How Un-American Rep.Virgil H.Goode Jr can be?

Read Reps spar over Quran usage first

How can he call himself an american or someone who understands the constitution? Constitution separates church and state and also America is the land of the free which also includes free from religious persecutions. That is exactly what the pilgrims wanted it to be and that is what America is. Didn't the people of Minnesota elect him to be their representative knowing that he is a muslim?

If this SOB (I don't feel anything for calling him like this) thinks that he could get away for saying racist comments and standing his ground as an elected representative, I feel sorry for the state of the nation. What is most troubling about this is that the RNC et al are remaining silent about this. For God's sake, say at least that you folks either support or reject this idealogies so that everyone understands where you folks stand.

For your reference, here the some excerpts from the article:
Ellison, a Democrat from Minnesota, said he planned to use the Quran only as part of an unofficial individual swearing-in before friends and supporters. That event will follow the official ceremony for all House members.

However, Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr. is standing by his demand for strict immigration controls that he said would prevent Muslims from gaining a majority in Congress and using the Quran during swearing-in ceremonies.

He also said "When I raise my hand to take the oath on swearing-in day, I will have the Bible in my other hand," Goode wrote. "I do not subscribe to using the Quran in any way. ... If American citizens don't take up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration, there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Quran."

Decide for yourself.

Zune: A disappointing first experience

Our household got Zune as Christmas gift and I have to admit that my first impressions are a little disappointing.

First, The look and feel is not great. I got the black Zune and the color is dull. It probably is my personal preference but I rather prefer the Sansa/IPod look.

Secondly, when I first connected it to the PC and turned on the Zune device I expected to see a welcome screen and be able to do something. BUT it is showing me the flashing low battery icon and it is going on for at least 30 minutes now. I then went to zune.net and looked around to find that my USB hub is not a high-powered hub to charge the device. How in the world my mom or pop is going to figure that out???

Third, it does not support some picture/video formats that I already have. What is wrong with these people? Why can't I have all the format support???

But I do like its Audio/Video/Pictures/FM capabilities and would consider this on par in terms of functionalities with other top players.

Are people this desparate (and stupid)?

O.K, I am hearing enough of this to warrant a blog. Sony's new PS3 gaming console is a rarity as expected and there are several folks who are can't wait to get their hands on. But these folks also tend to ignore the fine print or should we say dump?

Case No 1: Some one in ebay puts "3 PS1 for $900" and cleverly words it to fool people into thinking that it is PS3. There were takers for this

Case No 2: "Sony PlayStation 3 PS3 NO RESERVE, HOT HOT HOT" and even supported by a picture of the console itself. And seeing all the features and specs spat out on the page certainly clutters the one, very important bit of text at the very bottom: "note: you are not bidding on an actual ps3, you're only bidding on an e-mail address (Hot_PS3s@hotmail.com), winning bidder will recieve password.". But as expected, it found a buyer too!

Case No 3: Some seller is really smart and figured that "PS1 + PS2 = PS3" and so put it up for sale. Some sorry bloke did not read the fine print and ended up paying $900 bucks again

www.engadget.com is continually updated with stories and so check it out.

U.S Mid term election - What really mattered?

You ask anyone what is so good about the mid-term elections and anyone would say without hesitation that it was the democrats take over of both Senate and House. But here is what mattered most to me and am happy about besides democrat's victory

• Maccaca lost to Jim Webb in Virginia senate race by a razor thin margin. I apologize for using the term Maccaca and I don't know what it means. I forgot his name for a second and that is what came to my mind. It is republican George Allen who lost to Jim Webb. Welcome to America George!
• Ken BlackWell the current secretary of state for Ohio lost in the governer's race.
• Katherine Harris the secretary of state for Florida lost to democratic incumbent Bill Nelson by a significant margin with Harris garnering only 38 percent of the vote

That was the best part of this election. On a related note, I don't understand why democrats are so happy about the election results. Neither of the party got a landslide victory in terms of percentage of votes. Most of the races were won by a very thin margin or by very few percentage points. The country is divided across party lines, I really wonder if any single party could make any significant contributions till the next elections!!!

Zune: it's not just the player stupid

I couldn't agree more with this assesment. It may seem like a marketing brilliance at work but I beg to differ. I have asked myself the very basic question which is "What does Zune offer that the existing products don't?" and I am not sure what the answer is.

If you say that it is the wireless, it seems too crippled and is only used for sharing music which again seems very limited in scope and functionality.

If you say it is the Zune marketplace, it does not offer as much as other offerings in terms of content not is it compatible with content purchased from other online stores

If you say it is the "Microsoft" seal, I tend to agree and we may get the top 5 spot just because it came from a company that has huge piles of cash and negotiation power and its ability to steer the the industry for the better or worse.

But frankly, it seems it is being released too soon and rushed to the market which seems to most as merely a copy cat. Microsoft had an opportunity to save it face but lost it. As usual, it takes couple of releases for Microsoft to get a foothold in any market. What is worse is the confusing message that Microsoft is sending w.r.to PlayForSure DRM and WMP compatibility..

HBO SPECIAL Hacking Democracy

A documentary showing how DIEBOLD has cheated american voters. Funny that the world's most technologically advanced democracy still has to address some very basic issues

E18 Error

I bought my Canon SD550 camera early this year and have been very happy with it until I got the dreaded E18 error which made the camera unusable. To my greatest surprise, there are mountains of information on this in the WWW and it made me realize how much the web has gone in terms of being useful and for information sharing. Here are the top links that has the details. The Camera manufacturer (Canon) is yet to admit that this is their issue.

http://www.e18error.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E18_error

Long live the World Wide Web

Book of the month: The Wisdom of Crowds

The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations by James Surowiecki is one of the best books I read recently and I would recommend this to anyone as it is also a fun read. This book is all about how and why many are smarter and also gives a plenty of real life examples. Interestingly this proves quite the opposite of what "Extraordinary Popular Delusions: And the Madness of Crowds" is all about which I can wait to read.

Lies, Deception and FUD

If there is one thing that could be said of Republican party right now is how deceitful they are. Democrats have no choice but to follow them. I am talking about the Ads that has been running for the mid term elections in different races. Be it George Allen Vs. Jim Webb or the poor Mr. Ford Jr who is on the receiving end. It is not just them but overall, I see ads reaching the rock bottom on decency, negativity, twisted truths, statements and votes taken out of context and facts that are just plain wrong. Is this what the GOP stands far? Is this what portrays their values? If the Ads represent their moral values, principles or what they are, they are the last party I would want to represent and support.

Also, I am totally surprised at how democracy and election plays out here and how much misinformation is thrown at people regarding the candidates who is running for the election. It gets real nasty here and this is much worse than the country where I originally come from. If this is what the land of the free has to offer, I really doubt if America stands as an example for the rest of the world.

Condi lost the last bit of respect I had for her

She consistently has been proving to be ineffective and being a parrot on Bush's shoulders. Some of the revelations in Bob Woodward's book shows how ineffective she is. I had a lot of respect for her couple of years ago. But it has steadily declined and now I just don't have anything to appreciate her for. What led to the decline? The top 3 things:

1. When the 9/11 commission asked her about the intel document that said terrorists are planning to use planes to attack, she merely said it was an historical document and nothing was new. Couple of months later, the terrorists hijack planes and the rest is history. How could someone at her level do or say that?

2. During the Israel/Lebanon conflict, she again proved to be ineffective to do anything to stop the violence and the civilian deaths. She kept saying the condition isn't conducive/ready to discuss peace. What the fuck? Hundreds of people are dying on both sides and what an irresposible thing to do or say. Yes, wars have collateral damage but ignoring the conditions on the ground is just plain wrong

3. In recent days, Bob Woodward's in his book says that she ignored or did nothing to DCI/Counterterrorisom Deputy's serious concerns about Al Qaeda's plan to attack months before 9/11. This meeting is confirmed by Sean McCormak/George Tenet/Black etc but she still has no recollection of it and claims she would have acted on it if she had known about it. Yeah right. Do you expect OBL to come to you to give out the plans in order for you to Act?

You sure aren't getting my vote if you run for Office. I ran across this blog which reflects what I am thinking:
Rice acknowledged Sunday that the White House was receiving a "steady stream of quite alarmist reports of potential attacks" during daily meetings from Tenet during that period. But she said the targets were assumed to be in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Israel and Jordan. She said no reports mentioned the United States.
"What I am quite certain of, however, is that I would remember if I was told -- as this account apparently says -- that there was about to be an attack in the United States. The idea that I would somehow have ignored that I find incomprehensible," she told reporters.
Rice said her staff is now going back to check if there even was a meeting on July 10, 2001."
This is a woman who in 2002 was telling us in press briefings that there was "no way" anyone could have predicted that terrorists would use airplanes as weapons... but who in August, 2001 read a briefing that said that al Qaeda was planning a major strike against the US that could involve hijacking of airplanes.
There's a convenient list of Rice's incorrect statements to the 9/11 Commission here, if you're curious. It certainly sheds some light on why she was so resistant to testifying to the commission under oath (which she did, in the end, do).
After watching her for years, it's easy to see the pattern: when something goes wrong on her watch, she looks for someone to blame, and makes things up to support it... complete with an indignant complaint that people are impugning her integrity.
This isn't what we should expect from a secretary of state. This is behavior better suited to a petulant sixth-grader who's been caught not doing her homework and is looking for a convenient dog to accuse of eating it.

Talk Talk

I came across this in http://video.google.com/. Very creative use of people there. I wish it starts a whole new thing and so that I can see more of it

Switching teams, the Google Way

Steve yegge an employee at Google writes that developers can switch teams and/or projects any time they want, no questions asked; just say the word and the movers will show up the next day to put you in your new office with your new team.

I know he is a bit exaggerating. But I love and encourage it. MS definitely needs to make it easier for folks to move. What is the point of holding someone who wants to move?

I speak from my personal experience. I decided to pursue other opportunities at Microsoft after having spent 6 years in the current team. My manager wouldn't give me permission. He suggested that I stay until product ships and also was exaplaining how important my contributions are blah blah blah. Even worse, dev manager was also trying to convince me by explaining why the grass looks greener on the other side. Does it make any sense to any of you? I have decided to try a few things and folks are saying that is a bad idea and asking me to stay? I am not a dumbo and I know how to make my career decisions well.

One good thing is that Microsoft seems to be eliminating the need to get manager's approval and instead notify the manager instead. This is really a good step in the right direction.

I don't know about competing with Google on the products arena. But I love the fact the it is forcing Microsoft to rethink from a HR perspective a lot. I see the Google effect in many aspects of Microsoft.

Sure I hate Bush but I couldn't watch this...

See if you can watch the full video because I could not first. The link is:
Colbert Roasts President Bush - 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner

For some reason, I couldn't watch the entire thing (I watched maybe half of it). I think Steven Colbert went little far. Presidents no matter what they have done, deserves some dignity. Then I watched "President Bush Impersonation - 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner" and felt o.k to see the President making fun of himself and was a bit relieved.

If Israel did not exist...

Please read this first before jumping into conclusions. I am a christian if it matters. I read a lot and thought about a lot and was even pondering (fearing) about being labelled as anti-semetic. But I just want to say it since there is no point in believing in one and not acknowledging it. I wonder if mid-east (the whole sub continent) could have been at peace if the country Israel did not exist. I would have to re-iterate here that I am not saying Jews should not exist. In fact, they have all the right to live and enjoy life just as every one of us have and do (I even have couple of jewish friends with whom I discuss the mid-east conflict). I say this because every mid-east conflict has the country Israel behind it (Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebonon, Palestine etc etc). I do not see any end to the violence since Israel is continueing its occupation and expansion (especially the settlements) and the affected parties are not willing to give away an inch taken from them.

What really perplexes me is that the Arab/Persian countries have so much clout (in terms of oil) and money, they are not willing to come together to bring a resolution to this issue. I really wish they put their differences behind and work towards a common goal of achieving stability and peace in the region by using their political clout.

I empathize with Palestinians and lebonaese who lost their lives or displaced by this conflict more and I feel sorry for them.

I request that you watch this documentary Peace, Propaganda & The Promised Land which touched me a lot and talks about most of what I have gathered and found out. If you are touched by this documentary, please pass this on.

Good programming puzzle that I came across

Here is something that I just came across while preparing for an interview. I did solve the puzzle myself in less than 1/2 hour. Sorry no answers for this one:

A helicopter drops two trains, each on a parachute, onto a straight infinite railway line. There is an undefined distance between the two trains. Each faces the same direction, and upon landing, the parachute attached to each train falls to the ground next to the train and detaches. Each train has a microchip that controls its motion. The chips are identical. There is no way for the trains to know where they are. You need to write the code in the chip to make the trains bump into each other. Each line of code takes a single clock cycle to execute. You can use the following commands (and only these);

• MF - moves the train forward
• MB - moves the train backward
• IF (P) - conditional that is satisfied if the train is next to a parachute. There is no "then" to this IF statement.
• GOTO

Have fun!

About making English the nation’s official language

This is ridiculous. I can't believe America is an "open" society where one does not have the "freedom of speech" (i.e freedom of spoken language).

E pluribus unum was one of the first national mottos of the United States of America. Translated from Latin, it means "From many, one" or "Out of many, one" (e=out of, from; pluribus=many; unum=one). It referred to the integration of the 13 independent colonies into one united country, and has taken on an additional meaning, given the pluralistic nature of American society from immigration.

“We have never been and no serious person is suggesting that we become an English-only nation,” said Mauro Mujica, U.S. English Inc. board chairman, which promotes English as a national language. “But the American people decidedly do not want us to become an English- optional nation.”
Commentary: Where does one get the idea that the majority speaks english? If you combine the Hispanic/Asian/European population, they are probably the majority and they don't speak english as primary language. Secondly, there is no need to enforce language on someone if there is no need. This nation has prospered w/o an Official langauge for almost 2 centiries. What is broken that needs fixing?

Rep. Mark Souder, a Republican, said without an organized official language, “We are all going to descend into chaos.” He said knowledge of English should be a requirement for immigrants seeking permission to work in the United States. “If you are going to come to America, then learn our language,” he said.
Commentary: Our language is english? Indians where the people of the land and they did not speak english. Maybe we should make their langiage the national language. Even a majority does not mean that should be made the Official language. How about making the second largest spoken language as the second official language? I don't think there will be any takers for this one. Also, Hawaiians speak their native language and what do you say to them?

Murder Vs. Destruction of life

Sunday July 23rd, 2006 should go in Journalistic history. I am talking about "Meet the press" by Tim Russet with White house chief of staff Joshua Bolton. Tim who I highly respect (along with Chris Matthews for not being afraid of asking the right questions) grilled Bolton about Tony snow's statement characterizing president's position on embryonic stem cell research as "Murder". In the end, Bolton just avoided answering it directly but I really appreciated the line of questioning. A day later, Tony snow corrected himself saying he overstated president's position but he said president does believes that embryonic stem cell research is "Destruction of life". Well, I am not the master of English langauge but what is the difference? It is a daily affair for politicians to use word play and fool the public. It is despicable at best.

On the overall issue, it looks like Bush does not have any common sense either and is very idealogical.

• If President believes it is immoral and views this as destruction of life, why even allow private research? Shouldn't he ban every form of destruction?
• If the stem cells aren't going to be used and also not being adopted (only 128 out of 400,00 has been adopted in the last few years), isn't this another way to destroy the cells? Also, why aren't we preventing clinics to not produce more until everything that is available is used?

Here are the excerpts from the transcript for your reading pleasure:
MR. RUSSERT: Let me turn to domestic politics. The president vetoed a stem research bill, a bill that’s called for the use of embryos that were obtained in vitro clinics that supporters say would have been discarded. And instead, have the government subsidize research to see if they can use those embryos to find some use of the stem cells for cures for Parkinson’s disease and so forth. Tony Snow, the White House press secretary who speaks for the president, went to the podium at the White House and said this to the press corps and to the nation. Let’s watch.

MR. TONY SNOW: The president believes strongly that for the purpose of research it’s inappropriate for the federal government to finance something that many people consider murder. He’s one of them.
The simple answer is he thinks murder’s wrong.
(End videotape)
MR. RUSSERT: Murder. The president believes that using an embryo for stem cell research is murder.
MR. BOLTEN: Let me, let me step back for a second, Tim. Now, I think...
MR. RUSSERT: Because that’s a very important question.
MR. BOLTEN: It is, and, and...
MR. RUSSERT: The president’s spokesman used the word “murder.” Does the president believe the use of an embryo for stem cell research is murder?
MR. BOLTEN: Let me—indulge me here for a moment, and let me, and let me walk through the issue and I, and I will get to your question, because it’s a very complicated, very, very delicate issue, that I think a lot of people misunderstand what the president’s policies were that he first enunciated five years ago.
First, the, the policy announcement that the president made five years ago was not that stem cell research would, would be banned, but rather that federal funding of stem cell research would be banned. Second, it is—and not even all embryonic stem cell research would be banned, just that research that involves the incenting, or the new destruction of fertilized embryos. There’s—this president, in fact, was the first one to permit federal funding to go to any embryonic stem cell research, but only for lines that had been, had already been created where the embryo was already created. The president’s objective in his policy, was to prevent the use of federal funds toward the, the promotion of destroying these fertilized embryos.
Now to your question. It’s a very delicate and difficult balance that the, that the president has tried to strike here between the, the needs and desires of science and the morals and ethics that, that our government leaders are, are charged to, to try to sustain. On the one hand, the president recognizes that embryonic stem cell research has, has promise, unfulfilled as yet, but a, but a great deal of promise. On the other hand, the president believes, as, as do millions and millions of Americans, that that fertilized embryo is a human life that deserves protection. The president recognizes that there are wide differences of opinion on this, and that’s why his policy has been not to prevent that research from going forward altogether, but to prevent your tax dollars and my tax dollars from going to support the destruction of that, that human embryo, because there’s so many of us who believe that that human embryo is a human life that deserves protection, and has the potential to become, become some of the beautiful kids you saw in, in the original clip you showed at the...
MR. RUSSERT: Then if the president believes it is human life, how can he allow private stem cell research to go forward, go forward, if, in fact, that is murder?
MR. BOLTEN: It’s a very, it’s a very difficult balance. I mean, the president recognizes that there are millions of Americans who don’t recognize that as a human life, and that the promise of that research for the saving of life is so important that they, that they want that to go forward. What the president has said is that as far as the federal policy is concerned, no federal funds, your tax dollars and my tax dollars, will go towards promoting the destruction of that human embryo.
MR. RUSSERT: But you’re using federal funds for existing lines, which were of embryos. So were those embryos that the federal government is experimenting on obtained by homicidal means?
MR. BOLTEN: Those, those embryos, those stem cell lines, were already—those embryos were already destroyed, and, and that’s where the president—the president’s policies draw the line. That is that our tax dollars, from the point that the president made his policy statement forward, our tax dollars are not going to go to further incent the destruction of those fertilized embryos. Let me, let me...
MR. RUSSERT: The logic, Mr. Bolten, as people are listening to this, the president is saying no, we can’t use embryos that are going to be discarded by in vitro clinics because, according to a spokesman, that’s murder. But we can use embryos that were existing before I became president, that’s OK. And if you have a private company and you want to use those embryos, that’s OK. Back to the central question: does the president agree with his spokesman, Tony Snow, that the research on the embryo in, in fact, to use that embryo is murder?
MR. BOLTEN: The president thinks that that embryo, that fertilized embryo, is a human life that deserves protection...
MR. RUSSERT: But does he accept or reject the use of the word “murder”?
MR. BOLTEN: I haven’t spoken to him about the use, the use of particular terminology, but the—but let me come back to the fundamental point here, Tim, and that is that there’s, there’s a balance that needs to be struck, and it’s a very difficult balance for, for any president to strike, between, between the needs of allowing science that can be life-saving to go forward, and reflecting the ethics and morals of this society. And as, as far as those, those fertilized human embryos are concerned that are, that are going to be discarded anyway, there was, there was a very moving ceremony, I thought, in the East Room of the White House this week, when the president discussed his stem cell policy. And on stage there with him—you had a clip of it at the top of the show—on stage there with him there were some children who are the products of those fertilized embryos that otherwise would have been, would have been destroyed.
MR. RUSSERT: Well, 128 embryos were adopted. But 400,000 are now not being used, and will be probably discarded. And you’re saying they should not be used for research by the federal government.
MR. BOLTEN: Yes, that is the president’s policy.
MR. RUSSERT: Would you then move to close down in vitro clinics—if, in fact, those embryos are being created and used by private companies for research and the president’s spokesman says that’s murder, and the president said it’s a human life, why not then close down the in vitro fertility clinics? Because they’re creating embryos that, in the president’s view, will be murdered.
MR. BOLTEN: That’s not where the president has, has drawn the balance. He’s drawn the balance with—the line with federal funding, people’s tax dollars not going to—not going to incent the further destruction of the human life. Look, 400,000...
MR. RUSSERT: But he will—he will allow private cell research companies to “destroy human life.”
MR. BOLTEN: That issue isn’t before him. What’s before him is what—the issue of what will federal funds be used for.
Look, those, those 400,000 fertilized...
MR. RUSSERT: But he could take steps to outlaw that.
MR. BOLTEN: Those 400,000 human—fertilized human embryos, I’m sure the president fervently wishes that, that every single one of them is going to get adopted and turn into one of those beautiful kids we saw at the ceremony.
MR. RUSSERT: All 400,000 are going to be adopted?
MR. BOLTEN: No. They’re not likely to be, and that’s, that’s, that’s very sad for this country. But...
MR. RUSSERT: Karl Rove, the president’s chief political adviser, said that adult stem cells show far more promise than embryonic stem cells, and the White House could not identify any scientist who could confirm that. Is—does the president agree with Mr. Rove?
MR. BOLTEN: I’m, I’m no scientist, not, not quantified to speak on it, but I think the point that Karl was getting at is that there are alternative means to achieve some of the promise of the—of the embryonic stem cells that, that scientists...
MR. RUSSERT: No, he said “far more promise.”
MR. BOLTEN: Well...
MR. RUSSERT: Can you—can you cite any scientist who believes that adult stem cells have far more promise than embryonic stem cells?
MR. BOLTEN: Well I can’t cite scientists on either side of it, but what I can tell you is that adult, adult human stem cells have already shown enormous utility in, in the amelioration of disease in this country. Embryonic stem cells have, have yet to fulfill the promise that many see, but, but there—but there is a legitimate promise there, and that’s why the president has struggled so much with that difficult balance...(unintelligible).
MR. RUSSERT: But is there any ev—is there any evidence that you’re aware of, or the president’s aware of, that says that adult stem cells show far more promise than embryonic?
MR. BOLTEN: Adult stem cells have already demonstrated for—in the amelioration of disease...
MR. RUSSERT: So you agree with Mr. Rove.
MR. BOLTEN: I—like I said I’m not—I’m not a scientist and I don’t...
MR. RUSSERT: Well, I don’t think Karl Rove is, either.
MR. BOLTEN: Well, he knows a lot of stuff, but the—look, the, the point here is that there are alternative ways to get to the, the promise that the embryonic stem cells have, and the president, in his announcement this week on, on stem cell policy, also announced that we were going to put extra effort at, at—within our scientific community at NIH into pursuing stem cell research that does not involve the destruction of those fertilized human embryos.

Can Isreal do any worse?

There are only 2 things I firmly recognize and accept about Isreal
1. Its right to exist and its sovereignty
2. Its pre 1967 borders

Everything else about it its settlements, its aggression and its policies are despicable. What makes them think that they are above all?

First its response to Hezbollah, is completely unacceptable and shows a bullish attitude. I am not talking about its attacks on the Hezbollah establishments. But on the the lebanese airport, military establishments and civilian infrastructure. This is all bull shit. The Lebanese government is a coalition government and has a hard time negotiating/controlling the organization. We should let an international body to handle it rather than taking matters into its own hands. I feel sorry for Lebanon.

Secondly, the conflict started because of Hezbollah taking 2 military prisonars hostage. This is such a small event which could have been handled diplomatically but instead Isreal chose to go out on a full offensive resulting in more deaths of Isrealis (30 so far I belive). Does this make sense? Seriously not, at least to me. It just seems that they just using this as a pretext to do the Hezbollah cleanup and has been in the works for a long time.

Pre-emptive strikes or war is unjustified period.

Flag amendment fails by one vote

MSNBC Story link

..A constitutional amendment to ban flag desecration died in a Senate cliffhanger Tuesday, a single vote short of the support needed to send it to the states for ratification a week before Independence Day.

For me, what pisses me of more is wearing the flag as underwear or bra which I see quite often. If the senate included all forms of flag desecration, I would have been satisfied. But trying to ban just one form of it which does not happen a lot seems like a political thingy. BTW, I would never burn a national flag to show my opposition as it is not very civil but I just don't think passing yet another law is the correct thing.

Reporting a bug in IE7. How hard can it be?

I wanted to be a good Microsoft citizen and install a beta product and use it and give feedback. So downloaded and installed IE7 Beta2 yesterday and started using it. My general impression is that is has caught up to other browsers in the market featurewise and seems to be more secure. All is good.

But as usual, I ran into issues that I wanted to report to Microsoft. So my quest began trying to find a way to do it.

1. First, I tried looking for "Report a bug" link or a button in the UI to make it simple for anyone to report an issue in a beta product. It was futile. I didn't find any.


2. Next I scoured the menus and toolbars for something that would help me report an issue. The closest I found was "Help->Customer Feedback options.." which turned out to be some sort of opt-in UI to send usage data to Microsoft. Disappointing.


3. Next, I chose "Help->Send Feedback" which took me to MS Support website. To my frustration, the web page is the main Microsoft support web page instead something specific to IE7. You chose "Help" from a product and instead of going directly to the product help page, it launched a general support page where users have to drill through the links to find what they need.


4. I did not give up. I found "Report a bug" link (Aha!) which took me to a page with a customer support phone number. Not very good given that I just simply want to type some feedback and send it to Microsoft.

5. So I clicked back to the main support page and this time, clicked on "Select a product" which took me to a web page where IE7 was not listed at all. By now, I was starting to wonder why would help take me to some place useless.


6. At this point, I decided to spend more time to get to the bottom of it. So I clicked "Help->Online Support" which took me to http://support.earthlink.net/. What in the world just happened? I have no services provided by EarthLink and don't recall ever having anything to do with these folks in the last 5 or 6 years. Another road block. Not giving up yet.

7. Next, I went back to the main support page and typed "internet explorer 7 support" in the search box and hit ENTER. Great, it took me to IE7 support home page (Why didn't the Help->Send feedback" take me to this site in the first place?). This page has information more than I am looking for. I was starting to have some faith in Microsoft folks but I still didn't find a link that I can use to simply type some text and hit send. So my saga continues..

8. Going through the page, under "Leave feedback on IE7", there are bunch of options. The web page suggested below as the first options:
Internet Explorer External Feedback
This is the best way to submit Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2 bugs to the Internet Explorer team. Access the site now.
You will need to have a Microsoft Passport account in order to use this site. Go to the Passport site to create an account.
In order to submit feedback, go to Microsoft Connect, then select "Available Programs," which will take you through a license agreement. You will see "Internet Explorer Feedback" as one of the list of programs available. Select "Apply" to enroll in the program.

"Access this site now" took me to a login page and after I logged in, showed me a "Page not found" page. Not very pleasent.

9. I then tried the "Microsoft Connect" option under "External Feedback" section and looked for "Available Programs" and it wasn't there. It dawned upon me after few minutes that I should not take any help word by word. I found "Available Connections" instead (What more technical can it be?) and followed the link to find "Internet Explorer Feedback" and clicked on the "Apply" link hoping that it would be a matter of providing my passport e-mail to sign-in and then send the feedback. What a dork I am to expect such luxuries. It asked me to provide bunch of information what I didn't want to. There goes another dead end.
Side Note: I could not use the back button on my browser to go back to my previous page. Which asshole designed this? This is one of the most annoying this on the web where you can get to a page but can't go back with a simple click. It is like being stuck in a backhole..

10. Remember I am determined to get to the bottom. So I tried the next feedback option which is to install the "Microsoft beta client tool" which I clicked obviously. After clicking on O.K buttons bunch of times, I was prompted to install ".Net Framework 2.0". What a crap? In order to install a simple bug reporting program, I now need to download 20+ MB of software etc.. There goes another option.

11. The last option was newsgroups which I am sure will lead me to nowhere and is not what I was looking for.

Thank you Microsoft for making it so easy to report bugs on your product for free and also from users who are brave enough to install a beta product given the fact that Internet Explorer isn't the one with good history for security and reliability.

What did I expect from the World's best software company?
A simple button in the toolbar saying "Report a bug" which would show me a dialog with

• one editbox to enter my feedback
• one more optional editbox to provide my email in case they want to contact me
• And a checkbox to ask if I can be contacted

That is all. Was that too much to ask for? Also, was I complelely stupid to not notice something obvious (even if that is the case, I would fault the usability of it) instead of having to go through all this?

Getting back to what I wanted to report, I noticed 2 bugs with IE7.

1. My blogger site kept asking me to re-login which did not happen when I was using IE6 with blogger for the last year.
2. I see some layout issues when I go to http://expo.live.com

Hope some one from MS reads this and tries to do something about this...

Can Microsoft really execute?

Today's commentary is about the Win FS announcement. Sorry folks, I have to be honest here and write what is currently going through my mind.

The first thing that came out of me as I was reading the team blog was the four letter word along with huge amount of frustration. I am really starting to doubt if Microsoft could pull projects of this size and complexity these days. What is wrong with you people? I am starting to think that Microsoft is better of writing some web application that we call "Live" and should just be content of accomplishments.

My frustrations are multi-fold:
1. It was originally part of Vista and was one of its pillars before it was pulled out. It was announced that it would be available for XP+. I breathed a sigh of relief hoping that the folks running the project at least by then realized what needed to be done and how far they are from shipping this thing.

2. After that, Microsoft kept drumming up this thing and never even mentioned what was going on internally building hopes that this will finally ship as promised.

3. Now comes the announcement that WinFS will be "morphed" into something else and will be shipped with SQL/ADO.Net. I just prey that at least what Microsoft is saying now is true and will stick to it.

4. Beyond all, what surprises me is that the folks running this operation seemed to have no idea about what it is since I kept seeing the re-positioning of the product/platform in the last 5 years or so. I thought they are paid big bucks to strategize and come up with long term vision. If one can screw up things this badly, I am going to send my resume for a VP position in Microsoft.

I wasn't sure before but have my doubts now..

I generally do not want to encourage conspiracy theorists or read about them. But I saw "Loose change" on my friend's insistence and I have my doubts now. Though I have not checked every fact presented, as a layman and playing the role of a jury in a trial who goes by the facts presented to him and then makes a decision based on that, I think the government ought to explain a few things and open up few more to close the 9/11 controversies.

It definitely is not very far fetched and asking few more questions won't hurt...

Who made it to PC World's 100 Best/Worst Products of the Year 2006?

I always look to see where Microsoft and its products stand in these. To my surprise and disappointment, the greatest and biggest software house in the World didn't make it for the 10 best list and only 2 listed in the 100 best products of the year. Here are the notables:
1. Intel Core Duo Notebook/Desktop CPU
2. AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core Desktop CPU
3. Craigslist.org Web Classifieds
4. Apple iPod Nano Digital Audio Player
5. Seagate 160GB Portable Hard Drive Portable Hard Drive
6. Google Earth Satellite Imagery
7. Adobe Premiere Elements 2 Video Editor
8. Canon EOS 30D Digital SLR Camera
9. YouTube.com Video-Sharing Site
10. Apple Boot Camp Mac Dual-Booter
...
54. Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 Keyboard
...
89.Microsoft Xbox 360 Game Console

and also very disappointing to see that Microsoft took 2 spots in the top 10 Worst tech products of all time. The list is:
1. America Online (1989-2006)
2. RealNetworks RealPlayer (1999)
3. Syncronys SoftRAM (1995)
4. Microsoft Windows Millennium (2000)
5. Sony BMG Music CDs (2005)
6. Disney The Lion King CD-ROM (1994)
7. Microsoft Bob (1995)
8. Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 (2001)
9. Pressplay and MusicNet 2002
10. Ashton-Tate dBASE IV (1988)
...

I recognize that Microsoft needs a lot of work ahead to convince people that its products are top notch.

Microsoft Office to remove PDF support

Whatever the truth is or who ever is on the right side, here are the indesputable facts based on my research:

1. PDF is claimed to me an open format and any one is free to incorporate PDF support as long as they conform to the format and thus not break the compatibility. Here is the Adobe partner documentation
2. There are already many products out there from Vendors/ISVs which support PDF to other formats conversion and vice versa. So it is not just the Microsoft that is taking a lead here or trying a new approach. If it is O.K for others to do it, I do not see any reason why Microsoft should be a exception.
3. At least there is no publically available information on whether Microsoft is altering the format and as some one who has inside information and knew the folks who were doing it, I can say this isn't the case. I for one was involved in sort of PDF support for a Microsoft product a while ago and I know the reality.
4. There is no question or doubt that Office customers will benefit from this as they do not have to buy Acrobat to author PDF content.

So in my simplistic view, Adobe is the evil company here and not Microsoft.

UMPC?, No thank you

http://www.samsungq1.com/

I think it is one of the coolest gadgets that I would like to own due to its form factor and being a little more general purpose device as compared to the gadgets with specific functions. But, looking at the price at which they are going to sell (~$1000), I am just going to wait for the second generation or third. If I need something, I would rather settle for a untra compact laptop from Sony Viao series rather than going down the UMPC line.

Great concept but only for people with fat wallet!

Stop the insanity Mr.Muhammed

I was reading Imran Anwar's In My Humble Opinion to get some ideas about what the other side has to say about the controversial cartoons. But he is not very convicing (at least to me) since his arguments are pretty baseless. He gives the following example:

"...Would all these "fair and balanced" media and publications, from Denmark to France to the USA, publish cartoons (in the name of free speech if not on merit) showing Prophet Jesus Christ as a nasty, pedophile, Homosexual telling his homosexual apostles and followers to become Christian priests and rape little boys in Churches?"

I am a christian and I have no problems with that whatsoever and it did not get infuriated as the muslim world did. Why do they care so much about what a non-believer has to say about their beliefs? A better response would have been to simply express their disagreement through BoyCott of the publications or media that is not sensitive to their feelings and start a more meaningful dialog instead of burning the embassies or killing the people.

He goes on to say the following:
"... I also don't think either cartoon would get published - at least in America or Europe because they would be considered "offensive" or "bigoted" .... Sorry, free speech is not so free and it depends on what country you are in and what group you dare to attack. Shameful double standards!"

Even if that happens in America, I am sure people are not going to burn the newspaper building or kill people. Sure there will be some protests but I am not expecting to see stupidity. Since he mentioned this, it occured to me what if an American newspaper invites cartoonists from Middleeast and portray Jesus the way they want to and pusblish it? It would teach the world muslims how different we are from them. But I don't think anyone here has the courage to even think or do it.

My word to the muslims is, Grow up guys!

OMG, OMG, I got one!

You sure heard me complain a lot about it. But I had the luck of getting "My precious" XBox 360 last week. It wasn't a planned hunt and was checking out something else in CompUSA and happened to ask the store clerk if they had anything in stock and the rest is history. The funny part was that I almost got that for free. The sales person thought I had already paid for my 360 and was letting me walk away w/o having to pay for it. Being a very honest person :-), I told her that I hadn't paid for it and duly paid $435 and took it home with a lot of pride.

I sure enjoy the device for its HD gaming experience and Dolby Digital 5.0 channel audio and its seamless integration with "XBox market place" which is a cool idea and I am starting to like it.

The only thing that isn't working out well for me is connecting the 360 to my PC. Will have to call tech support to figure that one out.

All because of cartoons?

Muslim world enraged by cartoons

I don't believe this. This more or less confirms my belief that the Islam is not a progressive religion at all and Muslims by far the most close minded compared to any society.

Well, there is always a camp that says "Hey, not all muslims are like that yada yada yada...". But if that camp is a minority and cannot control the events that are happening (I am talking about the violent protests and burning of embassies), I am to believe that most are on the other camp.

With most of the Islamic nations having blasphemy laws that could hang a person just for his views or for exercising his freedom of speech or expression, I don't think I would ever consider living in one of those nations and they shouldn't expect my sympathy and support ever.

To me, there are no sacred cows and everything is subject to scrutiny and I strongly believe in freedom of speech no matter what they have to say.

Grow up guys for your good!

[Update on Feb 6th, 2006] Wikipedia has the most comprehensive report I can find on the web. Fantastic and be sure to check that out.

I am flattened by this book

I am talking about "The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century" by Thomas L. Friedman.

It is one of the best books I read recently (few more chapters left for me to read). Since I am originally from India, it makes it an even more interesting and compelling read. The author is 1000% correct about the fact that the Internet and high speed connections has flatted the world so much that everyone in this world has an equal chance of succeeding in the global market who otherwise would have been pushed down by their Culture/government policies etc

It is indeed a great history of 21st century.

Sony PS3 rumor

PS3 launch delayed until fall?
Delay is good for Microsoft XBox 360 isn't? That is not what I wanted to say here. It is something that occurred to me and wanted to start a rumor if there isn't one started already :-)

The way I see it, PS3 will come in 2 versions. One with Blu-Ray support and one without. I don't think Sony will include Blu-Ray in all its consoles and risk the sale of its consoles due to its price point being higher. In fact, Microsoft by setting the baseline, it is hard for Sony to deviate much. So, there will be a

• Core PS3 console with standard DVD player and all the rest of the PS3 features
• Premium console with Blu-Ray support which will be priced much higher than $399 (my guess is $499).

With the next generation high definition players like
Pioneer (Preps $1,800 Blu-ray Player) selling as high as $1800 bucks, it would be hard for Sony to even release a basic support for Blu-ray without raising the price too much.

I am going to wait and see how much of mine is accurate.