Open Source Software Alternatives

We had a discussion on FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) during one of the soft skills sessions in our organization. It was a very informative session on Open Source and it’s advantages in the corporate environment etc. After the discussion, one of the colleagues sent an email with the alternative solutions for all the prominent softwares that we use everyday on proprietary operating system.

Anti virus mail gateway:
http://www.bransoft.com/clammail/en/clammail.html

Anti-Virus:
http://www.clamwin.com

Office:
http://www.openoffice.org

MS Visio alternative:
http://dia-installer.sourceforge.net

GIMP (Photoshop alternative):
http://www.plasticbugs.com/blogimg/GIMPshop_0.1beta_Setup.exe
http://plasticbugs.com/?page_id=294
http://www.gimp.org/~tml/gimp/win32/

.NET:
http://www.mono-project.com/Main_Page
http://www.mono-project.com/ASP.NET
http://www.theserverside.net/news/thread.tss?thread_id=34139

Open Source for WIndows:
http://osswin.sourceforge.net

Free Ware for Windows:
http://onlythebestfreeware.com
http://f-spot.org/Main_Page

Desktop Publishing:
http://www.scribus.net

(Thanks to Shine Xavier for the info)

(Image courtesy: MasterNewMedia)

Inkfruit – A new Indian startup

The return of the web or Web 2.0 has given way to so many new start-ups and India is not far behind. So many Indian start-ups are coming up these days, in almost all fields. Inkfruit is such a start up by a couple of young Indians. They allow people to upload their T-shirt designs and get paid for it.

Inkfruit has an on-going weekly design contest with prize money of Rs. 20,000. Winners are chosen by popular votes and the winning designs are then screen printed on T-shirts. Then these T’s are sold on their website. Thus all the T-shirt designs in their website are submitted by their members community. Their site was launched in December 2007 and they also maintain a blog.

They have some nice, creative designs in their inventory and also offers color and size choices for both men and women. So far the only draw back I see is that their website design and colors looks amateurish and doesn’t have a web 2.0 feel. I hope they will do something about it.

United Desis – Desi Rap

Band : United Desis
Album : Desi Game
Genre : Rap and Hip Hop
Label : BIG Music
Website : http://www.uniteddesis.com

I am not a huge fan of Rap/Hip-Hop music. I listen to only a couple of rap artists like Eminem or D12. I feel Rap music loses it’s soul whenever it is sung by people other than African-Americans. When Rap is sung by the Afro-Americans, it has a strong power both in the lyrics and music. In India, we have had artists like Style-Bhai who claimed himself as a rap artist but has got nothing to do with rap. He was just a bhai with some strange style. Now we have Blazee who is doing good in the film music (thanks to A R Rahman) and have written songs like “Ban the Police” which was well received. One reason could be that Rap is not fit for the Indian audience. Many Desi musicians have understood this limitation and have adapted to fusion music, which would be the perfect solution to sell music both nationally and internationally.

And here comes United Desis, a Rap/Hip-Hop band that sings in both Punjabi, Hindi and English. Their music has a strong Bhangra influence too. The band consists of 3 people – Nipun P Deashpande, Amit S Modak and Rabbit Sack C where RSC is also the producer of the album. Their debut album Desi Game is released through BIG Music and has 15 songs in total. I think this is the first Indian Rap/Hip-Hop album that has come of age.

Out of 15 songs, I like 10 songs of this album. I think they could have done without those 5 songs which were not up to the mark and those 5 songs sounded so amateurish in this otherwise good album.

My favorite picks from this album:

1. Sohniye
2. One Vision
3. Ganda Bachcha
4. Your Eyes – Feat Kacy
5. B.D.
6. Bumpin In Da Club
7. This is How We
8. Lemme Be The One
9. Shake Shake Shake
10. Rap n Hip Hop – Outro

Desi Game is an album worth checking out if you like Rap/Hip-Hop/Bhangra Fusion music. This album will not dissapoint you as this is so far the best desi album in this genre. So grab your copies, visit the website of United Desis here and also check out one of their videos given below.

A Peaceful Bandh by VHP in Orissa

Home Secretary Tarunkanti Mishra told media persons that he had been information about the two casualties. Mishra said the bandh called by the Sangh Parivar was ‘total and by and large peaceful‘. [Via]

And this is what happened in that total and by large peaceful Bandh:

• A woman was burned to death inside a church
• Over a dozen churches were torched
• Police outposts attacked
• Fourty houses were set ablaze
• 15 vehicles damaged

All of this during a 12 hour Bandh called on Monday in Orissa by the saffron brigade (VHP, supported by BJP) in protest against the killing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Laxmanananda Saraswati.

And who killed him? The Maoist rebels a.k.a Naxalites.

Then why burn Christians and their institutions? It is the Hindutva rule, silly! You are not supposed to make any sense under their rule. And not only that, the Swami Lakhananda Swaraswati, who was killed by Maoists, had himself called for such an action back in January itself so what better way is left for his followers to pay tribute to him?

“You are just burning tyres. How many Isai (Christian) houses and churches have you burnt? Without kranti (revolution) there can be no shanti (peace). Narendra Modi has done kranti in Gujarat, the reason why shanti’s there.”

Lakhanananda Saraswati, 82-year-old Sangh leader inciting his followers on his cell phone on December 25, from a medical centre in Daringbadi, Kandhamal district, in the presence of police and journalists. [Next stop Orissa - Tehelka]

(Image courtesy: sikhlionz.com)

Hindu Mohan Lal and Muslim Mammootty

Mohan Lal and Mammootty are two iconic stars and even better actors of the Malayalam movie industry. Both of them have been staying in the industry for more than 30 years and the whole movie industry in Kerala revolves around them. But off late it has become very intolerable to see them dancing around with the girls of their daughters’ age and churn out the same kind of characters which they have been playing for ages. That doesn’t affect anything (except the producer’s money at times) because they have a huge fan following in Kerala.

Malayalee usually makes fun of Tamilians for their blind star-worshiping and there are a number of stories about the Tamilian’s love for their favorite stars. But in the recent years, the fans of Mammootty and Mohan Lal have become no different than their counter parts in Tamil Nadu or any other state in India. When a Mohan Lal movie releases, Mammootty fans would go to the theaters and make a mess and then Mohan Lal fans association members would handle the situation and it mostly ends up in a clash between the fans. Vice-versa happens when a Mammootty film gets released as well.

Mammootty’s strongest fan base is in north Kerala where Muslims are a majority and Mohan Lal’s is at Trivandrum, which is his hometown and the ‘Nair lobby‘, as accused by actor Thilakan (Nair is an upper-caste sect), is very strong. These days the whole fan business is going on in the religious fundamentalist way. This has not become a state-wide phenomenon but I think we should notice such a change at its early stage.

A friend of mine who lives in a small village of Trivandrum gave me an example. He said the NDF members (NDF is a Muslim extremist organization in Kerala which is said to have ex-SIMI members) formed a fan club of Mammootty with Muslim youth. They erected a cut-out of Mammootty in a junction. Then came the local RSS members erected a cut-out of Mohan Lal with showing him wearing a saffron mundu, just next to the other one. It has almost lead to a clash too. There are other such small fan-wars going on in that area as well.

The danger of this whole thing is that when two hugely popular movie stars being celebrated as religious icons, it can take dangerous dimensions. NDF and RSS might be trying to cash in on youngsters in the name of celebrities, but there are a few things that might have made their job easier. Mohan Lal’s comment on minority religions of India, for example. I am not saying this is only reason that made extremists to cash in on the youth, but this is one example of what can happen when the popular celebrities pass on irresponsible comment on sensitive issues.

I hope they realize this and do not endorse such groups in the name of fan associations. But when they are growing old and younger ones are competing around, what choice do they have other than playing such cheap games?

(Image courtesy: Sify Movies)

Online file storage from Microsoft

I just found out from a colleague that there is an online file storage and sharing service from Microsoft called Windows Live SkyDrive. They offer 5 GB of web space with options to create folders and sub folders and share your files. I have been using the service of 4shared (which offers 4 GB space already), but it is good to see such a service from Microsoft. However I think Microsoft is always a rabbit in the race of such online services compared to the other players in the area like Google or even some start-ups. I am wondering how can they afford to be so, in this age of changing technologies on a day-to-day basis.

(Image courtesy: Windows Live SkyDrive)

May Maasame (cover)

It has been more than 3 weeks now since I have sung or posted any song. Weekdays are busy and the weekends are made for sleeping and taking care of the things back at home, so not getting much time to put into music. But I can promise that something is cooking and hope to bring it out by the year end.

Here is a song for the time being, an unplugged version of a Malayalam song, from the recently released movie My Mother’s Laptop.

Song: May Maasame
Movie: My Mother’s Laptop
Music: Sreevalsan J Menon
Original singer: Amal
Cover by: Jo

May Maasame at Muziboo.com

Download MP3 here (3.10 MB)

Vote for Mike

My friend Mike has put together a funny video for a contest in which he is participating. When everybody made serious videos about Shadow Boxing, Mike took it lightly and made this hilarious video! Watch it and if you like vote for him in this page. You will see his name as Mike VanSteenkiste (on the left hand side of the page) and just check the box next to his name and scroll down and click vote now. Your votes will help him win a trip to Hawaii.

Find more videos like this on BJPENN.COM

Aftermath of the textbook controversy

So the 7th standard textbook controversy in Kerala seems to have come to an end. The Communist government has agreed to change the contents of the controversial 7th standard social science chapter. The Congress and Muslim League also seems to have mellowed down their tones against the textbook, after an innocent school teacher lost his life during a protest by Muslim Youth League in a cluster training session. But Arch Bishops are still not cooled down as they would be losing a chance to bring down the Communist government, after the call for second liberation struggle had failed (they do not see that the Communists are already bringing themselves down from the power).

So what do we have after all said and done, after all “for” and “against” textbook speeches? We have the ordinary children going to the state-sponsored educational labs called “state-syllabus schools”. The rich and the elite can afford to give good education to their children at ICSE and CBSE schools while the ordinary people have to resort to state-syllabus schools. What most of us do not see is the plight of these children. Be it DPEP, or such controversial textbooks and such controversial educational reforms, it is these children who have to suffer. And what does await them when they complete their higher secondary education and go to college? They have to compete with the children who comes from the elite CBSE and ICSE schools who are better educated and who speak better English. Many of the kids who come from state-syllabus schools begin to feel inferior at this point and for many, it affects their studies.

Many of us Keralites are not bothered about this poor situation that exists in our state-syllabus schools even if we have studied in such schools. Because those among us who have fought with the environmental challenges in such schools and have succeeded to overcome it’s limitations, send our children to CBSE or ICSE schools for better education. So the matter again concerns the lowest strate of the society and thus go un-noticed.

(Image courtesy: Campusaccess.com)

Life without a cell phone

I never thought that life without a cell phone could be so out-of-the-world. My cell phone had water damage after the team outing to Estuary Islands at Poovar. I gave it in the service center to repair and even after a week, they don’t have a clue of how to fix it. Then I borrowed my sister’s cell phone and when the power drained out, it stopped working and my cell phone charger would not work with it. What a wonderful week! As a result I missed attending Blogcamp Kerala, an event that I was so excitedly waiting for, due to the lack of proper communication.

But I am to be blamed for this mess partly. I did not sync my phone with PC and lost all the contacts. I could have kept a phone book handy, and I was planning to do the same a couple of weeks back, but did not do it. Another thing is that I could not get online on the weekend as usually I rely on the mobile GPRS connectivity when I am at home on weekends. This affected checking emails and replying to them. And third, I got my friends worried as they could not get in touch when I was supposed to communicate with them. Some of them came home and others were about to come [good thing about this is that it is nice to know that there are friends who care ].

So finally I went ahead and bought a new smart phone – Sony Ericsson P1i. It has loads of features which I am yet to learn and master but it looks like a good solution for all my needs.

(Image courtesy: Unwiredview.com)