Lost opportunities

It is XBox 360 time again! I am one of those gamers who couldn't get his hands on this shiny new gaming machine. So you could call it a rant from a disgruntled gamer. But now that I have done some thinking around the whole thing, I see many signs of how MS executed (executing) it so badly. So here are my points:

1. Does supply does meet demand?: Microsoft set launch date and I am fairly certain that it predicted the demand as well. But it failed to provide adequate supply of units for the holidays. It has been a month since the launch and I still don't see this damn thing on the store shelves.

2. Make hay while sun shines: This season is the best time of the year when people make impluse buys or not worry about spending their dollars that much (I sure is one of them) or want to gift someone that hottest items in the market to their loved ones. It failed to capitalize on this sentiment or momentum. What is the point of building the hype when there is nothing to benefit on it?

3. Why lose money when you don't have to?: The hardware isn't making money for Microsoft as this story goes. If the demand is so high, why wouldn't/shouldn't it make some money out of these things? I would have expected the initial pricing to be higher so that only the core gamers and people could afford can buy them. Would it have had the effect of reduced sales? I don't think so. I see people buying/selling these things at a minimum of $600 and as high as $1500. I have even made offers to the extent of $675 for a $399 system and was turned down. I would rather see the Microsoft and its shareholders make money out of this demand rather than the people on ebay or others.

4. Why buy the old? If the hype is so high and the demand is so high, why would anyone want to buy the old XBox or its games? In fact, retailers like Bestbuy reported that their game sales is down as much as 12%

5. Why bite more than you can swallow?: Microsoft made another big mistake by setting simultaneous worldwide launch (USA, Europe & Japan) when it couldn't even handle the demand in USA. In fact when people raised these issues prior to launch, Microsoft said it could meet the demands fine but see for yourselves.

6. When there is a choice, there will be some research: With the possibility of the supply not matching demand as late as march of 2006, I am pretty sure that some significant percentage of gamers would choose to wait for the Sony's PS3 launch which is set to second quarter of 2006. When that time comes, I am sure people are going to compare both and make informed decisions based on what they see fits them best (Price/Games/Features etc). So Microsoft has only 4 or so months before it runs into competition and the sony momentum builds. It will be a huge mistake to underestimate PS3 launch when we know what happened to PS2.

I totally see the huge mistakes and all the lost opportunities. I can't stop laughing when Microsoft talks about Asia launch!! Sure it can do it anytime. Because it is all a matter of making few thousand units available and then disappoint the gamers in the other parts of the world and then call it a hugely successful launch.

Judge rules against ‘intelligent design’

I could summarize it all in one sentance "There is still hope". Not all is lost and there are still rational and sane people living in this society. There is some hope and the country is showing signs that it not getting more conservative. I see peole questioning President on every thing from his policies to his decisions these days. This is good.

Here is the news:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10545387/
Excerpts from the link:
During the trial, the board argued that it was trying improve science education by exposing students to alternatives to Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and natural selection.
The policy required students to hear a statement about intelligent design before ninth-grade lessons on evolution. The statement said Darwin’s theory is “not a fact” and has inexplicable “gaps.” It referred students to an intelligent-design textbook, “Of Pandas and People.”
But the judge said: “We find that the secular purposes claimed by the board amount to a pretext for the board’s real purpose, which was to promote religion in the public school classroom.”
The disclaimer, he said, "singles out the theory of evolution for special treatment, misrepresents its status in the scientific community, causes students to doubt its validity without scientific justification, presents students with a religious alternative masquerading as a scientific theory, directs them to consult a creationist text as though it were a science resource and instructs students to forgo scientific inquiry in the public school classroom and instead to seek out religious instruction elsewhere."

3% is a lot. It means 1 in 33 units are defective

Microsoft claims that only 3% of the XBox 360 units sold have been faulty, which is below the industry average. (Through www.engadget.com)

Since when did 3% of defective units is acceptable. If percentage looks very small to anyone, it is 12,000 units given that 400,000 units have been sold so far. Personally, that is an aweful lot of defective units. Microsoft just can't and shouldn't extend its software standards to its hardware devices when it wants to take over the living room of every household. People expect a lot more stability and reliability from devices like these. I for one is so glad that Microsoft isn't getting into Cars (or any other appliances). 3% would be lot and I would stop driving the car when the day comes.

Many readers of the article commented along the lines of what I feel. Here are some (ofcourse I am biased here by posting only the ones that supports my view =:0)
Posted Dec 1, 2005, 4:51 PM ET by KB
I don't play video games by any means and could care less about the Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo fueds but since when did 3% of manufactured XBox's to be defective was a "good" percent? Thats actually AWFUL. Is this what U.S. quality control standards have come down to?

Posted Dec 1, 2005, 6:09 PM ET by wxrman
Aren't you glad Microsoft doesn't make heart pace makers!

Sarah/Haloman, I have taken my "product quality control" classes or whatever you want. I have interned at GE. Six sigma is 3.4 defective for every million, not 100.

Posted Dec 1, 2005, 6:13 PM ET by umrain
3% means 1 in every 33 units is bad. that sounds rather poor to me.

Cable channels a la carte - Revisited

It seems FCC is having second thoughts about allowing "A La Carte" option for the consumers. That is not what I wanted to mention here. I came across this article at www.engadget.com (which is my favorite site) which made arguments which didn't make a lot of sense. First the author said the following
"..If you make a channel like say “The History Channel” stand on its own, the number of people who watch the channel would plummet. This would cause the cost of the channel to rise which would, in turn, cause the number of viewers to decrease. It’s a standard supply and demand curve and with each decrease in viewership, the loss of potential advertising revenue exacerbates the issue."
which is O.K with me. But going by the same supply-demand theory, the following cannot be true
"...The majority of cable television programming costs are due to a few select channels such as ESPN"
Based on the supply-demand, if more people prefer watching select channels, then the cost should obviously go down isn't? If I own a channel, I would price it lower so that I could have a broader reach instead of charging a premium and have few people opt it.

The other thing that I hated about the article is the author's negativity about something that hasn't been tried. Why would you oppose something that gives consumers more choices? If this new scheme fails in the market, that is a different thing. Let the market decide. What does the consumer have to lose or the cable providers have to lose because of all this? Nothing.

Sure XBox 360 was a success. But...

Sure it is a great machine and is going to change the gaming experience for the better. Not doubt about that.

But, I for one is very dissatisfied with the execution. Microsoft set a launch date in May 2005 and had plenty of time in its hands to make enough available for the launch date. I saw the demand for at least 10million units in North America on Nov 22nd,2005 and saw so little available. I for one did a bit of waiting in the night and the morning after and saw how disappointed so many people where. I think Microsoft missed the opportunity to cash in on the excitement and sell more units on that day. I call this the carpet-bombing strategy. Hollywood knows this strategy better than anyone else. Any new movie like "LOTR" for example runs in as many theaters as possible on any given cineplex so that people come see it on the excitement built so far.

With Sony's PS3 available mid 2006, I am sure many who considered Xbox 360 will wait rather than buy it. I called Dell the other day and they said any orders might take February/March of 2006 to deliver. If that is going to take that long, a few more months wouldn't hurt waiting to see what Sony has to offer for its PS3.

FDA and the "Morning after" fiasco

There is no end to Bush's idealogical war which overrides common sense and forces people to see it the conservative way. I am deeply offended and pissed by an non-political (but governmental) organization like FDA sidestepping its responsibilities and procrastinating the decision. FDA should weigh any decision based on scientific evidence and the side effects of a specific drug. With conservatives in control, gone are the days where any department can make decisions based on the facts rather than their idealogies of the president or the forces behind him.

Link: Women are waiting.

Here is the timeline as available from the site. 4 years is a pretty long time:
November 14, 2005 : GAO report confirms "unusual" process for Plan B® application for over-the-counter status.
August 26, 2005: FDA misses its deadline for the third time.
January 21, 2005: FDA delays its decision on Plan B® again.
May 6, 2004: The FDA bows to political pressure and denies the application to switch Plan B® to over-the-counter status.
February 13, 2004: The FDA postpones its decision on Plan B® for 90 days.
December 16, 2003: Two scientific panels of experts at the FDA vote overwhelmingly to recommend the morning-after pill for over-the-counter sales.
February 14, 2001: 70 medical and public health organizations file a citizen's petition urging the FDA to make emergency contraception available over the counter.

God, please bless america and throw right wing conservatives out of power. We had enough. Let people make their choices and not the government.

Sexy and sophisticated with a cute edge

That is how David Wang put it when talking about his Mac Mini experience and the Apple. Nicely written blog David. My computer is at least 4 years old and I have been thinking of switching to a Mac.

If anyone has been reading my blogs, it is easy to come to the conclusion that I am with him and share a lot of his sentiments. Windows always seems crude and is like a product thown out to the customer before it is even ready. Sure some one could claim it is technically superior, but I don't agree fully with that claim. For Microsoft, software is (1) a business and (2) a tool to help make people more productive. Nothing more and nothing less.

Google is going to charge access fee

No, it is the other way around. Just wanted to have a sensational title! Here is what caught my attention and my OpEd following that:

SBC Head Ignites Access Debate
"...The head of a major telecommunications company stirred up a hornets' nest this week by suggesting that he wants to charge companies like Google and Yahoo a fee for bringing them into consumers' homes."

Sure SBC can say and make any claims they want to. But this is one of the stupidest things I have heard from my point of view. You know why? Web isn't a much useful place w/o a lot of sites like these and infact it is the SBC which should be paying sites like Google for bringing customers to them :-) It is not like SBC is providing the bandwidth free of charge and wants someone to pay. It is charging customers a lot for the bandwidth and the whole reason customers are ready to pay them is because they want to access content or services provided by these sites.

Think of the traditional TV broadcasting. It is the companies like Comcast, Dish & DirectTV who pay the content providers (like CBS, NBC, CNN..) to bring their content to the consumer's home and in turn they charge consumers a hefty sum for being the middlemen. Not the other way around.

I think it is time the SBC chief starts thinking about the new economy.

Design matters, visuals matter...it ALL matters!

Garr Raynolds has 2 excellent blogs that reflect my current thinking very well. Be it a product or a presentation, Microsoft seems very focussed on content and misses every thing else.
Bill Gates and visual complexity
Gates, Jobs, & the Zen aesthetic

Miers withdraws nomination for US Supreme Court

I for one is go glad she withdrew her nomination. She is a fine lady but doesn't have what it takes to be in the supreme court.

I really wish that Bush chooses someone outside of his circle who is respected in the legal community and has the experience to sit in the nation's highest court.

BTW, I really feel Sandra Day's departure is a great loss.

Harriet-Microsoft Nexus

I was reading Harriet Miers's senate questionnaire and was pleseantly surprised to see that she was a lead local counsel for Microsoft. Here is what she said about her role:

Microsoft Corp. v. Manning, 914 S.W.2d 602 (Tex. App.—Texarkana 1995, pet. dism’d).
I served as lead local counsel for Microsoft and was the principal client contact. This case was an appeal from a state-court ruling that had granted the plaintiffs’ motion
33
for class certification. The putative class of software purchasers sued Microsoft alleging breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty, unjust enrichment, and violations of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty--Federal Trade Commission Improvement Act, and Washington Consumer Protection Act. The case turned on the interplay between state and Federal class action laws, and also raised Federal constitutional issues involving the proper application of the Due Process Clause and the Full Faith and Credit Clause. Other issues included the speculative nature of the damages where no actual loss of data was shown and whether or not reliance-based causes of action could be certified as a class action in light of the multitude of individual fact issues arising from each class member’s circumstances. Microsoft contended that the trial court’s class certification violated Microsoft’s due process rights under the state and Federal constitutions and the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the United States Constitution. Specifically, Microsoft argued that the trial court violated the Constitution by applying Texas law to plaintiffs outside Texas whose own states’ laws did not recognize such a legal theory. However, the trial court held that the class certification did not violate constitutional due process or the Full Faith and Credit Clause. Microsoft lost its appeal to the intermediate appellate court. On behalf of Microsoft, I filed a Petition for Writ of Mandamus with the Texas Supreme Court, oral argument was granted and briefs were filed. After Microsoft filed its brief with the Texas Supreme Court, the district court, on its own motion, vacated its class certification ruling, stating expressly that it did so after finding Microsoft’s Supreme Court brief persuasive. (Subsequently, the Texas Supreme Court affirmed Microsoft’s position in this case by holding that reliance-based causes of action are not suitable for class certification. See Henry Schein, Inc. v. Stromboe, 102 S.W.3d 675 (Tex. 2002)). Thereafter, the plaintiff non-suited the case.

Whatever it is, I still think "Mr.World's smartest President Bush" could have selected a better candidate.

Apple, Never it was and never it will be

I am so glad I am not using any of the Apple products to encourage some of what they are doing. What pisses me off so much? Read it for yourself:

Apple steps up iPod 'tax' push
"...Apple has made the program a requirement for manufacturers who want their gadgets to plug into the "dock connector" at the bottom of the music player, Senior Vice President Phil Schiller confirmed to CNET News.com last week. "
"...According to a source familiar with the program, Apple is getting a royalty on the order of 10 percent of a device's wholesale price."

I can't imagine Dell/Hp or any other Computer/gadget manufacturer taxing other companies when they release products that electronically connect to the use the ports they provide. What a short sighted strategy!! Talk about Microsoft being a close source/proprietery yada yada. Technically, they could demand or do whatever they want to do. They don't understand that it is a win-win situation for everyone to not have iPod tax. It may benefit Apple short term but in the long run, it isn't helping them build an industry around Apple just like Microsoft built. Even if Microsoft/Intel doesn't do much now, the industry lets them flourish due to some what less restrictive policies.

Apple has been doing something similar with their Mac hardware by trying to kill the competiton. Which is why I think Apple will never be a major long term player. It will have spikes but not steady growth.

Quag-Miers

Bush has again proved that he is incapable and incompetent. Doesn't he know anyone more capable outside of his circle of trust? He puts people who he trusts/loyal in top jobs even though they barely meet the standards and qualification for the job. Here are my favorites
1. Alberto Gozales in justice department
2. Micheal Brown the chief of FEMA who got fired recently. He was the president of Arabian Horses Association with no background on emergency management.
3. Linda Chavez as labor secretary who withdrew from candidacy
4. His nominee for DHS Bernard B. Kerik who withdrew
5. Timothy Flanigan as deputy attorney general who Mr.Bush himself withdrew the nomination
6. The nomination of Bolton for U.N. Though he had the qualification, he chose the wrong person for job at hand which is to bring the world together. Bolton is known to be divisive and people including Colin Powell thought that it wasn't a good choice
7. Paul Wolfowitz who is now the president of the World bank knows only how best to kill people and have no background on macro economy. Compare him with the last president!
8. And the latest, Harriet Miers who has no judicial background other than being a private lawyer now being appointed for the nation's higest court

What is going on? Nothing. Good for the rest of the world. Bad for America. The American people are shooting themselves in the foot by letting these happen. The capitalistic attitude is completely missing in these nominations by picking the top candidate for the job. There is a saying that Bad hires end up making more bad hires and here is an example right before our eyes.

Say no to Hybrids

Since the day I learned about the Hybrid cars, I wanted one but resisted the urge to go get one. Bottomline, you are much better off, money savy and do more for the environment by driving a "1992 GEO METRO" than today's Hybrid. Here are the top reasons why I didn't think it was a great idea to go buy a Hybrid:

• They are expensive. I could not find a seller who sells it below the sticker price++ and without the few months wait. If you are in for a Hybrid to save some money because of its gas mileage, you aren't getting any benefit for at least the first 5 years. In other words, they offset any savings you may get through better mileage.
• These Hybrid vehicles depreciate faster.
• The EPA mileage rating is a scam and the average real world mileage is around 45MPG (not 60+ as published which is under some standard test condition). You are much better off buying a "Geo Metro" as it has better fuel efficiency than Prius for example.
• Hybrids are a diversion and it buys time for the vehicle manufactures from really developing cleaner alternatives like Hydrogen vehicles.
• No one knows how the batteries used by the Hybrids are going to be disposed/recycled. It is a environmental disaster waiting to happen and no one is talking about it since it has not reached the critical mass.
• They are slow and not time tested. The first 5 years are like the test period for these vehicles and we wouldn't know about their reliability and maintainability until this time passes.

Though I had come up with many of the above findings originally by researching it on the internet, I ran into this article which pretty much sums up what I had learned. Here is the summary found from that article:

There is no sensible reason to buy hybrid.

Fuel savings are minimal, performance suffers, repair is problematic and the price is high. The powertrain is overly complicated, and though automakers have thoroughly tested these vehicles, they will likely suffer when exposed to real world driving conditions. As a result, in a few years there will be mountains of batteries that automakers can't dispose of properly, and fleets of hybrids will be selling cheap on used car lots. If you still want a hybrid when this happens, go for it -- you're sure to get a good price. Or you can have fun now with a car that moves you better at a lower price, and wait until hydrogen cars hit the market.

I got my RC9800i. Did you?

I recently bought Philips RC9800i Home controller to control all the A/V devices and I am really happy about it after using it for about 2 weeks. Not to mention that I had 5 remotes that I was switching between them all the time. I was initiallly deciding between

1. Logitech Harmony 880 Advanced universal remote
2. Philips RC9800i
3. Philips TSU7000 home control panel

I didn't choose Harmony because it is not future proof and didn't like the big huge remote. But this is the best remote in $200 range. I would have loved TSU7000 but didn't want to spend > $700 bucks for a universal remote. Also, I wanted a simple device without the customizability and programmability as I know I would have time to do anything with it.

I got my RC9800i for $400 bucks which was the lowest on the web at time of my purchase. I initially had trouble setting up the devices but after few iterations mastered it. What I love about it:
1. Form factor
2. Activity based and ease of use
3. Out of the box experience is great and my firmware update etc went w/o a hitch
4. Comes with 802.11b Wireless support and uPnP support. I can connect this to Philips Media Manager and download Pictures/Songs etc to the device
5. Allows Multi-Room/Multi Device configurations.
6. I belive I could use RF Extender to extend the range if I want to

But I still have few issues to sort out which could very well be bugs in the product:
1. It does not recognize my PMM even though it successfully connects to my WAP. Opened up bunch of ports as suggested, turned off the firewall and did all the standard tricks. But no avail
2. It does not turn off my DVD player when I switch to watching other activity.

A Bookful month

Yes, I was able to read 3 books this last month even through the tight work schedule. I would have to rate all 3 as excellent and I would recommend this to anyone. Here are the titles:

Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions

The Best Software Writing I: Selected and Introduced by Joel Spolsky

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information

If anyone has any good suggestions on non-fiction, drop me a comment!

Brownie, you are doing a heck of a job

Well, why the heck then the FEMA director, Michael D. Brown was sent back home and not leading the relief efforts? I think the president is making himself look like a fool by making statements like these w/o getting to the bottom of it before putting his stamp of approval. I wonder if loyalty weighs more than anything else in order to get the top notch job in Bush Administration.

An interesting revelation in the light of recent disaster is that the Director of FEMA had no experience or background in emergency management at all. He worked as undersecretary to "Arabian Horse association" before taking the job at FEMA. Didn't the Bush Administration find anyone more appropriate for one of the most important jobs in DHS?

Talking about Katrina, I heart goes for those who suffered and lived (or lining) the nightmare and for those who died, I don't have words to describe my sorrow. It didn't have to end this way.

Longest presidential retreat in at least 36 years

Well, I am talking about Mr.Bush again! Our beloved president made history again. He has done so much for the nation that he thought he deserved a 5 week vacation (yes a little less than 1-1/2 months and not to mention that this is his 49th trip to the ranch!!!) and he didn't miss out the opportunity. I don't know of any employer in U.S that gives its hard working employees 5 weeks a year vacation. I get a pitiful 3 weeks which is nothing IMO.

Here is the more important piece of information. Last time he took a month's vacation, we had 9/11 and this time it was Katrina!

One thing that I still could not understand is that what about those frequent trips to Camp David and the ranches? Do they count as vacation too or are they considered sort of telecommuting like we know in the tech industry? I know he is the dumbest president but he also proved that he is a slacker as well.

Here is the WashingtonPost.com article and on the funnier side, the coverage from TheOnion.com

The illusion of fairness

Let me first say that I got a 3.5 review this time and got a hefty bonus etc etc. So I am not the so called loser wining. My average review rating is way above 3.0 and after having gone through this for the couple of years, I still think that the review system is unfair and does not encourage colloboration, team effort and make people more individualistic. I really felt good at the moment I knew I got a 3.5 rating. Soon after I exited my manager's office, my enthusiam vanished as I started thinking about my teams accomplishment and how almost 1/3 of the team got screwed with 3.0 even though I think the team did an amazing job. My boss's boss refers to our last year as "Running Hot" implying the long hours put by the team and the team's drive to the finish line on time. Well, if that was true, I would have expected everyone in the team to get an equal share of the pie. That didn't happen for certain.

What is the solution? Read the employee feedback in MS Poll. In other words, the management is not listening to the employees in this matter!!!

One and only thing I wish for

Everything in my life is something I can live with. The headline Israel Confirms Plan to Seize West Bank Land for Barrier in NYTimes got me into disliking the Israel govenment even more for its actions. While I appreciated the gaza withdrawl, it had not changed much of my attitude towards the government. There has been so much land grab (since the six day war) for the sake of security and I don't know how it thinks it can take land just like that. What the fuck is the international community doing? It is a complete joke if it thinks putting physical barriers is going to save it from all its trouble and stop people from hating Israel for its actions.

There are only 2 thinks I wish for.
1. Dismantle all jewish settlements in westbank and Gaza. If people think they like to stay there, let them get palentinian citizenship. No matter what the history is, Israelis and the government do not own middleeast and all its land.
2. Return all the land it grabbed since the 1964 war

and I can promise that they can live in greater peace than what they have now. I would recommend the following books to get some idea about the history of the situation:
Six Days of War : June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East
Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land
The Missing Peace : The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace

Apples and Oranges

I am really glad there is this thing called "Blog" that lets me capture my thoughts as they happen and makes it possible share it with others. The other alternative would have been to use the good old diaries which nobody would have had the opportunity to look into.

I wanted to write about why Microsoft will never become Apple ever. Quite often, I would have disagreements with the way decisions are made at my product team that runs counter to what I belive is the essence of the software. To begin with, here is a real life encounter with a developer last week about an issue:
I notice that a dialog in our product is not looking nice and there was lots of dead space here and there and so I went to the developer to discuss the issue and ask him fix it (I wish I had the time to fix everything!). He asked me 3 straight questions:

• Is the functionality broken?
• Is there some sort of data loss?
• Is it crashing under any circumstances?

The answer to all the 3 were "No" and he asked me why should he be fixing what I see? The dialog looked ugly and I thought that was more than a good reason to fix it to make the product look better and customers wouldn't mind using great products that look good as well.

Fast farward to this week: One of the internal users (and this happens in one of my machines as well) complained that the selection doesn't look good in a dialog control which any customer would see first when booting the product. What did the product team do with the bug? It just won't fixed the bug without any investigation as to what is causing this issue and if this is a regression caused by some code change. The reason for shooting down the bug is that the developer thought that it is o.k to ship like that!!!!

I wasn't surprised by these reactions or with a lot things that happen I disagree with. I wouldn't buy a car that is ugly no matter how functional it is. Software isn't for professionals only. It is designed to be used by everyone (take the case of Microsoft Money which my Mom uses). The software I use makes a fashion statement about my tastes as much as about my choice. I would want the software be designed well and looks cool just like the physical things I use everyday like the Mp3 player. There are a lot of style concious users out there like me who would appreciate and consider a product on the factors other than the functionality.

Lets be real. Microsoft isn't known for making software that looks great. Tell me one software that Microsoft shipped in the last decade that won many acclaims for UI design and for the coolness factor? Microsoft tends to focus more on functionality and addressing the customer needs and so focusses less on few things that are important as well. Here is some information that supports my arguments:

• All the UI in our product team is not designed by the so called product designers or graphic designers. They are normally done by program managers and developers who sometimes are fresh out of collage with no background on industrial design or with UI guidelines.
• There is no consistent UI guidelines across the product. When a new UI needs to be done, the PM will give the general layout and the developer will do his best to make the dialog look closer to the layout desired with no thoughts about adhering to some standard UI guidelines about spacing/margin between controls, height/width of the controls or the dialog form factor etc. The end result is a functional ugly looking dialog.
• All Microsoft prodcuts look the same with a standard menus/toolbars/context meu stuff with the bluish or the grayish look. Agreed that the users don't have to learn new user interfaces, but that shouldn't stop us from trying out new things or build interfaces that are better.
• Theming an application is unheard of in many Microsoft applications. With the exception of Media player, virtually there is no app that allows users to customize the visual themes to fit his tastes or moods! I am talking about an app that has close to 50+ million users and everyone will be running the familier and boring grayish UI.
• http://www.actsofvolition.com/archives/2001/december/windowsxprough will give you some ideas to where I am leading you! These things may be small but matters so much shows how much we care! Microsoft Software is used by hundreds of millions of people worldwide and I expect lot more attention to detail and design given the large audience

I just hope that "Windows Vista" breaks this tradition and makes software visually compelling, consistent and easy to use. This is one place where I always think Apple wins my credits a lot.

The Art of Intrusion

Just finished reading the book written by the well known and respected hacker Kevin D. Mitnick.

The Art of Intrusion : The Real Stories Behind the Exploits of Hackers, Intruders & Deceivers

The book was

• fun reading since it was a collection of stories about intrusions some of which went on like hollywood action movie. But at times, I felt that there was some repetition in the themes.
• I picked up some cool hacker lingo and some new insights into the possible attack vectors.
• Most of the attacks that Kevin describes was made possible by either default/bad passwords or misconfigured systems. It felt like hacking most of the times does not seem to be difficult thing at all.

Overall, it is a very good weekend read for anyone interested in security. I have not read his other book "The Art of Deception" and I don't plan to as my book pipeline is booked at least for a year.

My next read is going to be "Sources of power" by Gary Klein and I am already looking forward to it.

Superstitious Microsoft: Skipping Office 13?

The Microsoft Office product team uses code names for each release which is different from the Official product name. For example, the current release is internally referrred to as "Office 12" and the previous one was referred as "Office 11".

Following the tradition, the next version will have to be referred as "Office 13". Rumor has it that due to superstition surrounding the number "13", the next version might be referred to as "Office 14" instead. Here is the Wikipedia link on the Supersitions surrounding 13.

My take on this is that, I feel like working with bunch of idiots for believing in these. Whoever is making these calls is completely fked up for not believing in the value of hard work, innovation which is what matters.

Scott McClellan and White house bullshit

I always find it hillarious to watch the white house press conference especially for the bullshitting the spokesperson does. This one was very amusing. I copied the transcript from http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000977098 since I didn't want to lose the content if the URL disappears. Scott stuck to the standard line of "you are asking a question related to an ongoing investigation blah blah blah". Someone should have asked him about for example about his pet to see if he respond subconsiously and said "you are asking about an ongoing....". One thing I appreciated about this exhange was that I have never seen bold questioning before by the press. Here is the exchange:

Q: Does the president stand by his pledge to fire anyone involved in a leak of the name of a CIA operative?
MCCLELLAN: I appreciate your question. I think your question is being asked related to some reports that are in reference to an ongoing criminal investigation. The criminal investigation that you reference is something that continues at this point.And as I’ve previously stated, while that investigation is ongoing, the White House is not going to comment on it.The president directed the White House to cooperate fully with the investigation. And as part of cooperating fully with the investigation, we made a decision that we weren’t going to comment on it while it is ongoing.

Q: I actually wasn’t talking about any investigation. But in June of 2004, the president said that he would fire anybody who was involved in this leak to the press about information. I just wanted to know: Is that still his position?
MCCLELLAN: Yes, but this question is coming up in the context of this ongoing investigation, and that’s why I said that our policy continues to be that we’re not going to get into commenting on an ongoing criminal investigation from this podium.The prosecutors overseeing the investigation had expressed a preference to us that one way to help the investigation is not to be commenting on it from this podium....

Q: Scott, if I could point out: Contradictory to that statement, on September 29th of 2003, while the investigation was ongoing, you clearly commented on it. You were the first one to have said that if anybody from the White House was involved, they would be fired. And then, on June 10th of 2004, at Sea Island Plantation, in the midst of this investigation, when the president made his comments that, yes, he would fire anybody from the White House who was involved. So why have you commented on this during the process of the investigation in the past, but now you’ve suddenly drawn a curtain around it under the statement of, 'We’re not going to comment on an ongoing investigation'?
MCCLELLAN: Again, John, I appreciate the question. I know you want to get to the bottom of this. No one wants to get to the bottom of it more than the president of the United States. And I think the way to be most helpful is to not get into commenting on it while it is an ongoing investigation. And that’s something that the people overseeing the investigation have expressed a preference that we follow.And that’s why we’re continuing to follow that approach and that policy. Now, I remember very well what was previously said. And, at some point, I will be glad to talk about it, but not until after the investigation is complete.

Q: So could I just ask: When did you change your mind to say that it was OK to comment during the course of an investigation before, but now it’s not?
MCCLELLAN: Well, I think maybe you missed what I was saying in reference to Terry’s question at the beginning. There came a point, when the investigation got under way, when those overseeing the investigation asked that it would be — or said that it would be their preference that we not get into discussing it while it is ongoing.I think that’s the way to be most helpful to help them advance the investigation and get to the bottom of it.

Q: Scott, can I ask you this: Did Karl Rove commit a crime?
MCCLELLAN: Again, David, this is a question relating to a ongoing investigation, and you have my response related to the investigation. And I don't think you should read anything into it other than: We're going to continue not to comment on it while it's ongoing.

Q: Do you stand by your statement from the fall of 2003, when you were asked specifically about Karl and Elliot Abrams and Scooter Libby, and you said, "I've gone to each of those gentlemen, and they have told me they are not involved in this"?
MCCLELLAN: And if you will recall, I said that, as part of helping the investigators move forward on the investigation, we're not going to get into commenting on it. That was something I stated back near that time as well.

Q: Scott, this is ridiculous. The notion that you're going to stand before us, after having commented with that level of detail, and tell people watching this that somehow you've decided not to talk. You've got a public record out there. Do you stand by your remarks from that podium or not?
MCCLELLAN: I'm well aware, like you, of what was previously said. And I will be glad to talk about it at the appropriate time. The appropriate time is when the investigation...

Q: (inaudible) when it's appropriate and when it's inappropriate?
MCCLELLAN: If you'll let me finish.

Q: No, you're not finishing. You're not saying anything. You stood at that podium and said that Karl Rove was not involved. And now we find out that he spoke about Joseph Wilson's wife. So don't you owe the American public a fuller explanation. Was he involved or was he not? Because contrary to what you told the American people, he did indeed talk about his wife, didn't he?
MCCLELLAN: There will be a time to talk about this, but now is not the time to talk about it.

Q: Do you think people will accept that, what you're saying today?
MCCLELLAN: Again, I've responded to the question.

QUESTION: You're in a bad spot here, Scott... because after the investigation began -- after the criminal investigation was under way -- you said, October 10th, 2003, "I spoke with those individuals, Rove, Abrams and Libby. As I pointed out, those individuals assured me they were not involved in this," from that podium. That's after the criminal investigation began.Now that Rove has essentially been caught red-handed peddling this information, all of a sudden you have respect for the sanctity of the criminal investigation?
MCCLELLAN: No, that's not a correct characterization. And I think you are well aware of that.....And we want to be helpful so that they can get to the bottom of this. Because no one wants to get to the bottom of it more than the president of the United States.I am well aware of what was said previously. I remember well what was said previously. And at some point I look forward to talking about it. But until the investigation is complete, I'm just not going to do that.

Q: So you're now saying that after you cleared Rove and the others from that podium, then the prosecutors asked you not to speak anymore and since then you haven't.
MCCLELLAN: Again, you're continuing to ask questions relating to an ongoing criminal investigation and I'm just not going to respond to them.

Q: When did they ask you to stop commenting on it, Scott? Can you pin down a date?
MCCLELLAN: Back in that time period.

Q: Well, then the president commented on it nine months later. So was he not following the White House plan?
MCCLELLAN: I appreciate your questions. You can keep asking them, but you have my response.

Q: Well, we are going to keep asking them. When did the president learn that Karl Rove had had a conversation with a news reporter about the involvement of Joseph Wilson's wife in the decision to send him to Africa?
MCCLELLAN: I've responded to the questions.

Q: When did the president learn that Karl Rove had been...
MCCLELLAN: I've responded to your questions.

Q: After the investigation is completed, will you then be consistent with your word and the president's word that anybody who was involved will be let go?
MCCLELLAN: Again, after the investigation is complete, I will be glad to talk about it at that point.

Q: Can you walk us through why, given the fact that Rove's lawyer has spoken publicly about this, it is inconsistent with the investigation, that it compromises the investigation to talk about the involvement of Karl Rove, the deputy chief of staff, here?
MCCLELLAN: Well, those overseeing the investigation expressed a preference to us that we not get into commenting on the investigation while it's ongoing. And that was what they requested of the White House. And so I think in order to be helpful to that investigation, we are following their direction.

Q: Does the president continue to have confidence in Mr. Rove?
MCCLELLAN: Again, these are all questions coming up in the context of an ongoing criminal investigation. And you've heard my response on this.

Q: So you're not going to respond as to whether or not the president has confidence in his deputy chief of staff?
MCCLELLAN: You're asking this question in the context of an ongoing investigation, and I would not read anything into it other then I'm simply going to comment on an ongoing investigation.

Q: Has there been any change, or is there a plan for Mr. Rove's portfolio to be altered in any way?
MCCLELLAN: Again, you have my response to these questions....***

Q: There’s a difference between commenting publicly on an action and taking action in response to it. Newsweek put out a story, an e-mail saying that Karl Rove passed national security information on to a reporter that outed a CIA officer. Now, are you saying that the president is not taking any action in response to that? Because I presume that the prosecutor did not ask you not to take action and that if he did you still would not necessarily abide by that; that the president is free to respond to news reports, regardless of whether there’s an investigation or not.So are you saying that he’s not going to do anything about this until the investigation is fully over and done with?
MCCLELLAN: Well, I think the president has previously spoken to this.This continues to be an ongoing criminal investigation. No one wants to get to the bottom of it more than the president of the United States. And we’re just not going to have more to say on it until that investigation is complete.***

Q: When the leak investigation is completed, does the president believe it might be important for his credibility, the credibility of the White House, to release all the information voluntarily that was submitted as part of the investigation, so the American public could see what transpired inside the White House at the time?
MCCLELLAN: This is an investigation being overseen by a special prosecutor. And I think those are questions best directed to the special prosecutor.

Q: Have you or the White House considered whether that would be optimal to release as much information and make it as open…
MCCLELLAN: It’s the same type of question. You’re asking me to comment on an ongoing investigation and I’m not going to do that.

Q: I’d like you to talk about the communications strategies just a little bit there.
MCCLELLAN: Understood. The president directed the White House to cooperate fully with the investigation, and that’s what he expects people in the White House to do.

Q: And he would like to do that when it is concluded, cooperate fully with…
MCCLELLAN: Again, I’ve already responded.

Q: Scott, who in the investigation made this request of the White House not to comment further about the investigation? Was it Mr. Fitzgerald? Did he make a request of you specifically?
MCCLELLAN: You can direct those questions to the special prosecutors. I think probably more than one individual who’s involved in overseeing the investigation had expressed a preference that we not get into commenting on the investigation while it’s ongoing.

Microsoft will pay more if you quit and then rejoin

There are things that I don't have an explanation for. For example, campus hires for the test org join at level 59 now. I don't have a problem with what the entry levels are. This was a recent change and entry levels were lower earlier (It was 57 I think).

What I don't understand is why some of my colleagues with few years experience (with some holding master's degree) started at a lower level because of the then policy are treated unfairly and have a lower level (or the same level) and pay compared to the new hires? I am not talking about low or average performers in my team. I am talking about a few good people who are smart and hard workers who worked their ass off for the last couple of years and got 2 level raises only to be put on par with a new hire!!!

I came to know about this unfair practice when one of the tester who has been working for MS for the last couple of years whom I respect vetted her frustration about this. She even mentioned that she wasn't allowed to interview a campus new hire for test team since because she had a lower level than what new hires would get. One of the leads refused her the opportunity to do the interview on this basis!!!

If only the ratings & salary are public, I am sure Microsoft will be up for a lot of lawsuits for things like this.

"Keep the dream alive" spam

I believe a lot of employess like me received an email (or SPAM?) today from a group called DREAM (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dreamsft/) talking about the some of the abusive practices in the performance review process. I really wonder where they got all the employee's emails? I don't think it is an insider job and if it was, it is very bad.

My take on these claims is that there is some truth (not the whole truth) to it and it is not entirely baseless. Not a day goes by without me wondering about why the entire process is so secretive. I have my concerns about the review process and want some openness and fairness. If the performance review process is objective, why such a secrecy? I go even farther and suggest the following:

• Make the performance ratings public. What is wrong with knowing who performed better and why they are better? Maybe someone could learn a thing or two by following the super performer.
• Make the employee's commitents public. I would be very happy to learn about what everyone plans to achieve and see if I could colloborate with others. Otherwise, there is guaranteed to be duplication of efforts.
• Banish the stack ranking. It is a subjective process mostly and is not a documented process by HR. Since there is no guidence from HR about this (which is crucial to your rating), either formalize the process or make it transparent

UPDATE: After this mail got sent out, I asked one of the manager in my team on what he thought. To my surprise, he thought stack ranking is the way to go and even mentioned that holding one before the employee gets a chance to write a review and make his case is perfectly alright!!!!!!!

Here is the e-mail that got sent out to many employees:

From: A DREAM [mailto:dreamsft07@yahoo.com] Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2005 10:27 AMTo: keep_his_dream_alive@yahoo.comSubject: Your rating, salary, and bonus may have all been decided by the time you read this email ...

Make your performance review count – stop stack ranking abuse!

That’s right - your review rating, salary, and bonus may have already been decided by the time you read this email. How? Through a process known as stack ranking, your managers may have already met and decided it before ever reading your performance review. Without objective performance data and feedback, your managers rely on gut instincts to decide your fate. Unfortunately, these instincts are often wrong and highly subjective. After stack rankings have been established, review ratings, salary, bonus, and stock grants are assigned accordingly. Even though stack rankings can have the single most impact on determining an employee’s rating and compensation, the process is not documented in the employee handbook, nor are employees allowed to know their stack ranking or appeal them.

If stack rankings are so unfair and subjective, why do managers continue to rely on them? For one, it is a very convenient way for managers to bypass the performance review process and determine the all important numbers in a short meeting. No waiting for employees to write their reviews, read them, provide comments, and talk to them to make sure they are in mutual agreement. Instead, managers simply assign employee a rank and see how they fair with the rest of the team. In cases of disagreement, higher ranking managers, who may have no knowledge of your performance, have veto power and can favor the employees they like best. Keep in mind each 4.0/4.5 rating requires a 2.5 to balance out the curve even if the difference in performance is negligible. One employee is given lavish rewards while the other gets nothing but a warning that their job is in jeopardy. All this without the inconvenience of having to read the employee’s performance review to ascertain if their performance is unacceptable.

The other reason stack rankings are popular is the fact that they are remarkably effective in maintaining the status quo. Minorities groups are significantly underrepresented in the ranks of management at Microsoft. By allowing managers to make performance management decisions based primarily on personal preference and not actual documented performance, managers will tend to favor those who they are most familiar and comfortable with. Since there are far fewer minority managers participating in stack ranking meetings they are out voted than their Caucasian peers, This unfortunately makes stack ranking an effective self perpetuating method for preserving a status quo imbalance that ultimately denies minority employees with equal pay and promotional opportunity in the company.

So what can you do to stop stack ranking abuse? Plenty:
· Talk to your manager and find out if and how they use stack ranking. Don’t take “no” or “that’s confidential” as an answer. If stack ranking is used, ask when they are done. In most cases they are done weeks before performance reviews are turned in so that managers can submit numbers to HR on schedule. If so, tell your manager that you consider this practice unfair and insist that they adhere to Microsoft’s performance management policy by using performance reviews as the basis for making decisions. Also find out your rank and if you can appeal it.
· Write to your business unit VP and the VP of HR and tell them you want stack ranking abuse to halted once and for all. Tell them that the stack ranking process cannot be secretive and must be standardized across the company and documented in the employee handbook. Also, stack rankings, if used, must be done following the completion of employee performance reviews and not before so that managers have access to the most objective and current information on individual employee performance.
· If you receive a poor performance review or are denied a promotion that you deserve as a result of stack ranking, don’t accept it – fight it. If your manager is not willing to do anything about it, you can file a complaint directly with the HR Employee Relations Investigation Team. Better yet, if you believe there are possible grounds for discrimination against you, contact state or federal agencies such as the WA State Human Rights Commission or EEOC who can ensure your civil rights are protected.

This message is brought to you by DREAM, employees for Diversity & Racial Equality At Microsoft. If you would like more information on stack ranking abuse or any other topics related to protecting civil rights, diversity, and fighting discrimination at Microsoft, please visit our web site at http://www.groups.yahoo.com/groups/dreamsft

...Nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation

That is what the Fifth amendment says and it is fair enough. But the U.S supreme court's ruling last week expanded the power of government to grab land for private projects just blew my mind away! For example, now it is possible for the city to take your land (and of course pay the compensation) to build a shopping mall instead just because it might produce jobs and tax revenues.

This just leads the way for the people with money/power to force people out of their homes easily since any commercial development will ofcourse produce jobs/revenues. As Justice Sandra Day O'Connor warned in her dissent in this decision: "Nothing is to prevent the state from replacing any Motel 6 with a Ritz-Carlton, any home with a shopping mall, or any farm with a factory."

The government and the consitution is there to protect the minorities and the powerless. But these rulings simply expand the powers of the powerful and this is not what the framers intended.

The Downing street memo

Check it out at http://www.downingstreetmemo.com/

America is considered one of the most advanced and open societies. But I am constantly amazed by the amount of censorship that happens (either by whitehouse or self-sensored due to business interests) in the press. The press covers things what it wants to cover without the consideration for the people's need to know which is why there was no watergate after the original watergate. These days the press has become more of a mouth piece for whitehouse in U.S which is why I rely on BBC and other foreign press for the information. http://news.google.com/ is my new friend since it brings news from multiple sources.

I am not sure how many people know of the book series Censored 2005 : The Top 25 Censored Stories (Censored) published every year by Sonoma state university on stories that never made it to the public because of the censorship. I read the 2004 release and couldn't believe that I am living in an open society!

As for the authenticity of the memo, I don't care. From the beginning, I had the strong belief that this war was the war of choice than the war of necessity. So this is nothing new to me.

Taking some time off

I am taking some time off after an extremely busy product milestone. I worked on an average of 11+ hours a day for the last couple of months. I plan to read the following 2 books during my vacation:

Blink : The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
by Malcolm Gladwell

Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman
by Richard M. Stallman, Lawrence Lessig, Joshua Gay

These 2 books were in my "Todo" list and now is the time. I don't think I will be doing much blogging.

Microsofties are not slaves!!

At least that wasn't the impression I got when some one I know told me what happended to him last week at work!

He went to his manager and requested that he needed to take 2 extra weeks of unpaid leave so that he could spend more time with his family which he hasn't seen in many years. The manager said "No". He said you take what vacation you have accrued and return to work afer that. If he failed to do so, he was warned that it could be considered as abandonment and one of the consequences is termination of his employment!

What the hell is going on here? Here is an employee who feels the need and the company says that it has work cut out for him and so he can't go! The truth is, this employee over the last few years has lost so much unused vacation (he is workaholic) and there was no patterns of misuse that I could see from what he told me.

This is what they used to call slavery in the past and it now seem to have taken a new form and name now! I just wish that this is an isolated case and that this comapny is better than this.

Performance..What?

I have said it before and saying it again. Microsoft needs to ship a quality product that exceeds customer expection for reliability, performance and functionality. There is no point in shipping products every other year with incremental changes just for revenues sake. I see many examples of this quite often and especially in the product I work in. Here is a real story:

A Program Manager who works in some other product division came to my Office asking for my help fixing the solution she deployed. She built a solution using the product I work on because it made their process better. She spent days creating the solution and after deploying it, nobody in her team wants to use it because the performance is so bad. Editing the document is very slow and the users are staying away because of that. The way she put it and shared her story, I really got emotional and felt bad for not being more proactive and vocal about product performance. I looked at her solution and saw that it wasn't a very complex solution but not simple either. Spent some time with my colleagues trying to find some tips on improving the performance and in end couldn't do much (It would have required re-writing the solution).

I did something about it and talked to the performance guys. The problem turned out to be the mindset. The common answer to performance problems that the performance team would get was:

• Why would someone display 1000 rows of data instead of filtering it?
• This is stupid scenario
• Why would anyone want to do that?
• This is not our issue. The external component X is the bottleneck

So the performance team ended up writing some guidelines for easing the performance problem. But we were all dead wrong. Most the real world solutions that I saw are above the mark we set and they perform badly. In other words, customers are doing things we thought were bad ways to do things and said all the time that there was a better way to do these things.

Customers aren't stupid to build solutions that doesn't scale or do stupid things. Just as we all do, we learn from our mistakes. I write much better code than I did a few years ago. I didn't want to write bad code few years ago but I did because I didn't have the knowledge that I have now. But the lack of knowledge didn't stop me from achieving my goals or do things that I wanted to do. A desktop application that is used by everyone has to perform reasonably well in such situations. Note that we are not taking about C++ compiler performance for badly written code. We are talking about applications like Microsft Word (e.g.) that slows down trmendeously when used differently.

What is the remedy?

It is the mindset stupid!

• Don't assume that everyone who is using your product is Raymond Chen or Charles Simonyi.
• Expect some unreanable uses and don't expect that everyone has time to read books and manuals before starting/getting their job done
• Take resposibility for the performance of the external component that you use. If that doesn't scale well, invest time in it to re-write as customer benefit far exceeds our financial goals
• Make performance part of the process and not an after thought
• There is more but I need to go :-)

Note: I stopped using Outlook and instead switched to OWA. Now my days go a lot smoother and I do a lot less cursing everyday. Outlook Guys, your product has a lot of nice features but if it will only perform well in an ideal environment, you guys totally got it wrong. I can't understand how a version 11 of a product can have still such issues as performance and reliability!!

I love Steve Ballmer

It has been an awesome week at Microsoft for me. There were a lot of discussion around the company (through letters to editor of Micronews, In Gleam DL, executive communication etc) about the HL1515 and diversity and discrimination. One thing that came out of it was that I am proud (and surprised to some extent) of the position that company took in the end which is to support legislation similar to HL1515 if it comes up again in washington state.

One perception that changed in the last couple of weeks was that SteveB is my hero. I always considered him in the past as some one with excellent marketing skills and someone who is funny and vocal on stage (i.e. speeches). I really never took notice of him nor was he in my thoughts or felt sorry for him on something. Now that I have seen his human face, courage to take a stance on social issue like this and his commitment to diversity, I think now of how hard it would have been for him the last couple of weeks and how much soul searching he would have done and what would I have done if I was in his position. He would be in my prayers if I did one.

Clarification: When I said earlier that companies should not take a stance on social issues. I meant that they shouldn't on issues like Gay Rights in general. But it should when it comes to discrimination at work including discrimination based on sexual orientation. Also, I meant that companies shouldn't actively engage politically on bills like HL1515 but instead provide letter of support when asked by legislative branch. There is a difference if you can see it. Bottomline, don't spend shareholder money by politically engaging on social issues but when it comes to workplace issues like this, just let them know where you stand.

How the press and everyone totally got it wrong!

I am talking about the controversy about Microsoft dropping the support for House bill 1515 which failed by one vote in the washington state. Nothing could be farther from the truth if anyone accuses Microsoft of discrimination or trying to push policies to that effect. Microsoft is probably the only company on the planet that fosters employee diversity more than any company and does not tolerate discrimination based on anything. If anyone of you ever had the opportunity to read his e-mail to employess today, no one would question or doubt microsoft's commitment. His statement pretty much boiled down to "Over my dead body" regarding any compromise on diversity and he expressed his personal support to the bill.

If you have been following my blog, you would realize that I am critical of Microsoft on many aspects. But on this issue, please give Microsoft the credit it deserves for doing the right thing. Despite its excellent track record on diversity, it cannot and should not take sides on social issues like this one for the reason that it would alieniate one group for the other.

About GPL and open source

I like their free spirited developers who contribute to open source without expecting any monetery benefits and instead contribute their time and knowledge to the overall betterment of software. Open source (As I see it) is not about competing with propritiery code. It isn't and shouldn't be aimed at commercializing and capturing market share. It is about going about doing what people are passionate about which is building world class software without the limits imposed by the propritiery code. It is all about the freedom to tinker with the existing code and creative derivative works. It is about focusing on one thing which is to build great software rather than focussing on interests of shareholders.

What I don't understand is why Sun's President Jonathan Schwartz is critical of GPL. If he understands the purpose and the tenets of GPL, he wouldn't be critizing it. I sure don't agree with some one taking a GPLed code and create a derivative that is proprietiery.

And I really really think that the core tenet of GPL which requires all the derivative works to be free as well should be preserved. Without that I ask, what is the purpose of open source? Without it, Open source would be a way for companies to hire developers for free and take all the profit without giving anything back. If it really needs to be amended, I suggest requiring the derivative works to give 50% of their profits back to the community :-)

The only thing I hate is the MS bashing the OSS advocates do which is contrary to their mission. They seem to get their motivation out of this bashing which isn't appealing to me.

My comments shouldn't be taken as my disagreement with propritiery source. I am part of it but I salute those who give their time to a common good and expect nothing in return. This is like saluting the soldiers who defend the country putting their lives at risk because chose to do so.

How could one hot dog be more expensive than 2?

Well it is and it only happens in U.S.A. At least that is what the FCC said when it was asked to study and report about requiring cable companies to provide "A La Carte" option to the consumers. Here is the WashingtonPost article. Excerpts:

..However, the study found, most households regularly watch an average of 17 channels, including traditional broadcast staples such as ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox. Under the a la carte plan studied, consumers would see their monthly bills rise between 14 and 30 percent if they purchased 17 channels, the report said...

So 17 channels cost more than 100 channels that I pay for? I watch at most 10 channels and it is frigging waste of my money to pay $40+/mo and get 100+ channels just because the the lower plan does not have all I want.

You would think that free market would provide consumers with more choices but in reality, it is the other way around. When market matures and is dominated by the big players, the choices become fewer and prices become predatory.

Note: This is a bit of old news but I have been pondering about this news for a while!!

Speaking of European Union

I for one welcome the idea of EU and think that this is good for everyone on the earth. Now there is a balance of power in the international arena and one country cannot dictate, control or force its views on the rest of the world. I am not taking about the military power that U.S.S.R used to be. I am talking about a conglomorate with the economic power that acts as counter weight to U.S. I have felt many times in the past that U.S.A has been unfair and looked at his own interest. Now there is someone (the EU) who could retaliate economicallly. Here are some examples:
1. Business ; EU to slap extra duty U.S. goods: The Commission took this latest step in the dispute over the Byrd Amendment in light of the continuing failure of the United States to bring its legislation in conformity with its international obligations.
2. European Satellite Navigation System Now the rest of the world isn't at the mercy of the united states.
3. Euro to compete with dollar: Now everyone has a choice when dealing with international trade. U.S doesn't control it anymore!

Now there is someone who can bell the cat.

European Commission is going too far

I have a feeling that European Commission investigating Microsoft's anti-trust shows a clear bias and motive when dealing with this case. Here is an example on why it is going too far:

From Microsoft, EU Agree on Name for Stripped-Down Windows

"The Commission ordered Microsoft to sell a version of Windows without its Windows Media Player audiovisual software and the two clashed over a suitable name."

which is o.k. But the part I couldn't agree on was this:

Horacio Gutierrez, Microsoft's top lawyer in Europe, said the names "Windows XP Home Edition N" and "Windows XP Professional Edition N" were suggested by the Commission after it rejected 10 suggestions by Microsoft.
"We have some misgivings about the chosen name, as we fear it may cause confusion for consumers about the product, but we will adopt the Commission's name in order to move forward and accelerate the pace of the implementation process," Gutierrez told Reuters by telephone.

Doesn't the company that manufactures/makes the product decide what it would call it? I will have to agree with this:

Microsoft wanted consumers to be sure about what they were buying, but the Commission said it should not put off consumers, like Microsoft's first choice, "Windows XP Reduced Media Edition".

Lets see where this is heading? Some wild ideas:

• Maybe their next enforcement would be to put a penguin on the XP box so that the european customers buying it won't feel that there is no competition.
• Billg & SteveB aren't allowed to wear their blue shirts (which they often do) since it gives the impression that their wardrobe is monopilized by this color!!

Stupid white man's theory: One way to stop gun crimes is to give everyone one!!

That is the stupidest of all I have heard in my entire life. Here is the link to the article from www.msnbc.com . The NRA president Sandra S. Froman is quoted as saying:

"..All options should be considered to prevent rampages like the Minnesota school shooting that took 10 lives — including making guns available to teachers, a top National Rifle Association leader said Friday.
No gun law, no policy that you could implement now or that was already implemented, I think, could possibly prevent someone so intent on destruction,” she said. “I think everything’s on the table as far as looking at what we need to do to make our schools safe for our students.”

The country where I came from, this kind of thing never happens (i.e. in the last 30 years) because one cannot get a gun this easily. Worst stories I have heard is stabbing or hacking someone to death with a knife. Guns can hurt a lot more people lot more easily.

Note: I do not indent racism by saying "Stupid white men".

DRM and me

If you don't know what DRM is, here is the wiki page.

I am a very strong opponent of DRM (Digital Rights Management) from the beginning. It is a double edged sword. It is bad for individuals and good for business. Businesses love this technology since it allows them to control content to the extent of stopping the fair use of the copy righted material and makes consumers pay for the same content many times. The technology itself can drive monopoly and vendor lock-in. It also takes away the freedom that we consumers used to have about the content we purchased. Now I cannot back up my music files between my desktop and laptop and listen on both. By any measure, it is evil and I will never buy anything that has DRM and encourage it.

Here are somethings to read if you are really interested in more:
http://craphound.com/msftdrm.txt
http://interactionlaw.com/documentos/DRM_good_bad_ugly.pdf
http://www.eff.org/IP/DRM/
http://www.japanmediareview.com/japan/stories/050210bovens/

Bye, Bye Walmart

It may have "Always low prices". But WalMart is one company that I have never given my business to unless I was passing by one of their "SuperCenters" and needed something urgently. I have read about their unfair business practices, labor exploitation here in U.S and in third world countries. They have reached a new heights with their decision to bypass a local ordinance. Here is the scoop:

Wal-Mart uses new tactic to get around Maryland county law limiting size Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, is employing a new tactic to get around a Maryland town ordinance that limits store sizes - build two outlets right next to each other.
Signalling what could be a new approach to getting around such restrictions, Wal-Mart will build adjacent stores in Dunkirk, Md., with one outlet being constructed so that it will be just under the 6,967.5 square-metre limit that is allowed by a Calvert County ordinance.

I do not think that the local community decided to have this restriction adhoc. They must have had good reasons when passing these ordinaces. Now trying to be smartypants here and trying to work around that doesn't tell anyone that they care about the local community they are setting up the shop in. It shows that they will do whatever when they see $$$. Well, he is not getting my money for sure.

Thank you Hackers!

Every one of your finding is making Windows more secure as it "requires" Microsoft to patch those holes. Without you, Windows would have lived in Wonderland just focussing on beating up the competition and churning the latest and greatest products (?) and not worry about Security that much.

But I have bad news for you guys as well. Your sucesses will be your failures in the future. My prediction is that in a year from now (yes, exactly 12 months from now), Windows will be so harderned and patched up, it will be next to impossible (but still possible) to find a security hole. This is also partly due to the closed source nature. You will then move on to Mac & *nix as you will be give up on Windows.

Here are somethings to support my prediction:
Windows web server more secure than Linux
Windows is more secure than Linux, claim researchers

Well, I don't think we are there yet but it is heading in that direction. Thank you all again for doing a service to Windows even though your motives for doing this is highly questionable.

Blockbuster Deception

Blockbuster is running a ad-campaign called "Celebrate the end of late fees" which claims the following:
"There are no more late fees at BlockBuster. And that's on every movie and every game in the entire store - no matter how you rent. So if you need an extra day or two with your movies and games, go ahead and take 'em. Relax. Enjoy them without the stress of late fees"

After watcing the Ads, I thought just like everyone else that one could keep the movie rentals as long as they want just like with NetFlix or other online rentals. But that doesn't seem to be the case. Here is the FAQ from their website:

Q: Now that late fees are ending, can I keep movie and game rentals as long as I want?
A: Movie and game rentals are still due back by the due date shown on your receipt.

This is the whole reason I stopped going to Blockbuster because of their deceptive practices. They had some ridiculuous policies and late fees and 2-day rental never works for me. Do they expect every consumer to read all the fine prints before renting?

I am glad N.J is sueing Blockbuster over this.

Representing Microsoft

I was filling out my mid-year review this week and wanted to fill in the Strengths & Weaknesses section as required. So I went to the Microsoft "Competencies" & "Values" intranet site and to my surprise I found the following under "Representing Microsoft" value:

Projects a positive and professional image of Microsoft in all contacts. What Does It Mean?

• Is loyal and committed to Microsoft.
• Speaks well of Microsoft, even when not in agreement with all company policies and decisions.
• Promotes a positive, realistic image of Microsoft to the public.
• Persuasively advocates Microsoft’s interests.

I stopped filling out my review and pondered over this for a very long time (I was even tempted to put "Representing Microsoft" as one of the things to improve upon in my review!) trying to put this in the context of this blog. I am to some extent critical of Microsoft and speak my mind relating to events. But that wouldn't stop me from "Representing Microsoft" as an employee because that would mean back-stabbing which I would never ever do. But what I was trying to understand was that if this applies to what I do as a person. I wouldn't think so.

To my comfort, I also found the "Integrity & Honesty" value. If "Values" apply to both as an individual & employee, then it should apply to all values isn't it? If that is true, I can take comfort that I am being honest in speaking my mind. After all this is my diary and the sole purpose of this blog is to write about what catches my attention and to dump my thoughts at that moment.

I love our president!

He makes me laugh and sometimes cry. He is funny and most of what he says confuses the hell out of most, with the exception of written speaches which he can read correctly . After all he graduated from Yale & harward. Here is his latest:

"Because the—all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits are calculate, for example, is on the table; whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price increases. There's a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those—changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to get what has been promised more likely to be—or closer delivered to what has been promised. Does that make any sense to you? It's kind of muddled. Look, there's a series of things that cause the—like, for example, benefits are calculated based upon the increase of wages, as opposed to the increase of prices. Some have suggested that we calculate—the benefits will rise based upon inflation, as opposed to wage increases. There is a reform that would help solve the red if that were put into effect. In other words, how fast benefits grow, how fast the promised benefits grow, if those—if that growth is affected, it will help on the red."—Explaining his plan to save Social Security, Tampa, Fla., Feb. 4, 2005

You can read more all at The complete Bushisms at www.slate.com

How much could Microsoft save by cutting back on employee books purchase?

Not significant. Even if it is, it is not worth it since creative and fun workplaces motivate its employees and foster broadening their knowledge and not hinder it in anyway. I have read on the web about how

Every Pixar employee, for example, can take acting or cooking classes and get the occasional on-site massage.

or how Google motivates its employees by (from here)

Creating a fun and inspiring workspace that includes on-site doctor and dentist; massage and yoga; professional development opportunities; on-site day care; shoreline running trails; and plenty of snacks to get you through the day.

Microsoft has some of it too. But then why am I bitching about it? Here is the scoop:
There is a new policy in our org about employee book purchases. The book request now goes up the command chain for approval. I thought that was a good idea (Because, I know one person who ordered Age of Empires strategy guide through MS Market through his cost center??!!) until I requested one. My manager stopped by and asked me the following questions:

• Why do I need this book now as I am not doing anything related to it now?
• Did I check with other people in the team on whether they would recommend the book?
• Why couldn't I get this book from the library?

and started telling me on how he learns on the job blah blah blah! That conversation certainly didn't make me feel very good at that moment. It is not like I order few books a month. I probably do couple a year (maybe 5 a year). I started to ask myself afterwards whether I am not allowed to read and learn about something that is related to my work and broaden my knowledge (After all I do not want to be a code monkey and do what they tell me to do)? The funny thing is that I will be doing some work in managed code in near future and thought it would be a good idea to have a head start now.

Well, sometimes things go too far and you just have to decide for yourself whether it is the right place for you to be.

Secrets & Lies

I just got "Secrets & Lies - Digital Security in a Networked World" and will be reading it over the next few weeks. The author "Bruce Schneier" is greatly respected in the cryptographic community and his book "Applied Cryptography" is the best of the best.

You can find more about this book at http://www.schneier.com/book-sandl.html

Either Bush is stupid or I am

Details are starting to unravel about his social security restructure plans. I am not sure if the problem and the solution has any relationship.

Here is the problem from here:

• In 2018, the government will begin to pay out more in Social Security benefits than it takes in in revenue - and shortfalls then will grow larger with each passing year.
• By 2042, when workers in their mid-20s begin to retire, the system will be bankrupt - unless we act now to save it.

And note that Bush is not taking about cutting benefits anywhere. If that is true, his proposal does not make sense.

Bush's solution:

• The President wants to see Social Security permanently strengthened for our children and grandchildren, without raising payroll taxes.
• The President favors voluntary personal accounts as part of a comprehensive solution to give younger workers the option to save some of these payroll taxes. Personal accounts give younger workers the opportunity to receive higher benefits than the current system can afford to pay, and provide ownership, choice, and the opportunity for workers to build a nest egg for their retirement and to pass it on to their spouse or their children.
• Those who do not choose to have a personal account would continue to draw benefits as Americans have long done from the Social Security program.
• Personal accounts will provide Americans who choose to participate with an opportunity to share in the benefits of economic growth by participating in markets through sound investments. Any proposal will include limitations on the risk of investments permitted in personal accounts and will include low-risk, low-cost options like broad index funds similar to those currently available to Federal employees.

Here are the things that I don't understand:

• Even though the returns on the stock market investments over any 10 year period shows good returns, it is volatile. If I retire during a recession, am I not going to be screwed? This is gamling with my retirement fund which I wouldn't do.
• I am not sure how it fixes the system w/o cutting the benefits. If benefits exceed the revenues, the total 1/3 of the revenues will not be sufficient to pay the total 1/3 of the benefits in the future unless we take a cut in benefits. Is he not telling the truth?
• His proposal also allows an option to use the existing system. So if everyone chooses to stick with the current system, aren't we back to square one? He is definitely not telling the whole truth here.
• If investing in low risk investments fixes the issue and gurantees higher returns and the government thinks it is a safe bet, why isn't the government doing it automatically w/o all the personal accounts bull shit?

Overall, I think he is very weak in reasoning and must have failed math in school. Or is it me?

Puzzle that I came across this week

I love good puzzles and I plan to blog them so that I don't lose them when I need it. Here is one from the book I am reading(The Tipping Point, by Malcom Gladwell):

Suppose I give you four cards labeled with the letters A and D and the numerals 3 and 6. The rule of the game is that a card with a vowel on it always has an even number on the other side. Which of the cards would you have to turn over to prove this rule to be true?

Here is a variation of the same puzzle:
Suppose four people are drinking in a bar. One is drinking Coke. One is sixteen. One is drinking beer and one is twenty-five. Which of those people’s ID’s do we have to check to make sure the 21 legal age law is being observed?

Most (normal) people (inlcuding me) will get the answer wrong. But the second one is easier.

Sony learned its lesson. Will Microsoft follow?

Here is something I took notice and saw some similarities with Microsoft. First the news:
"....Because we had a music business, Sony was reluctant about introducing an iPod type of new product but we (learned) many lessons," said Ken Kutaragi, executive deputy president of Sony, speaking Thursday at The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan.
Source: Sony learned its lesson in digital music, says exec

And here another one from forbes.com
"...Kutaragi said the entertainment electronics giant missed out on potential sales from MP3 players and other gadgets because it was severely proprietary about music and entertainment content."

Sony was reluctant because it also owned music and movie units and were worried about content rights. It also owned many proprietiery formats that it wanted to promote. But it realized it is not good for the company. But Microsoft has't yet learned its lession. For the fear of losing Windows business, it is not shipping any of its applications in other platforms. Oracle or any other applications companies don't have this problem and build their applications in all popular OSes.

I still would like to see Microsoft split into OS & Applications business so that one division is not pulled down by the other and are free from obligations to the other business and can work on building world class software w/o the external push/pulls.