Longhorn Ship Schedule

As reported by BusinessWeek Online, Microsoft has internally announced dates for the Longhorn OS that are very clear-cut and aggressive. Here's a snippet from the article...

While Microsoft has been publicly vague on timing, Peterson wasn't. One e-mail said the company will ship the first beta version of the software next February and plans Longhorn's debut for the first six months of 2006. Microsoft confirmed the content of the e-mails and videoconference but declined to elaborate.

I guess only time will tell if we can makes the dates announced and if we do, it's going to be akin to the months prior to shipping Win2k - 6 day work weeks, 65 hours a week of work - INTENSE...

1 million uses and then some...

Let's hear some Windows Noise!!! Everybody, get them shoes on and move...

Is the Sun going to finally set?

Or as this article: Economist.com | Face value: "Did Scott McNealy of Sun just make peace with an enemy, surrender, or cry for help?" suggest, has Microsoft pushed the clock back a couple hours and delayed the inevitable...

New Title - Same Geek

As the Karans I know would say, I'm at most 60% geek - you can't find a single code sample in my blog. Thought I'd update the title on my blog to actually reflect the geek part of my lifestyle because it's not something I can deny. Take last night for instance; I couldn't sleep so around 2am, I opened up my laptop and started checking my email. I had none in my inbox so I trawled through the distribution lists I'm a member of to see if there was something interesting I read. When I couldn't find anything immediately interesting, I fired up IE and read some slides on Computer Architecture. Fiction, literature - they have their place and time - high school :)

Gonna head over to the Pro Club in a little bit to play some squash, run and lift weights. Astalavista...

Any more maintenance costs anyone?

I have the enviable pleasure of being surrounded, for the most part, by High Maintenent peoplzes. I can understand that girlz can be high maintenance, they claim it's their birth right, especially for one week every month of the year. Ok ok guys, I'll be honest and take the fall for the male community, 2 weeks every month! But guys being high maintenance too - geez, how can one ever justify that?

It's not that I haven't committed the crime that is being High Maintenance, I have - I'll accept it. But of late I find that everyone is either high maintenant or belligerent - and the weather has finally changed for the better, the sun is out for crying out loud - shouldn't everyone's mood be so much better. Or have I missed something, some people actually are in higher spirits when it's raining down? Get off that lofty pedestal, you aren't extra special just because you're high maintenance, only few are super important but everyone can't be - and I'm sorry if I have to be the bearer of sad tidings - deal with it! Truth is, the more high maintenance people get, the more I shy from interactions with them - knowing how politically incorrect I am, I feel like I'm sitting on a ticking bomb with high maintenance people - and shit I like to talk, so I hate shutting up...

You know what I hate the most though - really, what I hate the most? Cloaked high maintenance! Shit, if you wanna be high maintenance, atleast own up to it - the people who act like it's all cool and all fine but invertly expect you to pander to some hidden whim you have no frigging clue about, damn - that takes some balls! Colossal balls, to quote Jerry Seinfeld. If you want my attention, come out and ask for it or you won't get it. If you don't get it when you haven't asked for it, don't dock my fucking points coz I can't read your mind :) Peace out...

Bill Gates No Longer the Richest?

Apparently not. The devaluing of the US Dollar has led to the dethroning of Billg as the richest man in the world. Who better to supplant him than the founder of IKEA. More info here...

Beware of Gmail

Not all things Google does can be trusted, as reported by a group of people who call themselves "Google Watch". This article: Gmail Privacy Alert on their homepage indicates that there is a lot of hidden information transmitted between your machine and Google's servers. The people at Google when contacted didn't deny that they would use the private information about your browsing and search habits to fine-tune your experience at Google or to serve pertinent ads. In other words, if you are a paranoid Internet user, follow the instructions, DELETE the Google cookie before pressing Submit :)

Did you shop at Walmart on 31 March 2004?

If you did, then as this article: Wired News: The Bigger They Are ... indicates, you might want to check your credit/debit card statement. To quote,

DENVER -- A computer hardware problem caused more than 800,000 credit and debit card transactions to be double- or triple-billed last week at Wal-Mart stores nationwide, according to officials at First Data Corp., which handled the electronic payments.

Microsoft and Sun Settle - An ongoing update

Microsoft and Sun Microsystems reach Settlement - VIDEO
Watch the video - hell is most likely going to freeze over. Some say Sun sold out but I say this is conventional wisdom. Microsoft is a force to reckon with today and everyone, be it Apple or Sun , recognizes that the only way to get any market share is to interoperate and work with Microsoft. Go MS, go...

And now, read this analysis by the cynics over at TheRegister.co.uk: Why Sun threw in the towel in Mankind vs. Microsoft. Really, what does Sun Microsystems now stand for?