Prakash Advani's Blog

My Interview in Muktware.com.

Ubuntu, the Canonical-sponsored operating system is gaining new grounds – in both enterprise and consumer segments. The Company now has new challenges — the challenges which develop as a company grows. We talked to Prakash Advani, Partner Manager – Central Asia at Canonical,  to understand how Canonical is preparing Ubuntu for the future.

What are the challenges? Is Canonical planning to enter the hardware business and offer an Apple-like solution, fully optimized hardware for the OS? Has Ubuntu missed the tablet bus as Android, despite being not prepared for this form-factor has seen great adoption? What is Canonical’s stand on Apple using Canonical’s brand Launchpad? Will we see professional film-editing software on Ubuntu? Will you be playing the Call of Duty on Ubuntu any soon? There are many such questions buzzing every Ubuntu user. If you want to find out the answers, read on…

http://www.muktware.com/a/3/2/29/2010/531?page=0,0

If you want to jazz up your open office presentation, you can install openoffice OpenGL transition library to get very cool 3D transition effects.

On Ubuntu, just install this package

openoffice.org-ogltrans

Now you will have these additional slide transitions which you can use. You would find these at the end of the list of slide transitions.

• Flipping tiles
• Outside turning cube
• Revolving circles
• Turning helix
• Inside turning cube
• Fall
• Turn around
• Iris
• Turn down
• Rochade

Have Fun and impress your Powerpoint friends.

The good old X Server is finally getting a replacement. Wayland will provide a replacement but can co-exists along side X Server for compatibility and features. It will also reduce the complexity today where for 3D effect, we are running Compiz.

The X architecture has been around for a decades now. It has gone through many iterations and improvements, however it still suffers from complexities and performance issues. These become bigger challenges when you are working on smaller devices such as phones, where X becomes an over head.

The X Server provides a network layer which is useful when you are running application on one device and output is displayed on another. Such as in thin clients setups. However even there X has been replaced by NX, VNC etc. The Qt team created Qt Extended (formerly known as Qtopia) which made direct calls to the frame buffer and eliminiated the need for X. This was a useful for embedded devices, however was limited to applications that used pure Qt APIs and didn’t make any X calls, which means all X applications were out. This limited its use, and never became a replacement for X.

Now Wayland is been designed to be a replacement for X and you should see it in your favourite distribution in the next 12 months.  Hold your breath, this would still require applications to be modified to use Wayland APIs instead of X APIs.

X Architecture today.

Wayland Architecture.

Full explanation of the Architecture.

Frequently Asked Questions.

Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak says:

The Google OS is likely to win the race similarly to the way that Windows ultimately dominated the PC world. Woz stressed that the iPhone, “Has very few weak points. There aren’t any real complaints and problems. In terms of quality, the iPhone is leading.” However, he then conceded that, “Android phones have more features,” and offer more choice for more people. Eventually, he thinks that Android quality, consistency, and user satisfaction will match iOS.

Read the complete article.

Came across this interesting list of:

50 Awesome Open Source Apps You’ve (Probably) Never Heard Of

Note: Most of the apps are Windows based..

As per last quarter reports published by Gartner, Android is now number two Mobile operating system with 25.5 percent market share. While Symbian is loosing market share, it still retails the number 1 slot due to Nokia.

Android market-share jumped from 3.5 percent to 25.5 percent vs the same quarter last year. Android 2.3 is just round the corner, expect it to fuel more growth for Android phones.

Malsow’s 5 Hierarchy of needs is commonly know to people, this was updated to 8 a while back.

1. Biological and Physiological needs – air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc.

2. Safety needs – protection from elements, security, order, law, limits, stability, etc.

3. Belongingness and Love needs – work group, family, affection, relationships, etc.

4. Esteem needs – self-esteem, achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, managerial responsibility, etc.

5. Cognitive needs – knowledge, meaning, etc.

6. Aesthetic needs – appreciation and search for beauty, balance, form, etc.

7. Self-Actualisation needs – realising personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences.

8. Transcendence needs – helping others to achieve self actualisation.

I found the 8th one inspiring and probably answers one of the reasons why people create open source software. It further says:

Inherent in the nature of humans is the desire to improve and better ourselves. This process of going  beyond our current limitations is often referred to as “self transcendence.”  Self Transcendence can apply to any aspect of our being; the physical self transcendence of running faster; the mental self transcendence of going beyond our purely egoistic thinking.

However at the heart of self transcendence is a spiritual concept that we are growing into a more illumining nature and gaining a wider perspective of our true self.

Self transcendence is not competing with others. Self transcendence is a personal journey of self discovery. To practise self transcendence we need personal effort, willingness to change. However self transcendence needs to involve an awareness that our success doesn’t just involve our “little I”, but also the universal self (or bigger  “I”).

Spiritual seekers have experienced self transcendence as the grace that allows them to be aware of the infinite consciousness of inner delight. In this spiritual self transcendence the different religions and spiritual practises converge on the common teaching of going beyond the limitations of the ego and being aware of our higher Source. This Higher Self is called by many different names, but ultimately is beyond any metaphysical concept.

The practise of Self transcendence is not limited to those who are overtly religious. Any human being who strives for greater perfection and a higher perspective is practising a form of self transcendence, and it is this self transcendence that gives us joy.

Here is the above Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs diagram in OpenOffice format if you need to edit.. If you make it better, send it back to me.

A while back, my friend Ramnath forwarded me this interesting flow chart, It holds true for iPad and may apply to many of our wants [not needs].

A few people who owned iPads, [althought many would not admit], were finding their iPad had diminishing marignal utility. After a few days of use, they were not find much utility for it.

Are tablets good computing devices or just for browsing and viewing? Are tablets going to replace the netbook? Well lets wait to have more tablet options based on Android platform. In fact Android team says Android is not designed for Tablets and Android 3.0 expected by end of the year, is expected is suppose to be tablet ready.

If you have loads of money to spare, feeling itchy and love Google Earth. You can setup Google Earth on multiple screens,  this can be on  a full wall or all your walls, depending on how many large screens you can have. Ok, you can still set it up with 2 monitors to try it out.

Here is the link on how to set it up:

http://code.google.com/p/liquid-galaxy/wiki/QuickStart

Now would it be more fun if the screens were 3D and had touch support too?

I have updated the Ubuntu vs Windows Hardware requirements to include Ubuntu 10.10 and Ubuntu 10.04, memory requirements still remains a humble 256MB which hasn’t changed in the last 10 releases

The US Department of the Interior is looking for a mailing solution for its 88,000 employees.

Their tender asks for “Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Suite-Federal (BPOS-Federal)”. They justify by saying:

“Based on extensive market research, the Department determined that although many companies can provide messaging services in general, they either cannot provide services that address the complexity of messaging requirements within DOI, or they could not meet the degree of security required by DOI”

Google points out that BPOS-Federal is a new product, and that there are no case studies or known customers who have implemented this product. In addition, BPOS-Federal has not been properly certified by any government agency at any risk level. Despite all this, the DOI still demands this tool.

This is a good move, it will encourage the US and other  government to consider open source and stay away from proprietary solutions. To find an 800 pound gorilla [read Microsoft] , you need an elephant [Google]

Q: Why is an elephant big, grey and wrinkly?

A: Because if it was small, white and hard it would be an aspirin.

Read more on OS News.

What do you get when you marry a Tata Nano Engine with a Merc ? You get a Nokia N8  Nokia has been struggling to maintain market share, and this looks like a desperate attempt.

As always Nokia has added so many hardware features which others can’t matchup, read till the end before you decide.

Whats good:

• 12MP Camera! Yes that 12!
• HD Video recording
• 3.5″ Touch Screen
• Bright AMOLED display with 640 x 360 pixels resolution
• Accelerometer/Compass/Proximity Sensor
• Choice of 5 Colours
• 16GB Internal Memory
• GPS and A-GPS
• Radio
• Flash support
• USB-on-the-go (so you can connect to other USB devices without a PC)
• Bluetooth 3.0
• HDMI Port
• 3.5 mm Audio jack
• 3G
• DivX/H.264 Playback
• 680 MHz processor (slow compared to 1GHz getting common today)

What not so good is the Symbian operating system. Which is now started showings its age, its time Nokia offers Android as an option.  While they can continue experimenting with their Linux  variants (Meego/Maemo) and extend the life of Symbian.

Buddha, one day, was in deep thought about the worldly activities and the ways of instilling goodness in human beings. The following is the text of conversation between him and his disciple.

One of the disciples approached him and said humbly “Oh my teacher! While you are so much concerned about the world and others, why don’t you look into the welfare and needs of your own disciples also?”.

Buddha: OK…Tell me how I can help you?

Disciple: Master, My attire is worn out and is beyond the decency to wear the same. Can I get a new one please?

Buddha found the robe indeed was in a bad condition which needed replacement. He asked the store keeper to give the disciple a new robe to wear on. The disciple thanked Buddha and retired to his room.

Though he met his disciple’s requirement, Buddha was not all that contended on his decision. He realized he missed out some point. A while after, he realized, what he should have asked the disciple? He went to his disciple’s place and asked him “Is your new attire comfortable? Do you need anything more?”

Disciple: Thank you my Master. The attire is indeed very comfortable. I need nothing more.
Buddha: Having got the new one, what did you do with your old attire?
Disciple: I am using it as my bedspread.
Buddha: Then…hope you have disposed off your bed spread.
Disciple: No…no…Master. I am using my old bedspread as my window curtain.
Buddha: What about your old curtain?
Disciple: Being used to handle hot utensils in the kitchen
Buddha: Oh…I see…Can you tell me what they did with the old cloth they
used in Kitchen?
Disciple: They are being used to wash the floor.
Buddha: Then, the old rug being used to wash the floor…????
Disciple: Master, since they were torn off so much, we could not find
any better use, but to use as a twig in the oil lamp, which is right
now lit in your study room….

Buddha smiled in contentment and left for his room.