Monday August 20, 2007
And the debate continues...
Few years back, businesses were afraid of using Open source software and use to follow conventional theory of "Nothing is free. You get what you pay for." Some had apprehensions about quality of the code while others feared that using GNU License would in turn force them to make their source code public.
As luck would have it, most of those concerns have subsided. Open source projects are now immensely being used by various small and big organizations.
Open source is one the best mechanism to collaborate ideas. It allows you to generate huge amount of (wild) ideas. And the best part is you have a huge audience there to judge your thoughts. One can always piggyback on someone else's creative idea. One may wish to use the idea as it is or may as well enhance the existing functionality.
While Open source software is reigning, there exist realms like banks and other financial institutions where proprietary code is still ruling. Though I am an Open source apologist by all means, I have few security concerns regarding such critical applications. I sometime wonder if I would trust a bank or a financial institution which runs on a software available to everyone. I read somewhere about certain implementations that can be employed to make open sourced software secure. Neither am I sure of such executions nor I have heard of any such implementation.
Argumentation are not only limited to Open source and Proprietary code, but have there presence felt among various Open source specifications. One such red-hot topic these days is Microsoft's Office Open XML (OOXML) Vs Open Document Format (ODF). While the battle is on among ODF and OOXML, the Indian IT industry seems to be divided over the issue.
While some of the companies have come out patronizing OOXML, others have their argument supported by facts.
1) OOXML does not support Firefox and Opera (web browsers). It only supports IE.
2) OOXML does not support documents dated before 1900.
3) There is no provision for backward compatibility and this poses problems for third party implementers.
Techies also doubt if OOXML can ever be fully implemented by anyone else other than Microsoft (Which is one of the fundamental principal behind Open standards).
Microsoft has lost US voting pertaining to request for OOXML’s fast-track approval as an ISO standard. Meanwhile organizations in India have been asked to submit their comments by August 17. "Bureau of Indian Standards" (BIS). is scheduled to take a decision on August 23.
[updated : Added Disclaimer]
Disclaimer : The opinions expressed here represent my thoughts/views and not those of my employer. Furthermore, this blog interprets my understanding, thoughts and opinions as of the day it was jotted down. Same may change from time to time.
Wednesday April 25, 2007
Are You Still Reading This?
It’s been more than a month now since I wrote my last Blog. Not that I am bored with blogging. It’s rather my tight schedule these days. I am currently working on a deliverable and am not getting sufficient time for all other activities.
If you're still hanging in there with me, thanks.
Posted by prats ( Apr 25 2007, 01:38:43 AM PDT ) Permalink Comments [2]
Thursday March 08, 2007
Time to go back to Primary School :o)
I guess it's time for me to go back to Primary School and get my basics refreshed.
I was suppose to travel to Delhi today in noon and had got my tickets booked for same. I did all the packing yesterday night and went to bed thinking about how I am gonna enjoy my time with my family. First thing i did after I woke up was to call up airline authorities to check if my flight was on time. To my horror I discovered that it had already left at 2:45 AM in the morning. And I realized that I had messed up with AM/PM stuff. The first thing that struck me was that almost entire airline industry uses "24 hour clock". Infact we learn this in the initial years of our education.
As the trip is unavoidable, I along with one of my friend rushed to airport to check out all available possibilities and have booked a ticket for tomorrow morning.
I will be finally flying tomorrow morning @9:00 AM, HOPEFULLY... 
Friday September 22, 2006
Presentation Skill Training - Stages of Learning
Last 3 days were undoubtedly very occupied as well as enriching and stimulating.
I have been in a Presentation-training during last 3 days.
Below is the format of the class.
Day 1: Full day class, You will be asked to present a 15-20 minutes talk in front of camera.
Day 2 & 3: Focus groups. Class breaks out into subgroups for 1:1 coaching. Here Facilitator takes you through your video from previous day and will let you know his feedback about your strengths and growth areas.
Day 4: Full day session, Participants share lessons learnt and are once again are asked to present in front of camera.
One of my best takeaway from the training was something called Hook
In the literature on learning and presenting, a hook is “an umbrella statement, activity or question that provides a conceptual link between the learner’s existing knowledge and the new learning.”
Some of other learnings from the training are -
* How to prompt/plant questions
* Creating an interactive, question friendly atmosphere
* Dealing with difficult or tricky questions
* Raising confidence
* Structuring your opening and closure
* Dealing with difficult/tricky questions
* Ability to go "off script"
Thanks to the presentation training , I have moved to the third stage of Competency matrix in just three odd days.
We go through these stages during each day of our life. Be it driving a car, communicating, Typing, Cooking or even knitting a sweater.
First stage is Unconscious Incompetence wherein you are not aware of deficit.
Becoming aware of these limitations take you to next stage - Conscious Incompetence, which is the first step towards gaining knowledge. Here, you are very aware of what you don’t know.
Transition to the third stage ie Conscious Competence, requires sheer persistence and great deal of concentration. Here you put your learning into practice and make a conscious effort to work on them and refine them. While in this stage, you will not reliably perform the skill unless and until you are continuously thinking about it. Practice makes you Perfect is the key for you while you are in this stage. Gradually the concerned skill will become a part of your daily routine.
Transition to next stage may take very long. Next stage is Unconscious Competence. By now, you must have gone through so much practice that concerned skill almost become your "second nature". From here on you don't have keep a ticker in your mind to remind you about it. You will notice you can demonstrate the skill very easily and confidently without even thinking about it too much.
Posted by prats ( Sep 22 2006, 05:49:43 AM PDT ) Permalink Comments [0]
Friday September 15, 2006
Linking-in using LinkedIn.com
One of my takeaway from Sun's recent process of restructuring and Layoff in the month of August is Linkedin.com. As D-day was approaching everybody was diligently involved in creating & maintaining their contact-database. Linkedin.com was one of the various ways people were using and that's how I came to know about it.
Linkedin is more of an address book with a level of indirection. You maintain a list of links to people's entries which they keep on updating as they move around. Main intellection behind it is network ie you have contacts of some people, these People in turn have contacts of more people and that's how this chain of contacts goes on and on. Should the need arise, all you have to do is check your linked-in chain and find person you need to get in touch with.
After having used it for more than a month I am finding it very beneficial to make and maintain my contacts in IT Universe. As of today I have around 17 direct connections, but as per LinkedIn calculations, I have over 308500 people directly or indirectly available in my network. 
In comparison with blogs which is a great means for creating relationships, Linkedin is an amazing means to solidify them.
Happy Linking ...
This is a personal weblog, I do not speak for my employer.
