Archive for category technology
Software moves like porta-potty.
Posted by Avinash Shetty in technology on November 6, 2008
I recently discovered portable apps. And I couldn’t be happier. If you aren’t familiar with it, it is precisely what the name suggests. Applications written with portability in mind. You can copy the app to your USB drive and move it to another PC and there you have it; setup exactly the way you want it, all set to go. I’ve spent hours working on other people’s PC, downloading stuff I need, configuring, setting everything up and then having to clean up everything when I’m done. No more. Just plugin a USB drive, everything is all set and ready to fire. Firefox alone, with addons saves me tons of time. Better yet, whenever someone remote tells me their firefox isnt working as desired on certain sites, I say download mine and run it. See if it works. And it usually does. Also, I don’t now need to carry my PC around when I travel. With all my apps on a USB, all I need is a host PC on the other end and I’m all set.
Another obvious advantage is that since apps are not installed on the PC, your registry stays slim and running faster. the files are not scattered all over the place, only where you installed it. Uninstalling is as easy as deleting the folder where you installed it. No more registry cleaners, orphan files all over taking up space. Overall, I find my system snappy with little to no bloat and yet everything there at my fingertips.
Now, if only everything else in life was portable. At leasy potty is.
Where is the fan, boy?
Posted by Avinash Shetty in technology on October 16, 2008
We all know and love/hate Apple fanboys. These guys are willing to look past the obvious evilness and daylight-robbing techniques used by Apple and just pay up their hard-earned paychecks to buy themselves some goodlooking goodies.
Now, we have a new wave of Apple-hating Google fanboys. Google’s evilness has been slowly but surely growing and with that is an increasing number of followers who swear by the google way. Andriod is the latest in this wave of followers which includes editors for the Washington post. If Apple introduces a hidden kill-switch on the iPhone, its baaaaaad. But Google does it, anounces it (they obviously know it will be found and don’t want the Apple bad publicity) it is great. Infact, it is for the better good.
Hmmm.. And the logic is even better. Google system is open and so people could exploit users but putting out malicious software that users can install and cause havoc. Where have I heard this before? Oh yeah, every OS in the world connected to the internet download stupid stuff like Anna Kournikova naked apps. Hmmm, I wonder how the Washington Post would like Microsoft to automatically delete software they bought just because they think it will be malicious.
OS Shootout.
Posted by Avinash Shetty in technology on September 19, 2008
Mac (Tiger/Leopard), Windows (XP/Vista), Linux (Ubuntu). The whoz who of OS, take periferral. This is a desktop shootout because in my opinion, the server shootout is pointless. Linux wins hands down there. So lets take aspects of desktop needs and compare the OS’s.
Eye Candy
Out of the box, Mac is a clear winner. It’s clean, functional and good looking. The dock, minimalistic yet functional toolbar, gorgeous icons are all craved for and replicated across other OS’s. Ubuntu comes in at a distant second, closely followed by Vista. XP just looks plain ugly out of the box.
However, when it comes to customizing the UIs as per user needs, Mac provides little help. Ubuntu comes with compiz, AWN/cairo docks (among several others) and plenty of other UI tools providing the user with a ton of options to tweak the UI as needed. Vista/XP also has freeware apps such as Uxtheme patch + msstyle themes, docketdock/object dock and freeware shell replacements that provide plenty customization. If done right, I’d say Ubuntu is a clear winner here. Mac still comes in second and XP/Vista last because of the lack of good/reliable freeware apps. However is you are willing to pay for software, XP/Vista are just as good if not better than the competition.
Winner
Novice: Mac
Expert: Linux
Ease of use
This one is a toughie. In my opinion, Windows is probably the winner here. Out of the box, its just plain usable. Installation compared to other options is a breeze. Program locations are in a simple start menu. Mac is a very close second. Although the layout of mac is better, apps such as Finder do a poor job of File System access. Spotlight is great but a little messy is showing the data and doesn’t search system folders by default. Ubuntu has come a long way from its Linux past. Gnome’s bloat is reduced, the layout is clean and thunar/nautilus are good file managers. Apt is a good installer app, but problems with installation means digging into the CLI and figuring out what happened. For beginners, this usually equates to game over.
The other aspect of use is what happens when you hit issues. Web searches will usually reveal good solutions for Windows. Ubuntu forums are quite good but novice users will find it hard to fix some complex issues. Mac, in my opinion is the hardest to find help online. The search results don’t usually yield good results.
Winner
Novice: Windows
Expert: Linux
Software
This is easy. In my opinion, Windows is a winner by a long shot. People have been making software for windows forever now. Which everyday apps is a close call, specialized software is almost always made for windows. For example, cell phone sync software, universal remote software, firmware upgrade for audio/video compoenents, wireless etc. However, if we narrow the field down to freeware standard software, I think Linux wins. Almost any software for windows has a free mac equivalent that work as good, if not better than its windows counterpart. Mac is probably lacking here overall. This is some really good stuff on Mac that is better than Windows/Linux but a lot isn’t available at all. However, with the switch to Intel hardware, this is changing rapidly. I think pretty soon, they’d reach parity. However, Mac will face similar issues as Windows where you will have to pony up the dough for the good stuff.
Winner: Linux
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What is your pet’s favorite color?
Posted by Avinash Shetty in technology on September 19, 2008
Yeah. So I don’t have a pet, nevermind. Besides how does one figure out what their pet’s favorite color is anyway. Security questions that most website rely on to retreive lost usernames/passwords are retarded. I mean, most questions don’t apply to me and they don’t let me choose a security question I’d like to have myself.
Probably everyone knows about Palin’s email being compromised. Maybe not many know how. A hacker simple clicked on the forgot password link, and sat there figuring out where she met her fiance and what school she went to. In today’s day and age, there questions are easily answered. Between Wikipedia and facebook and most people pets, schools and practically their entire life history is there for everyone to read. An someone like Palin, who has been in Alaska, oh wait, probably never gone outside of Wasilla her whole life, security questions are a few minutes of guesswork. So what’s the point of strong password generators and software that charges you to keep track of them, when you have weak workarounds to get by them.
The solution you ask. I don’t know! But maybe email my temp password to a secondary email, let users personalize the questions, etc etc. Maybe you have better ideas.