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For every organization with IT Projects, a good source control system is essential. The actual product to be used depends highly on the team size and to some extent on the project type (Windows/Web/Mobile).
For teams working with Visual Studio, the source control was generally Microsoft Visual SourceSafe (VSS). There are many alternatives to VSS like CVS (from the Unix and Open Source world) and Sourcevault (based on SQL Server backend). But many teams, especially SME preferred it as it came along with Visual Studio and was tightly integrated with it. Though VSS fulfilled basic source control (check-in, check-out), the product was aging and was crying for an urgent update with the release of .NET.
Finally Microsoft seem to woken upto this fact and have launched a solid road-map to VSS in may here. The basic idea of MS plan is to have two products, one aimed at Small/Medium teams and other for enterprises. VSS 2005 (Sequel to existing VSS with HTTP/HTTPS, Unicode, XML and 4GB DB Size) is the SME product and Visual Studio Team Foundation will be the Enterprise product (with Sharepoint Support and other Enterprise SDLC support).
Today was a sad day for all of us in the house of “LIFCO”. Our beloved V.V.Mama (Brahmasri Kureru V.Venkatesa Ayyar, affectionately “Mama” for us) left all of us and attained the lotus feet of Lord Sri Lakshmi Hayagreeva. Mama passed away yesterday at 8:20PM in his bedroom, after suffering for last 1 week, with the last 48 hours unconscious. On Saturday he had stopped breathing for few minutes and was revived by the help of a near-by doctor; it happened once again, but on that last moment it didn’t work. |
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V.V.Mama (88 Years) has been part of LIFCO (Estd.1929) for over last 60 years. During these 60 years, he had performed various roles as a clerk, accountant, manager, administrative officer and always an advisor. He was well versed in 4 languages – Telugu (his mother tongue), Tamil, Sanskrit and English; amazingly he was equally fluent in all of them. He had edited/written several of the titles in LIFCO, his hardwork being eminent in LIFCO’s various Dictionaries. Apart from Administration & Accounts, V.V.Mama was experienced in Astrology, Brahmin Traditions, Traditional Medicine and Typing. He was a Musician as well – a Mridhangam player, he has also conducted various religious discourses and bhajans.
For all of us, the younger generation at LIFCO, he was our “Grand Father”.
May his soul rest in peace!
In my earlier post “Indian Stock Market – Both Sides”, I had written about how Indian companies are venturing into Sri Lanka and doing well. This seems to be picking pace now.
One of the good examples is in Dairy. Last time I visited Sri Lanka
and happen to buy Milk/Yoghurt, I was surprised to see only Nestle
(from Europe) and New Zealand Dairy products. India with its huge Dairy
capacity and proximity to Sri Lanka doesn’t have any of its dairy
products in Sri Lankan stores. All this is going to change, with
Indian Dairy Giant Mr.Kurian’s Amul setting up soon its
operations in Sri Lanka. Initially they will source the products from
India, but sooner Amul is planning to setup a complete
Co-operative chain in the models of Gujarat Cooperative Milk
Marketing Federation Ltd (GCMMF) and transfer control to Sri
Lankans.
On the other side, Sri Lankans are also expanding to India. One example, is Sri Lanka’s famous Maliban Biscuits
coming into India in a big way. Another example is seen in Chennai’s
biggest Mall (Spencer Plaza), in the new 3rd phase, Sri Lanka Export
Development Board has setup “Sri Lanka Trade Centre – Chennai” with several participating Sri Lankan’s speciality stores including Confectionaries, Flowers, Toys, FootWear and more.
All these are still tip of the iceberg, I am sure in the next few
years there is going to be a windfall in the bilateral trade between
the two countries.
Couple of months back, I had travelled to Mumbai (from Chennai) by Jet Airways. Generally the in-flight comfort and service in Jet has been good.
In this trip, the in-flight experience was bad with the cabin temperature very hot, Air Conditioner mal-functioning. Even in World-leading airlines like in British Airways sometimes the Air Conditioners don’t work when the flight is in Tarmac, but works when on sky. But in this trip, throughout the flight the Air conditioner was not working correctly, it was unbearable inside.
When I landed in Mumbai I had also landed up with a bad headache; Inspite of that I approached Jet customer counter, waited for their complaints form to come (they didn’t have one in that counter!), completed it and gave it to the assistant in the counter. I never expected them to write to me about this, or for that matter even read it. But to my surprise, within few weeks, I received an email from Jet Customer Care. In the email they apologised for the inconvenience and their deficiency in service. On top, they awarded me “500” Jet Privilege points in their Frequent Flier programme.
For people in service industry this brings in an interesting point to thing about. While offering a consumer service, it is very important to plan, have backups and do everything possible to deliver consistent quality to customers. Even with all the precautions, at times there may be slips. When the inevitable slip happens, it is very important to first identify it, then accept it and explain it to customer. Above all, without delay compensate for the loss to the customer.
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