Hurray for odf !!

I have been trying to switch from windows to Linux for some time now. The fact that i paid $ 150 for my Windows XP(last year when vista was free with a new dell and i wisely decided to be smart and invest that money) made it difficult. I had to get my moneys worth before making the switch. (and I was lazy to get a dual boot system).

My attempt over last few months has been trying to use as much open source software as possible. I switched to thunderbird from outlook, also i was using open office suite for all my text presentation needs. However all my submissions were required to be in .doc format. Open office allows saving in .doc format but this almost always messes the document formating. I had to make change to my source file and check for proper formating by opening it in word viewer.

And then for my last report I had to insert lot of equations. I used OOOLatex with open office and then decided to hand in a printed report. My professor liked the whole thing so much he asked me to submit the report as .odf and made up his mind to give open office a try. I consider this a victory for .odf and takes me one step closer to converting completely to Linux. Hurray for .odf!!

The International Space Station

The International Space Station(ISS) is a research laboratory being assembled in outer space. The ISS is a joint project carried out by the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada, EU, Brazil and Italy.It is a fine example of international cooperation in science and space exploration. Here is nice presentation which shows the ISS construction and its modules. An interesting perspective of its size comared to the scifi ships can be found here another nice shot showing the scale of astronaut against the backdrop a section of ISS can be found here.

India off to the moon..

India's doing something new.. ISRO(Indian Space Research Organization) will launch an unmanned mission to the moon. The mission christened Chandrayaan-1(details) can be directly translated as "Space Craft to Moon".

The mission to be launched on 22nd October 2008 will carry nine payloads; five instruments entirely designed and developed in India, three instruments from ESA , one from Bulgaria and two from the United States. A modified PSLV would be used to boost this into space.

This mission would be followed by one in 2010 which will carry a lunar rover. Great job guys we are so proud of you!!

Stay tuned for live webcast on 22nd Oct 2008 0550 - 0650 Hrs (IST) (here)

Open Office 3 is here

The latest version of Open Office, version 3 is here.. Its free and its odf. I downloaded it today and its much better than 2.4 before. It includes whole gamut of MS Office repalcements

1. Writer word processor
2. Calc spreadsheet
3. Impress presentations program
4. Base database program
5. Math equation editor
6. Draw graphics program

The UI looks great and the documents load much quicker. You can save and edit your documents to MS Office XP/98 formats. It doesnt support the MS Office 07 versions though.. but neighter does older MS Office.. ( how many people use it any way?). Other useful features.. it enables direct export to pdf and also advanced features like mail merge. (Lets see if i can configure it with my thunderbird)

If you want to try it download from the site or the mirror.

Youtube reads back your comments

Well the guys at Google have done it again.. what am i talking about? well now you can actually have all your youtube comments read back to you before posting them.. a kind of stupidity check.. Coming on heels of of drunken test on gmail (details) which i thought was pretty lame.. this one really gets full marks in my books.. Its inspired by this xkcd cartoon. Just another example that googles the best when it comes to innovation..

A quicker firefox

Some great tricks to speed up your firefox browser here
Here a few in the list I tried and that real speeds up the browsing

1. Access the firefox config by typing about:config in the address bar
2. Change network.http.pipelining to true
3. Change network.http.proxy.pipelining to true
4. Change network.http.pipelining.maxrequests to 8
5. Create a new variable content.notify.interval (right-click in the window and select New -> Integer). Click OK and enter value as 500000
6. Create a new variable content.notify.ontimer (right-click in the window and select New -> Boolean). Click OK and enter value as true
7. Create a new variable content.switch.threshold (right-click in the window and select New -> Integer). Click OK and enter value as 250000

For details on how this works go to the source which is here.

The Beginning..

July1, 2008 (Delhi, India) – Guri dressed in her beautiful green dress says a tearful bye to her parents and starts looking for Geet. Delhi Airport is in a mess due to continuous downpour outside. It has been raining since last two days. Guri wanted to do some more shopping but time was short. She got to know about her travel plans only a week ago.

There, standing next to ticket counter, she spotted Geet as usual talking over her mobile. She was parallel trying to pull the Red suitcase on to the trolley. But it was falling side ways time and again.

Geet had a small frame and long black hair pulled back with a black clip. She was very touchy about her hair and took lot of care. She also got to know about the travel only last week. She is very happy about this trip as since long she was wishing for a short trip to US.

Guri pushed the trolley loaded with two big suitcases and a laptop, and moved towards Geet. By the time Guri reached Geet, she was done with her call. They greeted each other and started moving towards immigration counter absorbed in their thoughts.

July 2, 2008 (New York, USA) – After a tiring journey of 14 hours, Geet and Guri came out of New York Airport. Guri is all smiles and happy about being here. This was a dream come true for her. Both of them are here for a project assignment. She can feel the air of independence around her. They hired a cab and started their journey towards hotel Grand Hyatt. Guri with her beautiful eyes wide open is trying to absorb each and every scene around her. Big tall buildings disappearing in to sky, fast moving cars on busy roads and people from different ethnic origins. Everything is so new and different to her. She is feeling as if she has been yearning for this throughout her life.

Geet tapped Guri on shoulder when she found her smiling all to herself. ‘I am soooo happy today.’ Guri said. Geet smiled. She was happy for her too. Soon they reached the hotel and were settled in their queen size beds after a hot and lavish bath. This was second time for Geet in US so she started telling Guri about few pieces of information which will be required initially. They soon slipped in to a peaceful sleep with smiles on their face getting themselves ready for a challenging day ahead.

July 3, 2008 – Geet dressed up in her black skirt and light blue shirt, is busy reading newspaper. She loves to keep herself updated with the latest happenings. It is 8:30 Am and they need to reach office by 9:00 Am. Office is just across the street so she is not bothered. Guri comes out of bathroom with a comb in her hand. She is dressed up in her favorite black trousers and off white shirt. ‘Do I look fine?’ Guri asked. She had a worried expression on her face. This is her first day in a client office. She is tense and excited at the same time. ‘Yes, you look stunning. Now stop bothering yourself too much. I am sure you will do well today.’ Said Geet with a cute smile on her face. Guri smiled too but she had a lot of things going on in her mind.

It was not long before they were absorbed in the days work. Before they could even catch their breath, it was time to leave back for hotel. The day had been very fruitful and client was very satisfied with their presentation. They planned to go for exploring near by areas before going to hotel. Guri was very much relaxed now and a feeling of comfort and belonging was already settling down in her. Guri and Geet talked about their days activities and cracked jokes about the smart manager who was all the time eying Guri. She had handled the presentation very well. By the time they reached hotel they were too tired to change and slept in their office clothes.

Life moved on very fast from this day. Guri had found a new world here. They had explored a lot of places by the end of one month. Guri had even started driving a car there and now she was completely independent. Geet is going back to India tomorrow and is picking up her stuff, which she has thrown all over the place in last one month. Guri is helping her do the packing. They talked about all the fun things they had done together and how much they enjoyed each other’s company.

July 31, 2008 – Guri dropped Geet to Airport before going to office. Guri is going to be here for few more months. She has made a few good friends in the office. One of them is going to move in with her by next week. “I will miss you’, Geet said while giving a big hug to Guri. “I will miss you too”, Guri said. “Don’t miss me too much else people will doubt”, Geet said with her mischievous smile. They parted their ways and started moving towards their destination. Guri came out of the Airport. She was ready to spread her wings and carry on with the flight of her dreams. Life moves on…..