vi cheat sheet

Found this on gentoo.org while searching for a vi cheat sheet

There's also a vi learning guide / tutorial here that uses a cheat sheet method to teach vi to newbies

How the vi editor would seem if it was made by Microsoft

Structured Procrastination

by John Perry

This is a good one from John Perry - His profile can be found at: http://www-csli.stanford.edu/~john/index.html

Bernie Ecclestone Sells Stake to CVC???

There' still only one agency (Reuters) reporting it, but it seems Bernie's had enough and wants to cash out now!

The story can be found here.

Was the troubles that F1 faced in 2005 just a tip of the iceberg for things to come this year?

Loi Krathong - Thai festival of lights

A friend emailed me today to give me a heads-up on the Thai festival of Loi Krathong, while visiting engadget I found a link to gadling.com about the festival

http://www.gadling.com/entry/1234000910066746/

Do give it a read!!! It's a wonderful festival. I had a lovely time celebrating it when in Bangkok.

notes from my DBA sessions - 1

I'm on a training course, after years!!!, currently jotting these from one of the training rooms of InterQuad a training company based in Central London.

Oracle Database Administration Part1, the course is called, and I'm here to refresh my DBA skills.

Will post further notes when I get some time... :)

ciao till then.!

One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project update

Demo of these machines now confirmed on November 16 '05 - more details on
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000547066589/

Backend Site Update !!!

I have now (FINAlly!!!!) managed to upgrade the phpwcms version that I was using - from 1.1RC4 to 1.2.5DEV.

It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be - I mean I knew that it wouldn't be hard but was certainly afraid of losing my site for whatever time it would take for me to update...

In the end I did it at leisure and had the site down for a few hours (the blog was still up though)

So, alternateplanet.net is now up and running with the latest version.

No changes to the frontend design yet, though I've put my thinking cap on for design purposes I'm yet to come up with a better style than the current look.

Meaning and translation of the song Channa Ve from the album Channa Ve, by Kunal Ganjawala

Channa ve ghar aa ja ve
Channa - my lover-who resembles the moon

Dhola ve ghar aa ja ve
Dhola--one who is white and handsome

Teriyan udikaan vich muk challe saah
I've been waiting for U for so long that my breath is nearly failing

Aaja, takdi de rog muka ja ve
Please come and end the heartache of one who is looking-out for U

Aavega jad soniyan mahiyaan
When U come, my handsome lover

Mereya sajna dhol sipahiya
My beloved, my white and handsome soldier

Rakh laangi tennu seene la ke
I'll keep U close to my heart

Tere baajon jind kamlaiyan
Without U my life is absolutely crazy

Jaandi nai akhiyaan choN laali
The redness of my eyes does not go

Dil dariya vi lagda hai khali
The sea of my heart also appears barren

Khushiyaan vedhe tukhdiyaan naahi
Happiness does not appear appropriate in my house's verandah

Hove na jad dil da vaali
If my heart's possessor is not present

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says

This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky – I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation - the Macintosh - a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me – I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I retuned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

2005 Monaco Grand Prix – The Grid Positions

2005 Monaco Grand Prix – Grid Positions

1 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes

2 Fernando Alonso Renault

3 Mark Webber Williams-BMW

4 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault

5 Jarno Trulli Toyota

6 Nick Heidfeld Williams-BMW

7 David Coulthard Red Bull Racing

8 Michael Schumacher Ferrari

9 Jacques Villeneuve Sauber-Petronas

10 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari

11 Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas

12 Vitantonio Liuzzi Red Bull Racing

13 Patrick Friesacher Minardi-Cosworth

14 Christijan Albers Minardi-Cosworth

15 Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota

16 Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota

17 Ralf Schumacher Toyota

18 Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes

Is GMail down?

I seem to be having problems connecting to gmail, the web interface as well as the pop and smtp servers (can connect to both but very irregularly)

Wutz up with gmail?

This is the fir time, that I've ever had trouble using a google service - I distinctly remember the only time I had trouble earlier was when a worm was using google servers to spread itself.

BAR banned for two races

The Honda-backed BAR team were yesterday banned from the next two Formula One races on Thursday after breaking weight and fuel regulations at the San Marino Grand Prix.

They will miss Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona and Monaco.

Button has also lost the six points awarded to him in the previous race!

The punishment might sound too harsh keeping in view that rules in F1 are not so strictly enforced as in other sports but certainly will go a long way in detering such instances. (not so sure though)

Back to the race this Sunday, it's good news for McLaren and even Ferrari that they can use to their advantage by climbing in the points tally in the charts and Button won't certainly be as focused in the next race after comes back, let the good times roll for them.

Compared to last year, it's certainly is a new-year start that BAR would gladly forget.

Spain - Pole Position at F1?

Polling begins in Britain

Today's D Day when Tony Blair's future for the next four years will be decided, whether he stays in Number 10 or moves our will be clear after midnight.

A PTI press release:

London, May 5 (PTI): Polling began on a dull note in 645 Parliamentary constituencies in Britain today with four latest opinion polls projecting a historic third term victory for Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Labour party.
Of the 44,180,243 registered voters, a record six million people have opted to cast their vote by post.
The election has been postponed in one constituency, Staffordshire South, following the death of one of the candidates.
Along with voting in 645 Parliamentary constituencies, elections will take place in 34 county councils and three unitary authorities. There are also four mayoral contests.
Voting will take place from 07:00 am (11:30 hrs IST) to 10:00 pm (02:30 IST) and counting of votes will take place immediately thereafter.
In the 2001 General Elections, Labour had romped home with 412 seats, Conservative 166 and Liberal Democrat 52.
Four opinion polls published in national newspapers today gave Labour leads of between 3 and 6 per cent over the Conservatives. But Blair was determined to ensure that Labour supporters did not take his victory for granted insisting today's election would be a close contest.
"This thing is tight and it is tough and we have got to fight for every vote," he told his supporters last night. "There's no majority assumed at all at the moment," he added.

Indian Cabinet Clears 11 bills

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved 11 Bills for introduction in the remaining period of the current session of Parliament. They include those relating to right to information, amendments to the Banking Regulation Act and the Reserve Bank of India Act and abolition of cess on export of agricultural products.
The package comprises legislation for special economic zones, development of small and medium-scale enterprises and amendment to the Bill relating to regulation of credit information companies. The remaining proposals relate to prohibition of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems and disaster management.
Union Minister Jaipal Reddy said the Cabinet also cleared a Bill to amend taxation laws to provide for differentiation between fiscal and non-fiscal matter. The present legislation was too cluttered. On the legislation on right to information, he said the Bill was an amendment to the Bill introduced last year on the basis of the recommendations of the parliamentary standing committee and the Group of Ministers, which subsequently went into it. It would seek to vest comprehensive rights on people to provide for total transparency in public administration.
Information commissions
The Cabinet cleared the setting up of information commissions in States and Union Territories. In the States, the commission would be headed by a State Chief Information Commissioner (SCICs) and assisted by State Information Commissioners (SICs). While the number of SICs would be decided as per the functional needs of each State, they would not exceed 10. The expenditure involved in the creation of the posts of SCICs and SICs is estimated to be Rs. 65 crores per year. In addition, funds would be provided for accommodation and other amenities.
On the legislation for special economic zones, he said the Bill would contain income tax concessions for both SEZ units and SEZ developers. The units would be eligible for 100 per cent tax exemption for five years, 50 per cent for the next five years and 50 per cent of the ploughed back export profits for the next five years.

Is this good news for exporters or what? :)) Seems like continuation of the Government's support for organizations in the SEZ's

The developers will continue to get 100 per cent tax exemption for 10 years in a block period of 15 years. The legislation would provide for a single-window clearance and approval mechanism for the establishment of SEZs as well as production units inside the zones.
The Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Bill would provide a firm legislative basis to the country's commitment at the highest level to prevent weapons of mass destruction and fulfil the nation's obligations pursuant to the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1540.
Updated dual-use export controls may also facilitate better access to advanced dual-purpose technologies.
As regards the abolition of cess on export of agricultural products, the Government proposed to repeal the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority Cess Act and the Spices Cess Act and make suitable amendments to the Tobacco Cess Act, the Coffee Act and the Marine Products Export Development Authority Act.

CARTOSAT-1 Launch Successfull

Following up to my previous web log on CARTOSAT-1 launch yesterday (that I wrote before the launch) I'm very happy that the launch has now gone through and has been launched successfully.

a press release on the web:

The CARTOSAT-1 remote sensing satellite, which was successfully launched on Thursday, is expected to play a crucial role in several applications and will give a fillip to Indian remote sensing services with its high resolution images.
India has established the National Natural Resources Management System for which the Department of Space is the nodal agency.
The Indian remote sensing satellites form an important element of NNRMS for providing continuous data services for the management of natural resources.
A series of IRS satellites has been launched by India starting with IRS-1A in March 1988. There are six remote sensing satellites in service at present.
The data provided by IRS satellites is utilised for several applications, including land use/cover mapping for agro-climatic zones planning, wasteland mapping, forest cover mapping, wetland mapping, crop acreage and production estimation and coastal zone regulation mapping.
With high resolution imageries of CARTOSAT-1, with a spatial resolution of 2.5 metre, cadastral level applications will receive further impetus.
CARTOSAT-1 will be followed by CARTOSAT-2, which will have a spatial resolution of about one metre.
ISRO is also in the process of developing a Radar Imaging Satellite which will carry a C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar with a spatial resolution of 3 to 50 metre and a swath of 10 km to 240 km. SIAT is slated for launch by 2007.
With all weather remote sensing capability, RISAT is expected to enhance remote sensing applications in the areas of agriculture and disaster management.

Slashdot | India Launches World's First Stereo Imaging Satellite

Slashdot | India Launches World's First Stereo Imaging Satellite


A pretty informative comment (Alas, I didn't have any mod points to mod up the poster)

Since you asked for a clarification.... (Score:5, Insightful)
by GillBates0 (664202) on Wednesday May 04, @04:29PM (#12435117)
(http://slashdot.org/~GillBates0 | Last Journal: Tuesday March 22, @06:42PM)
I know it's all hep and stylish to bash India as a "third world country" nowadays, because many Americans perceive "offshoring" our "outsourcing" as a mean scheme by Indians to "steal aar jaabs", but I would like to mention a few things:
1. The Indian economy [wikipedia.org] happens to be the 12th largest in terms of GDP and 4th largest when adjusted for PPP (Purchasing Power Parity [wikipedia.org]). I quote from the Wikipedia article:

With a GDP of 568 billion (B$) ($3.096 trillion (T$) at PPP) India has the world's 12th largest economy (and the 4th largest when adjusted for PPP). However, the large population means that per capita income is quite low. In 2003 the World Bank ranked India 143rd in PPP per capita income and 160th in real terms, among 208 countries and territories.

2. India has (through the Indian Space Research Organization [isro.org]) pursued a pretty widespread (and largely non-military space program) since the 60's. From this relevant Wikipedia article: [wikipedia.org]

# 1962: Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR); formed by the Department of Atomic Energy, and work on establishing Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) near Trivandrum began.
# 1963: First sounding rocket launched from TERLS (November 21, 1963).
# 1965: Space Science & Technology Centre (SSTC) established in Thumba.
# 1967: Satellite Telecommunication Earth Station set up at Ahmedabad.
# 1972: Space Commission and Department of Space set up.
# 1975: First Indian Satellite, Aryabhatta, launched (April 19, 1975).


It's also fruitful to note that India was a British colony till 1947. IMHO, starting a space program in about 1.5 decades after gaining independence is a laudable achievement. The major problem which India faces today is it's large population, which pretty much negates all the economic advances, and causes it's perception as a "thirld world country" to continue.

It is also worth noting that India seems to be spending substantial amounts of money to improve it's people's lot and advancing education, science and research, rather than spending it instead on aggressive military tactics, which seems to be the trend nowadays. If you read up the history of the nation, you'll see that it's one of the few countries that has never pursued invasion/colonialism, and has instead been frequently invaded by conquerers (Mughals, British, etc) who looted the wealth of a formerly rich region and left it in a state that it's trying to dig itself out of now.

PS: Posted this because I perceived a derogatory slant in the Parent's use of the term "third world country". I find the practice of using wealth to rank nations (especially so when used to diss poor nations) quite abnoxious. I have nothing against using the term in a scientific/neutral sense.

SAP and Microsoft Announce First Joint Product Designed To Revolutionize How Information Workers Access Enterprise Applications

Press release from SAP/Microsoft about Mendocino.

New Product, Code-Named 'Mendocino,' Will Present SAP Processes and Data Within Familiar, Easy-to-Use Microsoft Office Software COPENHAGEN, Denmark, April 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SAP AG and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) today announced they are jointly developing and planning to offer a new product, code-named "Mendocino," that will help companies gain a competitive advantage by revolutionizing the way information workers access, analyze and use enterprise data to make better business decisions. "Mendocino" will link SAP process functionality directly to Microsoft(R) Office applications. Users of this product, the first to be developed jointly between SAP and Microsoft, will enjoy the familiarity of Microsoft Office as they access SAP's best-practice business processes and information. The announcement was made at SAPPHIRE(R) '05, SAP's international customer conference being held in Copenhagen, Denmark, April 26-28.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000822/MSFTLOGO )
With "Mendocino," SAP and Microsoft aim to drive enhanced efficiency for information workers who rely on Microsoft Office as their primary work environment. "Mendocino" will tie together Microsoft Office and SAP enterprise software, giving customers greater visibility and use of business information from their desktop. "Mendocino" will help people avoid wasted time and effort searching for critical corporate information, diminish costly duplication of efforts, and limit the need for specific training on disparate systems. "Mendocino" also stands to maximize the value that customers derive from their existing investments in Microsoft Office and mySAP(TM) Enterprise Resource Planning (mySAP ERP).
As part of this expanded partnership, SAP and Microsoft have agreed to each resell the complete solution, meaning SAP will resell Microsoft Office and Microsoft will resell licenses to SAP's business process platform, which will deliver ready-to-run business processes accessible as enterprise services. Available in 2006, the business process platform will serve as the foundation for the creation and deployment of composite applications such as "Mendocino."
The new product is slated for availability to select customers for early access in the third quarter of calendar year 2005. "Mendocino" is designed to integrate SAP processes, such as time management, budget monitoring, organizational management, and travel and expense management, directly into Microsoft Office. For example, with the new product, information workers will be able to utilize extended application menus and select process options and information in the SAP-specific smart panel, synchronize information between Microsoft Exchange Server and SAP, retrieve SAP information in Microsoft Excel, and submit data via Microsoft Office InfoPath(R) forms.
Siemens VDO, a leading global supplier to the automotive industry, is planning to roll out "Mendocino" to take advantage of its time-management capabilities. The company expects that the integration of Microsoft Office technologies such as Microsoft Outlook(R) with SAP's ERP platform will help its employees track and manage their time, while giving supervisors access to complete and accurate employee information to produce timely billings and maintain tight budget control.
"With this new offering, 'Mendocino,' we plan to extend the rich and productive environment of SAP best-practice business processes across our work force," said Jean-Claude Viguier, director, Corporate IT Strategy and Business Process Architecture, Siemens VDO. "As a result, systems once accessed by a handful of SAP power users will be available to thousands of employees who are familiar with the Microsoft Office environment. Since the Microsoft Office interface is intuitive, the rollout of new capabilities will require no training, have a high user acceptance rate, and quickly boost productivity across the organization."
Harnessing Web Services and Services-Oriented Architecture to Ease Integration
Delivering on their ongoing commitment to Web services as the foundation for the next generation of enterprise software, this joint product builds on the companies' existing product interoperability efforts and global alliance. "Mendocino" takes advantage of the openness of Enterprise Services Architecture (ESA), SAP's blueprint for services-oriented architecture; the Microsoft Office System; and the Web services power of Microsoft .NET to seamlessly integrate the two companies' technologies. It delivers on SAP's vision for a flexible IT infrastructure, powered by SAP NetWeaver(TM), to provide end users with great flexibility in the ways they access SAP(R) solutions. And it continues to build on Microsoft's commitment to extend the capabilities of the Microsoft Office System of programs, servers and services to increase individual and organizational productivity and expand partner opportunities for innovation and business growth.
"Today it's too difficult for information workers to access the business information they need to make effective and efficient decisions," said Jeff Raikes, group vice president for the Information Worker Business at Microsoft. "This product will go far to address this issue. 'Mendocino' allows us to deliver more value to the many customers who use Microsoft and SAP products today, and promises to put the power of enterprise systems at the fingertips of every information worker."
"The creation of this powerful new joint product builds on SAP's 15-year strategic relationship with Microsoft," said Shai Agassi, president of the Product and Technology Group and member of the Executive Board, SAP. "Together we are working to improve and simplify the knowledge worker experience by extending SAP business processes through Microsoft Office."
Microsoft and SAP have been working together to deliver enterprise business value to customers for more than a decade. More than 46,000 SAP installations run on Microsoft Windows(R) -- more than on all other platforms combined. Almost two-thirds of all new SAP installations are deployed on Microsoft Windows. Additional information on "Mendocino" is available at http://www.sap.com/mendocino .
About SAP
SAP is the world's leading provider of business software solutions.* Today, more than 27,000 customers in over 120 countries run more than 91,500 installations of SAP(R) software-from distinct solutions addressing the needs of small and midsize businesses to enterprise-scale suite solutions for global organizations. Powered by the SAP NetWeaver(TM) platform to drive innovation and enable business change, mySAP(TM) Business Suite solutions are helping enterprises around the world improve customer relationships, enhance partner collaboration and create efficiencies across their supply chains and business operations. SAP industry solutions support the unique business processes of more than 25 industry segments, including high tech, retail, public sector and financial services. With subsidiaries in more than 50 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE under the symbol "SAP." (Additional information at http://www.sap.com/ .)
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
* SAP defines business software solutions as comprising enterprise resource planning and related software solutions such as supply chain management, customer relationship management, product life-cycle management and supplier relationship management.
Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "intend," "may," "plan," "project," "predict," "should" and "will" and similar expressions as they relate to SAP are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. SAP undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. The factors that could affect SAP's future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including SAP's most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.
NOTE: Microsoft, InfoPath, Outlook and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
SAP, R/3, mySAP, mySAP.com, xApps, xApp, SAP NetWeaver and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries all over the world. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. Data contained in this document serve informational purposes only. National product specifications may vary.
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Web site: http://www.microsoft.com/

Oracle Corp. vs. SAP AG

Does anyone reckon Oracle actually surpassing SAP in business software!?! [eyes wide open]

says the press releases floating around the net today:

"Oracle Corp. aims to unseat SAP AG as Asia's top business software provider, aided by increased outsourcing to the region and its acquisition of PeopleSoft, a senior company official said on Wednesday."
Oracle's four-pronged strategy to surpass SAP revolves around targeting under-penetrated industries, captitalising on demand for an integrated information architecture, capturing the mid-market opportunity and delivering on promise for Project Fusion, the company said.
Project Fusion -- code-name for Oracle's next generation applications, integration and architecture solutions -- is scheduled for release in 2008, the company said.

Thanks, but No, thanks, I'll stick with Netweaver.

another one quotes:

India is a dominant force in outsourced services in back-office work, call centre operations and software coding, all of which involve managing large armies of talented workers, while China is key for manufacturing which involves component supplies.
Mark Gibbs, senior vice-president at Oracle's Asia-Pacific unit, told reporters in Bangalore that after the PeopleSoft buyout, Oracle had become the leader in supply chain and human resource software, which are critical in outsourcing.
"Because we have market leadership in this space, companies (in the region) are talking to us," Gibbs said.
Germany's SAP is the world's No.1 in business software, but U.S.-based Oracle is challenging it by shopping for buyouts.
Oracle, after the PeopleSoft acquisition, has a 11 per cent market share in Asia-Pacific, way behind SAP's 20 per cent in the region, but Gibbs said increased Western outsourcing to India and China would drive demand.
"We are literally nipping at SAP's heels in the ERP (enterprise resource planning) market in the Asia-Pacific...," he said in a statement.
Oracle on Tuesday announced it would acquire PeopleSoft software centres based in India from Hexaware Technologies and Covansys Corp., an Indo-U.S. company.
Gibbs declined to give details on the acquisitions but said they signalled continued Oracle support for the products of PeopleSoft, whose acquisition would be completed in June.

Also:

Oracle Asia Pacific today announced plans to leverage its newly gained market share in the enterprise applications market to take over the number one spot in Asia Pacific.
Mr Mark Gibbs, Senior Oracle Vice President Applications and Industries for Asia Pacific said, "Our reported applications growth in the last year for Asia Pacific had been at least double that of SAP's reported 2004 growth. Following the acquisition of P eopleSoft, Oracle has an unbeatable combination of critical mass and momentum."
He said the combined market presence of Oracle and PeopleSoft included more than 50,000 employees and 23,000 application customers worldwide. In Asia Pacific alone, Oracle served more than 3,500 application customers. The regional growth for Oracle for t he first three quarters of last fiscal was 24 per cent in new applications licence revenue, he added.
Oracle Asia Pacific had drawn up a four-pronged strategy to spur its growth in the region. Firstly, it aimed at targeting under penetrated industries such as communication, public sector and financial services and media and entertainment. It remained hig hly competitive across all other industry sectors and had significantly extended its global position in automotive, industrial, retail, manufacturing, professional services and healthcare.
Mr Gibbs said the company aimed at capitalising on demand for an integrated information architecture, which greatly reduced IT complexity and produced a single integrated source of truth for organisations to manage customers, products and suppliers.
It also aimed at capturing mid-market opportunity and deliver on promise for project fusion, Oracle's next generation application, integration and architecture solution which was scheduled for release in 2008.

'Mendocino' approach by SAP

News update:

Microsoft Corp. and SAP are jointly developing a new product, code-named 'Mendocino,' that will link together their widely used business software programs, the companies said on Tuesday.
Mendocino will tie together Microsoft's Office application and SAP's wider-ranging business software, which the companies said would save customers time and training costs.
The joint project is the first fruit of an agreement forged almost a year ago between the U.S. and German software giants.
The companies said last year they were responding to customer demands by making Microsoft applications -- chiefly desktop and departmental-level software -- work smoothly with SAP's organisation-wide business-planning oriented products.
As part of this partnership, SAP and Microsoft have each agreed to resell the complete product, meaning SAP will resell Microsoft Office and Microsoft will resell licences to SAP's business software.
The companies said the product would be available in 2006, with select customers getting access in the fourth quarter of this year.

SharePlex for Oracle - Overview

SharePlex for Oracle - Overview
http://www.quest.com/shareplex_architecture/

Nokia Versus Apple

A pretty comprehensive mini-review of the new Nokia Phones... mmm, gotta get these soon

TrustedReviews - The UK's Premier Source for IT Reviews & News: "Nokia Squares Up To iPod"

A mate of mine forwarded this sometime ago:
I usually do not put up anything on political/geographical or religious lines but this seems innocuous enough.

=================================

• BIRTH & beginning of Hinduism took place in Sind, along Sindhu river, prior to 8,000 BC.
• It was a man from Sind who first uttered the auspicious 'OM' Mantra, and devised the salutation of NAMASTE, (to highlight 'TAT TVAM ASI' - THAT THOU ART - or to acknowledge that ôthere is God in you, and to Him and to you we salute).
• Similarly, the 'SWASTIKA' seal & symbol was originated in Sind to spread the message of 'Daya, Dana & Dharma' (Later, after the Aryan migration to Europe, 'SWASTIKA' came to be adopted in Europe, initially for auspicious purposes, though in the modern era, in the Nazi period, it was used for inauspicious, corrupt practices and racial hatred).
• It was SINDHIS from SIND who discovered the routes to Ganga, Dravidian, Bangla, and other regions in 5,000 BC; and civilizations of all these regions, then, came under spiritual guidance of SIND, in a spirit of equality and mutual respect. All these regions joined together to form Bharat Varsha.
• It was a Sindhi - he was known as Sindhu Putra who, 7,000 years ago, was acknowledged as MAHAPATI in GANGA region to indicate his spiritual supremacy over GANGAPATI (ruler of GANGA region). Sindhu Putra was also recognized as the PERIYAR (Supreme authority) in Dravidian regions. Everywhere else too, he was honored, with highest titles and respectful submission.
• The ancient name of Bharat Varsha was given to India to honor the memory of Bharat who was the 19th Karkarta (supreme chief) of the Hindu clan in Sind in 5000 BC, long after he retired as a hermit at the age of sixty.
• Sind had profound influence on RIG VEDA, doctrines of KARMA; MOKSHA, AHIMSA & DHARMA; and also on the pre-ancient roots and lofty ideals of Sanatana Dharma.
• NOTE: Rig Veda, the first and foremost of our Vedas (and the worldÆs most ancient literature), hardly mentions Ganga and Yamuna rivers. Only one late hymn mentions Ganga. For Rig Vedic poets, the river par excellence was Sindhu, mentioned repeatedly, respectfully and glowingly, in Rig-Veda. (This, as 'Return of the Aryans' explains, is said not in arrogance, for Sindhis worship Ganga, but the fact is that the earliest songs of Hindus were naturally about their home-ground which began with the Sind region, as the birth-place of Hinduism).
• It was along Sindhu river, that the worldÆs first written language or the script was evolved. They called it 'the language that can be seen'. Sindhi is today written in the wrong way - in Arabic script. But it is Sanskritic. 72 percent of its words were Sanskritic - till 1947. Since 1947, its Sanskritic content is being eroded by inclusion of Urdu, Persian and Arabic words.
• Sind was one of the major home-grounds and cradle-grounds of Aryans when they left India in 5000 BC, and returned back to their home-town and heritage of Sind. The exploits and adventures of Aryans of Sind can fill a thousand volumes. Unfortunately, the way our history is written, they occupy only a tiny place in our national memory.
  

=================================

alternate planet in an alternate time | pictures | My Photo Albums

Been updating the site these days, small things - font/size changes, and also have uploaded a few more photographs to my photo albums - my new album is called - me n my car - see me at my place in staines and with my Vauxhall Vectra

alternate planet in an alternate time | pictures | My Photo Albums

STARTING grid for the Bahrain Grand Prix - in a few minutes from now....

STARTING grid for the Bahrain Grand Prix - in a few minutes from now....

with Ferrari in their new car...

1st row:
1. Fernando Alonso (SPA) Renault 3:01.902 (1:29.848+1:32.054), 2. Michael Schumacher (GER) Ferrari 3:02.357 (1:30.237+1:32.120)
2nd row:
3. Jarno Trulli (ITA) Toyota 3:02.660 (1:29.993+1:32.667), 4. Nick Heidfeld (GER) Williams-BMW 3:03.217 (1:30.390+1:32.827)
3rd row:
5. Mark Webber (AUS) Williams-BMW 3:03.262 (1:30.592+1:32.670), 6. Ralf Schumacher (GER) Toyota 3:03.271 (1:30.952+1:32.319)
4th row:
7. Christian Klien (AUT) Red Bull 3:03.369 (1:30.646+1:32.723), 8. Pedro de la Rosa (SPA) McLaren-Mercedes 3:03.373 (1:30.725+1:32.648)
5th row:
9. Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) McLaren-Mercedes 3:03.524 (1:30.594+1:32.930), 10. Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA) Renault 3:03.765 (1:30.445+1:33.320)
6th row:
11. Jenson Button (GBR) BAR-Honda 3:04.348 (1:30.957+1:33.391), 12. Felipe Massa (BRA) Sauber-Petronas 3:05.202 (1:30.933+1:34.269)
7th row:
13. Takuma Sato (JPN) BAR-Honda 3:05.563 (1:31.113+1:34.450), 14. David Coulthard (GBR) Red Bull 3:05.844 (1:31.211+1:34.633)
8th row:
15. Rubens Barrichello (BRA) Ferrari 3:07.693 (1:31.826+1:35.867), 16. Jacques Villeneuve (CAN) Sauber-Petronas 3:07.983 (1:32.318+1:35.665)
9th row:
17. Tiago Monteiro (POR) Jordan 3:09.428 (1:33.424+1:36.004), 18. Narain Karthikeyan (IND) Jordan 3:10.143 (1:33.190+1:36.953)
10th row:
19. Christijan Albers (NED) Minardi 3:10.422 (1:34.005+1:36.417), 20. Patrick Friesacher (AUT) Minardi 3:11.261 (1:34.848+1:36.413)

Slashdot | Web Design Hampers Mobile Internet?

Slashdot Web Design Hampers Mobile Internet?

Web Design Hampers Mobile Internet?


Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday March 23, @01:01PM
from the yin-and-yang-of-the-net dept.
aws910 writes "Reuters is running an article on how flashy web design is impacting the usability of internet-enabled mobile devices, with quotes from Tim Berners-Lee. Although the article is sparse on details, it is an interesting topic for discussion. Having recently bought an internet-enabled cellphone, I can honestly say that most websites are painful to view on a 240x320 screen over a GPRS connection(EVDO is expensive/US-only). Have we moved away from 56K-modem-oriented design, only to be pulled back in that direction?"

Not mine, mate. It can be viewed almost anywhere on any kind of internet connection, even a 14.4kbps connection or maybe even on a 9600bps connection without a long delay. It's a low-bandwidth intensive site. I've strived to get the viewpoint presented above and discussed with reference to the article to previous 'clients' (i'm not a pro web developer) to develop non-browser dependent webpages (ones that don't need "best viewed with ie" messages) and non-flash pages coz i reckon you can get the same sort of effect to visitors and get your view-point across without using a lot of flash (or even any flash!) - except maybe where it is definitely required (i.e.: educational or flash games sites)

anyways... this has been a long term debate between people like me and flash programmers, i guess it will always continue... a few good points in the discussion if you're interested to read.

1 year on... Still going strong

alternateplanet.net is into it's second year now!!! :)

Yes, yesterday was when I finished a year owning, tending, maintaining the site and I'm happy to say, we're still going strong, I have been constantly if not, very frequently adding information onto the site about SAP BASIS related activities and blogging my interests.

Stats:

• More than 2400 unique visitors in the first year with more than 8000 page loads, not a major figure but constant traffic with a good number of returning visitors.

To DO:

• More frequent updates in the future.
• Adding a forum for conversing/ discussing issues with like minded people, people in the same trade.
• Creating platform for contact on a commercial basis/for contracts/ job related forums communication between hiring agencies and candidates.
• Add more updates on unix/windows platforms and oracle/ms-sql/db2 platforms.
• Involve more interaction from the BASIS Admin / management community.

Pretty arduous list ... long way to go... but we're on course...

three cheers to alternateplanet.net

let the alternate be the mainstream!!!

- tarun

Bulla - Rabbi Shergill lyrics and english translation

Made me come back, to blogging.

I've been thinking for weeks to post a lot of things but then go back to life minus the blog and then forget about updating the blog here until I come back to another interesting topic/point/view that I'd like to share.

Well, this makes me come back to blogging after a long long time. I'd seen/heard Rabbi Shergill's video when I visited India recently and instantly loved it, the Bryan Adams -ish style was what made the video special and the lyrics and sound is just amazing! Shergill instantly gets you into nostalgic mode (all the rock music lovers out there) to a time when Rock was Rock and music was pure and videos were about the lyrics and the artist rather than nude gyrating ladies.

I'd go on ranting but here are the lyrics of Bulla ki jaana maen koun

Na maen momin vich maseet aan Na maen vich kufar diyan reet aan Na maen paakaan vich paleet aan Na maen moosa na pharaun. Bulleh! ki jaana maen kaun Na maen andar ved kitaab aan, Na vich bhangaan na sharaab aan Na vich rindaan masat kharaab aan Na vich jaagan na vich saun. Bulleh! ki jaana maen kaun. Na vich shaadi na ghamnaaki Na maen vich paleeti paaki Na maen aabi na maen khaki Na maen aatish na maen paun Bulleh!, ki jaana maen kaun Na maen arabi na lahori Na maen hindi shehar nagauri Na hindu na turak peshawri Na maen rehnda vich nadaun Bulla, ki jaana maen kaun Na maen bheth mazhab da paaya Ne maen aadam havva jaaya Na maen apna naam dharaaya Na vich baitthan na vich bhaun Bulleh , ki jaana maen kaun Avval aakhir aap nu jaana Na koi dooja hor pehchaana Maethon hor na koi siyaana Bulla! ooh khadda hai kaun Bulla, ki jaana maen kaun

Not a believer inside the mosque, am I Nor a pagan disciple of false rites Not the pure amongst the impure Neither Moses, nor the Pharoh Bulleh! to me, I am not known Not in the holy Vedas, am I Nor in opium, neither in wine Not in the drunkard`s craze Niether awake, nor in a sleeping daze Bulleh! to me, I am not known In happiness nor in sorrow, am I Neither clean, nor a filthy mire Not from water, nor from earth Neither fire, nor from air, is my birth Bulleh! to me, I am not known Not an Arab, nor Lahori Neither Hindi, nor Nagauri Hindu, Turk (Muslim), nor Peshawari Nor do I live in Nadaun Bulleh! to me, I am not known Secrets of religion, I have not known From Adam and Eve, I am not born I am not the name I assume Not in stillness, nor on the move Bulleh! to me, I am not known I am the first, I am the last None other, have I ever known I am the wisest of them all Bulleh! do I stand alone? Bulleh! to me, I am not known

"Bulla ki jaana" - orginally sung by Baba Bulleh Shah, new rendition by Rabbi Shergill

The lyrics are from another site that I'd googled earlier in the day.

nJOY!!!