Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Black Is Beautiful



I decided to write on this topic after hearing people go on and on about black being inauspicious. To begin with, in Hindu tradition , Kali is know as the black goddess. She is linked with death. This is not just with hindu , but with other religions also. So, in other words religion shuns people from using black by referring to it as evil. So, does that mean that if a person likes black color then he/she is evil? I often wonder why the so called "sophisticated" people end up liking black so much that they have cars, mobiles, all in black but refuse to wear black dress to auspicious occasion. Thats strange because we are allowed to have black cars but not wear black dress. The irony is that the black car does come to the auspicious occasion as well. Another funny thing about the whole issue is, i heard people say that the westerner's wear black for funerals. I usually argue that they wear black for movie promos, office, party.. So is that evil? To me its very simple, black is the most beautiful color i have ever seen. It signifies elegance, style, mystery, sensuality, i can go on and on. Black personifies personality. Speaking of back, the first thing that comes to my mind is "back hole" !!! A very mysterious thing, no one can tell what it is like in that hole. That very mystery element reflects black. Iam really fascinated with that thought. I feel its time, as sane and intelligent humans that we get rid of the mind block on black and allow people to express themselves in anyway they want. Lets each one decide what they want. Lets remove the taboo status of black from our society.

Friday, August 24, 2007

Windows vs Linux!!!

This is an age old question people ask. Is Linux ready??? Many people i know feels linux is far away from reaching the Desktop market. Well, thats the general conception. Now , lets dig a bit deeper and see why people feel that way. First of all, many people, especially non-techies are afraid of changes when it comes to computers. They dont want to meddle that complicated machine. I dont blame them. Many people know computers as a box that has windows as OS built into it. People cannot imagine a computer running without windows. The other day in my office i called up the IS guys to help me fix an ethernet problem at my desk. When they came to know that i run Linux on my laptop they said that was the problem, and i was advised to run windows. I have to boot to windows to prove it to them. This is a common problem most of "outcast people" (People running any other OS other than windows) face. It is interesting to find that most people are not aware of the "actual" expense in running a computer with windows on it. To run a genuine MS Windows with all protection it will cost you a fortune. In India to get a real high end system will cost you about Rs.28,000. Buying a Win Vista/xp OS is about Rs.5000. You need an Anti virus software if you are planning to connect to the internet. Again a genuine AV will cost about Rs.3,000 + 1 year subscription, Renewal charges extra. The common software most of us use is office suit. MS office suit 2007 costs about Rs. 16,999. Thats the basic setup. For other techno savvy people many other softwares costs even more. On the other hand linux comes with firewall (no need of anti- virus), office and lot of other software for free!!! If we are really living in a chocolate candy world where everything is free, then why are people still refusing to grab free candies??? Answer to that is a series of questions , do you trust those candies??? Do they taste good??? Why try another candy when you already used to one?? Thats the same situation as far as OS wars are concerned. The bottom line is , Linux is ready to take on Windows and its only matter of time people realize the need. I urge you all to give it a shot.