India and cheap IT
Posted by Srinath
As an Indian, I don't consider IT to be a savior of the country. Just don't. Sure it THE fastest growing sector, and booming along with mobile and internet penetration in the country, but its known as a place for cheap labor, and not otherwise. India probably needed such a boom for its economic revival, but at what cost? The companies hire in thousands, dumping the freshers right out of college in one of their many development sheds, where they code as zombies all day, day after day. And the sad part is, they don't mind it!
India has 6 supercomputers in top 500 list
Posted by Srinath
In the recently published bi-annual Top 500 supercomputer list, India has a total of 6 supercomputers, down from the 8 that made it to the last time. The "EKA" cluster at the Computational Research Laboratories at Pune, leads the list for India at 18th place. "EKA" topped it at 4th place globally during 2007, but lost out to the wave of new supercomputers build by the US, Germany, China and other countries.
HP and IBM still hold the major vendor share, with a whooping 80% between them. The RoadRunner cluster still holds on to its number 1 spot, but is closely followed by the Jaguar Cray cluster. With more emphasis on lower power consumption, greener cooling solutions, and more efficient processors and interconnects, we can only expect a slew of better clusters in the years to come.
Windows and editions
Posted by Srinath
Reading about the various editions of Windows 7, it made me wonder just how many major editions Microsoft has released in this decade. Just to keep things simple, I decided to skip pre 2000 operating systems, and focusing on 4 main Windows flavors: 2000, XP, Vista and Windows 7. So lets get started :
Windows 2000 (4)
- Windows 2000 Professional
- Windows 2000 Server
- Windows 2000 Advanced Server
- Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
That was nice and easy. Although two different Server editions? Well MS is just getting started.
Windows XP (5)
- Windows XP Home
- Windows XP Professional
- Windows XP Starter
- Windows XP Media Center
- Windows XP 64 bit
The XP list doesn't contain minor version changes like N, K, KN, which were for specialized markets due to monopolizing practices. It also doesn't include the specialized editions that weren't available for retail like Tablet PC edition, Embedded systems edition, and the incremental versions of Media Center. If you take all into consideration, you'll get a number greater than 12.
Windows Vista (6)
- Windows Vista Starter
- Windows Vista Home Basic
- Windows Vista Home Premium
- Windows Vista Business
- Windows Vista Enterprise
- Windows Vista Ultimate
Here is where it gets a little confusing. With two versions for Home, and the cheaper version normally finding its way only into most lower end consumer laptops and desktops, there was very little need for the other. And allowing only 3 running user applications? What the hell was that? Why would someone spend money on such an OS, considering you can get a limitless, top of the line one for free (read linux). Wouldn't three versions suffice - one for home, one for business and one so called ultimate for poor MS to make some money?
Windows 7 (6)
Just rebadge the Business edition to Professional, and you have 6 editions of Windows 7 as well.
So there you have it - 21 major editions of Windows have been released starting from 2000. Adding in the 9 editions of Windows Server 2003 and 10 editions of Windows Server 2008, we have a grand total of 40. Good going Microsoft, and all hail Bill Gates!
Web based bulk sms review – znisms
Posted by Srinath
Web based SMS services have become absolutely essential nowadays. And with hundreds if not thousands of services available, it is difficult to try out each to see if it suits you. I'm putting in my 2 cents on this issue. This is a short review of the web based sms service offered by http://znisms.com. Before I start, this service is ONLY for mobiles within India, and not for networks elsewhere. In other words, you can send a text message to mobile phones in India only.
Here are my observations:
- Easy registration and setup. Self explanatory
- Web based and HTTP/XML API access
- Haven't faced any down time yet. Both web based, and API based submits work well
- Plans starting from as low as Rs. 100 valid for 2 months
- Maximum time taken to reach a recipient is just less than an hour. Average time is 5-8 minutes
- Web control panel, though confusing is pretty neat. Has all the options you need, and even lets you check status of your messages
- Comprehensive logging system which may be useful for some
- XML API for bulk submission - add multiple numbers to the same message, and a single submit. This is really what I wanted as the place I'm deploying my application won't be permanently connected to the internet. So instead of making 1500 individual submits, just one XML bulk submit will do
- Incoming messages supported - users can type "hi <username> <message>" and send it to 5676775 and you will receive it directly in your web control panel free of cost
Cons:
- Plan validity period is too short (at least for my requirement)
- No API to access incoming messages
- SMS rates are cheaper only in higher volume plans
- Maximum validity of any plan is 6 months
In all, I'd give it a 8.5/10. Really satisfied with the service so far.
Apple and gaming
Posted by Srinath
Amidst rumors that Apple may buy E.A and that its building the next big console, one wonders what will happen to the gaming industry if the rumors come true. Traditionally, Apple has never been pro-gaming, as evident from its poor support for gaming hardware or software. But now that Apple has held itself together and posted a good profit during these hard times, and that its fanbois are crazy enough to catapult any minuscule product launch into a glitzy media event, getting into gaming might seem as the next logical step.
There are two basic problems with this:
1. Apple isn't known for gaming. Rather some may even say apple is anti-gaming
2. Anything and everything associated with apple is ridiculously priced
Both problems are hard to solve. You cannot just buy a game developer/publisher and change your image overnight. It will take months if not years for both the developers and the gaming community to start believing in Apple, and that will not be easily accomplished either. That will mean more advertisement campaigns, and counter campaigns by Microsoft, which means expenditure running into millions. And Apple's pricing will not help their cause either. With the popular "Laptop Hunter" campaign by Microsoft focusing on pricing, and support for gaming; and both being genuine reasons to chose a PC, it is going to be very difficult for Apple to post good sales numbers unless they retain the old pricing. Which is very unlikely to happen.
On the other hand, it will be a very smart move if Apple manages to do everything right. EA is well established, and with their popular titles grossing millions in sales, it already has a well established, faithful user base. By retaining the original team and pricing, Apple can get a head start into the billions worth gaming industry. It will also be a big plus that they can start developing quality titles for the Mac, something which is lacking for a long time now. It will be interesting to see how they handle the hardware support for the Macs though.
Whatever said, this is an interesting development that everyone in the gaming industry will watch. Hopefully, Apple will not screw this one up.