Microsoft Research symposium --- Bangalore--- sweet and simple (in 3 Hours)

         

          On completion of another year of the Microsoft  research India, a decent public symposium was arranged. I was one of the few hungry  visitors to  know, whats in store of Microsoft for public access and what  they  are up to. On few projects, I was pretty  excited with the technology  used but with few OMG I was amazed to  know how come a good initiate end up as a visible crap. I have some favorites and odds, in brief this is what  I carried out of the Leela palace show off.

Demos: -

Microsoft Surface: - Seen a lot of videos about his prolific machine, wanted to see it live and touch it & the wish  came true. Windows vista was running so  smooth on the surface, but the "Microsoft Surface" makes u feel what  the technology  can be one day, things are just t taking shape.

Writing in Air: - One of  my  favorite demo on display, reminded me of the movie "Minority  Report" movement in air and things done.  It was about a orange ball with the dot marked on it, the dot was tracked by the web cam attached to the computer. The movement of the ball (i.e. the dot associated), assisted in making the meaning out of the shape carved in the air, with an auto suggestion against an  unclear detection ( u get these in new mobiles with hand writing softwares). Some trouble was noticed when a RedHat (T- shirt tag says so) guy with orange T-shirt tried to  use the device, orange background led to some disturbances.

Enabling Sharing During Mobile Calls: - Awesome display  of the thought process well  implemented. The telephonic conversation between the two end users is the authentication for the file sharing to  be initiated between smart devices or the computers via the cloud. The sharing is not dependent on the smart phones, but on Internet but for authentication on the active calls. A dumb idiot (must  be the youtube fan), tried to kill the show by trying to  record the videos, showing he attending conference, blocking view with his movements, but the demo was charming.

Photosynth: -  Lets make the pic 3D with photosynthesis, more the pics you have the better is the 3d representation. Nice part of this presentation was the meet with the engineer involved in the project (answered lot of questions the best way). The project is in use with more modifications (core methodologies preserved) in archaeological departments of china etc. Just watch the movie "Italian Job", and what the computer guy do in it.

Cell Phone as a Platform for Healthcare in Underserved Communities, Biometric device and doctor on web: - Presented by the most  energetic lady of the event. A collection of smart devices, a thin band around the neck, a clip at ear etc. In case you donn have the doctor around, use the setup, get the body  feature scanned and send it to the nursing home and take the advice. The current setup  displayed, made more meaning for the communication between two medical  centers wherein one end needs advice from other. The setup was still under lot of changes but usage is unlimited. It was Cool stuff but crowded. I didn't get to clear a doubt I had, but will contact the makers for some information.

Speeding the Mobile browsing: - I donn know why  this counter was not crowded but this was the demo with more information on display, from stats to  live show.  It showed that by tunneling all the elements of the webpage via a single connection object can speed up the browsing. second part was the compression which makes the content to  download lighter and hence the browsing quick. Like what  Opera did in their recent browser, but the equation is not equal  as the browser doesn't uses the winzip like compression but some in-house Microsoft compression algo. Nice stuff that  can  be more realistic and ready to  find space in the consumer usage.

SkyFinder, Searching inside the image: -  This demo was towards how the feature inside the image is scanned and can be put to usage. Best  way, suppose one searches for the image of "leopard under sky" in the Google, now, you got the pic but this time you need a blue sky as background then search the pics available for that  specific feature in the filtered results as this the best  result you will get any way. A part of it is implemented in the Bing search engine under the illustrations section on right bottom of all search results. A full concept is still under implementation (keep  watching Bing for changes). I didn't get  the questions answered as the presentation was made by an engineer on behalf of the makers.

Voice messaging center (Egoists showcasing half baked cake):-  The presentation from the MIT, The idea was shown on the scale for which it was not completely  thought of. If I want to  send a message I will dial in a toll free number drop my  voice mail and thats it, recepients receives it. Now the idea was for mass usage and large scale implementation, with no backing of how to maintain so many messages at the back-end, what about duplicate voice mails for the same cause? how will one decide before goin though the complete voice message what the message is about, to manage his preference (which is more critical)? the person or the organization going to implement this will definitely be a good friend of Mr. Gates (only  he can afford to  dumb millions for half baked cakes.).

For more details visit:-

 http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/events/techvista2010/demolist.aspx

Papers,

Papers on showcase were not as I expected them to be (few were really good). Most  of the papers were from the PHD grads from IISc, IITs etc.  and majority of the presenters were there to impress their PHD professors, so  go to the counter when u have a Professor around. I had to attend a counter twice to  learn the fact, to actually understand the details of the presentation.

Balancing the Heuristic, (improving ignorance): -  The paper was about the intelligent analysis of the information and training the neural network. This paper was for the usage in the medical  word, but I found it interesting as I deal with heuristics some way  or the other at my workplace with similar loopholes. This paper says to  club the the lower valued and less weighed sections in a common collection and considering the same as a unit during analysis. The individual  value of the category is maintained, by mapping it with the solution mentioned earlier. The deviation and error rate found to  be coming under control  and the performance improved. This fundamental  was referred for the bio-devices but sounds interesting for implementation in the regular AI jobs. This was my  favourite on the show of paper counters.

Control and Automata (Equivalence Checking in Complex Embedded System Design Verification): - This paper described well  how to get the parallel and looping transforming stages well  serialized and control, when the states are getting transformed. some of the theories brought back the terror of the college days towards the "Instrumentation and control" subject. Thanks to the presenter who  kept everything sweet, the best part of the theory was, when ever there is control analysis on the state transitions the flow becomes more serialized and came neatly calculated at the end. The transitions can be regulated in any flow using the technique with checkpoints to keep exceptions at bay.

For more information visit: -
http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/events/techvista2010/postersession.aspx

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         Though many more presentations were on displays, but these were some which  marked an impression and made me feel good to  know that I traveled all the way to Bangalore with no sleep for 30 Hours for an event not to be missed.

Being best Innovator is enough ?.. OPERA 10 ... (Innovation & Performance)

           The best innovator and well recognized browser maker Opera made its mark again with dashing new browser Opera 10. I always look at Opera products to see what they got this time, as what they bring is what u gets in IE, Firefox, Safari, Chrome etc in their latest build. The tab browsing feature is coolest feature of the today's browsers, thanks to Opera but they set the expectation high for their new version and they met it. Opera 10 PC browser and Opera mini are awesome. But I won't get into comparative analysis as it will bring the bad score to the Opera mini, the best in its class for handhelds, so all the contents here by refers only to the Opera PC browser.

Whazz new? Opera Unite & Opera turbo: - Opera introduced a awesome application well embedded with the Browser itself. A new way of being online. This is what Google wave, Microsoft Live or web portals needs to be designed as.... all in one place easy to use easy to configure etc. 

        

           Remarkable feature of the Opera Unite is to avoid uploading the files you want to share on third party servers, just create your network and share the resources between them. The Opera unite file server is well integrated with the build in web hosting, Now just donn share the files and information (pics, music, short message etc.), share your thoughts too, via a webpage. Design your web page and seek a URL from Opera unite and use it to share just the link in the network.

           Blog access and fridge notes are pretty good new things for BlogSpot & tweeter lovers, its all the same way and similar. All Unite needed was a interactive built in chat messenger for the users between the network, or something similar like Google wave a dashboard to chat on. But still overall the Opera Unite is the application to work on and good enough to grant the Opera the prestige it deserves being a innovator.

           Opera turbo is another cool application which performed very well in my test run, and is capable of providing some speed (Sub conscious mind said that), Its a cool add-on to the browser that compresses the image up to 80% in best case (some compromise to quality), to display the contents quicker. Best part of this application is easy accessibility on the bottom corner, as any time turn on or off switch.

Whazz still same? Menu and accessibility: - The menu and accessibility options are very orthodox, its a crap to have kinda menu structure Opera has. From one option to another all stone age era arrangement of the accessibility. Opera needs to seriously needs to work on it. They have examples to follow, look at IE, Firefox, Chrome and Safari, how well arranged and mannered they are. Let’s take an example of built in search bar on right top corner: -

 

           Opera has tie up with Google and is getting good revenue for placing Google search at the top of the search provider list, no problem, I love Google search, but where is Bing or Yahoo search, donn keep them up but at least keep them in the default list . These are prominent search providers too. But anyways adding these search providers in the list is not easy, one has now to go through various menu options and then add up a new search provider. This is crazy.

           The Opera unite looses the charm when the drag and drop files in the file sharing, media sharing or picture sharing controls are absent, need to follow the traditional way  of browse select  file and add.

Performance: -   Opera 10 like other followers from Opera lacks in performance, Browser hanging was one, for many reasons. The competitive browsers have made the tab browsing significant by considering all the tabs as independent process, to counter the browser crash. The new features of Opera doesn't works on these facts, if the Opera Unite hangs or doesn't responds well one can't kill it or Opera tries to recover it, rather restart the browser. This is one of the main reason performance troubles for Opera in new release.

           On the speed test for opening the web pages, Opera did well. I wasn't able to figure out much of difference being a generic end user between IE, Firefox and new Opera 10.All Opera has to do now is to be popular and get rich add-on support from developers.

Finally: -

          Opera 10 has lot compared to the last version as it has well integrated features and new offerings for the user. The Opera just need to make the cool things coolest, sharpen the edges of the applications by making them mre interactive and happening. The picture upload option should have add on- like that is present for Hotmail or live window, quick and fast selection and sharing.

          Opera browsers are good to give a shot but to gain popularity Opera needs to think the way users want and the Users are addicted to IE & Firefox. Play the games as the rule says, donn make rules for your own game, or else is not the same sport. Just being innovator is not enough if the innovation doesn’t has exposure or adaptability. Statistics is the analysis in itself, if its business do it like business.

Visualization and Infographics ............ MS Vedea inline to Processing

 Insight: -

               Picture and animation says more than words, so is the effort involves in creating the visualization for the idea. A dedicated graphic language is needed to give better processing and regards to shapes. But still better visualization processing languages are derivatives of the existing high level languages, whazz needed is the extensive studio and interoperability over heterogeneous world.

               Microsoft's Vedea seems to be the future to enhance the existing Processing 1.x applications beyond java. Microsoft is yet to make this application public but the introduction is like any other Microsoft projects its flashy and eye catching. Microsoft's computation studio seems to be addressing "infographics, data visualizations and computational art" (they claim so...), in the easiest possible way by inlining itself to the existing Processing 1.x application.

            The visualization and graphic processing applications are very significant, as it doesn't needs domain specialization and high end programming expertise. If you got more, these applications will get you more. These graphic processing applications provide easy way to do the easy thing, a dedicated compiler to address the codes. 

             I didn't have much of experience towards the graphics and image processing world, but it seems exciting the way Microsoft has put things under Vedea project. Its supposed to be supported via computational studio. When its Microsoft’s product then considering application being user friendly and feature rich are obvious terms. 

         
Glimpse of the Processing application: -

             Image processing, graphic designing or visualization computation is very cumbersome on languages like Java, C, C# etc, need to write lot of codes to draw a line, and also knowledge of the languages. But I tried the Processing application, best open source application for the purpose. Tried drawing some quick shapes like, line, circle, eclipse etc. Its awesome just do what you want, want to draw a basic line use line function and give the co-ordinates to it thats it.      

              Easy to manage two important aspects of the application 1. setting up the frame 2. Placing and managing the components over it. Use the function setup() place everything in it and use the function draw() and place the components accordingly. The application has event driven built in functions.

 

           The processing application has java background, and supports Java well. Microsoft's Vedea seems to be starting with Silverlight and Windows platform support i.e. after first public release interoperability will be supported not good for linux and solaris users (they seems to be busy with some other application, that is good enough though). Seems a good plan to begin with but they have a nice benchmark set by Processing to achieve.

          Most important part is the web support and interoperability. When we highlight the mighty web, the application should be able to integrate well on the client-server architecture and be able to manage resources well. The Processing application helps generating images and graphics which can be managed and deployed well over the application server.

         The second part is interoperability it involves support of lot of applications and platforms, so does needs easy accessible APIs and add-ons. I didn't tried Processing application well, but it seems from examples posted and derivatives available that its easy to convert the program to applets, PDF documents, interactive for user feeds, openGL support etc., and has rich API library support for Java.

           The Visualization processing and graphics world seems like taking shape with decent considerations with dedicated, simplified, interactive and feature rich application development studios and languages. Seems like more to come to user to avail just have to keep up with the advancements.

Virtualizing the web applications ------ Microsoft Web Sandbox

            Sandboxing is an integral part of application development. We program a code or develop an application but its not through without the testing or QA. The benchmark associated varies with the requirement,  but the QA or test parameters are very much remains same for all  the applications. Testing the application finds more value when its about web applications, plugins and tools, considering the consumer exposure and usage experience. Web needs better interoperability between rivals, technologies and web methodologies, owned by none but ruled by many. During the  development and deployment of the web gadgets and applications, I always felt the great need of a sandbox, as neither the dominant IE nor the firefox are relaible to check the performance of the scripts and so for debugging.

          Microsoft's  web sandbox,  was my first sandbox catch this year in early 2009, and has evolved well as a reliable sandbox platform. The well integrated CSS, AJAX, generic scripts etc. support & the performace makes it one of the collest  application I had witnessed in the year  2009. The sandbox, has some limitations, but Its a need when multiple technologies needs standardization over a platform.  The sandbox as states strict  implementation and support of W3C scripting standards, so trying beyond it, might take the code beyond sandbox periphery or might dig a hole. 

         During the launch of the IE7, and dealing with the application which behaves in an unexpected way was a bit of challenge. The introduced security features forced to revisit the old scripted code specially needing the enriched client side processing,  then series testing before pushing the re-programmed web app, with no sandbox. This sandbox is good enough to save time against hanging browsers, performace of the scripts, browser security traps etc. The sandbox is easy to implement on the internal  test  servers as its licenced under the open source program from Microsoft, though a regular client flavor and azure supported platform is also  available.

        The sandbox is designed considered performance over support for scripting features, but to me its ok, thats all I need on first part, quick test result for a script. The indefinite loop catch is not fully  bound to the time limit i.e.  if a script goes for doing a long mathematical calculation of recursive mutiplication, sand box doesn't seems to be able to pick it well as, performace detoriating code. The sandbox is easy to replicate the multiple instances of the scripts, I am not sure how threadsafe it is, but it worked well over the available test samples and few scripts I tried for sequential calculations.  The sandbox's QoS is quick to catch the unsafe codes, alerts well and enables multi-instance debugging. A sample code posted on the portal towards the self loading gadgets or web plugins gives the best insight about the checkpoints implemented. The best part of this sandbox is the capapbility to track the remote scripts by specifying the URL of the plugin codecs.

        The project of the web sand box is evolving well and is well defined,  forum support is very nice. I would keep on trying using this reliable sandbox, till I get any other at  par competitor.  This sandbox project is very helpful in testing the portable web applications, needing server side scripting, and can bring more trust to the third party applications over the web.

        Try the sand box at:- http://websandbox.livelabs.com/, the site has good set of resources, and documentations.

Google Chromium, Rap or Scrap ............ ? The first look

               Google has been amazing these days launching product after product on web. Very impressive when it comes to releasing to market & preserving the reputation as an innovation leader. Chromium series has two  offering from Google a open source browser and open source operating system, when using I didnt found why i need two seperate things, would make sense when both are independent, but OS part is very dependent on the browser here.

                I checked this new operating system of Google and tried to figure out when it comes to Operating system what Google got and are they good enough to compete against the giants. Lets not get into  bug hunting (as Google says work is in progress), so here is what I found the Chromium OS got? what promises claimed and whats the  delivery so  far?

The Promos :- Google is promoting the chromium OS software as 7 sec booting OS. Promo video on web are comparing the generic OS and Chromium. The videos displays why  Chromium is quick, appreciating Google work for designing a awesome and quick operating system. I got confused,  comeon Google, Is chromium providing all the functionalities of the regular OS ? Is the Google Chromium so versatile that I can hook up my own hardware and make a move? Does Chromium allows me to use what I want to, not what Google wants me to? Answer I found after testing was "NO". Then how come Google can claim that this is faster OS? Compare your OS with the OS providing the same set of feautures (rather call it a limitation). Promote the Software the way it is and for what it meant to be, If its for netbook and with specific set of features and hardware support let it be exactly the same.

Installation: - I compiled Cromium binaries as was suggested on the "chromium.org" website, it took me well two days to get the troubles resolved and get up with the OS image. I checked blogs on the Chromium web pages, found many  were able to install the OS with no prob, so definetly the trouble is at  my end, but Google why  u didnt released a ISO at least, I had to specifically download Ubuntu (700 MB) install it and then make another download of Chromium(200 MB) binaries? Google doesnt seems to be getting user friendly?  . I liked the way Chromium  got installed, but I also  tested the already available VM from "http://gdgt.com/" . The VM available here was quick on my machine so  I preferred using it rather.

Booting and first Look:- when I booted the OS I was soon on the welcome screen,  asking for user credentials, But here is the big thing,  I have to use the Gmail username and password. What if I donn have any? I am all stuck. There needs to be option to create a new login credential, or else allow creating user accounts on the machine, as this is not about web this part is about getting in the machine to use, then the web. As under the current structure it seems like Google is forcing the users towards Google not just web, thus a first resemblance of creating the monopoly. This is taking on the competition by not providing the room for competition. Anyway, I created the test login on Google account and here is what it looks, immediate display of Gmail (on one part its nice): -

The OS, GUI & Functionality:- The GUI of the chromium OS is very basic,  I found it to be unorganized. Its just a Chrome browser at  display and thats it. I can't do  much  on web if my  chrome browser is incapable, and there is no doubt chrome got to catch a lot with Firefox and IE,  no availability of add-ons, support for many  portals especially  banking websites etc. What if I am not the Fan of chrome browser I want IE or Firefox providing me the services? What if next day a big vulnerability gets exploited in the Chrome and thus paralysing my work? What if other browsers are providing the cutting edge features not chrome at the moment, and chrome takes time to catch up? This more or less looks like monopolizing the software world. If Microsoft gets criticized for pre shipping the IE and avoiding the fair competition, what  should we call  Google? What about the Google's saying and support for Firefox? Google claimed to have created the OS but its more or less just  the browser shipped with regular boot up option (core of Linux), which it got there for very specific needs.

               The support to live on web from Google is its only alternative against Microsoft, but when its about Microsoft, Its about user friendliness. The Google Chromium OS with its regular Google chrome GUI, doesnt seems so. The portal Google.com except for the search part needs evolution, re-shaping and better organization, if it wants to be the face of the OS. The Google docs, Google reader is not impressive to me (its to many though), Its all just different things in different places. These needs to arranged on a dashboard or similar for easy navigation. Google in its new role has to start managing things it creates.

                The Chromium OS has very basic functionalities to offer so its all  about the users who just  want to live on web and are Google fans. But is the web mature enough to take care all the tasks of a regular user like reliable & interactive file sharing and managment, seucred and trusted information management, high availability etc ? If work is in progress for Chromium OS and its concept so  should be for Web applications. Both the sides needs to shaped well as mismatch is hard to adjust  with.

Google OS hardly figures out well, performance of the Google browser & its services, is what its all about.

Browsing services: - The browsing services is matched by the extensive support of variety of content on the versatile WWW. The browser needs to have high support for extentions and add-on, but currently its under in construction, says Google, provide some to try from the store. Now will the Browser carrying add-ons and extentions to support all the versatality, be not going heavy in operations on runtime? 

Why is the search box where multiple search engines can be integrated on the browser and can easily be switched,  is absent ? its available on all the prominent browsers. Now its about open the search portal and shoot the search query.

Chrome History and failure recovery feature: - The history feature of the Chrome OS is very basic, but its ok with me till the auto fill option on the address bar is available and effective, otherwise unamanged history display is just a space eater, it got to be more meaningful.

When the chromium OS is restarted after an improper shut down it displays a notification to restore the tabs, This feature got to be more interative by either keeping it in a fresh tab, displaying all the last URL used enabling user to make choice, rather than just restore all.

Unsynced Tabs and Google Application & troubles: - The tabs, since are maganed by Chromium keeping Google applications on priority,  but the Home icon of the browser doesn't syncs well with the Google account at all. If I log in to the Google OS with the Gmail account and I am checking my mails, why  is there a need to re-login on the home Icon to start the dashboad again? and allows me to login as different user, & if I do that, then already existing Gmail account tabs are not working properly. To amaze me further once the session with the Google account is established, why do  I need to login again on my Google Wave  account?

The Google Chrome to amaze me further does a spell check on the username field, how many user use perfect dictionary  words as username? Its not a big trouble but its unecessary, and kills the look.

During the maturity testing of the Google portal itself when it comes to the implementation of the all the web concept of Google, Itried logging on Google docs with one account and on the other tab I opened another tab of Gmail, signed out of it, and signed in with a new account. Now on the first tab of Google doc if I have to save the doc which then, Ineed to sigin again that either signs me out from the second tab or else i have to loose the document I created. In case of too  many  tabs opened, and user gets lost, there exists big scope of information loss, because of mis managed Google apps, how the Google will be tackling it? What significance now is it to have OS logging as Gmail when it can be changed ? what about the profile protection and significance of Google accounts?

The situation gets complicated as the according to the Google chrome browser one can't close the last tags. So if a User has a signed out of the Google account, and has first tab running yahoo portal. Then the home icon of the browser is a totally ineffective Dashboard or the home menu. Come on Google have atleast  a all time static dash board which in case you want can increase or decrease as per the dash board support. So isn't the user friendliness gets compromised? Doesn't one of the feature of the chrome browser becomes ineffective, so the OS?

Window switch & tab location:- The windows switching part is very dissapointing part of the current face of Google's Chromium OS.  If one opens a new browser window, then to get back to any tab of the previously  opened browser, one needs to  end the current browser session, then go back. On opening new tabs, Chrome doesn't displays all the opened tabs in small window, but rather some recently vistited URLs. This feature is a big limitation. The ineffectiveness of the Chrome browser easily reflects on the OS, and makes it worse, specially  the absense of "quick tab" feature of IE and Firefox,  which is very effective in case of mutiple tabs opened. Is ineffective Chrome browser acceptable as only option on a web OS?

The Application trouble and OS: - With very weak set of integration of Google's own applications and the immaturity of the web to keep  the user only on web completely, its hard to guess the immediate  and long term success of this concept. I logged in a tab with Google Wave account, and not to be amazed this time, the home dashboard didn't reflected the updated status, which still wants me to  login with a google account.  In  if case I do login I will lose my  Google wave window with another user login session. So  will  the Google needs to enable multiple user sessions on a single machince ? or is it so easy to  integrate all  the web Google app and reshape them, as a presentable web interface?

Another concern is the management of the chat  messengers on web, since the Google's chromium OS doensn't want users to install the softwares. what should a user do in order to ease himself to chat with his friends club of messengers, either he can login to the independent portals of Yahoo, Google, Live, Hotmail, MSN etc. and then signs in to the chat in this case the navigation magement of the chromium OS is higly ineffective. In case one uses the web integrated messenger applications like "meebo.com" won't we be depriving the user from the feature rich  desktop application, which supports a lot, voice chat, easy file transfer etc ?

There are two icons on the top of the chrome browser for the same menu, for tab or window opening etc etc, and other is the Tools menu. why one needs two icons for the same thing? but the task manager of the Chromium OS is nice, as it needs nothing more than what it got.

Security and service: - Security has now evolved as prime concern, people live with two identities, one given by the country they live in and one they aquire on web. How come the Google Chromium OS is going to deal with it, especially being open source? Will the other phishing security products of Norton, McAfee, Microsoft be also  be available as an add-on for the lone browser of the OS? or Will the Google chrome browser prefers to just be dependent on the existing anti-phishing security, it already offers?

Google Chromium OS saves the user login information, for offline mode. So The users login information is on some machine, which he could be owning or has shared someones machines. In this situation if the Google's chrome browser gets comprosimed not just the Machine becaomes vulnerable, but also  the Google profile of the user. Do we need to isolate the machine login from the Google account's login ? what if for some avoidable reason Google's portal goes for a toss ? Or my concerns are just  mere concerns?

Checking and testing the operating systems and its features has always been a cumbersome task, and full of risks, especially  when its about the OS that has development in progress. Google has always been a favourite when it comes to innovation. But looking at the performance of the Google's products other than search, I still find it hard to recognize them as a good software product manufactures. The claims of Google being a mother who gives birth to its child and then forgets it, is easily visible. Google needs to be proactive with its approach towards the product it pushes to the market, as the craze is towards the brand name, which even Google doesn't wants to play with. Google still got time in hand but at  this moment seems the competitors like Microsoft, Apple & Linux can take breath, neither the Google android nor the Chromium are able to make the mark. What about friends becoming foe as Google Chromium OS is not allowing users to use Firefox or safari at this moment? Both the products of Google have long way to go, all  Google has to do  is meet its promise with quality products. I hate to have another "SearchMash" story from Google.

No matter where the market is heading or user choices are, the innovation is at its best and competition is fueling it well. Considering the importance of PCs, Notebooks, Advance mobile Devices, and now intermediate netbooks, where is the new fundamental of the Google Chroumium finds a place and how effective will it be in bringing a new technological revolution? Only the futer can answer. Will Google be changing the way with OS, or the Web will change its shape, or both goes together?

 Lot to answer, and more to withness.................................................................

ANDROID, Windows, Moblin, --- Trend....Ease....Hype....War

               The  netbook has started a new craze, and created a new war zone for big software players to test their muscles. Google wants to take on Microsoft with Androids, Microsoft wants to deliver and maintain its dominance with improved Windows 7, and to add to the race we got one more player Intel with Moblin. I am not amazed by the fact that Intel is marking the presence, but by the fact what took them so long? The day linux was creating space for its concepts and existence, so was the business scope for big software names to penetrate the Microsoft world. Microsoft has better hold of desktop OS market with their experience and expertize, others don't want to take on Microsoft, with modified Linux distros because of their business agreements and dependencies. Intel is playing well with PC hardware makers like HP, Dell, IBM, etc. keeping them in check with finance offerings and the nearest competitor (AMD) out of  the big share. Intel is a smart kid, manages the show but is Mr. invisible. The future is very interesting as every one wants to have a grip on netbook and smart mobile device markets, innovation is at peak, users are getting choices to make, every one is contributing, every day is a new offering.

              I tried to check the netbook market and the software products in offering (can't buy a thing don't have budget). I began with OS. The major player is Windows XP, though Microsoft declared this OS obsolete, they had no other better offerings for netbooks. Netbook beginners had some choices with androids, linux variants but they picked Windows XP at large, thanks to ease of use, acquaintance and performance. Windows vista was a rejection, blame the resources it needs, then Microsoft promised for a better netbook product  with windows 7, seems they kept their word, I liked it. But I wont go far with Windows 7 as anyways everyone will get a feel of it. Lets check the happening competitors, Apple (I am not considering now, no budget for ill priced products), Google (Android), Intel (Moblin, Atom processors), Motorola (Droid) etc. There are numerous  variants of linux in offerings (ironically Linux OS is standing last in the race) and all resembles each other; just different GUIs.

             I tried checking both Android and Moblin on my PC in a virtual environment (no matter what u say about netbook, ultimately  it is PC, just lighter). I downloaded the latest ISO in offering for both the OS and tried creating the virtual machines.

Moblin: -  At first gave some trouble while installing, as needs PAE to be enabled. Here it is, typical Intel product, using the processor. I am unable to figure out one solid reason why I need to have dependency  on my processor, for the concept like netbook?  I enable the PAE for the virtual machine processor and tried installing and it was successful. Now its time to boot the installed OS, i ended with the screen displaying "moblin", but no display, no error, OS hanged. I think this specifies well, either have a right hardware for this OS, or else have a right OS. Installation part of this OS was very  neat, friendly and quick, but still think Intel needs to work a bit hard, no worries Microsoft did blunders too, experience is a teacher.

Android: - I downloaded the live android ISOs from the Google code web pages, to try and check , what it got? A very small download (happy), no installation and quick boot (happier, even typing the word "boot" takes longer time) and all is OS and its functions are working well (happiest). When Google made the claim for making OS for netbooks, I was afraid, but trusted and Google kept the brand trust with Android. I can't discuss everything here, but a look at what I would prefer to have in my smart hand held or net savvy device. The intention with Android seems very clear, online to be working.

The booting: - I got two superb options to check the resolution of my preference as per my screen and just hit 'enter'. I don't mind having option at the beginning but why do  i need to make a choice every time when i know my  preference? so a crazy part, but looks good, boots very quick.

The Home Screen: -  Its android so  no more desktop now it home screen, very simple very clear and re-arrangeable so typical Google. At the top  is the big Google search bar, just type in and you are on web start searching. In case you you want to browse specific URLs go for built in browser which is quick and simple.

Browsing: - The browsing part is very interactive, like we have on our regular PC, type in and Google suggestion starts helping you with options. The most important thing is caching of the information i.e. browsing history, the Google search application is well integrated with the built in browser, so any  history part of the browsing can be easily revisited. The only part of the browser which I have trouble understanding is, why is the status bar growing in yellow in the address bar, is accompanied by the similar round icon on the right corner showing the activity status. Two symbols for one task ?

The Control Panel and Application: - The GUI of the android is well arranged and easy to use, no complexity, but too  much of digging when it comes to hunting a particular setting. Digging for options is a real pain sometimes, but usually  its one time configuration so  its up to the user, I would have preferred maximum of three layer option digging not more. The slider panel of the android adds charm to the GUI and so does the cool icons, the GUI is effective on touch panels.

But Google GUI trouble is visible in any of its applications, you start a application there is no exit button u got to use the menu  button of your device, do the Google to manage your android, or if on a net book  use ESC key to go back by one or press the key 'D' then escape. I tried to test this fact, and to no amusement lot of query with the same question on many forums. Google atleast place a help  icon !!!

The applications are easy to  configure as all the options are well  placed, from mail settings,  to  language settings,  device control options like fonts,  keyboard, third party application install etc. The password part with any  web based Google application allows one to see the text  he has entered in the password field and then hides it with the asterisk (*) symbol, I wont prefer this; the text has to be hidden from the time its typed, but it would be of some help  to  some users, other wise the basic look for the email account setup make the working easy.

The most important part of any  operating system is how easy is it to manage the applications installed on it. The android has good set of applications pre-loaded, so  one can easily make going, provided the application are web based. When I visited the application control or management panel  of the Android, I was dissapointed to see the the vertical scrolling and the linear arrangement of the options, since no one is doing any changes here except selecting the application to get to its settings part, it should be an icon based interface just  like the control panel. The interactive part of the Android looses points here.

The good thing about the application management part when it comes to the basic feautes of the operating system, user gets good amout of control, selecting languages, enableing or disabling the user dictionary and so do  modifying it, selecting the keyboard features and managing different settings of the same (lot of options, beyond the scope for me to disscuss), etc.

One of the best features of android is to  select the application you want on your home page and link a short cut with it. One can associate shortcuts with any  application.+

One can go look for the applications available for the Android operating systems, though usually  you wont prefer to over load your Android enable device by  downloading the application, check the web application to get the the best  out of Android.

The performance of the Android is a concern, I have noticed  some hiccups during my  application testing  applications response testing & some times machine runs slow, when taken off from a long idle mode, etc. but considering the start Google got one. I am expecting something better solutions, as Androids are still  having Linux core, Google needs to work  better on this part, if they don't the competition will make sure they will.

Time to shut the machine down,  it was a nice experience to check how effective a small and light operating system can be, and why  bothering buying high performance PC when all is going web.

Time will mature the netbook operating systems like windows 7, Android, Moblin, etc.

Setting up the Mail server

Email service is a revolution brought by the Information technology. Yahoo, hotmail, Gmail & similar services on corporate networks like MS exchange, Dominos etc. The technologies of email services are from complex to simple. I recently tried to setup my own new infrastructure to have real time mailing service at no cost with easy to use structure and implementations. I found it to very simple, usable and easily deployable within a small organization. Here is what it takes....................


To setup simple and preliminary setup one needs following minimum requirements: -

1. Windows 2003 server (Win XP can't do this job).

2. Internet Information server 6.0 (with SMTP & POP3 services enabled).

3. Mail client software, like outlook express etc. Outlook is by default available so let use it.


Lets assume we got a good running windows 2003 server installed. So make sure u have installed the Internet information server or else open manage my server window (Start --> All Programs --> Administrative Tools --> Manage Your server) and manage the server roles.


Setting up Mail server: - To setup the mail server from scratch


1. Open the "Manage your server" and click on add a new role.

2. Select Mail server (POP3 & SMTP) and finish up the installation after following up the wizard there after. That's it the server is installed and good to go, but just needs to be configured.

This is very important. On IIS server the POP3 server we have installed will be in effective with the associated SMTP server we have installed. This is something many people might messup with. I have checked some blogs on web where in emphasis is just on POP3 server, but unconfigured SMTP server will make POP3 server ineffective no matter u have any third party SMTP server for usage, as it works as listner and relay.


3. lets check the POP3 server and its installation & configuration. So lets click "start-->run" and type in "p3server.msc" it will open the management window.


By default the POP3 would be started and connected to the same machine( The host name). if not connect to it and start it. options are available once one selects the server icon.


4. Now its time to create the POP3 domain which will host the mail user accounts.

Right click on the on the POP3 server visible in the POP3 manager and click on new then domain. create a new domain like (mails.com, my office mail.com or just anything). one can create as much domain one likes.

Now right click on this newly created domain in the pick above its shown as uvmailsetup.com and now got to New --> Mail box. it will ask you to create a mail box. It is the email address hosted on the POP3 server, so name this mail box, lets for example name it UV_mailbox. And thats it we have successfully created the running email address and the POP3 server. And for our example consideration we have just created a email address UV_mailbox@domain.com.

4. Setting up the SMTP server :-

It is important to setup the SMTP server along with POP3 server. As one sets up the POP3 Server and creates a domain on it reflects directly on the SMTP server of the IIS server automatically, all you have to make sure is IIS server and the SMTP service associated is running. Just right click on the SMTP service of the IIS server, set the desired IP for routing and relay.

5. Set the mail Client.

Open the outlook express and then go to “ ToolsaccountsMail Tabclick new or edit existing ” in the setting box’s general tab Give a name to the account. And in the email mention the email address of the POP3 account you created above i.e. mailaccount@domain.com you created above.

Then set the server settings. POP3 server is your POP3 server under which you created the POP3 domain. And the SMTP server can be the SMTP server you created above or any other server which offers the SMTP service could be third party.

In case a third party server is considered then the IIS SMTP server will be working on port 25 so the third party server must be having inbound traffic relayed at some other port no and outbound at 25. So the mail will go from IIS SMTP to third party SMTP and then back to SMTP then to POP3 and then to the outlook express. Looks too much but this is required.

Make sure the incoming mail server setting is your complete email address you have created on your POP3 server plus the password you have assigned to it on the server itself.

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So at last, we got the Mail server ready to offer the mail service ready for use, create user and enable mailing service between them. This infrastructure can be used effectively in a small network of office with security wherein the third party SMTP as mentioned above could be the mailing security solution.