Open Source to Take Over Mainstream IT?

Within the next 12 years, 40 percent of IT jobs will be related to open source, and open-source-based cloud computing will be solving many problems in the real world, open-source advocates have predicted.

It is beyond doubt clear to all of us by now that open source is ruling the roost in Net space. be it Google, Wikipedia or any of their allied products, they are the ones marching ahead than the rest. MSN and Yahoo! have took a dip as compared to the open source products, and the reason is so obvious:
Open Source!

The predictions were made in the 2020 Floss Roadmap, produced for the Open World Forum event in Paris this week.

The authors of the roadmap outlined seven areas of change for 2020:

• Floss (free/libre/open-source software) will become mainstream. It will be the de facto standard for areas such as development tools, infrastructure and scientific computing, as well as being widespread in other sectors

• Forty percent of IT jobs will be related to Floss

• Floss will free businesses from vendor lock-in, providing a "vaccine against abusive behavior from a commercial vendor"

• Floss will help reduce the global digital divide, as it is a collaborative effort that works for sustainable development of a shared resource

• Open-source communities will help build business ecosystems for specific markets

• Green datacenters will lead to business models with a low ecological impact, in "the next industrial revolution"

• Cloud computing will be ubiquitous, and social networking will be the main way to communicate with businesses and government

For this vision of the future to become reality, the open-source community has to take several steps, the authors said. For example, the community has to help set a tone of 'openness' when working with companies and governments, and encourage these to adopt the same approach. In addition, the community must push for a stable legal system for software — and this includes standing firm against the idea of software patents.

Companies and universities have to invest in open-source research and development, as well as training, according to the report. They must also promote the use of open-source software and the idea that users should make a contribution back to the open-source world. The report also warns that different open-source communities can be insular, and states that they must participate in 'cross-fertilization' and code-sharing.

Cloud computing offers a big opportunity for the Floss movement, as cloud providers very often use open-source infrastructure, according to the report. But there are risks in this, since these providers may not contribute to the open-source ecosystem.

If that occurs, the open-source model could get "diluted", according to the report. For example, some open-source licenses may be irrelevant or unenforceable in a situation where users buy a service rather than software.

The way to combat this is for service providers to develop open platforms, built around shared infrastructures, and use them to deliver open services under new licenses, the authors said. "Industry alone cannot resolve every problem," they cautioned, arguing for open services on the model of free-content sites such as Wikipedia.

MacBook Air

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The Apple CEO Steve Jobs holds an evelope containing the new MacBook Air during his keynote at the MacWorld Conference in San Francisco

The Super-Slim new laptop is less than an inch thick and turns on the moment it's opened.

MacBook's Air measures 0.16 inches(0.4cm) at its thinnest point while its maximum height of 0.76 inches(1.93 cm) is less than the thinnest point on competing notebooks

Chandrayaan-1 "India In The 21st Century"

It is India's first mission to the moon by India's national space agency Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The unmanned lunar exploration mission includes a lunar orbiter and an impactor. The spacecraft was launched by a modified version of the PSLV XLon 22 October 2008 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh at 06:23 IST (00:52 UTC). The vehicle was successfully put into the lunar orbit on 8th November 2008.The estimated cost for the project is Rs. 3.86 billion (US$ 80 million).

The remote sensing satellite weighs 1,380 kilograms (3,042 lb) at launch and 675 kilograms (1,488 lb) at lunar orbit and carries high resolution remote sensing equipment for visible, near infrared, soft and hard X-ray frequencies. Over a two-year period, it is intended to survey the lunar surface to produce a complete map of its chemical characteristics and 3-dimensional topography. The polar regions are of special interest, as they might contain ice. Also included in the mission, are the five ISRO payloads and six payloads from other international space agencies including NASA, ESA, and the Bulgarian Aerospace Agency, which are being carried free of cost.

Objectives

The stated scientific objectives of the mission are:^[11]

• To design, develop and launch and orbit a spacecraft around the Moon using Indian made launch vehicle.
• Conduct scientific experiments using instruments on-board the spacecraft which will yield the following results:

• To prepare a three-dimensional atlas (with high spatial and altitude resolution of 5-10 m) of both near and far side of the moon.
• To conduct chemical and mineralogical mapping of the entire lunar surface for distribution of mineral and chemical elements such as Magnesium, Aluminum, Silicon, Calcium, Iron and Titanium as well as high atomic number elements such as Radon, Uranium & Thorium with high spatial resolution.
• To impact a sub-satellite ( Moon Impact Probe -MIP ) on the surface on the Moon as a fore-runner to future soft landing missions

Specifications

Mass

1380 kg at launch, 675 kg at lunar orbit,^[12] and 523 kg after releasing the impactor.

Dimensions

Cuboid in shape of approximately 1.5 m

Communications

X band, 0.7 m diameter parabolic antenna for payload data transmission. The Telemetry, Tracking & Command (TTC) communication operates in S band frequency.

Power

The spacecraft is mainly powered by its solar array, which includes one solar panel covering a total area of 2.15 x 1.8 m generating 700 W of power, which is stored in a 36 A·h Lithium-ion battery.^[13] The spacecraft uses a bipropellant integrated propulsion system to reach lunar orbit as well as orbit and altitude maintenance while orbiting the Moon

Specific areas of study

• High-resolution mineralogical and chemical imaging of permanently shadowed north and south polar regions.
• Search for surface or sub-surface water-ice on the Moon, specially at lunar poles.
• Identification of chemical end members of lunar high land rocks.
• Chemical stratigraphy of lunar crust by remote sensing of central upland of large lunar craters, South Pole Aitken Region (SPAR) etc., where interior material may be expected.
• To map the height variation of the lunar surface features along the satellite track.
• Observation of X-ray spectrum greater than 10 keV and stereographic coverage of most of the Moon's surface with 5m resolution
• To provide new insights in understanding the Moon's origin and evolution.

Payloads

The scientific payload has a total mass of 90 kg and contains five Indian instruments and six foreign instruments

MICROSOFT WINDOWS IN HINDI

Bill Gates was in India last year. He announced that Microsoft plans to release a Windows version in Hindi. Here are some ofthe Windows related terms that have been approved by Bill Gatesto be used in the Hindi version of… Atyant Mulayam Khidkiyan
Atyant Mulayam = Microsoft

Khidki = Window

Phaail = File

Bachao = Save

Aise Bachao = Save as

Subko Bachao = Save All

Mujhe Bachao = Help

Madad Pe Madad = Help On Help

Dhoondo = Find

Firse Dhoondo = Find Again

Hilao = Move

Chaara = Options

Bura sandesh yaa phail naam = Bad command or file name

Garbh girao, Firse koshish karo, Naakaamyab = Abort, retry,fail

chhavo = Tile

Aadmi Bhejo = Send Mail

Daak = Mai

lDaakiya = Mailer

Bhaago = Run

Chhaapo = Print

Dekh Ke Chhaapo = Print Preview

Chipkao = Paste

Khaas Chipkao = Paste Special

Mitao = Delete

Kagaz Uper = Page Up

Kagaz Neeche = Page Down

Anth = End

Saaf karo = Clear

Sab Kuch Saaf Karo = Clear All

Makan = Home

Topi Ka Tala = CapsLock

Hathiyaar = Tools

Khuli Chaadar = Spreadsheet

Futaas Ki Goli Kha = Exit

Ped = Tree

Chooha = Mouse

Chooha Chalak = Mouse Driver (Software)

Tik-Tik Karo = Click

Idhar-se-Udhar,Udhar-se-Idhar Wala Danda = Scrollbar

Pardha = Screen

Pardha Bachanewala = Screen Saver

Krimi = Virus

Tika = Anti Virus

Karo = Do

Galthi = Error

Chabi Phalak = Key board

Choohha Ka Bisthar = Mouse Pad

Avaaz Phodney Wali Cheez = Sound Blaster

Antarjatiya Jaal = InterNet

Baath Cheeth Dabba = Dialog Box

Chale? = Exit?

Microsoft Windows slogans

After first seeing Microsoft’s slogan for its New Windows XP operating system, “it just works,” I couldn’t help wondering: what were the slogans for all the previous releases? After thinking about it for a while, they became obvious.
Windows 1.0: Good joke, eh?Windows 2.0: Still funny, isn’t it?Windows 286: Yeah, we’re still kidding.Windows 386: Going boldly where Desqview has been for years.Windows 3.0: It’s finally worth buying!Windows 3.1: It’s finally worth using!Windows 95: Going boldly where the Mac has been for years.Windows 98: More usable! Less stable!Windows 98SE: More stable! Less usable!Windows ME: Less usable AND less stable!NT 1.0: Give me more hardware! NOW!!!NT 2.0: Dammit, I said MORE HARDWARE!!! NOW!!!!NT 3.0: Which part of “more hardware” do you not understand?NT 3.5: With enough hardware, I’d work. Honest.NT 4.0: Does less than Win98 with twice the hardware at one-half the speed.Windows 2K: Works almost as well as Windows 98! Honest!Windows XP: It just works.

A second clock in the Windows tray?

Since I talk with many people who aren't finnish, I've sometimes had some problems with their timezones and such. You know, sometimes it's useful to know what time it is somewhere else.You could of course just open up google and look up a page with the time for the place or change the windows timezone temporarily so the clock would show the correct time there... But that's kind of annoying and time consuming, so I came up with a solution: Display a second configurable clock in the system tray!
Problem

So what do we need? Only a little bit of C# code and a vision.I had this simple idea: Since an application can display an icon in the tray, why not just display two icons instead of one - Hours in the first icon, minutes in the second icon.All you need to do is generate some icons on the run for the numbers and make sure they show next to each other in the tray, in the correct order. A simple interface for changing the hour and minute offset would be useful too.
Solution

Creating an interface is easy in Visual Studio 2005. The icon generation and ordering in the tray was the only small challenge.I found out you can easily generate icons by creating a Bitmap on the run in the app. Just draw some numbers to it and use Icon.FromHandle(bitmap.GetHicon()).Getting the icons show up in the correct order was equally simple: You just need to toggle their visibility in the tray off and then back on again in the correct order.
Files

As usual, here are both the source code and the executable file for the application. TrayClock executable (zip, 5kB)TrayClock source (zip, 13kB)When you start the program, you get the configuration screen where you can set the offset from current time. Add a - in the front for negative offset. After setting the time you can hide the configuration screen by clicking the minimize icon. To get back into the configuration, just doubleclick on either of the icons in the tray.I've tested the program and it runs fine for hours and hours - until the screensaver kicks in, which will cause the icons in the tray to disappear because of a GDIException which I was unable to solve... You just have to restart it after that or if you can fix it, let me know!

Feeling Bored

I hope this piece of my writing will make the above point clear beyond any doubts...for mentioned herewith is purely inconsequential nothing, pure gibberish, utter waste of time and timepass ..... for i am getting utterly bored at this point of time, with all the things in the world to do but no will to do them, because i am getting bored and I shall prove to you beyond any doubt that i am , as i mentioned before as that being the aim of my present venture...I was contemplating the sheer lack of topics to blog about, or perhaps the lack of will to actually blog one, so i decide to blog about nothing, pure inconsequential and worthless nothing......now as you say an idle mind is devil's workshop (and believe me I have had more than my fair share of contributing the large thing that is between my ears to his workplace), but this time i think it is finally giving way.....because it has nothing to do; actually it does have somethign to do but actually the work has been stalled *by this time i think that you are somewhat convinced that i am really jobless....Warning If you continue further i assume you are jobless too and may as well go mad after reading this, so please proceed at your own risk).......so the time that i write this i am inside my lab and ready to sleep there , because i am not working or put it better not in a mood to work, or might be better put still; my efforts now would be purely inconsequential and fruitless as my work has been stalled and it is beyong my scope and power to put it somewhat back on track; or so i shall attempt to do after blogging my frustration out.......but as for now as i have already mentioned before a hundred odd times { i know that is plain exxaggggeration (yes it is exxaggggeration, spelt with one extra x and two extra g's)}.....(well nice bracketing that)........so as mentioned before a hundred and one times ( sorry was a PJ ; but now you may seem to unsderstand how jobless I am ) that i am about to bore you, as i am bored myself and talk about pure, plain, bland nothing, because i have nothing more enlightening to talk to , no operating systems, no sad poems, no wardens no nothign to blog about just the oldest thing i know....how to get bored...and talk real crap.....as you know a wise man (read Me)once said that "Life is full of Crap. and Crap is caused due to human joblessness" (actually Buddha forgot to patent his "life is full of sorrow and sorrow is caused due to human desire" wala dialogue...).....nowi would really appreciate your courage mate if you are still reading this because reading this requires an unusually high level of focus and dogged determination.......but i promise you that i wont be writing such masterpieces of human expression again (because you will kill me the next time you meet me, after reading the full blog, and are alive after that)......so i congrtulate you again for having read this piece of pure rubbish...........and i congratulate myself on my newfound ability of boring people, and getting bored myself......(these .'s really come handy)...........(sorry PJ but they DO come handy)......(give you thinking time).......if you still are in doubt that i am bored......."god save me"