomcat from within Eclipse.

If you want to deploy to an external Tomcat instance running outside of Eclipse, you can follow the instructions at How to create a Maven web app and deploy to Tomcat - fast

If you have any other questions, just drop a comment and I will get back to you.

Ciao!

Tomcat from within Eclipse

2010-12-31T13:17:00.000-08:00

I just went through a very frustrating time trying to get a Tomcat instance configurable and usable from within Eclipse. As you will realize after going through this article, the Eclipse integration for Tomcat is a very confusing integration. The problem is that Eclipse has no single wizard or form to configure a Tomcat instance.

After an hour, I got my Eclipse and Tomcat integrated the way I wanted them to be. I am sharing some of the initial steps that I had to go through so that you can get a head-start with your Eclipse Tomcat integration.

Step 1. Download the binary distribution of tomcat from Tomcat 6.0.29

Step 2. Just unpack your download and you should be ready to go with Tomcat from the command-line.

Step 3. Launch Eclipse. ( I assume you are already using Eclipse. )

Step 4. Add the Tomcat server runtime environment to your Eclipse workbench.

(i) Click on Window -> Preferences

(ii) Select Server -> Runtime Environments from the preferences pane.

(iii) Click Add and select Apache Tomcat v6.0 from the list.

(iv) Click Next.

(v) Set the Tomcat installation path to the location in Step 2 above.

(vi) Click Finish.

Step 5. Create server instance.

(i) Click on Window -> Show View -> Other

(ii) Select Servers from the list of Views.

(iii) Click OK.

(iv) In the Server view, right-click and select New -> Server.

(v) Select Tomcat v6.0 Server from the list. Provide a name and select the runtime environment created in Step 4 above.

(vi) Click Finish

Step 6. Test your Tomcat instance.

(i) In the Server view, right-click the server that you just created in Step 5 above. Select Start.

(ii) Open the following URL in your browser: http://localhost:8080/.

(iii) You will get a "HTTP Status 404" error message and the title of the page will indicate the version of Tomcat. This should confirm that Tomcat has launched correctly.

Step 7. Configure the deploy path and ports for Tomcat.

(i) In the Server view, right-click the server that you just created in Step 5 above. Select Open.

(ii) In the server configuration view, you can modify the configuration as you wish.

HELP !!! 404 error when accessing http://localhost:8080/

The tomcat instance that we created in the steps above comes with a ROOT webapp that has no content. You may want to deploy a proper ROOT app with the default Tomcat welcome page that we are all familiar with. I like the welcome page because it gives me quick access to the release notes and Apache's online pages for Tomcat.

To get the welcome page, you must do the following :

(i) Click on the "Open launch configuration" link in the server configuration view (see Step 7 above). In the Edit Configuration window that appears, switch to the Arguments tab and view the location by examining the setting for catalina.base and wtp.deploy in the "VM arguments" field.

(ii) Start and stop your tomcat instance. Note: It is important that you do this step before proceeding to the next step because the wtp.deploy directory does not get created until you have started tomcat at least once.

(iii) From the command-line, you can copy the ROOT application from the tomcat installation (see Step 1 above) to the eclipse tomcat server instance (see Step 5 above).

$ cp -R ~/Apps/apache-tomcat-6.0.26/webapps/ROOT ~/workspace/personal_workspace/.metadata/.plugins/org.eclipse.wst.server.core/tmp0/wtpwebapps/

(iv) You should now be able to access the root app from http://localhost:8080/

HELP !!! How do I configure tomcat-users.xml ?

In the Package Explorer view of Eclipse, you will find a new project called "Servers". Expand the project and you will see the tomcat-users.xml file.

I hope you have saved yourself some time with the help of the above article. Happy coding!

Ciao

Julian Assange interview with David Frost

2010-12-24T08:50:00.001-08:00

Don't be evil!

2010-12-21T09:32:00.000-08:00

I am not a fan of large multi-billion dollar tech corporations but I am a fan of Google. Here's why:

1. Google tries to balance openness with business goals. While companies like Oracle, Facebook and @9913 control every bit (pun intended) of their ecosystem, Google is still a big proponent of open standards and open source technologies, and Android is probably the best example of this.

2. Google is driven by geeks and not marketing or business minded employees. There is no better example of a geeky employee than Andy Rubin who co-founded Android. Take a look at this tweet from Andy. Which VP of a tech company tweets a unix command ? Isn't that awesome ?

3. Google invests heavily in research both internally and externally and, research is very important for the betterment of humanity. While most tech companies focus on making pretty products for the middle class in the developed world, Google continues to focus on advancements in engineering. Google's self-driving car, research group, labs, scholar and green all drive towards the goal of moving the human race forward.

4. Google has the guts and the conviction to stop doing business in China, a country that doesn't give a hoot about human rights. While other tech companies like Microsoft, Facebook and @9913 continue to court China with the intention of expanding their business empires to its 1 billion population, Google has decided to stick to principles and pull out of China.

Don't be evil
Ciao

'Wikileaks: The Game'

2010-12-12T11:03:00.000-08:00

Game courtesy of jeuxjeuxjeux.fr

Via JeuxJeuxJeux.fr

What happened to 'J2EE Application Servers on Desktops' ?

2010-12-10T09:43:00.000-08:00

Here is an article I wrote a long time ago (11/2004 to be precise) about J2EE Application Servers on Desktops. It is 2010 and obviously my prediction hasn't come true. While I analyze what might have gone wrong with my prediction, here is the article for your perusal.

Nov, 2004
Summary
This article looks at several reasons that make it feasible and often desirable to use server-based software on desktops.

J2EE Application Servers on Desktops - Vijay Mariadassou

Last week, I was overjoyed to read about IBM's plans for Web-based desktop software. The software is part of IBM's Lotus Workplace strategy and is designed to be distributed and accessed through a Web server. The news reaffirmed my long-held belief that desktop applications will, in the not so distant future, be replaced by application server-based software. Server-based software has traditionally been confined to deployments on large enterprise servers. But, as I discuss below, there are several reasons that make it feasible and often desirable to use server-based software on desktops also.

Application Servers are feasible on Desktops

The primary reason for the absence of server-based software on desktops is the resource-intensive nature of server software, also known as middleware. Traditionally, middleware were designed and built to handle large numbers of transactions typical of large organizations with huge IT infrastructures. But, as Information Technology has permeated organizations of all sizes, middleware has evolved to fit into smaller infrastructure. Middleware based on J2EE and .Net are notable in this respect.

The latest breed of J2EE-based application servers like JBoss and Geronimo have highly modularized architectures based on the Java Management Extension (JMX) API that allow them to be deployed with variable sets of modules. Consequently, these servers may be deployed in resource-friendly configurations with minimal number of modules. For example, modules such as messaging (JMS) and transactions (JTS) may be removed without any adverse effects on the normal functioning of the application server. Such configurations make it possible for these servers to overcome any resource constraints.

Also, most modern application servers make use of some sort of resource caching to further optimize resource usage and performance.

Finally, the processing capacity of desktops has been steadily increasing. Thanks to Moore's Law, yesterday's servers are today's desktops. Modern desktops are now capable of handling the many CPU-intensive operations normally associated with application servers. And, the imminent arrival of 64-bit processors in the desktop market will go a long way in guaranteeing this capability.

Thus, it is my belief that application servers are feasible on desktops and concerns about their consumption of resources are unnecessary.

Application Servers are desirable on Desktops

Application server-based software is desirable for several reasons, which let us discuss below.But, before we go into the discussion, I wish to make a disclaimer. There will always be certain applications like games, music editing and animation software that are very sensitive to response times and will remain the domain of Desktop software. For such applications, Desktop software is preferable to middleware-based software because they are optimized for the operating system and the hardware hosting the software. For most other applications that are not as sensitive to response time, middleware-based software is desirable.

An important advantage of using middleware-based software on the desktop will be the reduced impact of viruses in the event of an attack. The devastation caused by the current wave of virus attacks and Internet worms is attributed primarily to the monoculture (read Windows) that exists on the desktop. The choices that both commercial as well as free J2EE application server vendors provide will bring diversity to the desktop and rid it of this monoculture.

In addition, middleware-based software are inherently more robust and secure than traditional Desktop software. Middleware vendors have invested millions of dollars in ensuring their middleware are scalable, reliable and secure for highly sensitive industries like the financial industry. And, software that operate within the secure environment of a middleware are likely to be less vulnerable to security attacks than those that operate out of this secure environment.

Another advantage of middleware based-software is the cost advantage it offers to the vendor and, consequently, to the user. Since there is no difference between a middleware platform deployed on a desktop and that deployed on a large Enterprise Server, vendors can move their existing Enterprise applications to the desktop at no extra cost. Vendors can also leverage the huge talent pool of J2EEdevelopers available in the Enterprise Application industry to build applications for the desktop. These developers do not have to be trained on the myriad Operating System APIs.

Finally, as users spend more time online, they will find it Web-based interfaces more natural to use than traditional desktop interfaces. A case in point is the growing popularity of services like Ofoto and Yahoo! Photos that are replacing the traditional photo albums on the desktop.

Over The Horizon

I see IBM’s recently announced plans as foreshadowing where we can expect to see the first breed of middleware-based desktop software emerging – the workplace. Workplace software is expected to benefit the most from the security and cost advantages of middleware-based software.

Ciao

Boycott Amazon and PayPal

2010-12-05T23:56:00.000-08:00

You probably have heard about WikiLeaks and the cowardice of Amazon and PayPal. If not, go to this link for details on the appalling cowardice of these corporations.

I am appalled at Amazon's lack of character. They succumbed to pressure from the political class and decided to drop WikiLeaks. I have been using Amazon for a long time now for buying everything from books to diapers and toys. But, after this latest incident, I have decided that it is not worth doing business with a company that cannot stand for freedom of speech.

I am going to boycott Amazon starting today. I have just removed all Amazon Associates widgets from my blog. I will be shopping for diapers at Costco or Walmart. I will be shopping for toys at Target or Toys R Us. I will be shopping for books at Borders and Barnes & Noble. I will be shopping for a Nook or Sony e-Reader. I will be switching to Google App Engine.

Also, starting today I have decided to stop using PayPal. I have just initiated the transfer of all my money out of my PayPal account and will be removing my bank account from PayPal once the transfer is complete.

Shame on you Amazon ! Shame on you PayPal !

P.S.: I am very proud of Google for standing up for freedom and pulling out of China. Go Google ! Go Android !

Write and read locks in Java

2010-12-03T09:03:00.000-08:00

Here's a crude but very transparent way of doing the locking. Note the below code assumes that the implementer will ensure by design that there are NO concurrent writers but concurrent readers i.e., only a single thread will write but multiple threads could read.

int _readers = 0;
boolean _writeWaiting = false;

writeMethod() {

_writeWaiting = true;
boolean canWrite = false;

while (!canWrite) {

synchronized (lock) {

canWrite = _readers > 0 ? false : true;
if (canWrite) {
_writeWaiting = false;
writeToFile;
}
}
}
}

readMethod() {

while (_writeWaiting) {
sleep;
}

synchronized (lock) {
_readers++;
}

readFile;

synchronized (lock) {
_readers--;
}
}

The following code uses Java 1.5 APIs and is a lot more efficient than the above pseudocode. But, it is very opaque. If your JVM implementation has a bug ( and JVMs do have bugs ), the below code could be very tricky to validate and debug.

static ReentrantReadWriteLock _rwl = new ReentrantReadWriteLock();

writeMethod() {

rwl.writeLock().lock();
writeToFile();
rwl.writeLock().unlock();

}

readMethod() {

rwl.readLock().lock();
readFromFile();
rwl.readLock().unlock();

}

Update to post: Edit made on Jan 1, 2011 to clarify the beginning paragraph of this article.

Why I dropped off Facebook ?

2010-11-16T08:36:00.000-08:00

Recently, I decided to drop off Facebook and deleted all my relationships on the site. Here are some of the reasons why I decided to get out of Facebook :

1. Facebook doesn't care for my privacy. They keep changing privacy settings and make it my (the user's) problem to go fix the settings. I have better things to do in life than deal with this crap. Take a look at how Facebook has been encroaching on your privacy http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/04/facebook-timeline

2. Facebook is neither public nor private. It's somewhere in between and that makes me really nervous. Facebook's walled garden makes it private to the rest of the world but within the garden everything is public. http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/20/facebook-not-now-follow/

3. Facebook is like a big black hole. They don't let you export your contacts or posts; they make it almost impossible to move away from Facebook; they suck you into their hole.

4. Facebook doesn't give a hoot about your relationships. You treat your friends, colleagues, family and acquaintances all the same. But, in reality they are not the same. There are special people and not so special people. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrlSkU0TFLs )

5. Facebook is boring. I am sorry to all my friends on Facebook but this huffingtonpost post sums it up http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-ostroy/i-hate-facebook_b_178867.html

6. Facebook is a monopolistic social information empire and, monopolies and empires are never good for society.

In conclusion, I am going to stay away from Facebook and stick to Twitter(public) and Email(private).

Ciao.

Update 1: What a coincidence that I wrote this blog on "National Unfriend Day".

Update 2: Debt collectors utilize Facebook to embarrass those who owe. Read more...

Update 3: Dec 1, 2010: Facebook's 'Like This' button is tracking you Whether you click it or not. Another reason to hate facebook.

Update 4: Jan 18, 2011: Another example of why Facebook can be dangerous to your privacy online. Man Mines Facebook For Security Questions, Nabs Nude Photos From Email

Update 5: Jan 18, 2011: Facebook has done it again; they don't give a sh** about your privacy. Third-party apps now have access to your address and phone number.

The Pain and Benefits of Critical Thinking and Drive

2010-11-10T08:07:00.000-08:00

As is standard procedure in Corporate America, I had my annual performance review done by my manager. During the year, I had performed well on all fronts except on my relationships with some of my peers. I had done an excellent job of delivering business critical projects and managed a large, very successful team of engineers. But, my relations with some of my peers did not pan out well during the year.

My poor relations with my peers has been the only sore point during the year. I attribute this to my low tolerance for mediocre work and poorly designed engineering solutions. One of the key reasons for my success has been my ability to do quick critical analysis of business and engineering problems, work aggressively on solutions and drive them to a closure. But, this critical analysis and aggressiveness has cost me my relationships.

This coming year, I intend to take better care of my relationships. Critical thinking and drive is very important in the world's largest technology startup. But, these same qualities hurt people's feelings. No one likes to hear that their designs or implementations have flaws. No one likes to hear that they are not moving fast enough.

A colleague of mine (yes, I do have good relationships with some of my peers just not with everyone) has advised me to read The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle.

I hope to read the book during the holidays and will post a review here.

Ciao

Update 1: Dec 5, 2010: Boycott Amazon for dropping WikiLeaks and not standing up for freedom. Removed Amazon book information from my website and closed my Amazon Associates account.

Social Enterprise for technical documentation

2010-10-07T07:48:00.000-07:00

Documentation is an onerous task that very few engineers (read geeks) will willingly do. It requires discipline, patience and time to prepare readable and usable documents. Traditional use of documentation tools like a WIKI or CMS place constraints on the documenter to follow style and structure guidelines that may make sense to management but absolutely no sense to geeks.

A lot of technical documentation is often created and lost on whiteboards and cubicle shout-outs. Such documentation rarely gets captured on a traditional document site due to the constraints outlined above.

I propose using Twitter and Moblog in the enterprise as a facilitator for documentation. Most geeks today have smartphones and are comfortable writing short text messages and taking pictures or videos on their cellphones. Here's how I envision using Twitter and Moblog for documentation:
1. Whenever there is a whiteboarding session, the engineers take pictures and upload to the internal Moblog/Twitter site. And, when there is a shout-out they tweet their brains out and dump them onto an enterprise twitter site. Even better, they start the shout-out on Twitter.
2. People within the organization can start following the tweeters and mobloggers that they trust and rely upon.
3. We could even throw in some Facebook "Like" or Digg "Digg It" features for followers to rate the posts.
4. Based on the number of followers and ratings each engineer has, a professional documentation team could port the posts of the most followed engineers into a traditional documentation system.

The process outlined above can be extended to communicating project status and team huddles instead of emails in overflowing inboxes.

Here are some links to explore if you think this post makes sense..
Moblog:camera phone mobile blogging community
Yours truly on Twitter
List of Enterprise Microblogging Tools

Why Droid X?

2010-07-18T10:32:00.000-07:00

Here are some reasons why I like the Droid X :

It runs Android
- The best distro of embedded Linux and micro Java.
- Open source - thousands of eyeballs can rip the code apart, find bugs, find security holes and criticize Google's implementation.
- Open platform - I can run whatever the hell I want to run as long as it can be interpreted on the Dalvik VM.
- Open marketplace - I can download from wherever I want and even setup my own marketplace.
- Open development - I can develop in any language I want and use any IDE I want without selling my soul to some restrictive developer agreement.

It is from Google, Motorola and Verizon bringing in the best from all these three companies.
- High quality software from some of the best developers on the planet.
- Superior hardware from an experienced and reliable hardware manufacturer.
- Awesome service from the best carrier in the US.

Super size screen that makes for a great reading and browsing experience.

Excellent voice-enabled navigation software

Great battery life

I am sure I am forgetting a lot of other nice features. But, the above are good enough reasons to like the Droid X.

My 80/20 efforts and, Google Code and Google Labs!

2010-07-18T08:03:00.000-07:00

For a long time now, I have been trying to convince my management to implement an 80/20 work schedule where everyone would be forced to do something other than their day job for 20% of their time. Unfortunately, they don't seem to have the courage to implement it.

I have however gone ahead and implemented it with the teams that I manage. Unfortunately, enforcing the 80/20 and operating within an organization that believes in 120/-20 rule ( i.e. work overtime and regress your brain) is a difficult task. I am hoping that something spectacular will come out of the 20% time I have given my team and I will be able to use that to convince my management about the 80/20 rule.

In the meanwhile, all I can do is envy Google and ogle at its Google Code and Google Labs portfolios.

Saint Warrent Buffett and Saint Bill Gates

2010-07-05T22:32:00.000-07:00

As many of you may already Warren Buffett and Bill Gates are the world's biggest philanthropists having already pledged a huge percentage of their personal wealths to charity. Buffett has pledged (download pdf version of his pledge here) more than 99% of his personal wealth. Now, they are trying to convince the other billionaires of the world to do their share of charity.
Buffet, Gates and Gates in the $600 Billion Challenge
Buffett and Gates are, in my opinion, the greatest saints of the mordern era and the greatest humanitarians of all time. To understand why their humanitarianism is so great, we need to just look at the scale of their charitable work and our own contributions to charity. Even though our personal income levels keep rising every year, the percentage of our charity does not go up proportionately. The percentage probably stays the same, if not drops lower. As you get richer, older and more comfortable, it gets harder to deprive yourself and give more.
Long live Buffett and Gates.

Comcast is incompetent !

2010-06-06T08:06:00.000-07:00

My saga with Comcast started a week ago when I moved from one apartment to another ( read my previous post about this). Ten days, 10 phone calls and 10 hours later, my cable tv and internet are fixed. But, my phone number is still not. Comcast switched my phone number during the move and have not been able to restore it yet. A work order has been pending for more than 72 hours.

I am surprised and concerned to see that a company that is the size of Comcast unable to restore a phone number. It raises questions about their competency in their other areas of the business. Are they competent enough to protect all the personal information (address, date of birth, ssn, credit card..) they collect from customers like me ?

Courteous and friendly customer service at Comcast keeps me from yelling and screaming when I call them. But, it will not keep me from defecting to another provider at the first opportunity I get.

Comcast sucks! Comcast Customer Service rocks!

2010-05-30T20:11:00.001-07:00

Comcast seems to be the worst utility company on the planet. But, their customer service is one of the most friendly customer service.

Comcast screwed up my cable and internet service when I moved to a new apartment. Comcast created a new account at my new address keeping alive the older account at the previous address. And, now they are charging me at both addresses. Comcast is also charging me an installation fee even though I moved the equipment myself. (???) In addition, half of my HD channels are not working and I have been on and off the phone several times with tech support. I have wasted about 2 hours of my day and the HD channels are still not working. I wonder if Comcast is going to pay me for my time.

Contrary to my experience with Comcast, my experience with their Customer Service representatives was awesome. Their representatives were the most courteous and friendly customer service reps I have spoken to in a long time.

If it were not for their customer service and their monopoly, I would be swtiching to another cable company.

To hell with morality and spirituality. Let's be practical !

2010-04-15T08:01:00.000-07:00

Finally, some practical worldly advice from the Holy See.

The Pope is asking all of us to do penance for our sins not because our sins hurt others and were immoral, but because the world is criticizing us.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8622671.stm

Pope Benedict XVI has called on Roman Catholics to "do penance" for their sins, an apparent reference to the recent child sexual abuse scandal.

He said Catholics were "under attack from the world which talks to us of our sins" and should see the necessity "to recognise what is wrong in our lives.

Who changed the world ?

2009-12-13T09:55:00.000-08:00

Microsoft, Intel and their partners have changed the way the world computes and has improved the lives of the poorest of the world. They continue to change the world with projects like One Laptop per Child

Nokia, Skype and their industry peers have changed the way the world communicates and has improved the lives of millions of people in the developing world. They continue to change the world with applications like mobile microfinance.

Google has changed the way the world accesses information and has enlightened the minds of millions of people around the world including those of students in the developing world. It continues to change the world with projects like Google Books Library Project

Toyota, Honda and other automobile manufacturers have changed the way the world travels and has transported modern amenities into the lives of millions of people in the developing world. They continue to do so especially in the world of medical services for the poor and displaced like this Mobile Clinic in Rural Rwanda

Next time a company claims that it has changed the world, ask how.

Resource utilization

2006-05-24T23:05:00.000-07:00

In our organization, every server machine that hosts an application has a monitoring system installed on it. The monitoring system tracks the utilization of various machine resources like CPU, memory, disk space, etc... The system raises alerts when some utilization goes beyond a pre-defined threshold and is sustained over a pre-defined period of time.

I received one such alert this morning from one of the machines hosting my application. And, later during the day, I had some very frustrating moments arguing with some managers about resource utilization. Yes, it was about "human" resource utilization.

It seems very strange to me that in an IT organization where human resource is the biggest asset, we have continuous monitoring of server resource utilization but nothing for human resource utilization.

I see many projects being overstaffed and poorly managed. And, at the same time, there are some projects that are understaffed with resources utilized beyond normal thresholds. Senior Management needs to have human resource utilization monitoring in place. Mid-level managers must be held accountable for over-budgeting and over-staffing. Because, over-staffing and over-budgeting of one project invariable means that there is some other project out there that is will not get an appropriate budget or staff.

I hope my managers are reading this !

Bad blogger

2006-05-24T22:26:00.000-07:00

Hello Blog,
I've been a very bad blogger - this is my first blog in over 6 months :-(

Over the last 6 months, I have tried to write several entries but I never completed any of them because I wanted each one of them to be perfect. And, of course, nothing can ever be perfect and my entries withered away as unfinished drafts.

Now, I have decided that whether my entry is perfect or not, whether it is complete or not, I am going to publish it anyway. You ask why?

Because, for the first time in my (very short) 5-year career, I am encountering some very furstrating moments at work and I want to use this blog as a punching bag. I want to vent all my stress and frustration here in this ethereal space.

If you are reading my blog and empathize with me, please do send me your comments at vijaypm_@_gmail_._com. But, if you do not empathize with me, then you are lucky. You either have a great job or you are the frustration for others at work.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading my blog and I'll try to be regular with my posts.

Later...

Death of native user interface APIs

2005-09-29T09:18:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I blogged here. So, I thought I'd toot my own horn one more time ;-)

Anyway, several months back I wrote that app-servers installed on desktops would power desktop apps.
http://www.macronimous.com/resources/J2EE_Application_Servers_on_Desktops.asp

Here's a VC who's talking about the same with a slight twist: app servers installed on a remote server would power AJAX-based apps to replace desktop apps.
http://earlystagevc.typepad.com/earlystagevc/2005/09/ajax_office_is_.html

Another twist to my view is the emergence of platform independent applications developed using Eclipse SWT as a strong replacement for desktop apps.

Only time will tell which of the above three approaches will eventually dominate. Who's rooting for me?
auf Wiederhören!
Vijay

Does Google search?

2005-07-07T23:48:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone
Lately, I have been having this feeling that google's page rank algorithm will become its nemesis. I have started using dogpile more often now. The search results on google have been getting very bad recently. Either I am really stupid and not entering the right search terms or website owners have become too smart for the page rank algorithm or google has lost focus on its core business and is too busy doing laser photography of the streets of San Francisco.

Here's a search that really frustrated me. When I did a search for "j2se 1.4 documentation", I expected to see http://java.sun.com at the top. It was not even on the first page of results in google. Even the dozers got it right.

Is GOOG really worth that price?

Searching......

G8 and Climate

2005-07-04T10:04:00.000-07:00

With all the buzz about the G8 and the Live 8 concerts, I wanted to bring to your attention a very important but saddening statistic:
Average CO2 emission per person per year:
India - 1 ton
UK - 8.9 tons
US - 19.7 tons

It is sad that the Himalayan glaciers continue to melt and flood poor 'third-world' villages while people living in the west including yours truly continue to pollute the world with our mobile factories aka cars and our enormous appetite for electric power.
I must apologize to my friends in Europe but I think the heat wave in Europe is good for the world. It's at least got Tony Blair talking of 'acknowledg(ing) scientific evidence' and an 'Immmediate action plan' while his bird-brained counterpart is still talking of the climate as a 'Long-term issue'.
Save the world from SUVs!

End Poverty!

2005-03-08T22:17:00.000-08:00

For the first time in a long time, today, I salute an American news agency. I salute Time magazine for discussing world poverty in its cover story and putting the face of the poor on its cover. Time is one of the world's most popular news magazines and the cover story will bring poverty under the spotlight of the world for at least two weeks, before the next issue of Time comes out.

The cover story, "How To End Poverty" is an exclusive book excerpt from an upcoming book by renowned economist Jeffrey D. Sachs titled "The End Of Poverty". The book is supposed to be quite controversial in its open attack on the rich nations for their indifference towards poverty and suffering in the world.

As a subscriber to Time, I have access to the online version of the story. Unfortunately, I cannot share it with others due to obvious copyright issues. But, I can discuss my thoughts on the story and give you the gist of it. So, please watch this space in the coming weeks for my discussion of the story. As I discuss the "End Of Poverty", I will also continue my discussion of the ten Love Commandments. Love can heal!
Another Day in Paradise

Love Commandment One

2005-03-04T20:38:00.000-08:00

Love Commandment 1: You are never too young or too old to love.

In the past, I have been told several times that I was too young to be in love. And, people continue to be surprised and agitated when they hear that I am married. I don't blame them. Here's why.

In their world, men and women must exist for about 25 years before they can experience and understand love.

In my world, your age is not the number of times the earth went around the sun since you were born. Your age is the number and nature of the experiences you have lived through. I believe the child soldier fighting a war in some war-torn nation has lived longer than most people's lifetime. Even the little child that begs for a living on the streets of your city has lived longer than most people you will ever meet in your life.

So, the next time you find people judging you by the numer of calendar years that have passed since your birth, you will know that they have not lived life and do not understand it. And, if they do not understand life, they must have no clue about love. So, just forgive their ignorance and feel sorry for their existence.

Can you feel the love?

2005-02-14T00:15:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's to all of you!
Love is in the air for many of my dear ones and I thought I'd share with you and them some of my views on love. Don't worry, I'll stay clear of all the mushy stuff. Before you read on, please remember that these views are from the perspective of a (proud?) lovable (yes, that's me) Indian male (MCP? Me? No way! You must be kidding!). Anyway, I present to you the Ten Commandments of love that I try to abide by:

1) You are never too young or too old to love. (one of my favourite pet peeves)

2) Learn to tolerate society, and to ignore it whenever necessary.

3) Never give up your relationships for your love.

4) Never give up your love for your relationships.

5) Never deny your love.

6) Never publicize your love.

7) Never try to impress your lover; love your lover.

8) Never try to justify your love.

9) Never fear love or its consequences.

10) Always honor your commitment to your love.

I'll talk about these commandments in detail in the coming weeks. But, until then, think about them and let me know what you agree or disagree with. And I encourage you to come up with your ten commandments that I can share with everyone.
And I Love Her!

World Economic Forum (WEF)

2005-01-29T10:45:00.000-08:00

An interesting panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland:

The G8 and Africa: Rhetoric or Action?

In case you don't have the time to go through the entire 27min video, here are the locations of some important moments in the video.

12:00 min - Bill Gates

"..take the example of things that are working and really get that story out, prove that the money can be very well spent and show the impact that it has.." - Gates

16:00 min - Bono

"I don't think 6,000 Africans dying everyday of a preventable disease like AIDS is a 'cause'. I think it's an emergency. And, I don't think 3,000 Africans dying from a mosquito bite is a cause. I think it's an emergency." - Bono

19:15 min - Bill Clinton

"The President just asked for $80bn for the Iraq war for a year. For a pittance of that we could double America's international assistance in all these areas." - Clinton

"Anybody who says we shouldn't do this because there is corruption or incompetence ought to be put into a closet and not listened to again." - Clinton

23:00 min Bono

"Paint those AIDS drugs red, white and blue if you have to but they are the best advertisements for our ingenuity, our science, our capability.. " - Bono

For more WEF webcasts, go here.

Hindi-Chini bhai bhai

2005-01-15T09:46:00.000-08:00

I just discovered a very interesting series of articles on rediff.com - The India-China War, 40 Years On
The articles are on the Indo-China war of 1962 and the articles were published in 2002 but I chanced upon them only tonight. I was reading about India and China in the CIA's "Mapping the Global Future" report and decided to google "india china", when I hit upon the rediff.com series.

The CIA's report that I mentioned above tries to predict the state of world affairs in the year 2020. The report is quite long and so I recommed the executive summary which has sufficient details and is a manageable read. If you are interested, you can also read the predictions for the year 2010 and 2015.

Now, coming back to the rediff.com series, I suggest that any Indian with even an iota of patriotism read at least a few of the articles and get to know India's history better. I strongly recommend the article on "How Nehru let us down". The history lessons we are taught in school talk only about the "greatness" of our leaders and never about their failings. This article takes a look at how a leader's foolhardiness led to animsoity between two great nations and the subsequent humiliation of several hundred million people. Will the seeds of distrust sown by Nehru ever be removed?

Donate Effectively!

2005-01-03T20:37:00.000-08:00

From what I have been reading in the media, it appears to me that aid agencies have been flooded with donations and some of the donations may be going waste due to poor distribution. So, I assume that it might be safe to hold on to your donations for now and wait till the aid agencies get their logistics right.

While I suggest that you don't make any donations right away, I entreat you to decide on the amount of your donations and set aside the money NOW itself while the feeling lasts. Because six months later, when aid agencies run out of funds, when the politicians have got enough publicity and when govts have impressed enough (united) nations, your donations will be needed for the care of thousands of orphaned children and the rehabilitation of tens of thousands of people; your feelings for the afflicted then may not be as intense as they are now.

Remember, your obligation to humanity does not stop at the dotted lines on your checks. It starts there! Please donate wisely and generously, and ensure that your donations make a difference.

Tsunami Help!!!

2004-12-30T13:42:00.000-08:00

If you are looking for a way to help the victims of this great disaster, you can find useful information at the following links:

Go to The South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami .If you visit this website using Internet Explorer, you will find links to aid organizations and some statistics on the right-hand side of the page. If you visit this website using any other browser, please scroll down to the bottom of the page for links and statistics.

Go to BBC: Asian disaster: How to help for web addresses of some international aid agencies.

Please donate generously and prevent the next immediate disaster - disease.
Help!

Hollow Not Halo

2004-12-03T09:15:00.000-08:00

That was not such a long break, was it? Anyway, I am back! And in case you are wondering, blogging slipped a little bit from the top of my pirorities list; my wife's trip to India overtook it. Anyway, now that she has reached India safely, I have blogging back at the top of my list. As promised to you earlier, this time I am going to share my thoughts on Halloween.

For the uninitiated, Halloween is celebrated every year on Oct 31. Children of all ages (even 75+ yr olds) across the U.S. dress up in "spooky" costumes and go from door to door tricking and treating. Dressed as Spidermen, Potters and witches, they go around their neighborhoods knocking on doors asking their neighbors to choose between treating them and getting tricked. Of course, almost every neighbor chooses to treat the visitors, not because the visitors know any tricks but because no one wants to be labelled the stingiest guy on the block.

This Halloween, the average American consumer would have spent $43.57 on Halloween-related purchases. Of this, a third would have been spent on candy and a third on costumes. The country as a whole would have spent approximately $3.12 billion dollars. Sugar levels would have gone up adding more children to the ever-growing population of diabetics and waistlines would have become larger adding to a booming obese population. While large quantities of candy would have entered the guts of people, large quantities would also have ended up in trashes, discarded by anxious parents and jaded kids. And, a lot of clothes and fancy outfits would have ended up in the dumpsters the very next day.

I don't mean to be a spoil-sport and I don't say that people should stop having fun or treating themselves. But, it's a shame that half of the world's 6.4bn people subsist on less than $1 a day when 295mn people spent an average of $10 each for fun and festivities on a single day. It's a shame that a nation spent $3.12bn for a single day of fun when the World Food Programme had a shortfall of $0.26bn (as of Oct 11,2004) and could not meet the critical needs of half a million people. It's a shame that people spent $15 on a stupid Spidey or Harry costume when a chronically hungry child could be fed for half a school year.

We don't have to be saints (the Pope has already beatified a record number of them). But, we should not be selfish wastrels, either. Let's show some restraint when we splurge on unhealthy and wasteful treats; let's stop to think of the needs of the millions starving in the rest of the world before we spend the next buck.

Heal the World!

Mixed Feelings

2004-11-06T14:15:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share with you some thoughts that occurred to me on Halloween (Oct 31). But, I think I will do that another week because there is something more important to talk about - the recently concluded elections in the U.S.

I am having mixed feelings about the results of the elections - I am happy, sad, amused and disgusted that Bush won.

I am happy
....because I expect more unilateral actions by the U.S. that (I hope) will alienate it further from the rest of the world paving the way for some much-needed shifts in geopolitical alliances.
....because greedy Corporations will thrive and contiue outsourcing America to developing nations like Brazil, India and China improving the lives of millions of people.
....because people all over the world will continue to have someone they can despise and ridicule (a good stress reliever).

I am sad
....that Uncle Sam will continue to bully weaker nations prompting more nations to acquire or develop nuclear deterrents and leading to nuclear proliferation.
....that America's aggressive behavior will continue to fan the flames of extremism throughout the world making the world more dangerous.
....that the world's bigger polluter will continue to stay out of international efforts to make this world a better place for you and me.

I am amused
....that Bush was re-elected for his moral values when America is tuned into Wife Swap on prime-time television.
....that the world's second largest democracy has only a choice of two (before your jaws drop and your eyes pop out, here's a disclaimer. Disclaimer: the following words are NOT mine and belong to one of America's greatest film directors) "stupid white men". Americans can either go left or right but not straight. (no wonder America always sees the world as "US vs them")

But, I am definitely not amused by this.

I have to stop here. I am already sick of the current state of affairs and writing about it is making me even more sick.
God bless the World!

Vanakkam

Hello and Welcome!

2004-10-31T23:00:00.000-08:00

Finally! I made it to blogworld. I have wanted to blog for a long time now but always thought I didn't 'have' enough time. As I started visiting more and more blogs, I began to realize that if so many busy (and successful) people including the executive I admire the most, Jonathan Schwartz had the time to maintain a blog, there was something wrong with the priority I had set for blogging. I decided to move blogging to the top of my 'to do' list and here I am with my very first posting.

What will you find in my blog? You are going to find me ranting and raving on a whole bunch of issues. I will share my thoughts and opinions on politics, technology, culture, personalities, management, religion and, the most important of all, humanity (which is why we are on this planet). But, I must warn you that some of my views may anger you. Though, you are more than welcome to punch me at victoryforblog at yahoo dot com.

Who am I? I am still trying to figure that out.

What do I do? For now, I'll just say I build software as an engineer for a silicon valley company (sorry! not allowed to say which one). I will give you more details about myself in future posts. After all, this is just the beginning of our conversation.

I expect to post on a weekly basis. So, until next week, take care and see you! If you want to catch me before that, I am at victoryforblog at yahoo dot com.

Vanakkam
(Tamil for Goodbye)