Wait for Microsoft fan boys are finally over with the release of Windows 7. I haven't been quite up to date with the reviews of Windows 7 but the ones I read while it was in beta was positive. I am not a very big fan of Microsoft products but I’m required to use them as my job demands. I haven’t used Windows 7 so I can’t really comment on how it has been tailored.
I didn't upgrade my PC to Vista when it was released couple of years back for the obvious reason and I am not sure if/when I will take Windows 7 for a whirl. One thing is for sure, I can't allow my users to use eight years old operating system for too long so a decision has to be made but it depends on how successful Windows 7 is. If only ISVs made their products compatible with Linux, things would have been a little bit different.
I am a Linux user because I find Linux (Ubuntu) much easy to install and use. My primary operating system is Ubuntu, and I use Windows XP where I need to use software’s, which are not available for Ubuntu. While a huge number of PC users were waiting for Windows 7 release, I on the other hand am waiting for release of Ubuntu 9.10, codename Karmic Koala. The latest iteration is due in one day, and will be available for free download.
Ubuntu is one Linux operating system, which just keeps getting better and has a very wide user base. Canonical releases Ubuntu on a six-month release cycle. A six-month release cycle ensures that users are up to date with the latest software's. I will be downloading the new release once it becomes available and will be taking it for a whirl and will post an article after reviewing it. Over the past five years Ubuntu has gained quite popularity and is considered one of the major Linux operating system.
There has been/will be a showdown between Windows 7 and Ubuntu 9.10, and only time will tell if any of these live up to expectations and doesn't flood blogsphere with rants. But the reviews which I’ve read so far about Windows 7 and Ubuntu 9.10 beta are very promising.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Ubuntu 10.04, The Lucid Lynx
In a video message to attendees of UbuCon Atlanta, Mark Shuttleworth announced the name of next release of Ubuntu, which will be a LTS edition. Ubuntu 10.04 will be called “Lucid Lynx”.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Gmail’s activity report
Most of us use cloud based e-mail service for our personal e-mails, for example, Gmail. And there are always security concerns regarding services, which we don’t have much control over. I think that it’s good to be paranoid at times (or every time) about security. I always change my password every month and make sure that it meets the complexity requirements, and try not to use cloud-based services from untrusted machines/devices.
I have recently become aware about Gmail’s “Last account activity”. This allows users to see the activity log of their Gmail account. Once logged in users can find their accounts activity report in “Last account activity” section, which can be accessed from the bottom of every Gmail page.
Last account activity will show the duration of the existing session, and when you click on the “Details” link a new window will pop up listing logs of recent activity of users account. The information available in this log are; the duration of each session, the IP address from which the account was accessed, and the number of simultaneous active session. And if there is multiple active sessions then the user can disconnect rest of the sessions by clicking on the “Sign out all other sessions” button. Details such as whether your e-mail was accessed using regular browser, mobile device, or a POP client are also listed.
This report is quite useful as one can use it to monitor their account, and from the logs users can become aware if someone else is accessing their account. For more information visit Google’s help pages.
I have recently become aware about Gmail’s “Last account activity”. This allows users to see the activity log of their Gmail account. Once logged in users can find their accounts activity report in “Last account activity” section, which can be accessed from the bottom of every Gmail page.
Last account activity will show the duration of the existing session, and when you click on the “Details” link a new window will pop up listing logs of recent activity of users account. The information available in this log are; the duration of each session, the IP address from which the account was accessed, and the number of simultaneous active session. And if there is multiple active sessions then the user can disconnect rest of the sessions by clicking on the “Sign out all other sessions” button. Details such as whether your e-mail was accessed using regular browser, mobile device, or a POP client are also listed.
This report is quite useful as one can use it to monitor their account, and from the logs users can become aware if someone else is accessing their account. For more information visit Google’s help pages.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Canonical and Microsoft
Microsoft has recently contributed about 20,000 lines of code to Linux Kernel. This code includes Linux device drivers, which allows any Linux distribution to run on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V. Microsoft has released the code under GNU GPL-2. Lots of posts are appearing on the blogsphere about this, and some writers have made comparison between Canonical and Microsoft, which I believe is erroneous.
Canonical and Microsoft are two different companies with different approach towards solution development and contribution. One significant difference is that Canonical releases its desktop and server operating systems for free while Microsoft requires you to pay for it. Canonical makes money by selling support and not operating systems.
It has also been said that Microsoft’s single contribution to the Linux kernel is much more than what Canonical has contributed since its existence. I wouldn’t deny this, but this code isn’t going to benefit average Joe if he is not going to deploy his favourite Linux distro on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V technology. So in the end this is going to benefit IT professionals who are going to deploy Linux desktops/servers on Microsoft’s Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V technology.
Microsoft intends to make itself a dominant player in the virtualization world by indicating that its virtualization solution consolidates Linux and Windows applications. However, Microsoft’s virtualization solution still lags behind VMware’s enterprise features such as live migration. VMware’s virtualization drivers have been certified for Linux Kernel; however, it’s not part of the Linux Kernel at the moment.
Canonical has opened the source code of Launchpad, which has been released under GNU AGPL-3. Launchpad is a project-hosting platform designed to accelerate free software development. Any free software developer in the world can use it for free, to manage their source code, bug reports, packages, translations, and more.
There is a vast difference between these two companies, and I personally think that Canonical outweighs Microsoft as far as contribution to the community is concerned. Microsoft’s contribution to the Linux Kernel is a means to lock customers into their technology. Canonical Open Sourcing Launchpad allows developers to enhance the platform, making an easy process of packaging, distributing, maintaining, and providing services for free software. This is all thanks to Mark Shuttleworth and the Launchpad team.
Canonical and Microsoft are two different companies with different approach towards solution development and contribution. One significant difference is that Canonical releases its desktop and server operating systems for free while Microsoft requires you to pay for it. Canonical makes money by selling support and not operating systems.
It has also been said that Microsoft’s single contribution to the Linux kernel is much more than what Canonical has contributed since its existence. I wouldn’t deny this, but this code isn’t going to benefit average Joe if he is not going to deploy his favourite Linux distro on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V technology. So in the end this is going to benefit IT professionals who are going to deploy Linux desktops/servers on Microsoft’s Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V technology.
Microsoft intends to make itself a dominant player in the virtualization world by indicating that its virtualization solution consolidates Linux and Windows applications. However, Microsoft’s virtualization solution still lags behind VMware’s enterprise features such as live migration. VMware’s virtualization drivers have been certified for Linux Kernel; however, it’s not part of the Linux Kernel at the moment.
Canonical has opened the source code of Launchpad, which has been released under GNU AGPL-3. Launchpad is a project-hosting platform designed to accelerate free software development. Any free software developer in the world can use it for free, to manage their source code, bug reports, packages, translations, and more.
There is a vast difference between these two companies, and I personally think that Canonical outweighs Microsoft as far as contribution to the community is concerned. Microsoft’s contribution to the Linux Kernel is a means to lock customers into their technology. Canonical Open Sourcing Launchpad allows developers to enhance the platform, making an easy process of packaging, distributing, maintaining, and providing services for free software. This is all thanks to Mark Shuttleworth and the Launchpad team.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Firefox 3.5
Firefox 3.5 has been finally released delivering a list of new features. The primary objective of this release was to enhance the performance and add new features, which would benefit all Firefox users. I have been an avid Firefox user, but was recently amazed by Chromium’s performance on my Ubuntu machine. Despite Chromium being in development stages it outweighed Firefox in performance. Firefox 3.5 is supposed to be Mozilla’s response to Google’s Chromium in terms of speed. Mozilla claims that this release is twice as fast as its predecessor.
One thing is for sure; Mozilla delivered what it promised. The launch time of Firefox has improved significantly. One of the improvements in Gecko rendering engine is speculative parsing, which allows faster page rendering by continuing to process HTML without waiting for external scripts to load. TraceMonkey allows faster JavaScript execution by implementing just-in-time compilation, which improves the runtime performance and allows compilers to work more quickly and using less memory.
Another feature that has been implemented in this release is private browsing mode, which does not saves list of pages visited and other information a browser normally does. This will be useful if more than one person uses the same user account. However, this does not mean that when this feature is activated it will erase your records from the servers you visited.
Firefox 3.5 has now support for the HTML5 video and audio elements including native support for Ogg Theora encoded video and Vorbis encoded audio. Inclusion of these elements make it possible to not only embed video and audio to web pages without using plug-ins, but also to have these elements interact with other elements on the web pages. “Web workers” has also been included in this release, which allows a script to run in a separate background thread and improvements to standards such as CSS and SVG for enhanced graphics. There is also support for HTML5 local storage and offline application storage.
There aren’t lots of major changes, but surely enough for a much better browsing experience. I appreciate this editions faster launch time, and the new tabs toolbar. Firefox 3.5 is available for most of the major operating systems.
One thing is for sure; Mozilla delivered what it promised. The launch time of Firefox has improved significantly. One of the improvements in Gecko rendering engine is speculative parsing, which allows faster page rendering by continuing to process HTML without waiting for external scripts to load. TraceMonkey allows faster JavaScript execution by implementing just-in-time compilation, which improves the runtime performance and allows compilers to work more quickly and using less memory.
Another feature that has been implemented in this release is private browsing mode, which does not saves list of pages visited and other information a browser normally does. This will be useful if more than one person uses the same user account. However, this does not mean that when this feature is activated it will erase your records from the servers you visited.
Firefox 3.5 has now support for the HTML5 video and audio elements including native support for Ogg Theora encoded video and Vorbis encoded audio. Inclusion of these elements make it possible to not only embed video and audio to web pages without using plug-ins, but also to have these elements interact with other elements on the web pages. “Web workers” has also been included in this release, which allows a script to run in a separate background thread and improvements to standards such as CSS and SVG for enhanced graphics. There is also support for HTML5 local storage and offline application storage.
There aren’t lots of major changes, but surely enough for a much better browsing experience. I appreciate this editions faster launch time, and the new tabs toolbar. Firefox 3.5 is available for most of the major operating systems.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Chromium on Ubuntu
Google released developer preview of Chrome for Mac OS X and Linux sometimes last week. The Linux version is called “Chromium”, and all the codes are open source, including V8, a new JavaScript virtual machine. This build is purely for developers, and not for users who want to use this browser for their day-to-day browsing. Users have been warned from downloading this as this browser is still in its development stages and installing this might result in some radical software crashes.
I have read couple of blogs in the past few days about users’ positive experience in relation to running Chromium on Linux, more specifically on Ubuntu. Since it was available for Ubuntu, I decided to install and take it for a whirl. Chromium is fast, even faster than Firefox, despite being in development stages. I’m merely amazed – I did not expect it to be faster than Firefox.
I’m presuming Mozilla will not be left behind as far as speed is concerned. The guys at Mozilla are working hard on its upcoming release of Firefox – Firefox 3.5. And, they have claimed that this release will be faster than any previous version of Firefox. Apparently, only time will tell about Firefox 3.05 and its speediness, and if it’s any match to Chromium once Google releases its final version.
In order to install Chromium on Ubuntu, you have to add the following repositories in the Software Sources (Thanks to the PPA for Chromium daily builds team):
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/chromium-daily/ppa/ubuntu intrepid main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/chromium-daily/ppa/ubuntu intrepid main
After adding the repositories, run sudo apt-get install chromium-browser in a terminal. The download is about 17MB. Once downloaded and installed, it will be available as “Chromium Web Browser” in “Applications” > “Internet”.
Since Chromium is in its development stages, there are certain features that aren’t functional at this stage; including tabs, bookmarks, privacy settings, print and homepage. I usually don’t install and use beta software’s, unless it’s one of Google’s products.
I have read couple of blogs in the past few days about users’ positive experience in relation to running Chromium on Linux, more specifically on Ubuntu. Since it was available for Ubuntu, I decided to install and take it for a whirl. Chromium is fast, even faster than Firefox, despite being in development stages. I’m merely amazed – I did not expect it to be faster than Firefox.
I’m presuming Mozilla will not be left behind as far as speed is concerned. The guys at Mozilla are working hard on its upcoming release of Firefox – Firefox 3.5. And, they have claimed that this release will be faster than any previous version of Firefox. Apparently, only time will tell about Firefox 3.05 and its speediness, and if it’s any match to Chromium once Google releases its final version.
In order to install Chromium on Ubuntu, you have to add the following repositories in the Software Sources (Thanks to the PPA for Chromium daily builds team):
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/chromium-daily/ppa/ubuntu intrepid main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/chromium-daily/ppa/ubuntu intrepid main
After adding the repositories, run sudo apt-get install chromium-browser in a terminal. The download is about 17MB. Once downloaded and installed, it will be available as “Chromium Web Browser” in “Applications” > “Internet”.
Since Chromium is in its development stages, there are certain features that aren’t functional at this stage; including tabs, bookmarks, privacy settings, print and homepage. I usually don’t install and use beta software’s, unless it’s one of Google’s products.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Google Wave
Introduction
Last week, Google unveiled developer preview of its forthcoming technology, Google Wave. It has been depicted as a new tool for communication and collaboration on the web. A “Wave” is equal parts conversation and document, where people can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more. The project has been under development for past two years, going by the code name of “walkabout”. The two visionaries behind Google Wave are Jens and Lars Rasmussen. They were also the creative force behind Google Maps.
Its mechanics
Google Wave is a single message that is shared among all its participants within the cloud. When you initiate a Wave, it is created on the central server. After creating and adding people to it, they can use rich formatted text, photos, gadgets, and even feeds from other sources on the web. They can insert a reply or edit the Wave directly. When recipients respond to it, their message is embedded to the original message at the point they are replying to. The reply is associated specifically with the part of the message it relates to, thus eliminating the need for snipping texts. It's concurrent rich-text editing, which means if recipients are online they can instantly see on their screen what their collaborators are typing in their Wave.
Additional participants can be added at any time, and previous contents can be changed. If recipients are online, they will see the changes and replies live. There is a feature in Wave that will be appreciated by recipients that are added later to the conversation, and it is called “playback”. Playback allows recipients to rewind the Wave from its initiation to show the order in which it was edited, and the people responsible for each edits.
Google Wave attempts to collaborate e-mails and instant messaging, creating a single communication model. With Google Wave, you don’t have to mull whether you want to send e-mail to someone or chat with them – you send them a Wave. One problem with e-mails, IMs, wikis and documents when they are being exchanged and edited by different people with varying texts is its horrendous formatting. And, if a new recipient is given access to this content, he/she will struggle to comprehend what has been discussed prior to their involvement. Google Wave is being comprehended as a multi-user distributed online version-controlled collaboration that seamlessly brings together many forms of communication technology.
Conclusion
Google Wave is still in its development stages, and we don't have a confirmed date for its release yet. However, I'm presuming that we will get to experience it before the end of this year. Wave is also considered as a blogging platform. For more information navigate to http://wave.google.com - you can watch the 80 minutes developer preview presentation which was delivered at Google I/O, and Google Wave Federation Protocol.
Last week, Google unveiled developer preview of its forthcoming technology, Google Wave. It has been depicted as a new tool for communication and collaboration on the web. A “Wave” is equal parts conversation and document, where people can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more. The project has been under development for past two years, going by the code name of “walkabout”. The two visionaries behind Google Wave are Jens and Lars Rasmussen. They were also the creative force behind Google Maps.
Its mechanics
Google Wave is a single message that is shared among all its participants within the cloud. When you initiate a Wave, it is created on the central server. After creating and adding people to it, they can use rich formatted text, photos, gadgets, and even feeds from other sources on the web. They can insert a reply or edit the Wave directly. When recipients respond to it, their message is embedded to the original message at the point they are replying to. The reply is associated specifically with the part of the message it relates to, thus eliminating the need for snipping texts. It's concurrent rich-text editing, which means if recipients are online they can instantly see on their screen what their collaborators are typing in their Wave.
Additional participants can be added at any time, and previous contents can be changed. If recipients are online, they will see the changes and replies live. There is a feature in Wave that will be appreciated by recipients that are added later to the conversation, and it is called “playback”. Playback allows recipients to rewind the Wave from its initiation to show the order in which it was edited, and the people responsible for each edits.
Google Wave attempts to collaborate e-mails and instant messaging, creating a single communication model. With Google Wave, you don’t have to mull whether you want to send e-mail to someone or chat with them – you send them a Wave. One problem with e-mails, IMs, wikis and documents when they are being exchanged and edited by different people with varying texts is its horrendous formatting. And, if a new recipient is given access to this content, he/she will struggle to comprehend what has been discussed prior to their involvement. Google Wave is being comprehended as a multi-user distributed online version-controlled collaboration that seamlessly brings together many forms of communication technology.
Conclusion
Google Wave is still in its development stages, and we don't have a confirmed date for its release yet. However, I'm presuming that we will get to experience it before the end of this year. Wave is also considered as a blogging platform. For more information navigate to http://wave.google.com - you can watch the 80 minutes developer preview presentation which was delivered at Google I/O, and Google Wave Federation Protocol.
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