Microsoft provides unlimited support for Vista SP1 users

If you have been having issues getting that driver to work with the Vista SP1, help is at hand.

Free, unlimited installation and compatibility support is now available for all customers using Windows Vista SP1. If you are in India, you will get email and phone support. the phone support is available from 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM from Monday to Friday.

All good things must come to an end and so does this offer that will end on March 18, 2009.

More information on this offer is located here:

http://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?LN=en-in&prid=11274&gprid=500921&x=6&y=2

So get your Vista SP1 issues ironed out today! and yes if you do use this facility, drop in a comment here on how it felt interacting with Microsoft Support Services.

Recent Indian Celebrity Bloggers

Reading in TOI online today that Priyanka Chopra wants to blog but doesn’t know when or where or how to blog. So Priyanka, get in touch with numerous blogging groups in the country and ask them to help you.. i am pretty sure that they would be willing to help.. well i can recommend delhibloggers.in to you.. 

This is an interesting thought that i believe many other celebrities would also be having (after many celebrities took to blogging). Some of the Indian celebrity bloggers i know of (for your reading pleasure):

Aamir Khan:

http://www.aamirkhan.com/blog.htm

Amitabh Bachhan:

http://bigb.bigadda.com

http://blogs.bigadda.com/ab/

Ram Gopal Varma:

http://rgvarma.spaces.live.com/

Karan Johar:

http://mynameiskaran.com/

Rajdeep Sardesai:

http://www.ibnlive.com/blogs/author/1/rajdeepsardesai.html

Now, if you know of more, please add to the list by leaving a comment here.

Technorati tags: celebrity, bloggers, delhibloggers

Day 1: Blogging Workshop at IHC, Delhi

The room is full! Get us some more chairs.. that is how the blogging workshop at IHC Delhi began. We started with expecting 60 people to attend and ended with around 200 instead! The interest in blogging is clearly increasing day by day..

The workshop was organised by IBNMS in collaboration with their Delhi Chapter – www.delhibloggers.in ..

The session started with Ajay talking about the society and how is it helping people adopt to blogging. The keynote speaker for the workshop was Mr. Madhavan from Hindustan Times who shared his views on why and how of blogging. He started by contrasting the organised march of the mainstream media to the blogs that are unruly in nature..  sort of army discipline versus civilian anarchy! his advice to the blogging rookies was to clearly define the objective they want to achieve via their blogs. The objective can be reached by providing content with a personality of the author. Learning the tools for blogging shouldn’t be an end in itself as it is just a pen through which one is going to be creating the content.

According to him, the success of a blog stems from providing a pattern and structure to your blog. While there are no rules for blogging, he advised adhering to social code of conduct. The author should feel responsible and accountable for the content they publish. The audience was eager to understand the copyright issues involved with blogging to which he answered that the content of the blog is owned by the author and author alone. He also noted that blogettiquette is still evolving..

An interesting anectode that Madhavan mentioned was when he approached author of a blog with a proposal to do a book for him, it turned out to be a friend who Mr. Madhavan knew already!

Now, one thing interesting to observe during the session was there were as many old people as there were youngsters. The interest in blogging is not only limited to the yuppies but also to more mature audience. The thing that surprised me most was the little patience that the mature folks had in listening to the speaker… while i would have expected older people to be more patient clearly their interest in blogging was much more than their ability to hold their horses :)

This was more evident in the session that followed Mr. Madhavan’s on Introduction to Blogging by Abhishek Baxi. He laboriously went through basics of blogging with wordpress.com as example. A new blog was created on the fly and each of the features explained in detail. From editing a blog, including tags and categories to the blog and including photos in the blog – he just about covered everything.

The session went longer than expected till around 9:15 PM when we had to end the session for the day. IMHO, the question of the day from audience was - “After creation of a blog post how long before it is available on google”.. in some terms it meant to me that google is no more just a search engine on the internet but it has become internet for a lot of folks. While winding up a few people came up to ask questions around the problems they had been having with their computers. goes on to say that the expertise level of people with their computers is still pretty limited.

The sessions on Day 1 were very well received by the audience and a lot of them had left with their interest in blogging piqued up a bit. Today and tomorrow as we continue with our workshops, we expect different audience profile to come but more engaging conversations to ensue. The sessions for today and tomorrow are:

Sunday, June 29th

Marketing your blog – Ajay Jain

Blogs to extend Corporate Branding – Sourabh

Monday, June 30th

Corporate Blogs and Monitoring Reputation Online – Abhishek Kant

So take your pick and come over to join in the discussions. More information on the workshop is located here. If you are interested in following event updates as they happen, you can do so at our twitter channel.

Technorati tags: delhibloggers, blogging workshop

Witness the Academia - Industry divide!

The latest on the OpenXML ISP Standardisation debate is India’s choice to vote “NO” for the Open XML to become an ISO Standard by the BIS committee. the voting pattern was - 13 Against, 1 Abstain and 5 For. So who were the 5 voting for the OpenXML – Microsoft, NASSCOM, TCS, Wipro and Infosys... all of them are BIG IT giants (leaving out MS from this as it is expected to be pro OpenXML) employing thousands of people.

A lot of credit for India’s resurgence in the global landscape can be attributed to these IT industries.. Since their businesses come from a variety of technologies (including Oracle, IBM, Microsoft, SAP etc.) these are truly vendor neutral organisations!

Now, in Sept 2007 BIS had raised 82 Comments for Open XML. On completion of BRM, all 82 comments from India were resolved by the committee. One would expect the committee to then vote “YES” for the standard.. So the question is then why would BIS still choose to vote “NO”?

Maybe the answer lies in understanding the psyche of the remaining participants. from the documents listed on the BIS website (thanks for the transparency BIS), the “rest” seemed to be obvious anti OpenXML lobby (e.g. FSF, IBM) and then the professors from institutes like IIT Delhi, IIT Mumbai.. now i don’t have any less respect for these institutions but from the voting patterns it is clear that these institutes seem to be totally out of sync with the industry stalwarts..

this "out of sync” behaviour only goes on to reflect the reality in Indian education system where large no. of graduates from engg. institutes are largely unemployable. i feel that these institutes should stay in sync with the industry.. only then can our country, industry and the students remain at the forefront of the world!

Technorati tags: OpenXML, india

OpenXML and ISO standardisation: Community contribution shines

I have been following Open XML for some time now and have earlier posted my views on why OpenXML maybe good for India? Here's the latest from the OpenXML ISO standardisation process after I made the last post:

After India saying "NO" to the standard in Phase I of standardisation process, various worldwide committees (and hopefully Indian as well) participated in the meeting in Geneva to resolve the technical comments made by various committees ( in jargon - "Ballot Resolution Meeting" or BRM). By the end of this mammoth five day meeting, 98.4% of the comments (1011 out of 1027 unique comments raised earlier) were resolved (ISO release on the process). IMHO, this is a true example of community contributing to developing a standard and improving it by collective wisdom. Microsoft has in some terms for the first time come to a platform where it is open to review from various companies and nations...

and there has been one good action from BIS, India and that is to make its member's participation, views and stands clear on its website. With this information, one can objectively access what is BIS thinking and why? Earlier, the whole process seemed to be run behind an iron curtain. I really laud the step in the right direction for BIS by providing visibility into this whole process. i have downloaded the objections raised by various people and looking at them to understand their concerns and gauge their thoughts..

I also came across an interesting article by Jesper Lund Stocholm who represented Denmark (apologies & thanks for the correction Jesper) in the above meeting:

http://idippedut.dk/post/2008/03/Why-ISO-approval-of-OOXML-is-not-an-option.aspx

Jesper provides an interesting insight on how IT industry benefits from standardisation of Open XML on similar lines of my thoughts. From there another post from Patrick Durusau came to light. Earlier in July during the Phase I voting, Patrick who was the Chair of committee set up to examine Open XML had recommended disapproval for OpenXML. However, now pleased with the community participation in building the standard, he has decided to recommend approval of OpenXML as ISO standard. He seems particularly pleased with the fact that Microsoft is listening and incorporating changes requested by its members. He offers his thoughts in very interesting but equally thoughtful anecdotes.

The one SHOCKING piece that came to my attention was that IBM India had written mails to its partners asking them to "influence" our national bodies. The grip of establishments like IBM is clear by the assertions made in the email. The abstract from the letter can be found here. What is even more appalling is the brazenness with which IBM is assuming that they are the ones voting and not the national body of India -BIS for this standard!

In my view with the latest developments, the ISO standardization process has only reinforced the openness that Microsoft is committing itself to! It is also indicates that Microsoft is learning to work with the community and this step is sure to make Microsoft products more beneficial to customers.

Just like multiple products in market (e.g. MS Office and Star Office) enhance the value to the customer, multiple standards also enhance that value (e.g. WiFi & WiMax, GSM & CDMA) to customers by bringing the advantage of technology advancement to customers quickly.

I would urge BIS committee to keep the larger interest of IT ecosystem in India in mind when deciding on issues like these. Ulterior motives of organisations should be understood fully and we should not be held hostage to anyone (read IBM and their memo)..

Some other posts from people in India on OpenXML:

http://vasudevg.blogspot.com/2008/02/common-myths-about-open-xml.html

http://dotnetjini.jigneshdesai.com/dotnet-whidbey/ShowArticle.aspx?ID=12

Technorati tags: OpenXML, ISO, India

Encouraging Diversity - Women Students from Engg. Colleges: Interested in joining Microsoft?

Microsoft India is going to be conducting an All India Selection Test for women engineers who are completing their courses in year 2008. You have to be from Comp. Science/IT/Information Sciences discipline and completing a recognised BE/B.Tech/ME/M.Tech course.

Students interested in appearing for this test will have to submit their resumes at www.merittrac.net/microsoft  with the last date of receiving the application being 1^st March 08. This test is being conducted on Saturday 8^th March 08  that coincides with the International Women’s Day across eleven test centers across India. More information on test centers, schedules, contact details for are also available at the above link.

However, just clearing the test doesn't get you the Microsoft job. The students clearing this test will go thru the various levels of interviews before being made the offer to join Microsoft.

This effort is a part of the diversity campaign within Microsoft. I think this is an "excellent" effort to encourage more diversity within the organisation. However i do think that there are few things that MS may also want to ponder over:

1. Does diversity mean women only? IMHO, diversity means people from all walks of life and that may include people with special abilities and needs e.g. handicapped people in terms of mobility, vision, hearing.. Diversity also means people from poorer section of society. It may also mean people from the "hijra" community who are generally ostracized from the community. I haven't heard of these people whenever i hear of diversity in here!
2. Parity of salary levels between new hires and existing employees. Not being from HR, I can only rely on unofficial sources and they tell me that compensation parity doesn't exist between new hires and existing employees. Since MS policies don't allow sharing of compensation data or it being made public, this one is a difficult one to be specific about. However, i know that organisations go to great lengths to ensure this and wonder if MS India thinks of this at all?
3. I have often heard from MS recruiters on how irrelevant it is that a person comes from a specific educational background. you can find employees in MS from diverse backgrounds as well.. How come this initiative is only limited to engg students then? How about bright girls from B.Sc., MCA & other disciplines?

MS India benefits from the global learnings and the time it has been in business. I sincerely believe that this is a great beginning to encourage diversity within MS. There are hardly any other companies in India who specifically have such initiatives.

MS policies on the whole are very intelligent and I hope that in future MS will think about the above points as well. i know that it is easy to preach than practice but this will genuinely take the diversity in MS to the next level.

Technorati tags: recruitment, jobs, microsoft, india

My Valentine - My Country

This valentine, I stepped back and thought - what is the one thing that i have fell head over heels for in the last year? i thought and thought...

obviously, the first was my family! I always say - "you always carry something of anyone u meet".. and i am a little bit of everyone in my family!  so that doesn't qualify, as this love affair has been on for quite sometime :)

since last year i have been more and more been talking about how great our country is now.. be it the relative safety of the known in here or the strong social and family network or the simple informal chats with people.. i have loved everything that India has given me.. at more occasions than once, have i found myself advocating being in India than any other country... and so i think my love affair in the last year has with my own country - India.. India is my valentine for this year!

Happy Valentine's Day!

OpenXML: Microsoft gets it right, will India too?

What does being an Indian meant to me till now? i think it has been assimilating various cultures in my personal value systems and being better than all of them.. the sum of all is greater than cultures added together..

OpenXML is the same.. it provides a culture new to us that promises efficiencies in the future.. it is upto us to take up all that is there and make a story better than each of them put together.. different cultures, different standards have been always beneficial for the world leading to choice & ensuring the survival of the fittest... if TCP/IP was not given a chance in the world dominated by Novell Netware's XNS stack, would Internet ever be around?

OpenXML is the "opening" up of Microsoft Office. the earlier binary format of MS Office is now available for viewing & working upon by anyone. This has been a long way for Microsoft when in 2004 EU recommended that MS opens it Office formats. there may have been licenses granted to 3rd party developers for building products but OpenXML makes it available to all the developers of the Microsoft Technology ecosystem.

Microsoft does get things wrong but with OpenXML it is bang on target.. why shouldn't it be when OpenXML was formulated out of concerns of the community that uses its products. MS first decided to present OpenXML as an ECMA standard in 2006. i had posted about OpenXML being adopted as an ECMA standard here.

Next when it was put forward to be ratified as a standard from ISO, India decided to vote against the same in Sept 2007!

This I think is primarily against Indian values of giving everyone a fair chance! here are some of the reasons that India should reconsider their stand on OpenXML:

1. Microsoft technologies are an ecosystem like any other technology. Killing a standard here amounts to killing an ecosystem! does india want its IT story to turn sour? Not only Microsoft ecosystem but also Java ecosystems as OpenXML can be leveraged from Java as well. Here is an example of using Java on OpenXML.
2. OpenXML provides an opportunity to convert numerous Office documents of yesteryears to be converted to open format so that it be maintained and acted upon now and in future? OpenXML ensures long term preservation of content.
3. OpenXML is technically superior to competing formats given it has support for custom schemas i.e. for any document format that your company devises. Not only this, it has great accessibility support and focuses on maintaining fidelity in the office documents.
4. Does Govt. of India want to be seen as a closed economy or be seen as a cultivator of open economy encouraging better products and services?
5. The OpenXML standard is available for FREE and there is no IP issues around the same. Given the freedom that OpenXML provides, what could be so wrong with OpenXML?
6. Microsoft as a company has given many good products and technologies to the world (including the now famous AJAX)... why should a company with such wide penetration and technical depth be not supported in opening up its technologies to the world?

One does wonder though if OpenXML was developed by Microsoft to serve it "secret" purpose? In fact, the standard was developed in consultation with a lot of companies and many others have already implemented support in their products e.g. Apple, Corel, Novell, IBM (Websphere Portal, DB2 Content Manager V8.4, Lotus Quickr, Lotus Symphony & DB2 9 pureXML) & Google (use filetype:docx, filetype:xlsx, filetype:pptx in your search terms).. Now doesn't it seem ironic that many of these companies are at forefront of opposing OpenXML standard?

There are primarily 2 reasons for this contradiction:

1. Some companies want to use the standardization process as a barrier to trade.. getting a standard disapproved shields them from ever facing competitive threats in the govt. procurement. this should never be allowed to happen!
2. Given widespread adoption of MS Office technologies, these vendors don't want to be cutoff from the opportunity OpenXML brings about in the market.. we should welcome the move as it encourages competition.. what can be more exciting than an IBM product that does a better job handling Office formats than Microsoft does :) ?

So what is the current situation and do we have a second chance to correct our mistakes?

As of now, MS has provided solutions to all 3,522 comments that were raised on the specification by various national bodies. This gives India time will Feb 25th to study the specifications after which there will be a Ballot Resolution Meeting in Geneva from February 25 – 29. Following this conference, the National Bodies will then have 30 days to evaluate their final position on OpenXML as a standard.

And if there is a 3rd party non-sponsored indepth report one may wish to see on OpenXML, here is one from Burton group: http://www.zdnetindia.com/index.php?action=articleDescription&prodid=16128&biznews=biztechNews

And here's the community that supports OpenXML: www.openxmlcommunity.org

I hope when the time comes to finally vote, we stand true to our character of being Indians & embrace all the variety that world has to offer to us..

Technorati tags: openXML, india

Low Cost PCs make their debut in India

With Tata's Nano starting the low cost revolution, it is time IT caught up with its own version :).. Today's papers are talking about HCL releasing a new laptop for INR 14,000/- or USD 350. A widely known project on similar lines has been OLPC that promises to deliver laptops at USD 100 or INR 4000. Indian govt. seems to have rejected that concept all together.

The HCL PC has 2 GB flash based (solid state) drive instead of a  regular Hard Drive. Other features include 7" LCD, built-in wireless, USB, PC Card socket and runs Linux. Reference:

http://www.ciol.com/content/15108102822.aspx

In a similar news, Sify has been planning to create a thin client device that can serve as set-top box and connect with servers in the backend. It is using Windows CE to run this think client. This service will run on subscription model.

What needs to be seen is would consumers buy crippled, single purpose devices (e.g. for browsing) from these vendors? while on paper, the low cost looks good, would people settle for less? the computer signifies the "next" step for most Indian house holds, are they willing to compromise on their aspirations? my bet is that households wudn't buy a "cheap" dream...

the alternative channel that these PCs need to explore is to come to the market via govt agencies and channels like PDS..

Technorati tags: PC, cheap

Ready for the Delhi Blog and New Media Society Event

I am all set to go to the first Bloggers Meet of any importance (www.delhibloggers.in). i am one of the organisers of the event.. the success of the event defined by its attendees and the objectives it set out to achieve at the start...

having gone through the checklist of things to do, i am pretty satisfied with the effort each one of the organisers, partners, volunteers have gone through.. The juggernaut is rolling.. let's see how things turn up at the First Bloggers Event...

And being one of the organisers, I got an early peek into the goodies for tomorrow.. take a look:

I am looking forward to the warm sun in Delhi winters, the real Delhi food from Chandani Chowk and the bonfire tomorrow.. A perfect setting to meet the Bloggers and indulge in some interesting conversations..

Category: blog, delhiblggers
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This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Models of Collaboration in Indian blogosphere

Blogosphere in the world has become a strong medium in itself. With various corporates encouraging their employees to blog (e.g. Microsoft), the trend has picked up in India.

When it all started around few years ago in India, you could only hear of a handful of bloggers mostly from media industry. These bloggers in India had built their reputation due to their experience in the media industry and then went on to leverage the new media trend. mostly young or at the most middle aged, these individuals had one foot planted in India and the other in international arena. They picked up most reputation and knowledge working with other new media international journalists.

IMHO, IT industry in India picked up the trend early on but was never able to reach the level or visibility the journalists were able to (probably 'cause of natural flair journalists had for writing & closer links with media industry)..

as the fad of blogging matured, various collaboration models emerged. I have tried to captured them below:

1. Collaborative Blogs: These got a panel of bloggers together and each of them contributed to the same blog. e.g. Desipundit.com
2. International Federations: International groups who were already blogging established their Indian arms and recruited people from India or people of Indian origin based internationally. Their Indian arms provide content from India e.g. Global Voices
3. Objective Based: Blogs were setup with specific objective in mind. These objectives were non-blogging related e.g. Tsunami Blog
4. Blog Aggregation sites: Pure blog aggregators came up that offered to aggregate blogs from India e.g. blogadda.com or
5. Corporate Blogs: Some Indian companies encouraged their employees to blog and presented their blogs on their corporate website. Most bloggers came here from their R&D deptt. e.g. Infosys
6. Offline Blog Groups: People like to meet people and this community formation was natural outcome of social instincts. People interested in blogging aggregated together geography wise and formed groups. e.g. delhibloggers.in

So where do i see it go from here:

1. Professional Associations: While most the associations were social groups, the interest in blogging is definitely going to take it when some professional association of sorts is firmed up. This association could be on the lines of Press Club of  India or Nasscom
2. Collaboration with mainstream media: This one's already begun... u would see mainstream media - newspaper, TV & radio talk about voices from the masses in form of blogs.

The journey is still in its early stage in the country. blogs have hardly figured in the reading list of an average Indian. Primary constraints still remain internet penetration but it is clear that this is set to improve. In future, blogs are set to become one of the credible mediums and will derive their value from 3rd party independent opinions.

The challenge is if bloggers from India can leave their personal agendas behind and aggregate together.. can personal egos find peace with collaborations? remaining independent and aggregated together is possible.. agreeing to disagree is possible.. can bigger names in the blogging world help other names come up? would the India bloggers want to take on more responsible roles and do something significant?

Have you seen any more collaboration models? Share with me and leave a comment.

Technorati tags: collaboration, group, blog, india

Delhi Bloggers Event

Delhi Bloggers group is an aggregation of people who blog and share interest in blogging. the group consists of some very known bloggers and some newbies. What is distinguishing here is the fact that the group intends to ascend to greater heights by virtue of collaboration and shared leadership.. this is a community of bloggers..

The Delhi Bloggers Event is being conducted as per the following schedule:
Date: Saturday, January 12, 2008
Time: 12:30 pm - 6:00 pm
Location: Westend Greens Farmhouse, (Near shiv murti NH-8), New Delhi
(More details on the location are located here).

The agenda of the event is as follows:
12:30 PM - Registration Starts
1:00 PM : Welcome and group Announcements
1:30 PM : Marketing your Blog

2:00 PM : Blog Monetisation
2:30 PM - 3:00 PM : TEA BREAK
3:00 PM : Webcast with prominent blogger
3:30 PM : Beginning with Blogging and Allied Services (Digg/ Del.icio.us)
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM : Open Forums Discussions
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM : Structured Networking
We will be finalising the event sessions shortly.

There is NO Registration Fee for attending this event. We thank our sponsors for supporting the initiative.

You can immidiately register yourself for the event at: http://wiki.delhibloggers.in/delhi-bloggers-meets
And in case you have not yet joined the new groups, please join at: http://groups.google.com/group/thedelhibloggers

I will be attending the event, will you be there?

Technorati tags: bloggers meet, meet, delhibloggers, event, meetup, delhi

Enrique singing on your desktop - INSOMNIAC Album

“ENRIQUE” does the launch concert of his latest album INSOMNIAC and you can get a pass from the your computer. Catch him on your desktop via MSN IN CONCERT.

SO, LOG IN @ 8...CRANK UP THE VOLUME…AND …ENJOY!

Kiss the latino at: http://www.msnindia.com

Technorati tags: music, event, enrique

Lost your Windows CD?

Recently one of the MVPs asked me about an interesting problem. Many a times users of genuine Windows tend to loose or damage the Windows installation media they got with their PC. They still have the sticker with the product code but don't have the CD. What should they do?

The solution is to get a replacement disc. To get the disc the customers should approach MS Connect and they would route accordingly. The replacement happens within 90 days and may be charged.

the telephone nos of MS Connect are:
1800 102 1100 (Toll Free number – Accessible from anywhere in India from Airtel land line and mobile phone)

1800 111100 (Toll Free number – Accessible from 36 cities in India from MTNL/BSNL landline)

+91 80 40103000 (Toll number – Accessible from anywhere in the world from any telecom)

So if are facing the same issue, you know what to do..

Category: microsoft, india
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This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Microsoft User Group in India Achieves a landmark

India is truly a developer haven and Bangalore the developer capital. Microsoft User Group communities have existed in this garden city for around 5 years now!

And here's the BIG achievement - The Microsoft Bangalore User group is now more than 10,000 members... what is commendable is that the group is entirely managed by volunteers and speakers from amongst themselves. the group has conducted many events - big and small, authored collaborative booklet, celebrated their success and even dabbled in developing shared applications.. the community doesn't get more DYNAMIC than this!

Hats off to the volunteers who have worked hard to get to this and have an unending passion and enthusiasm for sharing their knowledge and the community!

i know that this has been a long and ardous journey for the volunteers that is still on. i have seen the problems the group has faced from lack of venue to meet, to lack of speakers, to lack of laptops and projectors and even sometimes lack of attendees :).. but this journey has been very fulfilling for me and the MVPs who took this as a personal challenge and gave this group their time, expertise and their heart!

I think on this Independence Day, it is time to let impossible's be done.. for those who thought that Microsoft communities can't exist, let this be known in actions more than words.. for other communities anywhere else in the world, let this be a guiding light!

If you are a Microsoft techie and based in Bangalore, you can join this revolution at:  http://groups.msn.com/bdotnet and it doesn't cost a rupee!

Technorati tags: india, user group, bdotnet, microsoft community

Windows Live Skydrive in BETA

Microsoft steals inovation over Google! it has now released a public BETA of erstwhile Live Folders TODAY... this is an open BETA available in the US, UK, and India.

this is now called Windows Live SkyDrive: http://skydrive.live.com/ . so head over there and get your 500 MB of online space NOW!

This feature update includes the following:

· An upgraded look and feel – new graphics to go along with your new features!
· “Also on SkyDrive” – easily get back to the SkyDrives you’ve recently visited
· Thumbnail images – we heard you loud and clear, and now you can see thumbnails of your image files
· Drag and drop your files – sick of our five-at-a-time upload limit? Drag and drop your files right onto your SkyDrive
· Embed your stuff anywhere – with just a few clicks, post your files and folders anywhere you can post html

You can find more detail at team blog: http://skydriveteam.spaces.live.com/

Another first is inclusion of India in the BETA release.. i think it may very well be the first product that has launched in India alongwith US!

Category: skydrive, microsoft
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This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Tribute to outgoing President Kalam

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam personifies what India is best known for - technical prowess, humble beginnings and outspoken! Dr. Kalam was a people's person! Everyone cutting across professions, colour, caste or sex loved him.

My memories for Dr. Kalam go for the first time during the missile tests but it was not very close to my heart. yes it made me proud but i wasn't thinking of missiles in my backyard yet. the first time is was personal for me was when he went on record to say that Open Source was good for the country's military! The statement that was much touted by the OSS merchants in the country. The only time i saw him was when he came for a student's conference hosted by Microsoft. Adhering to full ceremonial protocol, he dived into his prescriptions for education sector. it was kinda let down as he went on to read out  seams of carefully written words in a monotonous manner. ok, maybe he isn't a huge orator but he is a magnificent thinker! The presentation was using his Windows laptop and Powerpoint - well he is in defense no more :)

So why does he have to go? 'Cause he is not political. he is outspoken in his thoughts and beliefs and has challenged authority by returning the Office of Profit Bill. I really think that inspite of what world thinks of us we are a bunch of sycophants to power and authority - what better to exemplify than our chosen ruling party Congress who is an ally of brilliant politician and an equally corrupt politician- Lalu Prasad. In some ways, I think the office of president of India has been desecrated. The way political party have ignored the choice of people to make it the choice of politicians makes me wonder if the politicians really represent the people or do they represent their political parties?

In tribute to the President who is a great person here's an auidobook - Wings of Fire. It is narrated by Girish Karnad, and accompanied by a great background score by 3 Brothers and a Violin.

Enjoy:

http://server1.msn.co.in/sp07/abdulkalam/index.asp

Long live the President!

Technorati tags: india, president, kalam

Using Hindi interface for Vista

I was an avid user of the Hindi Interface for Windows XP. When Vista was released, this Hindi interface was not available. Now it has been released and is available for download:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0e21eb7b-e01a-4fcc-b7f1-30e419da7f5b&DisplayLang=hi

And if you are looking for language interfaces in other languages than Hindi, refer: http://www.microsoft.com/industry/publicsector/government/locallanguage/default.aspx

you can find Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Konkani, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu there amongst others.

All one needs to do is download and install the package. After installation, the system will ask you to logout and then log back in. this should get you the language interface you installed.

in my case, after the logoff/ login, I had to go to control panel and change the display interface from "Language and Interface Options".

Technorati tags: microsoft, hindi, vista

Microsoft Computer varsity at Bangalore: A Myth

In a recent Times of India report, it was "disclosed" that Microsoft will be setting up a university  in Bangalore and that negotiations are already on with the state IT ministry.

On checking with MS folks here, it appears that this report is false.  There are no such plans from Microsoft. There seems to be a misunderstanding by the journalist and a clarification has already been made to the Times of India.

On the very next day, 13th July '07 TOI Bangalore edition  carried out the clarification, available on Pg.19, Times Business section.

It says : " No varsity plans, says Microsoft "

Microsoft Corporation says it has no plans to set up a university in B'lore. "It is not our area of expertise," said an official release from the company.

The MS release mentions the company's commitment to the cause of education and the higher learning in IT. "We're sensitive to the need of the Indian industry and the  government's initiative to  bridge the talent gap that it is currently