Google to roll out its own Operating System

Google sounded out earling this morning that its going to take Microsoft head on by launching its own Operating System. Google said, “Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010. ” Google said that it’s an extension of its web browser Chrome and the reason behind the idea is to work from the scratch because all the OS that’s available in the market were designed before the Internet phenomenon caught on and they were not designed keeping in mind the web. Google believes that it can come up with an OS which is nimble, fast and secure for people to get on the web and do what they want to do - they needn’t wait for minutes before they open their browser and visit a website.

How does this impact Microsoft? You will find your Dells, Sonys and Lenovos shipped with Google OS instead of Microsoft Windows which would mean that Microsoft will not rule your desktop and it will lose its captive audience. But, I’m sure Microsoft will rise up to the challenge and will have its own “Light” edition of Windows but it can’t afford to ignore the threat considering that though Google is starting with the Netbooks, they will slowly aim at the PC market. And Google will definitely get on board a whole lot of Open source providers so that the notebooks (they call it the netbooks) that have Google OS will also come with a lot of Open Source softwares that would replace Word, Excel, etc to lure the end users.

And the Enterprise customers and corporates will not move away from Microsoft very easily. But, on the home front users would love to have choices. Won’t you?

You can read the official announcement from Google at:

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/introducing-google-chrome-os.html

BSNL - Please give us a simple way to complain

My mother called me the other day from a PCO as her BSNL landline phone was not working and she wanted my help to make a complaint. Being at the office, I immediately checked online on how to make a complaint. They had given a couple of numbers to lodge a complaint. One was a 1500 the one stop shop for everything on BSNL and the other was ****1191 (the first 4 digits is the first four digits of your phone number). Both the numbers weren't going through from the Airtel landline phone that I have at the office. Neither did they work from my Airtel mobile. Since, my landline phone at home is also an Airtel one, I didn't have any other option. And none of my colleagues had a BSNL mobile! Then I found on the BSNL chennai website a link to lodge a complaint online. When I tried it, to add to my woes, it didn't work as it was on a 8181 port unlike the default web port. (if it's too technical, almost all organizations allow internet connectivity only through one webport which is port 80 to safeguard against any intrusion into the network. There are other ports like 8181 which less than .1% of the websites use).

Can't BSNL have a simple number which is accessible from all landline and mobile networks to make a complaint?

Yahoo to close down Geocities

Yahoo has sent me a mail saying that they plan to shut down their free webhosting service, Geocities by the end of this year. This has come us a big shock to millions of users who have built their web presence over the years. And that includes me. I don't think any of the other free providers can match the brand of Yahoo. I've had very great experience with Yahoo all through and not sure if any of the free providers can come anywhere close to their credibility. But, I don't have a choice and have to look at other options.

While some have moved to blogs in the past years, I don't think blogs can replace websites especially when the content is not very time specific. I've to look at some paid options and see which comes closer.

I also have another issue in terms of the links to my website. There are hundreds of sites that link to my website and I need to contact each and everyone of them to change their pointers to my new website. And I also need to do the same rigour with the search engines. It's not going to be easy. Any ideas are welcome!

Relaunching the blog!

It has been more than a year since I blogged. Life has been busy and when I turn back, I realize that time has just disappeared! I know this is a statement of those who are not effective in time managment but once in a while you realize that the things that you want to do are put in the back burner because there are things that you have to do. I intend to blog at a much better frequency from now and hope that the writing will catch hold of me more than I catch hold of it.

Zee's Parallel Cricket League in India. What's in store?

Never have I seen the news channels covering any sport including cricket as part of their main story so much so often. But, that’s the reality with so much of story starting with Woolmers death, then the exit of India from the World cup and now the blame game. Zee sprang a surprise yesterday by announcing a parallel cricket league with an initial corpus of Rs. 100 crores site aside.

It’s a master stroke by Zee, which if works to its plan will not only put the Ranji and Duleep trophy’s to shade but also will keep the players on the tenterhooks as the “Headline Value” of this parallel league will keep the heat on. There are a lot of hindrances on the way though - starting with BCCI not approving the league and not providing any of the grounds in the country and also asking the players not to be part of it. Moreover, to get international players the individual boards as well as the ICC may have to give permission. With the clout BCCI has in the ICC, BCCI can veto any decision made by the ICC.

But, BCCI should take this sportingly and I think with the country’s emotion against the system and the players, it should be open to allow such private initiatives to help the game. There is news that Lara, Slater, Langer, Warne & McGrath have been approached to be part of the team. It makes sense as most of them have retired (or retiring) from one day cricket and they can well participate in this league. It will also help in the branding and viewership of the league.

There are a lot of good players in the state teams who have been overlooked by the selection committee and will never get a chance to play for India. I hope that this new league will help them get to the headlines and also make some money in the process.

While Subash Chandra’s motive may be purely business - he can get back the Rs. 100 crores by claiming exclusive TV rights of the tournament - the idea is good and we must all support it. What say you?

Blog not reachable...

I don't know what caused this. My blog is not accessible over the web and I'm getting a page not found error. I hope Google fixes it at the earliest.

Lycos upgrades its Email...At last

Lycos upgraded its email offering today to all its free users. Till now, it was offering just 5 MB of free space with very limited features. Now it has upgraded the space to 3 GB which is more than what Yahoo is offering. But, it has done this too late. I'm not sure how many are still with Lycos. I for one, have moved away from it for a long long time and check it very rarely.

My blog on FIFA Worldcup

I follow football only during the FIFA worldcup as it bring the best teams to play the game at the highest level. I thought I will have a separate blog for the same which you can read at:
Yahoo! 360� - Shah's Blog