is everywhere. Read this and this. I will not comment on the subject that is being discussed, but I have this to say:

In our country, the moral police believes in only one thing – goondaism.

In our country we are more worried about protecting our gods and goddesses by doing the opposite of what our religion actually stands for.

In other countries people are really worried about protecting their kids from pedophiles because it is an everyday reality which they cannot escape. It exists in our country too (from what I have read) but we are just about learning to talk about it and it will be ages before we can do something about it.

So bottom line – we are a progressing country. What we will progress to at this rate is frightening. But everywhere else, societies are as depraved as they can get. I ask yet again, what is the world coming to?

What is U3 you may ask. Picture this – you once thought 8mb of portable disk space was a premium. Then came 128mb. You paid a lot of money and bought one of those ‘pen drives’ (aka flash/thumb drive). Before the warranty on the drive expired, higher capacities began to hit the market at much lower prices. And today, 16gb flash drives are available.

So what are you gonna use all this disk space for? Storing files obviously. But how about if you can carry some of your software on these drives? Cool eh? That is exactly what a U3 drive is. Of course, U3 being jointly developed by companies like Sandisk will never be free as in free beer, but the nice thing is that you have a good collection of open-source software available for U3 enabled flash drives. This includes Firefox, Thunderbird, Trillian basic etc. You even get Openoffice for U3. So basically you can work out of your flash drive. You can carry important files and don’t have to worry about what software is installed on the host computer.

I bought my second U3 enabled drive yesterday. It was a rather silly move on my part to invest in a IGB drive cos less than six months later I have now upgraded to 2GB. My first U3 flash drive was a Kingston and albeit the poor build quality, it served me well all these days. Of course, it is still going strong but I felt the need to upgrade to 2GB because of Portable Apps. Now what are these Portable Apps? They are U3 like software gone one step further – you don’t need any proprietary hardware to run these software applications. Any flash drive (or even hard drive) will do. Just head over to http://portableapps.com and see for yourself. I have tons of these apps and they take up almost 1GB of space. So obviously I needed a higher capacity drive I won’t be surprised if I find myself upgrading again, soon.

Bottom line is that U3 apps are nice. So are these portable apps, but they lack the ease of operation unlike the U3. The U3 comes with its own launch pad. Interestingly, not everyone seems to like these U3 enabled drives. When I was doing a search on Amazon for the Sandisk U3 drive, I found lot of negative reviews. And all the complains were about the U3 launcher – how it ‘installs programs without askin’ and how the ‘launcher is damn slow’. I thought there was something inherently wrong with the product (Sandisk). But upon reading the positive reviews I realized that most people complaining either didn’t know what a U3 devices was, or were computer novices. It is like buying a Jeep and then complaining that it is a four wheel drive The only possible drawback of U3 enabled devices is that they are not Mac/Linux friendly.

For now, I am happy with my new Sandisk. I like the retractable head (capless design). I like the U3 apps and look forward to making the most of it.

PS: These thumbdrives excite me. I use them a lot, and I remember struggling with compressing files into different parts to carry them home from office during the days of 256mb capacities. I like it when technology advances and comes within the reach of the common man

Some time ago I had written how my blog saw no spam after moving to a new host. Looks like I spoke too fast. The spambots are back and eating into my blog again. But not at the rate of 15 spam comments/day (yet).

Sigh…

Forums are a great means of sharing information. In fact, I spend a lot of time online reading and participating in forums. However, as always, the presence of stupid people at forums is a big put-off. So typically there are 2 kinds of forums – forums that concentrate on highly technical/specific topics and forums general in nature. The former is usually ‘elite’ and this is good in a way. The later can also be good, save for idiots and newbies who once in a while hop on thinking that asking a question can save them from using their common sense/putting a little effort. Typically, stupid people at forums:

1. Ask questions which have already been discussed to death a million times before. All they need to do is use the ‘search’ function and dig up past discussions on the same topic. The only good reason I see why people wouldn’t use the search function is when the site’s site function is down. Lack of time is NOT an excuse of asking the same question for the zillionth time. If you don’t have the time to search, it doesn’t mean others who contribute out from their own time should take the pain to respond.
2. Ask open ended questions or questions without clarity. So you want to buy a new camera. How the hell are we to suggest which one to buy, without knowing what is your intended use?
3. Make assumptions that people can answer your question without knowing the facts. “Hey, my comp just crashed. What could be wrong?” Who are you expecting to answer such a question? Mind readers? Worse is when people make assumptions that everyone lives in the same city as they do.
4. Use the post unimaginative subject lines. “Help! Urgent!”. “I have a problem”.
5. Ask the same question in many different sections of the forum, probably hoping to get noticed faster. I can forgive people posting in the wrong section, but not the ones who would do anything to grab attention just because they are in such a hurry.
6. Ask a question and stop posting after that. Generally the person responding would like some clarifications, but if you have got your answer already, why don’t you say it? A thank you or box of sweets is not really required. But just mentioning that your problem is solved helps. Basic courtesy.
7. Ask a question in great detail, manage to get their problem resolved outside of the forum and end the thread by saying, “hey, I fixed the problem myself!” Good going dude, but can you also post how you fixed the problem so that others who have similar problems can be benefited?

I can forgive blokes who write in all caps, spell horribly or use SMS language. I can also forgive the kids who like to play “mine is bigger than yours”. But the kind of posters I have elaborated above should be first sent to school and then asked to post.

And before I conclude, let me tell you about this unique breed of suckers at Indian forums – they glorify anyone who is even a tad bit better than them. They hero worship in the open shamelessly and use all the adjectives they know, to do this. I find this behaviour very funny, because although I do honestly acknowledge someone who is better than I am, I don’t place them on a pedastal and worship them because I have enough sense to see separate the gods from people who have just gotten better at what they are only learning. But it’s not hard to understand why this is so Indian. Just listen to the actors who are hero-worshipped in our country

There have been many a times in the past when I have been on the verge of losing it. But for the first time it is for something as materialistic as a digital SLR. Call me mad, but ever since I sold my 350D, I've been a nervous wreck. And at one point of time, I even thought of selling 40k worth of Canon lenses and moving to Nikon because of the new Nikon D80. It took me a while to understand that having to wait for the review of the Canon Rebel XTi was getting too much for me and that is why I was swaying towards buying a D80 (whose review is out, and which has been judged as a gaint leap for Nikonkind). Of course, the irony of the matter is that just when good friend Akshata was supposed to buy either of the cameras from S'pore, she has completely disappeared (and I sincerly hope all is well with her). Not seen her online in a while and that worries me. 

Actually, upon further introspection I realized that the 400D forums on DPreview is a bad place to hangout when you are a cat sitting on the wall. Until recently I was totally convinced that Canon is a great company because of being R&D driven, but after hearing so many rants about the 400D, I almost regretted being a Canon shooter. Hell, I even thought that the 400D is a bad decision!

Of course, now I know better. The 400D forums, remarkable as it may sound, is almost giving rise to an Urban Myth. A Myth that has many shades to it:

• Canon has bad QC because some guy couldn't see readings on the viewfinder when pointing his camera at the TV
• Canon's 400D is a failure because some guy couldn't get sharp shots indoors with flashed turned OFF (!!)
• The 400D underexposes to preserve highlights/show less noise/Canon has a Nikon spy inside it's factory. Some guy even started a thread saying "Buyer's Beware – 400D underexposes". And the best part, he uses the camera in auto mode.
• Some guy is convinced that the 400D has lock up issues. He calls up Canon and points them to the DPreview forums to show them the same. He wants to set the ball rolling on getting Canon to release a firmware update. How he got this strange idea of400D having lockup issues, I don't know. I have seen no one complaining of it.

With so many 'duhs', I won't be surprised if Canon starts including a disclaimer stating that buying a digital SLR does not automatically get you great photos. And when you don't get great photos just because you got a DSLR, don't blame the camera.

From my own learning curve, I can say that photography is both an art and a science. The science part I am yet to completely grasp, and it is indeed fun learning. With new DSLRs falling in price, I am not suprised that many people don't see it that way. Spend more money – get better photos. That seems to be what most people think when they upgrade from a P&S. A similar analogy would be the general thought that having a big car would get you good chicks and that's all you need in life. Ok, I am going overboard here

Nevertheless, I have somehow convinced myself to stick with Canon. On the other hand, the Nikon is really a great camera. Especially the viewfinder. It's addictive, I would say. And that's exactly what I need to go out an shoot more. I need a camera that screams "look at me sitting here doing  nothing. Take me out and SHOOT!" Yes, I somehow deep inside believe that the Nikon D80 is that kind of a camera. As Phil concludes in his review, the D80 is a "photographer's camera". And without even seeing the 400D's review, I can say that Canon's entry level DSLR is just that – an entry level DSLR for P&S upgraders.

However, when it comes to image quality, Canon has always had an advantage, and is still leading over the D80 by a whisker. I would certainly want to opt for the best image quality. But the fact that I want to move up from an entry level DSLR to a 'photographer's camera' makes me still consider buying a Nikon. Aaaarrggghh…..i'm starting it off all over again!!! 

Case 1 – Customer is king, but customer is wrong

My company offers its services to many MNCs, one of it being a very well known American company. And I work at the client's place. This particular American company has a history of engineering firsts, and naturally is pretty damn proud of it. From the outside, these achievements are rightfully quite commendable. But the situation from inside, at least in the project I am in, is not very pretty. The way the project is managed…or more particuarly the Manager is <insert fav swear word>. Now that is fine with me, because this breed of egoistical managers are present all over the Indian software industry these days. But the adhoc way in which things are done over here makes life very, very difficult for most of the people who do the actual work. And we have ideas on how to do things better.

So my boss one day decides to straighten out things by having an open discussion on how to improve work allocation. Now in plain simple words, this would be my boss telling the people above the manager at the client location, "shut your manager inside some server room and let my people do their work." But in the corporate world, you gotta be careful whose toes you are stepping on. So they have a long discussion and nothing comes out of it. The customer refuses to budge. And what next? Nothing really. It is a dead end. Because customer is king. Oh well, fine. I was only trying to improve matters, not show them I am smart. But now my job really sucks and half the time I am watching slow turds chase their own tails. And no one is doing anything about it. Why? Coz the customer fuckin' hands out the cheques every month and he has the final word. 

Case 2 – Customer is king, but he's king nothing

I am the customer in this case, and my computer dealer is the vendor. I chose him because he was recommended, and was also an AMD guy. Most computer vendors go the Intel route and when I built my PC, I didn't want an Intel inside. So I caught this guy. He charged me more than the M.R.P for the parts, but that's fine. He put the rig together for me and also promised free after sales service.

But all is fine only till money changes hands. Once I pay him, he's too busy to help me promptly when my computer acts up. He doesn't say that he cannot help me. He still promises to come home and see what's wrong. But he doesn't turn up unless I call him a zillion times. Am I angry with him personally? No, not really. No hard feelings with the guy. He knows his stuff and is a decent chap. But am I happy with his working style. Surely not. So that still makes me an unhappy customer. 

Moral of the story – Customer is king as long as competition is tough. And when's the case, he can get away with murder. 

On the other extreme, customer is king only as long as he wields the power of money. After that, you're on your own baby!

Super-moral of the story – When you look at a transaction from the 'customer-vendor' point of view, you ain't gonna achieve much. Coz end of the day, it has no inherent meaning and does no higher good.

It really gets to me sometimes. It’s ok if the management fundas are ‘out there’ (maybe in Orion), and I am ‘out here’ (in front of this computer), but no, that’s not how it is. These management fundas keep chasing me through my career, and they creep into my everyday life. To all the Management Gurus (ManGus):

1) There is usually a HUGE gap between what is (WI), and what can be (WCB). Usually WCB is easy to yap about, and that’s what you people are so full of. But in most cases, the poor bloke who needs help has no clue about WI, and so is left wondering how he can get from WI to WCB. And you ManGus cannot write about WI, because it’s different for different people. Sure, you can go on and on with your pocketfull of cliches, but you can NEVER step into my shoes and see it the way I see it happening. And when you cannot see it happening the way I see it, you cannot tell me what to do. Yes, you can offer advice, counsel, be there for me and all that, but so can my grandma. For this reason, stop quoting, telling fish stories and making everything look simple, while in reality you are just being a mindless parrot having nothing orginal to say. So you can just shut your trap or go teach in a school. Our classrooms are frighteningly without those guiding lights these days.

2) The dim-wits who reach out for those books on productivity, planning, quick-results and effective PPTs are the market for you ManGus and since we live in a world where mediocrity rules, for every dozen of dim-wits I see around, you have 1 ManGu. The rest of the intellegent folks are either sidelined or left with no choice but to follow ideas in the Selling-Condoms-to-Widows book that the manager bought at Landmark and wants to try out.

3) This world exists the way it is today because of Capitalism, so don’t give me that crap about "You don’t have to be a software consultant to profit from this XYZ book. In fact, you don’t even have to be a consultant or a software professional. This book is filled with sold advice and timeless wisdom for anyone…" Stop repackaging all the good things my mom, dad, grandma, grandma, uncle and aunty told me when I was a kid (stuff I never listened to) and selling it as 10-tips-to-supercharge-my-life-and-career. No, I don’t come from a family that runs on Capitalist ideas, so don’t try to bridge my life and my work. I DON’T have ‘customers’ at home.

4) There are only two constants in the world of business and that is the customer and the vendor. These two would do anything to get the best deal and knock the other over, and that’s the law of the jungle. If you are a ManGu, stop trying to make this jungle look like paradise and don’t expect the trading parties to listen to you if business is good anyway.

5) Eight of out ten times, the guy above you is an egoistical shithead. The guy below should have been plucking mangoes for a living, but instead has landed on this job. You as a ManGu cannot change this, and I cannot change my PoV because I am a realist. I call a spade a spade. I don’t like sugarcoating my reality with quotations, stories about sucessful fish sellers and all that. If your ideas can change the twisted intentions of the people around me, I will also automatically change, so try elsewhere.

6) I bet people like Dhirubhai Ambani, Narayan Murthy, JRD Tata, Azim Premji and the like did not read management books and get where they are. Similary, the goody-goody words in such books will not work in the docks of the Mumbai harbour, with the striking unions at factories and against Marxist ideologies. So stop pretending like your book is the next best thing to sliced bread.

7) People attend your seminars because their managers asked them to do so. And their managers said that because they have no clue how to manage, and hope that what you say makes sense to the trained monkeys and the dissident smart-alecs in their team. The only people who gain from this is you, the guy who rents out the sound system and the electricity board.

Phew! Had to get it off my chest

Yes, do you think? If yes, here are some thoughts of mine which have been simmering within since ages, but which are stronger than ever now:

• Do we Indians find our identity in our chalta hai attitude? Or for that matter in the swalpa adjust maadi attitude?
• Are we ready to accept that we have taken this attitude far too long? Do we realize that too much of it is not good for us, for our country and for the general future of our world (example: people talk about traffic congestions. But how many talk about the pollution?)
• Don’t we realize that we are stuck with the holier-than-thou attitude of the British Raj? We look down upon people who don’t have as much as we do. We look up to/envy who have more than we do. And more here applies to power and money.
• It is common these days to compare ourselves with developed countries and find solace in the fact that even they have a pretty fucked up society. They are fucked, we are fucked…everyone is fucked so who cares! But isn’t that just an escapist attitude?

Well, life goes on….but hey, I have answers to the above points myself!

• The chalta hai attitude is because of many complex reasons. Well, the reasons themselves aren’t complex, but the combinations and permituations in which they occur are pretty complex. For example, all Indians are born into a society which has arcane rituals. They teach you to think logically at school, but all around you see logic and rationality disregarded to the least. You can do nothing but shut your eyes, close your mouth and pretend to be deaf. As you grow, the stupidity around you also grows. And you soon began to ignore them. Yes, you have to learn to see 101 sights, and ignore 100 of them to stay sane through a typical day. Of course, all this is just one of the myriad reasons for the chalta hai attitude. At least, this is what I have realized looking at my own life.
• We have succeeded in creating the most opaque, foggy, complex and irrational system. Hangover British Raj? Yes. But more than that. Our administrators have chosen to keep it this way because they are power hungry. A transparent system takes away power from them and gives it to the common man. Hello? Have you lost your mind? Why would anyone allow such a thing? So we respect power. We respect money. Cause both are something you and I commonfolk cannot achieve without thinking like Shakuni.
• The West has always been a symbol of success to us. So we idolize the West. Now given all the problems we see around us, isn’t it easier to point at the West and say, “hey, nobody is perfect!”

Now, do you think………well, forget it