Help ! I need an Ipad !

Yes, I really really need an Ipad.Why ?What do mean why ?
I need it to be happy. Don't you need things in life to be happy ?
Why do you need that fancy watch around your wrist when your mobile perfectly shows you the same time ?
Why do you need to go out and eat dinner in a fancy restaurant when you can just as well eat at home ?
Why do need that large SUV when a tiny Suzuki can get you around ?

You need happiness in life, you need things in life to be happy and the Ipad is just that thing for Apple lovers.

Why do I love Apple ?
I'm not answering that. That's like asking why do most people love a BMW when it comes to cars.

I need the iPad because it colors match my Macbook Pro. I need the iPad because its so cool. I need it because Apple's made it. I need it to be happy. I'll figure out what it does after I get it.
How many people own an Apple TV ? I do, that too in India. Even most Apple fans won't remember the disastrous Apple TV products. They never sold, never took off and were not useful, till recently. For the first couple of years that I owned an Apple TV, it was a prestigious device to own, nothing more. It worked well, but offered no revolutionary feature. Then, slowly, Apple added Flickr to in. Now, I can just watch my photo albums on the TV using the Apple TV remote. In another upgrade to the Apple TV software, 3 years after its launch, Apple added Internet Radio to it. Wow ! Now the Apple TV rocks !
Even if the iPad doesn't offer some crazy, breakthrough features today, it will some day and I'll love it then. Today, I just need to have it.

Unfortunately, the iPad might cost me over $999. You see, it's launching in the US on 3rd April. Without pre-orders, its expected to be on shelves from 12th April. I happen to be in the US from 8 to 15th April. I'm sure I could have picked one up have but my wife travels with me. Sighhh.... I'll have to negotiate hard with her to get it. That means an iPad for me and an iPhone for her. Too much. Maybe an iPhone won't make her happy and I'll just get the iPad, keeping my fingers crossed. I have some more tricks up my arm to negotiate with her. I could buy the iPad for, then use it for her too :)

If anyone can help, I really need an iPad ! All idea's welcome, even if they're crazy !

Posted via email from Anil Sharma

Toyota Recall - Indian car customers taken for many rides

It's so easy for large companies like Toyota to get away without offering formal recalls in India. Worldwide, Toyota cars suffered from issues such as the accelerator pedal getting stuck or the brakes not always engaging. When these issues caught public attention, Toyota was quick to offer a recall in most countries except India.

Toyota India has gone on records to release a statement related to the recall : http://www.toyotabharat.com/inen/message.asp . I quote from this statement “…I would first of all like to reassure you that the global recalls are not connected with the Indian market in any way. In other words, none of the Toyota vehicles available to buyers in India will be affected by these recalls.”

I think the Toyota management is just using smart words to fool Indian customers.  What the above sentence means, in straight language, is that maybe there are faults in Toyota cars in India but we’re not offering any recalls.  Customers of the new Toyota Fortuner SUV are already screaming hoarse with their brakes losing power when applied at high speeds.  Toyota has started replacing brakes of customers who complain but is not officially announcing for a recall. Here’s a discussion on how customers are getting replacement - http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/technical-stuff/78133-toyota-upgrading-my-fortuners-brakes.html

All this is probably happening because Indian law enforcement is so lax, these companies and their hot-shot lawyers know ways of getting around them. Indian motor companies are now learning these odd ways from large MNC’s.

When Maruti had to change a component in over 100,000 A-star cars, it still did not offer an official recall. The reason?  “There was no attempt to hush up the matter. There was a delay in going public as India does not have a recall policy in contrast to countries in Europe which have a framework in place for reporting such matters,” Maruti Suzuki chairman R C Bhargava said. The product website - http://www.marutisuzukiastar.com/ - still does not offer any info on the recall.

And now, we have flaming Tata Nano’s being spread all over the country. The $2500 car had a great launch recently, a brand new car being driven by the showroom staff to its new owners home caught fire midway. Take a look - http://www.motorbeam.com/cars/tata-nano-cars/tata-nano-catches-fire-in-mumbai/ . As is now the case, many other Nano cars have faced issues but the company is yet to offer a recall.

I tried to search if the Indian Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 speaks about recall policies etc but there is nothing to that effect.  I hope someone brings this to the attention of the Transport Ministry and policies are created which force companies to officially announce all recalls publically.

Posted via email from Anil Sharma

Management Lessons from Bahrain F1 2010

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What an exciting race at Bahrain to being the 2010 F1 season.  As usual, this Sunday was made waiting for the race to being and then following each and every moment of it. This time, I decided to analyze the race from a management point of view and was surprised how much we can learn from a race.  

For simplicity purposes, lets think of the entire F1 as an organisation, the F1 race administration as the organisation's management, racing teams as the departments and the race drivers as the leaders or managers of the departments. Below is a summary of what I learnt.

The best leader is not always the winner.

The excellent performance in the qualifying races gave Vettel his pole position. In the second place was Massa followed by his teammate Alonso. During the final race, for 35 of the 49 laps, Alonso and Massa followed Vettel trying desperately to overtake him but couldn’t even reach near.  An exhaust problem in Vettel’s car forced him to slow down and that’s how Alonso won the race.  Vettel was the leader throughout but the winner who got the trophy was Alonso, not because of his own performance but because of the leader’s inability to cross the line before his follower.

A good leader makes winners  out of others.

Alonso closely followed Vettel from the beginning of the race. The desire to overtake him made him push himself and his car so that they were as close to the leader as possible.  In F1, races are won with differences of split seconds. When Alonso finally won, he had a clear 16 seconds lead ahead of his competitor. Even though Vettel as a leader could not win, he gave this gift to his follower.

To win, you have to keep trying

For the entire 35 Laps, Alonso never gave up and kept chasing Vettel. Under pressure, Vettel kept the speed constantly high, maybe it was this pressure that caused the exhaust problem in Vettel’s car ultimately giving Alonso a chance to win. Even after overtaking him, Alonso kept trying to increase the distance between him and his teammate. Suppose there was a problem in Alonso’s car in the last few laps that required him to take a pit stop, he would still have won because of the 16 sec gap he had created.

Management rewards winners, not leaders

After the race, the trophy and the usual champagne bottle were handed out to Alonso. In the press conference, everyone wanted to ask questions to Alonso about the victory, Vettel was all but forgotten.  Despite the exhaust problem and the engine losing power, Vettel kept the car going and managed to get a decent 4^th position earning 12 championship points, however the reward was for Alonso who got 25 points.  There are many leaders but management seeks out and rewards winners.

The team cannot win without winners

Vettel’s Red Bull Racing team equally supported his excellent performance. Vettel recorded the fastest pit stop, he was stationery for under 4 secs while the tyre’s were changed. This would have motivated him to perform better. However, the technical problem can be attributed to a part of his team not delivering. The team’s second driver, Webber only stood 8^th, giving the team a total of 16 points.

For the Ferrari team that won both the top spots, the reward is 43 points it accumulated.  The second position by Massa earned the team 18 of the 43 points, more than the total points of Red Bull Racing.  The flawless performance by the Ferrari drivers was mostly due to the perfect work done by the team.

In a team, everyone needs to perform for the team to win. However, the team cannot win without the leaders becoming winners.

Management policies take the organisation forward

The decision to do away with refueling during the race has made it so much more fun to watch for the audience. For the teams, the cost of operations has come down, it’s safer now and the whole hassle has been done away with.  

By changing the scoring pattern such that it rewards more points to those who win, the management has ensured that competitive spirits are kept high. These policy changes (http://www.formula1.com/news/features/2010/3/10498.html) make F1 an even more interesting sport to watch, resulting in higher profits for the organisation.

I could go on and on, analyzing various other events, teams etc but I don’t want to convert what was an exciting race into a boring management lecture.

Posted via email from Anil Sharma

CBSE and CCE : Confusing everyone

In the past one year, we have seen a lot of excitement in the school education segment in India, with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) announcing major changes. It started with simple things like doing away with board exams at the Class X (age 16) level and has now reached a stage where everyone's confused about things like CCE (Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation) 

The idea behind CCE was very simple - to create a system that does away with "Marks". Most schools in India follow a 100% Mark system where students getting 92% were treated as less equal than those getting say 93%.   While some parents and teachers still claim that this system gave a clear indication of where the student ranked, the pressure to achieve maximum marks pushed few students to commit suicide and many others to be constantly harassed by parents and teachers alike.  With the forced implementation of CCE this year onwards, CBSE, in its view, hopes to reduce the burden on students.

The new CCE guidelines divide the entire evaluation process into 3 parts.  

Part 1 deals with Academic Performance in Scholastic subjects like Science, Maths, English etc. where Grades are given based on year long achievements. The academic year is divided into two sessions, in each session there are Formative and Summative Assessments (FA, SA). The school has some freedom in deciding the number of FA's and their weightage etc but the end result is that students get a Grade for each subject instead of a mark.  So far, so good. What CBSE has also done is that instead of focusing only on the 5 primary subjects, it has increased the scope by adding 3 more subjects to the Scholastic part - Work Experience, Art Education and Physical Education. For these additional subjects, teachers can give grades and a descriptive indicator explaining the student’s performance.

 

Part 2 deals with Co-Scholastic areas such as Life Skills, Attitude and Values. For each of these, teachers are again required to give a Grade and a descriptive indicator. Schools can expand these, for example, Life Skills can include Thinking Skills, Social Skills and Emotional Skills. Attitude can be judged towards teachers, peers, environment etc. The idea behind this part of the CCE is to let students and parents know that its not just knowledge that's important, there has to be overall development during the school years of a student.

 

Part 3 of the CCE deals with Co-Scholastic Activities.  The idea behind this part is to give simple grades based on activities performed / participated in during the year.  This part is divided into two sections a) Literary / Creative / Scientific / Aesthetic Skills, Performing Arts, Clubs etc  b) Health & Physical Education. Teachers are expected to grade students on their involvement with these activities during the year.

 

The exhaustive evaluation of a student is why the word "Comprehensive" is used in CCE.  The only way of making this evaluation is if teachers keep records of student’s performance throughout the year, therefore the work "Continuous".

 

While many schools are struggling to create formats and systems for teachers to work on, and I have had the opportunity to look at a few, I was amazed at the simplicity brought about in the whole process by the teachers and Principal of The Air Force School, Subroto Park, New Delhi - http://tafssp.com/ . The have created processes and formats where it would be possible for teachers to quickly evaluate and provide relevant indicators. The design of their evaluation system is simple, at the same time; it meets or exceeds all parameters defined by CBSE. Their formats eliminate chances of errors and make the whole process such that automating the CCE system would now be possible. I hope they get great recognition for their hard work and dedication, which will ease the lives of many student, parents and teachers. CBSE should now standardize these formats and ask other schools to follow.

Posted via email from Anil Sharma

Windows Azure - Cash cow for Microsoft ?

With Microsoft ready to launch its Windows Azure service in India, the debate on who will lead the cloud computing market has started heating up.

Cloud computing basically allows users to access applications and services through the Internet. The simplest example is the Microsoft Word application on your desktop vs. an online document that you can create on Google docs. Microsoft Word requires your computer's processor and operating system to run, it requires your computers hard drive to store the document and it requires your email service to share with other users. On the other hand, Google docs requires any basic computer to be connected to the Internet, the rest of the functions are handled by the Google Cloud. You would have to buy Microsoft Word to be able to use it and all users buying Microsoft Word would pay the same amount, irrespective of how much you used it. On a cloud, you can pay as and when you use a feature, the charges also depend on your usage. As the reach and speed of internet access increases, users prefer that less work is done on the computers and more over the Internet, that's where Clouds come in. A cloud would normally include an inbuilt operating system, processing power, storage space and features to share etc, directly accessible by users through the internet. Currently, the largest players in the cloud computing segment includes Amazon, Google, IBM, Salesforce.com and VMWare.

Microsoft had already unveiled it's Online services that provided business or enterprise users to pay from $10 per month onwards to get access to host of services like Exchange, Office Live Meeting etc. Now, it is launching Windows Azure - a cloud based software development and delivery platform. The Windows Azure platform allows developers to use their existing Visual Studio or .net expertise in directly building applications on the Windows Azure cloud.

Microsoft would normally take years to catch up with cloud computing leaders like Amazon or Google. What Windows Azure does is to bring to the Microsoft cloud computing environment a whole new segment of software developers. If the developers find the Windows Azure platform attractive, Windows Azure could turn out to be the new cash cow Microsoft is looking for.

More information on Windows Azure is available here : http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/

A very nice comparison of Cloud Computing platforms is here : http://www.cumulux.com/ComparingCloudPlatforms.pdf

Posted via email from Anil Sharma

America creates new cyber security initiative

Within weeks of blaming China for cyber attacks, the US government today announced it's new Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNIC). After a through review of efforts to defend the U.S information and communications infrastructure, the initiative announced today is for achieving the following major goals :

a. To establish a front line of defense against today’s immediate threats

b. To defend against the full spectrum of threats

c. To strengthen the future cybersecurity environment

Here is a video of Howard Schmidt, the new Cybersecurity Coordinator at the White House, making the announcements :

CNIC will now pursue 12 clearly defined initiatives to meet its goals.

Initiative #1.  Manage the Federal Enterprise Network as a single network enterprise with Trusted Internet Connections.

Initiative #2.  Deploy an intrusion detection system of sensors across the Federal enterprise.

Initiative #3.  Pursue deployment of intrusion prevention systems across the Federal enterprise

Initiative #4:  Coordinate and redirect research and development (R&D) efforts.

Initiative #5.  Connect current cyber ops centers to enhance situational awareness.

Initiative #6.  Develop and implement a government-wide cyber counterintelligence (CI) plan.

Initiative #7.  Increase the security of our classified networks.

Initiative #8.  Expand cyber education.

Initiative #9.  Define and develop enduring “leap-ahead” technology, strategies, and programs.

Initiative #10. Define and develop enduring deterrence strategies and programs

Initiative #11. Develop a multi-pronged approach for global supply chain risk management. 

Initiative #12. Define the Federal role for extending cybersecurity into critical infrastructure domains.

While all this may sound nice, tax-payers should ask their government one few clear question : After spending all the dollars on implementing this initiative, who would be responsible if hackers managed to get into the networks ? 

Knowing the cyber world and the capabilities being developed by the Chinese, hackers must be keenly studying the plan and building their own to find work-arounds. If the first initiative to manage the entire Federal Enterprise Network as a single enterprise were to be achieved, and hackers managed to crack that, God save the US.

Details of plans are available at : http://www.whitehouse.gov/cybersecurity/

www.anil.biz

Posted via email from Anil Sharma

Software is changing in 2010

Since 1986, when I started using computers, never before have I witnessed so many changes in the software world in a single year, as I'm seeing in 2010. The year 2010 seems to be a great year for the software world. Major launches, upgrades and changes are expected that would enable users to make better use of new web technologies. 

Nothing much is expected in current desktop Operating systems. Both WIndows and Mac launched their new Operating systems - Windows 7 and Snow Leopard in 2009. While Apple is actively working to release its new 10.7 version by the end of 2010, Windows 8 is only expected around end of 2011 or somewhere in 2012. However, a new OS is expected to make an impact starting this year. The Chromium OS from Google will be launched in mid 2010 and is expected to power most netbooks. It’s the first OS built primarily for the web, and if you haven't seen this yet, do see this introduction video : 

 In the mobile operating systems market, things are a changing too. Microsoft released its Windows Phone 7 series in Feb 2010. There are rumors of iPhone OS 4 being released in July 2010. Devices powered by these operating systems could flood the markets before the end of the year. They would enable users to look forward to more features, newer ways of using the web while being mobile. The Symbian platform was made Open source in Feb 2010, so we can expect a lot of development there.

A lot more is happening in 2010.

Magento, the Open Source Ecommerce solution that claims $25 Billion worth of transactions are done on sites powered by its platform, released its stable version of 1.4.0.0 in February 2010. The new version not only improves upon it's hugely successful predecessor, it releases a host of powerful features for Ecommerce sites, including 3D secure credit card validation, new search indexing techniques and widgets for the first time in open source Ecommerce platforms

Microsoft is releasing its Office 2010 around June 2010, the beta of this is already available. This new version claims to provide a "new co-authoring experience, you can work with people from different locations at the same time.", along with more ways to access files from almost anywhere. MS Office 2010 for Mac with Outlook for Mac is also being released this year.

Microsoft's platform of business collaboration for enterprises and for the web, Sharepoint 2007 will be upgraded to Sharepoint 2010 in June. There are great expectations of revenue from it for Microsoft. Along with this, Microsoft's development platform, Visual Studio 2008 will be upgraded to Visual Studio 2010 with new prototyping, modeling, and visual design tools that would enable developers  to create innovative applications for Windows and the Web.

Software used for creating websites, blogs etc are undergoing lots of changes in 2010. 

Drupal, the favourite Open Source CMS on which website such as whitehouse.gov are built, is in for a major upgrade. In Feb 2008, the launch of Drupal 6 created ripples with a host of new features. Drupal 7, to be launched around June 2010, will enhance the user experience on the web like never before. The entire information architecture is being re-desinged and is detailed at http://www.d7ux.org/.  Joomla, another popular CMS, released version 1.5 in Jan 2008. Now, an alpha version of the 1.6 version to be released soon shows major improvements in Access Control and usability.

Wordpress, the most popular platform for bloggers and personal websites is in for a major shakeup. Version 2 was released in early 2006, version 3 will be released one 1 May 2010. While many features were updated during the existence of ver. 2 itself, the new version 3 will integrate the MU version of Wordpress 2, that means users can have multiple blogs on a single Wordpress 3 installation. There’s a new, simpler way of making menus that will increase accessibility in websites. 

Many other popular software / tools are expected to change too.

Moodle, the largest open source Learning Management System will release ver 2.0 in July 2010. Expected to be the biggest release of Moodle since its inception with over 2 years of developmental work, it contains a huge number of core changes to the platform, most of which are designed to give 3rd party developers more flexibility, scalability and safety. This could change the way eLearning is delivered across the world.

I'm sure there are many other major tools that are releasing new versions in 2010. This year seems to be of change, of great expectations from everything. The software world is not to be left behind, in fact, even before the economy rebounds, its ready with a host of offerings to capitalise on the impending opportunity. 

Posted via email from Anil Sharma

Tackling the Passport office in New Delhi

9.5 years after my passport was issued, it was time to get a fresh one so I spent 2 days to apply for one at the Regional Passport office located at Bhikaji Cama Place, New Delhi. Not only was I harassed, I felt betrayed, after paying so much taxes for so many years, why can't I get decent service from the government ?
 
They CLAIM to have a website that has all the information,  https://passport.gov.in/delhi.html ,  to which I will refer to many times in this post as "the website".  Through this guide, I hope to help people who are planning to visit this office to be well prepared. Here are some steps you should follow :
a. Before going to the passport office, take a leak. That's right, take a leak. You will be there for 4 to 6 hours and they do NOT have loo's you can use. Also remember to put on lots of deodorant, you will stand in long ques and congested rooms full of sweating people.
 
b. The website CLEARLY mentions that you can download an application form and use it to submit an application. The person at the token counter will CLEARLY tell you that it's not acceptable. You have to buy a form worth Rs. 10 for which you need to stand in a que for 2 - 3 hours. Alternatively, touts outside the office building sell the form for Rs. 50. 
 
c. The procedure for submitting the application is very clear. Behind the entrance of the building are counters that offer 'tokens' that grant you access into the main building. There are 3 counters for issuing tokens, all open at 9:30 at sharp and are open till 12:30 p.m. One is for Tatkal applications, one for General and the third for special requests by existing passport holders, such as change of address etc.  While the counters open at 9:30, the que starts as early as 8 a.m. If you reach by 9:30, you can expect to be around the 50th to 75th person in the que.
 
d. The purpose of the 'token' counters is just to get a stamp on your application that will allow you entry into the main building. However, this is where your pain will start. The dumb person behind the counter will scrutinize your documents and tell you something is missing and throw you out of the line. Its not his business to do so, but he could do it. If you try to argue that you'll get the documents before submitting the application, he doesn't listen, he wants you to come back in the que after getting the document. If you argue that the said document is not required as per the application booklet or the website, he'll shout at you and tell you not to waste his time.
 
e. If you fail to produce documents like Affidavits, photocopies, photos etc that prevent you from getting the token, do NOT worry. All these facilities are available there. In fact, they are customised for you. As soon as the person at the counter tells you your application has X or Y affidavit missing and throws you out of the que that you spent 2 hours waiting in, you will be surrounded by touts who will offer to make those documents in under 10 minutes. Document X which you could have made in Rs. 30 at a court, will now cost Rs. 250 here. Document Y could cost anything, from Rs. 300 to Rs. 1500, depends on your personality, the car you are seen in, the touts judgement of what you can pay, etc. Anyways, your document will be made.
 
f. After you've got the document, you need to get back in que to get the token stamped on your form. By getting a token at the counters, you are allowed access into the main building. Suppose your token number is 50, you have to wait in the main building till the number 50 shows up on one of the counters. 
 
g. When your turn comes at the counter, be prepared to push your way through the large crowd of people already standing there. Their applications have not been accepted due to flimsy reasons that they can't understand so they're standing there to see how yours gets accepted.  
 
h. If you have prepared ALL the required documents as per the official website, you can expect surprises when you reach there. They will ask for strange documents that are not required. They will not accept some of the documents you produce. I saw many instances of applications being rejected for frivolous reasons, here are some examples :

1) Website says as proof of residence, you can produce "water /telephone /electricity bill/statement of running bank account" , at the counter they will tell you that if any of these are from private companies, it's not acceptable. Well, the government has privatised telephone, electricity, banks etc. and none of these documents are acceptable ?  If you mention the website, you're anyways done. Do you not know that their website is not updated? It's not their job to update the website – that’s their answer !
2) If you're applying under Tatkal scheme, the application form says "The applicant also has the option to obtain a passport under Tatkal Scheme on submission of three documents from the Fourteen documents "..it clearly means any of the 3 documents out of a list of 14 will do. However, they will insist on submission of Verification Certificate signed by a senior govt officer even if you're getting a passport renewed. That verification certificate is NOT part of the list of 14 documents.
i) By the time you've done understanding everything, the counters will shut at 1:30 p.m. You will be dazed and terrified at the thought of going through the whole process again when you come back with the rest of the papers. It's best that you prepare yourself for this eventuality and take all of this with a smile. I had been warned of this, so I smiled at all the counter people and happily agreed to produce as many documents as they required the next time. I made them make a list of ALL the documents they wanted and went back two days later :)
 
j) So you think you're smart and you've taken everything with a smile? Wait ! Two days later, their requirement of papers will change. When I went the first day, the person behind the counter had agreed on taking my gas connection papers as proof of residence. This time, my token number came at another counter and the person behind the counter refused to accept that document !! Dejected, I came out of the que and went and handed my papers to another counter. The person accepted the papers and found nothing wrong with them! How does this all work? If you can figure it out, I'm interested in knowing !
 
The whole aim of the people behind the counter at the passport office seems to be the following :
i) Get sadistic pleasure in harassing law abiding, tax paying citizens.
ii) Harass people till they go to touts, then make money off the touts. 
 
The same work that is done by the passport office is done by VFS http://www.vfsglobal.com  when they are processing Visa's for many countries. The government should consider outsourcing the entire passport office operations to VFS like companies in India and sack the people who are handling things now.
Many of my friends ask why I went through this torture. I could easily have hired a passport consultant a.k.a tout to get all this done while sitting at home.  After all this effort, I’ve only submitted my application. I’m sure it’s not the end; I still have to get my new passport. 
I think it’s important to go through these experiences, you learn the value of good service and you learn how not to treat customers.

Posted via email from Anil Sharma