At the UK Linux & Open Source Awards dinner held on October 5th, Ubuntu was awarded the Reader Award for best distribution. Debian and Red Hat were also on the short list.
Ubuntu was also nominated in the embedded/mobile solution category (with HP for the custom Ubuntu/HP work) and the corporate contribution category.
Not only that, it was among the best 100 products of 2005.
Monday, October 10, 2005
Monday, September 26, 2005
Monday, September 12, 2005
Ubuntu Linux
I think most of the people are now tired of using Microsoft products specially their lousy OS and IE. That's why everybody jumps into other products when they get a chance. A very good example is FireFox. I think now it's the turn of OS. Linux is there for some time but is still limited to enthusiasts and Pros. I could remember how I installed Linux in my 486 in 1999. It took more than a week to get the job done compiling some of the drivers manually. The monitor gave me the greatest headache since the X windows system didn't recognize it. I couldn't play around much since my knowledge was limited and the applications were rare. After that, I have used random versions of RedHat Linux in couple of times but it didn't hit the spot.
I heard about Ubuntu Linux by accident when I was searching for Debian Linux. I read a couple of reviews about Ubuntu and thought of giving it a try. So I downloaded the version 5.04 (Hoary Hedgehog) and installed it in my home PC which already has two windows versions; Windows XP (for gaming) and Windows 2003 Server (for development). The installation process was quiet and took around 30 minutes. It recognized all my hardware including AC97 surround sound card, GeForce 440MX video card and on board LAN which was a bit surprise.
Ubuntu really impressed me. It's very very simple. Good for a beginner who is shifting towards Linux from Windows. This installation comes with several applications like Open Office 1.1, several games, multimedia applications and networking tools. But it didn't recognize my existing NTFS partitions which was sad. I had to mount them manually and are read only which is a downfall. Overall, I am happy about Ubuntu and waiting to see the next stable version 5.10 (BreezyBadger) in October.
I heard about Ubuntu Linux by accident when I was searching for Debian Linux. I read a couple of reviews about Ubuntu and thought of giving it a try. So I downloaded the version 5.04 (Hoary Hedgehog) and installed it in my home PC which already has two windows versions; Windows XP (for gaming) and Windows 2003 Server (for development). The installation process was quiet and took around 30 minutes. It recognized all my hardware including AC97 surround sound card, GeForce 440MX video card and on board LAN which was a bit surprise.
Ubuntu really impressed me. It's very very simple. Good for a beginner who is shifting towards Linux from Windows. This installation comes with several applications like Open Office 1.1, several games, multimedia applications and networking tools. But it didn't recognize my existing NTFS partitions which was sad. I had to mount them manually and are read only which is a downfall. Overall, I am happy about Ubuntu and waiting to see the next stable version 5.10 (BreezyBadger) in October.
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Happy B'day...!
Google's official Birthday is September 7, 1998. Amazing, it's my wife's birthday too. Happy Birthday to both of you.
Monday, August 29, 2005
GoogleNet
Google is planning to develop a parallel internet called GoogleNet.
Google already knows enough to blackmail enyone through it's programmes.
1) Knows what we think -- through Blogspot.
2) Knows what's on our hard drives -- through Desktop Search.
3) Knows who we talk to and what we say -- through GMail and Google Talk
4) Knows where we are or where we plan to go -- through Google Earth
5) Knows what we're interested in -- through Google Search
The list will complete when they develop a web browser and an OS.
Google already knows enough to blackmail enyone through it's programmes.
1) Knows what we think -- through Blogspot.
2) Knows what's on our hard drives -- through Desktop Search.
3) Knows who we talk to and what we say -- through GMail and Google Talk
4) Knows where we are or where we plan to go -- through Google Earth
5) Knows what we're interested in -- through Google Search
The list will complete when they develop a web browser and an OS.
Lazy and Dumb programmers...
If you want to be a GOOD programmer, you must be dumb and lazy. Here is the reason.
10th Anniversary
Yes, today is the 10th anniversary of Windows 95, the first version to include a START button. Hereis a list of Start buttons from Windows 95 to Windows Vista to commemorate this date.
Thursday, August 11, 2005
Google Wildcard Search.
Another Google thing...! Wildcard search...
A wildcard in a Google search query can be indicated by an asterisk and will match one or more entire words of text so that the query matches a contiguous sequence of words.
For example, a search for [ cooking * classes ] will match the phrases "cooking school classes" and "cooking and wine tasting classes."
One common use of the asterisk is to fill in the blanks for a query that corresponds to a question: [the parachute was invented by *].
Also, more than one asterisk can be used, such as [vitamin * is good for *].
A wildcard in a Google search query can be indicated by an asterisk and will match one or more entire words of text so that the query matches a contiguous sequence of words.
For example, a search for [ cooking * classes ] will match the phrases "cooking school classes" and "cooking and wine tasting classes."
One common use of the asterisk is to fill in the blanks for a query that corresponds to a question: [the parachute was invented by *].
Also, more than one asterisk can be used, such as [vitamin * is good for *].
Monday, July 25, 2005
Longhorn -> Windows Vista
The official new name for the Longhorn OS is going to be Windows Vista but the path seems to be not yet cleared.
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
"Terminal"... Can this happen in real life?
When I saw Tom Hanks movie "The Terminal", I didn't think it could happen in real life. But I was wrong. Read this
Friday, July 08, 2005
Blog Image
Blogger.com now supports Image uploading for its bloggers upto 300mb. I uploaded all my images via various image hosting sites before. So, this is kind'a bonus...
This picture is completely irrelevent for this post but I couldn't find anything else to demonstrate...
This picture is completely irrelevent for this post but I couldn't find anything else to demonstrate...
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Windows Timeline
Visit this site to see screenshots of windows from windows v.1 to windows xp. This is the first time I saw Windows V.1 and V.2. Surely it has come a long way...
Lost in Sri Lanka? Use Google Maps...
Google Maps has Satellite images of Sri Lanka now. Check this out. They might have higher resolution maps in the future.
Thursday, June 30, 2005
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Monday, June 13, 2005
PC Magazine's choice: 100 Best Products of 2005
PC Magazine announces 100 best products of the year 2005. Can anybody guess what came 1st & 2nd? My personal choice, FireFox and GMail... coool...
Read the full list here.
Read the full list here.
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
SONY cybershot DSC-S60
Waiting is over... my SONY Camera came home yesterday. Although it was delivered to my wife's office at USA on 12th April, we couldn't find someone to bring it here until yesterday. (more than 6 weeks... price dropped by $40 during the time... sigh...).
The total package costs me a little bit more than $380. The camera is $249 and the rest is spend on 512BM memory stick pro and an accessories kit comprises of a cute carrying bag, a memory stick case and a battery charger with two batteries. I didn't have much time to play around with it but the initial photos impressed me very much. These are reasons made me choose this partcular camera.
Cost: The camera is not that expensive. Only $249.
Lens: Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar Lens. This is a high quality german origin lens which helps to produce crystal clear, sharp images
Real Image Processor: This dramatically improves the response time.
2" LCD: This is really impressive. Very large LCD screen.
5 area Multipoint Auto Focus:Focusing is easy.
32MB internal Memory: Can shoot even without a Memory Card
Better Battery Life: Can shoot upto 100 shots with its AA size Alcaline batteries or more than 300 with NiMH batteries.
4.1 Mega pixel: Well, this is not that high MP level but sufficient for my needs.
and other SONY gadgematics. Full specs here.
Hmmm... since I have a camera, why shouldn't I publish some pictures of my personal belongings on the web. Well, I'll open another blog for this and let you know the address when it is done.
The total package costs me a little bit more than $380. The camera is $249 and the rest is spend on 512BM memory stick pro and an accessories kit comprises of a cute carrying bag, a memory stick case and a battery charger with two batteries. I didn't have much time to play around with it but the initial photos impressed me very much. These are reasons made me choose this partcular camera.
Cost: The camera is not that expensive. Only $249.
Lens: Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar Lens. This is a high quality german origin lens which helps to produce crystal clear, sharp images
Real Image Processor: This dramatically improves the response time.
2" LCD: This is really impressive. Very large LCD screen.
5 area Multipoint Auto Focus:Focusing is easy.
32MB internal Memory: Can shoot even without a Memory Card
Better Battery Life: Can shoot upto 100 shots with its AA size Alcaline batteries or more than 300 with NiMH batteries.
4.1 Mega pixel: Well, this is not that high MP level but sufficient for my needs.
and other SONY gadgematics. Full specs here.
Hmmm... since I have a camera, why shouldn't I publish some pictures of my personal belongings on the web. Well, I'll open another blog for this and let you know the address when it is done.
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Google Tip:
Want some ebooks? Oh, yeah... google does that easily. Another power searching lesson coming right up.
Google: -inurl:htm -inurl:html intitle:"index of" +("/ebooks"|"/book") +(chm|pdf|zip)
What does all of this mean? The -inurl htm and -inul html is attempting to get rid of regular webpages and show just index pages. Looking for index of in the title is doing the same. Using the pipe ( | ) tells google to look for something OR something else. Here we are telling google to look for book or ebook directories... and we have listed several common ebook formats (zip, pdf, chf).
If you would like to look for a particular author or title just tack it to the end of your search.
Google: -inurl:htm -inurl:html intitle:"index of" +("/ebooks"|"/book") +(chm|pdf|zip)
What does all of this mean? The -inurl htm and -inul html is attempting to get rid of regular webpages and show just index pages. Looking for index of in the title is doing the same. Using the pipe ( | ) tells google to look for something OR something else. Here we are telling google to look for book or ebook directories... and we have listed several common ebook formats (zip, pdf, chf).
If you would like to look for a particular author or title just tack it to the end of your search.
Thursday, May 05, 2005
GATES VS. GOOGLE ... Search and Destroy!!!
Pretty good (and lengthy) article on how Microsoft might be in big trouble if Google keeps expanding at its current rate.
The full article is here and I've extracted some pin points.
The darling of search is moving into software—and that's Microsoft's turf.
Today Google isn't just a hugely successful search engine; it has morphed into a software company and is emerging as a major threat to Microsoft's dominance. You can use Google software with any Internet browser to search the web and your desktop for just about anything; send and store up to two gigabytes of e-mail via Gmail (Hotmail, Microsoft's rival free e-mail service, offers 250 megabytes, a fraction of that); manage, edit, and send digital photographs using Google's Picasa software, easily the best PC photo software out there; and, through Google's Blogger, create, post online, and print formatted documents—all without applications from Microsoft.
But the idea that Google will one day marginalize Microsoft's operating system and bypass Windows applications is already starting to become reality. The most paranoid people at Microsoft even think "Google Office" is inevitable. Google is taking over operating system features too, like desktop search. There are fewer uses for the start button in Windows now that Google's desktop search can locate any program, document, photo, music file, or e-mail on a computer.
Microsoft's ambitious new operating system, code-named Longhorn, is more than a year late, even after having been scaled back. Linux, the free operating system that Gates once scoffed at, is fighting Microsoft for share in both the server and desktop markets, forcing the company to do the unthinkable: offer customer discounts. Last year it had to spend $1 billion to rewrite thousands of lines of code to make its programs less susceptible to viruses. Its Xbox gaming console is winning raves from players but has yet to make serious money. Meanwhile, Apple has stolen the show in online music with its hugely popular iPod and iTunes Music Store. Plus, the recently released Firefox browser, which can be downloaded free, has forced Gates to reconstitute an Internet Explorer development team. Indeed, four years have passed since Microsoft released a piece of software that generated the kind of buzz Google seems to generate every month.
Every month it seems as if Google hires away one of Microsoft's top developers. Before Google's IPO last fall, Microsoft executives dismissed this brain drain as a function of greed. But when the exodus continued after the IPO—especially when Marc Lucovsky, one of the chief architects of Windows, bolted for Google—it was clear that Microsoft had a bigger problem on its hands. As of March, roughly 100 Microsofties had left for its search nemesis.
"the first question out of their mouths was 'You're not going to Google, are you?' "
many of the most influential people at Google are hardened Microsoft warriors. Schmidt battled Gates as CTO of Sun Microsystems and CEO of Novell in the 1990s. Omid Kordestani, Google's head of ad sales, was a top executive at Netscape. Three of Google's directors, Ram Shriram, John Doerr, and Michael Moritz, have been on the front lines of Silicon Valley's war with Microsoft over the years.
Microsoft has a long, dramatic history of being a fast follower, rarely first in a market but ultimately providing the most accessible and practical solution, then outmarketing competitors. The company hasn't always played by the rules, but when it has gone after a market, it has done so quickly and aggressively. Current and former executives of companies like Apple, WordPerfect, Lotus, Novell, and of course Netscape can attest to that.
Windows wasn't better than the Macintosh; Word didn't improve on WordPerfect, or Excel on Lotus. Even Explorer was only as good as Netscape. Microsoft's genius was integrating them seamlessly to make them easier for customers to default to, and then using its marketing, distribution, and pricing clout. It won by attacking competitors' business models, not their technology.
Microsoft's array of weapons has so far proved next to useless against Google.
All the same, Microsoft is taking longer to catch Google than anyone could have imagined—and it will take longer still. Unless it can deliver search that is plainly better, most users won't bother to switch, says Piper Jaffray analyst Safa Rashtchy. He adds, "Google is a huge brand. From where I sit, it's their game to lose." The competition could well test Gates' patience as never before. In spring 2003 he told one of his executives, "These Google guys, they want to be billionaires and rock stars and go to conferences and all that. Let's see if they still want to run the business in two or three years." Well, two years have passed, and so far, they sure do.
The full article is here and I've extracted some pin points.
The darling of search is moving into software—and that's Microsoft's turf.
Today Google isn't just a hugely successful search engine; it has morphed into a software company and is emerging as a major threat to Microsoft's dominance. You can use Google software with any Internet browser to search the web and your desktop for just about anything; send and store up to two gigabytes of e-mail via Gmail (Hotmail, Microsoft's rival free e-mail service, offers 250 megabytes, a fraction of that); manage, edit, and send digital photographs using Google's Picasa software, easily the best PC photo software out there; and, through Google's Blogger, create, post online, and print formatted documents—all without applications from Microsoft.
But the idea that Google will one day marginalize Microsoft's operating system and bypass Windows applications is already starting to become reality. The most paranoid people at Microsoft even think "Google Office" is inevitable. Google is taking over operating system features too, like desktop search. There are fewer uses for the start button in Windows now that Google's desktop search can locate any program, document, photo, music file, or e-mail on a computer.
Microsoft's ambitious new operating system, code-named Longhorn, is more than a year late, even after having been scaled back. Linux, the free operating system that Gates once scoffed at, is fighting Microsoft for share in both the server and desktop markets, forcing the company to do the unthinkable: offer customer discounts. Last year it had to spend $1 billion to rewrite thousands of lines of code to make its programs less susceptible to viruses. Its Xbox gaming console is winning raves from players but has yet to make serious money. Meanwhile, Apple has stolen the show in online music with its hugely popular iPod and iTunes Music Store. Plus, the recently released Firefox browser, which can be downloaded free, has forced Gates to reconstitute an Internet Explorer development team. Indeed, four years have passed since Microsoft released a piece of software that generated the kind of buzz Google seems to generate every month.
Every month it seems as if Google hires away one of Microsoft's top developers. Before Google's IPO last fall, Microsoft executives dismissed this brain drain as a function of greed. But when the exodus continued after the IPO—especially when Marc Lucovsky, one of the chief architects of Windows, bolted for Google—it was clear that Microsoft had a bigger problem on its hands. As of March, roughly 100 Microsofties had left for its search nemesis.
"the first question out of their mouths was 'You're not going to Google, are you?' "
many of the most influential people at Google are hardened Microsoft warriors. Schmidt battled Gates as CTO of Sun Microsystems and CEO of Novell in the 1990s. Omid Kordestani, Google's head of ad sales, was a top executive at Netscape. Three of Google's directors, Ram Shriram, John Doerr, and Michael Moritz, have been on the front lines of Silicon Valley's war with Microsoft over the years.
Microsoft has a long, dramatic history of being a fast follower, rarely first in a market but ultimately providing the most accessible and practical solution, then outmarketing competitors. The company hasn't always played by the rules, but when it has gone after a market, it has done so quickly and aggressively. Current and former executives of companies like Apple, WordPerfect, Lotus, Novell, and of course Netscape can attest to that.
Windows wasn't better than the Macintosh; Word didn't improve on WordPerfect, or Excel on Lotus. Even Explorer was only as good as Netscape. Microsoft's genius was integrating them seamlessly to make them easier for customers to default to, and then using its marketing, distribution, and pricing clout. It won by attacking competitors' business models, not their technology.
Microsoft's array of weapons has so far proved next to useless against Google.
All the same, Microsoft is taking longer to catch Google than anyone could have imagined—and it will take longer still. Unless it can deliver search that is plainly better, most users won't bother to switch, says Piper Jaffray analyst Safa Rashtchy. He adds, "Google is a huge brand. From where I sit, it's their game to lose." The competition could well test Gates' patience as never before. In spring 2003 he told one of his executives, "These Google guys, they want to be billionaires and rock stars and go to conferences and all that. Let's see if they still want to run the business in two or three years." Well, two years have passed, and so far, they sure do.
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