Well, everyone I talk to at work seems to favor Kerry over Bush 9 to 1. The slogan I have often heard is "Any body but Bush". Kerry is defiitely getting our vote for sure. Here are the the reasons I can think of:
1. Kerry is not stupid like Bush. Our incumbant president is someone who cannot speak clearly and coherantly. Check out The Slate's Complete Buhism list. Kerry on the other hand seems like an intellectual.
2. Bush is too hard on the right taking pro-life, No Gun control and favors constituitional amendment to remove gay rights. I consider Kerry a moderate and he is pro-choice and though he does not approve of gay marriage, opposes constituitional amendment.
3. I really liked the Kerry I saw in presidential debates. I just could not tolerate Bush critisizing kerry saying "It can't be done" on many issues just because he could not do it.
4. He still hasn't caught Osama the mastermind. He is completely off track on war on terrisom.
5. Bush is someone who seem to have never made a mistake and it looks like because of that he never has grown up or learned anything
6. He looks to the Bible and kneels down before God to show him the way when he is confused.
7. Bush'es foreign policy is a mess.
8. I hate Mr.Dick and is cunning look.
9. Bush needs "Four more years" to make America safe. Lets not elect him so that he could work on that full time. Otherwise, he can't resist Camp David and will be slacking off.
10. John AssCroft needs to go. That SOB is not good for America and what it stands for.
Saturday, October 30, 2004
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
When are the printer manufactures going to learn?
It looks like customers are going to have a choice when it comes to ink cartridge refills. Here is the story link http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,118341,00.asp on the recent court ruling.
This article petty much says it all about the dirty tricks the printer manufactureres pull to lock in the customers. But they do it so badly, I have seen pretty easy(and smart) ways to fool the system into thinking that it got the original cartridge.
I consider these practices totally unfair who ever does this. The corporations are slowly turning into evil monsters that would do anything to get your every last penny. What next? Here are some projections:
Clothing companies will come up with things that we could only wear once
Food companies designing the food to expire more quickly to increase the sales
It seems that the corporate world is moving towards products that are short lived, use once types or products that dictate what we could do with to maximize and guarantee their survival.
This article petty much says it all about the dirty tricks the printer manufactureres pull to lock in the customers. But they do it so badly, I have seen pretty easy(and smart) ways to fool the system into thinking that it got the original cartridge.
I consider these practices totally unfair who ever does this. The corporations are slowly turning into evil monsters that would do anything to get your every last penny. What next? Here are some projections:
Clothing companies will come up with things that we could only wear once
Food companies designing the food to expire more quickly to increase the sales
It seems that the corporate world is moving towards products that are short lived, use once types or products that dictate what we could do with to maximize and guarantee their survival.
Sunday, October 24, 2004
Ashcroft working for Microsoft?
Recently I started noticing a trend towards eliminating some common phrases that has been in use for years at MS. My manager asked our team to start using the new phrases instead as they are less offending (to who?). Some of the phrases that were replaced are:
Bug Hell to Bug Jail- This is a term we used to refer to when a person has product bugs assigned to him that is beyond the bar agreed upon. We normally drop everything else we are doing and work towards getting below the bar. I guess the word "Hell" has some religious context to it and they are trying to avoid it.
Post mortem to Postpartum - We use this term to refer to process used by Product teams which do a post analysis of how well it did in the last milestone or release to look for process/product improvements and lessons to be learned. The reason for the change is that someone higher up thought that the term is inappropriate as post mortem is done after death.
When I first heard about these changes, it totallly pissed me off. Don't we have better things to do? These are words that are used in daily life and don't mean a damn to me. I clearly understand the context and the meaning when it is used. For someone to think of it like this reminded me of John Ashcroft's first acts as Attorney General. If you don't know what I am talking about, here is what he did (from http://prattle.antipope.org/archives/001192.html):
...Within weeks of Ashcroft's arrival, the revolution began, although initially only his subordinates realized it, as it came in the form of a scolding memo. According to a former Justice Department lawyer, the phrases We are proud of the Justice Department and There is no higher calling than public service, both of which had been pro forma in certain letters sent out to citizens and congressmen above the attorney general's signature, were to be excised. A call to Ashcroft's office provided an explanation of sorts: Pride is one of the seven deadly sins; therefore we could not have a letter going out that would have the word 'pride' or 'proud'. Moreover, there is a higher calling than public service, which is service to God.
For god's sake (Here is one that could be banned as well) I don't work in a religious establishment. I work for a technology company and censoring (yes, it is a form of censoring to me) in the internal communication means some religious psycho is enforcing his own views on everyone. I could think of a lot of words that we use in our daily lives and at work that could be replaced as well. Here are some:
"Triage" is one word which is used a lot in MS and should be eliminated since it refers to sorting and allocation of treatment to battle and disaster victims.
"Fucked up" is another word I hear a lot from people, in e-mail and even in source code comments. I know it is just a phrase. It does not mean the act of "F******".
Lets find something better to do next time. No thanks on your new alternatives.
Bug Hell to Bug Jail- This is a term we used to refer to when a person has product bugs assigned to him that is beyond the bar agreed upon. We normally drop everything else we are doing and work towards getting below the bar. I guess the word "Hell" has some religious context to it and they are trying to avoid it.
Post mortem to Postpartum - We use this term to refer to process used by Product teams which do a post analysis of how well it did in the last milestone or release to look for process/product improvements and lessons to be learned. The reason for the change is that someone higher up thought that the term is inappropriate as post mortem is done after death.
When I first heard about these changes, it totallly pissed me off. Don't we have better things to do? These are words that are used in daily life and don't mean a damn to me. I clearly understand the context and the meaning when it is used. For someone to think of it like this reminded me of John Ashcroft's first acts as Attorney General. If you don't know what I am talking about, here is what he did (from http://prattle.antipope.org/archives/001192.html):
...Within weeks of Ashcroft's arrival, the revolution began, although initially only his subordinates realized it, as it came in the form of a scolding memo. According to a former Justice Department lawyer, the phrases We are proud of the Justice Department and There is no higher calling than public service, both of which had been pro forma in certain letters sent out to citizens and congressmen above the attorney general's signature, were to be excised. A call to Ashcroft's office provided an explanation of sorts: Pride is one of the seven deadly sins; therefore we could not have a letter going out that would have the word 'pride' or 'proud'. Moreover, there is a higher calling than public service, which is service to God.
For god's sake (Here is one that could be banned as well) I don't work in a religious establishment. I work for a technology company and censoring (yes, it is a form of censoring to me) in the internal communication means some religious psycho is enforcing his own views on everyone. I could think of a lot of words that we use in our daily lives and at work that could be replaced as well. Here are some:
"Triage" is one word which is used a lot in MS and should be eliminated since it refers to sorting and allocation of treatment to battle and disaster victims.
"Fucked up" is another word I hear a lot from people, in e-mail and even in source code comments. I know it is just a phrase. It does not mean the act of "F******".
Lets find something better to do next time. No thanks on your new alternatives.
Saturday, October 23, 2004
Citizen Microsoft
This is a must read for every washingtonian. Here are some excerpts from the article:
...Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer told an audience of Eastern Washington University alumni: "Taxpayers in the state have to come to grips with the notion that we need to invest in higher education." It was a warning shot of sorts from the most influential CEO in the state. Ballmer had to know, however, that Microsoft wouldn't be footing much of the bill if taxpayers increased education funding. Seven years ago, Microsoft opened a small office in Reno, Nev., to collect the money it got from PC manufacturers that installed Windows and Office on the computers they sold. In the years since, Microsoft has sheltered more than $60 billion in royalty revenue in Nevada, a state with no corporate income tax, costing Washington an estimated $327 million in unrealized tax revenue. Ballmer's remark wasn't the only time Microsoft has been hypocritical about taxes and education... Democratic state Rep. Sharon Tomiko-Santos of Seattle, who sits on the House Finance Committee, disagrees. "One hundred million dollars more for schools could go a long way toward improving teacher compensation, reducing class size, or directing some targeted dollars to those struggling schools and students who might be able to use additional resources," she says. "It would seem to me that we could add a significant number of slots on the basic health care plan if we had $100 million. A hundred million biennially is a significant sum of money."
I couldn't agree more. Microsoft needs to re-think whether this soft offshoring is good for the state. What the author is talking about is the loss of revenue to the state that could have been used to improve the roads, schools & healthcare system.
Boing is no exception. It has even threatened the state with moving the production plants somewhere else to get huge tax benefits last year.
This started me into thinking if our state would be better off without them as the author suggests.
...Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer told an audience of Eastern Washington University alumni: "Taxpayers in the state have to come to grips with the notion that we need to invest in higher education." It was a warning shot of sorts from the most influential CEO in the state. Ballmer had to know, however, that Microsoft wouldn't be footing much of the bill if taxpayers increased education funding. Seven years ago, Microsoft opened a small office in Reno, Nev., to collect the money it got from PC manufacturers that installed Windows and Office on the computers they sold. In the years since, Microsoft has sheltered more than $60 billion in royalty revenue in Nevada, a state with no corporate income tax, costing Washington an estimated $327 million in unrealized tax revenue. Ballmer's remark wasn't the only time Microsoft has been hypocritical about taxes and education... Democratic state Rep. Sharon Tomiko-Santos of Seattle, who sits on the House Finance Committee, disagrees. "One hundred million dollars more for schools could go a long way toward improving teacher compensation, reducing class size, or directing some targeted dollars to those struggling schools and students who might be able to use additional resources," she says. "It would seem to me that we could add a significant number of slots on the basic health care plan if we had $100 million. A hundred million biennially is a significant sum of money."
I couldn't agree more. Microsoft needs to re-think whether this soft offshoring is good for the state. What the author is talking about is the loss of revenue to the state that could have been used to improve the roads, schools & healthcare system.
Boing is no exception. It has even threatened the state with moving the production plants somewhere else to get huge tax benefits last year.
This started me into thinking if our state would be better off without them as the author suggests.
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
My new Dell laptop
I just got my Dell 700m laptop. My initial impression is great given the reputation I had for dell. My configuration is 1.8Ghz Pentium M 745 Processor/512MB RAM/80 GB HDD.
If you plan to buy one, check the online sites which have dell coupons. Don't ever buy w/o the coupons. I saved around $600 using the coupons.
If you plan to buy one, check the online sites which have dell coupons. Don't ever buy w/o the coupons. I saved around $600 using the coupons.
Saturday, October 16, 2004
The Fox and the Grapes
This my story behind my XP SP2 upgrade. It does read like the Fox and the Grapes story.
Once upon a time, like everyone else, I was waiting for the SP2 which promises to make Windows more secure (I think it does a fairly good job. But that is not the story).
First, I first tried download it from microsoft.com and it wouldn't install as I did not have enough space to install!! Well, 400MB doesn't seem to be enough in my primary partition and few GB left in my other partitions.
Then I thought I could get around that this if I get my hands on the CD. Usually, you could get them at the building reception and so I tried. But it looked like that was the hot item and she told me that she didn't have any and referred me to some other building's reception which had a few copies. I was lazy enough to drive to the other bulding to get my copy. So I decided that I wouldn't bother upgrading it.
Couple of weeks passed and then came the internal event TechFest (or was it product fair?) were all the teams showcase the cool stuf they are working on. When I saw the XP SP2 booth, I ran towards it like a kid running towards a candy shop. I finally got a copy of the CD. Well my happiness did not last long. When I tried to install it, I was back to square one with the same "Not enough space" problem. I then told myself just like the fox that the grapes were sour anyway and never thought about it again.
Couple of weeks pass by without me not even thinking about this. One fine weekend, windows update kicked in and upgraded my machine w/o a glitch. I finally got my grapes.
Granted I have a old machine with all my hard disk filled up with crap, but I expected Microsoft to handle the upgrade much better which is very important to every one. In fact I uninstalled all my apps to cleanup disk space with no luck. I think we ought to get real and create solutions with real users and real scenarios in mind. I can't imagine how my mom would have upgraded to SP2 ever if she was in the exact situation. Long way to go Microsoft. You still are not listening as far as I can tell.
Once upon a time, like everyone else, I was waiting for the SP2 which promises to make Windows more secure (I think it does a fairly good job. But that is not the story).
First, I first tried download it from microsoft.com and it wouldn't install as I did not have enough space to install!! Well, 400MB doesn't seem to be enough in my primary partition and few GB left in my other partitions.
Then I thought I could get around that this if I get my hands on the CD. Usually, you could get them at the building reception and so I tried. But it looked like that was the hot item and she told me that she didn't have any and referred me to some other building's reception which had a few copies. I was lazy enough to drive to the other bulding to get my copy. So I decided that I wouldn't bother upgrading it.
Couple of weeks passed and then came the internal event TechFest (or was it product fair?) were all the teams showcase the cool stuf they are working on. When I saw the XP SP2 booth, I ran towards it like a kid running towards a candy shop. I finally got a copy of the CD. Well my happiness did not last long. When I tried to install it, I was back to square one with the same "Not enough space" problem. I then told myself just like the fox that the grapes were sour anyway and never thought about it again.
Couple of weeks pass by without me not even thinking about this. One fine weekend, windows update kicked in and upgraded my machine w/o a glitch. I finally got my grapes.
Granted I have a old machine with all my hard disk filled up with crap, but I expected Microsoft to handle the upgrade much better which is very important to every one. In fact I uninstalled all my apps to cleanup disk space with no luck. I think we ought to get real and create solutions with real users and real scenarios in mind. I can't imagine how my mom would have upgraded to SP2 ever if she was in the exact situation. Long way to go Microsoft. You still are not listening as far as I can tell.
Thursday, October 14, 2004
Apple Annoyance!
I have QuickTime 5.0.2 in my home machine. I wanted to remove it from startup programs. So I removed it using MsConfig.exe quite a few times. But it adds itself to the startup programs when I use QuickTime next time. Also, there are no options to turn this off in the Edit->Preferences. What kind of software is this that does not respect or allow user to control it? Quick google search didn't bring anything relevant!
If it was not for some sites requiring QuickTime, I would have un-installed it from my PC just for this. The RealPlayer really used to annoy me a lot which I uninstalled. QuickTime is probably next. I am happy with my media player
If it was not for some sites requiring QuickTime, I would have un-installed it from my PC just for this. The RealPlayer really used to annoy me a lot which I uninstalled. QuickTime is probably next. I am happy with my media player
Sunday, October 10, 2004
At last!
I have long been planning to create a blog for myself where I could post my thoughts on current affairs and about things that happen in my life. I really care less to make it popular. This is a primary means for me to capture my thoughts on a daily basis.
Let me see if I can stand up to this task.
Let me see if I can stand up to this task.
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