As many of you noticed I am using the .NET dasblog engine for blogging. Though the official page for dasblog is still dasBlog.NET, they seem to have moved home to Gotdotnet. Anyways, thanks to Rockford Lhotka, I got the new version of DasBlog today. Download: DasBlogWebSetup-1-5-3337-0.zip (669.39 KB)

Though I don't know the official upgrade steps, since dasBlog is an ASP.NET application, I tried the following XCOPY method and it worked. I ensured that I don't overwrite the data folders that dasBlog uses (content, logs and SiteConfig).

1. Backup your entire web folder (say blogfolder1) where you have your current blog running
2. Extract the zip file and install the new version into a new web share (say blogfolder2).
3. Delete all folders except Content, Logs, SiteConfig in the current web folder (blogfolder1)
4. Copy all folders except Content, Logs, SiteConfig  from the new web share (blogfolder2) to the current blog folder (blogfolder1)
5. Test your blog
6. Delete blogfolder2 and remove the webshare

Today the success of a  software/website is decided not only by its feature list, but more on how easy is it and how good is its User Interface (UI). In fact, I believe at the end of this decade UI of the software we use is going to have improved several magnitudes than what we use today.

I have seen many people thinking that once you have the software (from now on this includes websites as well) build, you can quickly slap an UI on top of it. My personal experience contradicts this - developing a good UI is equally or more difficult than building the software itself. To build a great UI you need a completely different mindset. I have seen many great websites and web applications simply not flying, at the same time a mediocre/bad website with great UI initially flys and then dies because of the bad backend. So for sustained life, a mix of good UI and good backend is needed.

In this connection, it was interesting to read Eric S. Raymond (the famous OSS evangelist) blog entry titled “The Luxury of Ignorance: An Open-Source Horror Story” published on March 2004. Here Raymond talks about the pain he went through when trying to print using his wife’s shared printer connected to a Linux machine. This experience doesn’t surprise me at all. When it comes to doing day-to-day tasks, definitely Windows (more specifically Windows XP) wins thumbs-up. The research and the money the folks at Windows usability lab do are mind-boggling. I have heard that after they design a new approach in UI, they call in total strangers and ask them to do a task and record their every keystrokes, mouse movements, response time, satisfaction, ease they felt and so on. Impressive, isn't it. Think about on how many OSS projects can support this type of activity?.

Coming back to the article, Raymond’s blog entry created huge ripples both in the Linux and Windows side of world. From the Windows world, one of the interesting responses I read was from John Gruber in Ronco Spray-On Usability. I liked especially the last paragraph where he says “Fast, good, cheap: pick two.”

A career with Open Source?

I am trying to understand the lack of a serious business model in many of the Open Source Projects. The issues in question are the sustainance of the projects over a long period of time (not years, but decades), continuity and the chance to give the people who contribute their livelyhood.

One of my fellow Regional Director (Clemens F. Vasters) from Germany, Clemens has written a well crafted open letter to a student about his career with Open Source. The blog became such a hit that it was slash dotted immediately.

Read here about what I wrote about Open Source in Linux for You magazine last year.

EU Case Against Microsoft

I am puzzled by the recent ruling against Microsoft by European Union. As technology advances in every industry, consumers expects more & more features bundled (which was sold earlier seperately)into a product.

The classic example is the Cars we buy. I remember the situation till about a decade back (in late 80's) in India. The classic Ambassadors were sold with what my dad says as “nothing more than a Box & Four Wheels” . After successfully buying it (you have to pay, book and wait at the mercy of the dealer), you have to go atleast half-a-dozen vendors to make the car into something that you can use. I remember for an Ambassador we bought, we had to add a AC, add a Sound-System, changed Seats and did Interiors (Amby had no interiors),  did a complete chassis rust-proofing, changed the Petrol engine to Diesel (the company's own Diesel engine at that time was not recommended, same story as AC), ... the list goes on.

Today even the Indian Made (100% desi) Tata Indigo that my Dad bought recently came with AC, Power Steering, Sound System, Decent Interiors, Chassis Rust proofed - a ready to use car.

Going by the same logic that EU has applied against Microsoft for bundling Windows Media Player, we have to fine every automobile major - and stop them from giving anything other than a box and 4 wheels.

Taking this to new levels, a company called Nisbum has filled a case against Microsoft for shipping Calculator in Windows. Read the full story here.

Today I had presented in Kaniam 2004 - a Tamil software developers meet held at Computer Science Department in Anna University. The aim of the meet was to encourage computer science students from all major colleges in Tamilnadu to do projects and research in Tamil.

My presentation was on using Indic Language support in Microsoft Technologies - Windows XP/2003, Office 2003, SQL Server 2000 & Visual Studio.NET 2003. At Vishwak, being the Development Partner for Microsoft's Bhashaindia Project this was a familiar topic for me to handle

My Presentation was appropriately titled as “Tamil dot Net“ by Kani Tamizh Sangam (KTS), the organizers of this event.

Download the presentations and demos (Self Extracting Archive, 266.65 KB)

In recent times, there are two advertisements that really impressed me. Both of them don't shout about their products, features, company or compare with competition. Both do soft selling or idea selling very well.

One of them is the Hutch TV Ads, where a small boy with a dog walks across all the places and the ad closes with a punch line “Where ever you go, our network follows you”. It is a joke, that the same type of visual (with a boy and dog) is being used now by Miranda; somebody seems to be running out of creativity.

The other good Ad, that I enjoy is Microsoft's new series of ad with the theme “Your Potential. Our Passion”. This new line sounds much better than the old “Where do you want to go today”; What an useful question everyday I want to go home to meet my family .  

You can watch the complete (upcoming and archives) TV ads and Print ads of this campaign from Microsoft Website. I especially like the 2003 Ads with the “School“ theme.

The last 2 to 3 years the noise level of security and Virus attacks at Internet Servers have reached an all time high. Every other day, financial dailies carry a news about a new exploit in one software or other. Where are we in this and what is the solution?. Read and enjoy the following articles at PC Mag that I came across in this subject.

If you want to read more about Netsky, its stains and the other recent virus of 2004, PC Mag has this interesting article: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1541517,00.asp

John C.Dvorak, the famous PC Mag columnists asks the question Why Are Virus Attacks Getting Worse?. I am sure many of us technologists are thinking about this, but Dvorak hits the nail straight as usual!

Virus becoming worse is one, but what is the solution to this?.

Better laws, No!. Tougher punishments, No!. Better Software, No!. 

Dvorak goes to the extreme and suggests that we License Computer Users, just like we license Car Drivers. License means exams, exams means pass or fail; oh god, now the whole fun world of computers is becoming just like our school work.

I got to go now. Need to study for my computer license

Everywhere you turn now, your hear about Outsourcing, India Shining & India Dreams. Being a election year in USA, you also hear about the backlash, the pros and the cons.

Today Ranga pointed me to an interesting article in Express India titled “Outsourcing: A few years ago nobody in US wanted to talk to Indians, now they are eager”

It is a well written, neutral piece (hard to find these days!). I liked especially the closing quote, given here verbatim:

As one Indian exec put it to me: The Americans’ self-image that this tech thing was their private preserve is over. This is a ‘‘wake-up call’’ for US workers to redouble their efforts at education and research. If they do that, he said, it will spur ‘‘a whole new cycle of innovation, and we’ll both win. If we each pull down our shutters, we will both lose.’’