2012 Wallpaper

Another year hatches.

Moving out of Windows 7

An atom, is an atom. Extremely small, and useless, when by itself. Netbooks are powered by this weak intel processor: Atom.

We have, what is, a complete OS, the Windows7. Its great, and its slow. Terribly slow, if you use it regularly, especially, for hard-core work like Photoshop, AutoCAD, Office, and web videos.

If editing documents, designing arts or manipulating photos, is what your main work is. Windows7 is the place to be. However, for the more casual browsing on computer, like going through your social network, a few YouTube streams, or some new/favourite music is the thing you do with this machine, then,

• Get a life
• Get a new OS

 

A. Get a life

Start doing something. Your life is empty. You aren't working on any 'real' project? Write down things that you know. Write down things that you learnt from experience. Write down your memories. Type them. Type your work. Publish it as a proper document, as a professional looking pdf.

Work with photos. You just have to keep a lens around with you: at conferences, on trips, and even on those normal looking days. A picture's worth a thousand word. You know that. Seeing is believing. You understand. So take those photos. Go through them on your computer (I use Picasa); edit them. Remove the noise. And finally, publish. Online, if you may, so we shall all see.

And don't get me started on the importance of computation. Here's an engineer talking. Use Excel. Period.

B. Get a new OS

You have a life. You work on your 'projects', but on those odd moments of the day, you turn-on that netbook, for some fun, but what you end up getting is pain. Especially, pain in your knees and shoulders. You are waiting a long wait. A series of waits! Waiting for Windows7 to start. Then for Google Chrome to launch. Then, the website. And finally, Chrome hangs. Ctrl+Alt+Del. "Please wait. Windows is restarting", is the reassuring message.

"There goes my 'fun' time", you cry.

Get a new OS. Move(ing) out of windows, so the title goes. People often comprehend this as "get a new computer, or better still, a shiny new tablet". A few days back, even I thought on these lines.

I was snailing my way on Windows 7, and thinking, "Heck, there must be some way out of here." Just a little look around, and voila! I first found Chromium OS (Google), then, MeeGo, from Intel, and finally, JoliCloud.

Three operating systems. Ready to be tried. Yummy. I learnt, that all of them were built up using the (free) Linux system.

Disclaimer: Linux signifies speed, and ugliness, in usually 1GB of an Operating system.

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First: Chrome OS (the Google OS)

Chrome had to be fast. The concept behind chrome OS, dubbed Chromium, is this: a web browser, which starts real fast, and has web apps. So you are either online and using Chrome OS, or offline, and looking at a dumb browser, that can to do pretty much, nothing!

This is a serious flaw. There are times, and there are places, where you won't be connected to the internet. For all those situations, you would prefer good 'ol Windows (Seven).

Once installed, Chrome starts up in 30 seconds. That's pretty fast if you have arrived from the Microsoft system, where anything around 2 minutes wait is quick, while three to four minutes is the normal time we expect windows to be up and running.

So imagine, I want to just look up a Geology term on the internet. Or, I simply want to check my Facebook wall, and a few other websites, I follow regularly. In that situation, Chrome OS, would prove really handy. Cool!

Okay. Come back to reality. Chrome OS, once installed, loads fast. But here's the missing feature: speed. Its so unlike Chrome, which we have known for its sleekness, and agility. It stutters. Its like King George VI (the King's speech), without the speech therapy, of course.

I, I (huh) ...

Maybe, the problem lied on my side. Chromium is meant to be a built-in OS, and not an install-anywhere OS. In that case, Chromium's prospect look even worse. Imagine a computer, that has just one software; and that, a browser.

You are now that pitiful patient, reliant on the ventilator. The pitiful user, reliant on the internet. Dependent on constant connection.

Disconnected, and lost.

The ChromeOS is a suffocating place. So, lets get out of this hole.

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Second: Meego (the intel OS)

Disillusioned by the stuttering Chromium, I started with Meego, with very little hope. I was in for a surprise; in fact, two surprises.

The first surprise

On first impression, Meego wins over you. The design is slick. Especially if you are one of those tablet design fans (ipad, etc).

Meego was slippery fast. Really fast. (I had to say that twice. Because that's how much its speed amazed me). It looked like a present from the skies: Music, simple system controls, built in Chrome browser, and email application. There were tons of other goodies as well.

But.. .

 

The second surprise

I was waiting for the catch, and here it was: meego did not remember my settings. Every restart meant that I started afresh: giving my wifi password, logging into mail, etc, etc. Not a single byte of my settings and preferences, were saved.

So, what was the deal instead: I had to install Meego to my hard drive, and not a 'handy' usb stick to use Meego without losing my preferences. A lightning bolt struck me (from the skies, again!).

Next, came the Intel disclaimer: "You can install Meego only as your primary Operating system". This meant that I had to forget windows, or say good bye to Meego.

I loved Meego. But it was time to part ways. Me Go(es).

Being without Windows is not possible. Intel should have known that.

Note: I went through many websites and forums, which claimed that it was actually possible to install Meego and Windows7 side- by-side. But the procedure was unofficial, and difficult, and I am a busy man, with lots of projects to work on.

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Third: JoliCloud (the cloud OS)

Lets begin with some introduction first. The name: Joli (+Cloud), is a stupid name. Its an embarrassment to pronounce it in front of friends and family. "Hey, I am using Joli-cloud these days, instead of that slow Windows ..", and your friends look back at you with weird expression, with pity.

Next, the name has this Cloud with it. (Cloud refers to the use of internet space using high speed internet, as if it was your hard drive). What this means is: there are absolutely no apps. Whatever you get is a web site, which can, of course, thanks to Html5, behave like a complete application. Almost!

The installation of JoliCloud (oh I hate pronouncing that word, lets call it Jay Cee henceforth.), is refreshingly easy. After downloading the Jay Cee installation file, it was just a few clicks on Windows7, and deciding which drive to install the OS on, that I had a new operating system to play with. That's what the screen read.

(Note: JoliCloud intalls like just another software on your windows PC. So don't worry, the installation wont wipe the drive clean).

So I hit restart, and Jay Cee starts itself. 10 minutes of first time start up. Frankly, this is when, Jay Cee is actually beginning installation. What we did on Windows7 before the restart, was just the preparation for this installation.

Jay Cee lies in the same category as Chromium, and Meego. Its a Linux variation, and it starts up really quick. Mine starts in 25 seconds (and shuts down in three seconds flat)!

Once started. Jay Cee asked me to register for a JoliCloud account, or simply connect with Facebook. With the 'why bother attitude', I selected the connect with Facebook option. So I did not have to create a new account for a stupid sounding Operating system.

The fun began, when I learnt that Jay Cee had a few built in apps. That meant that I could work without the internet. They were: media player (VLC), photo editor (GIMP), and mail (thunderbird), and a pdf reader.

The interface was not as snappy as Meego's, but not as slow as Chromium; somewhere in between. That was fine for me.

A bundle of surprises awaited. First, I learnt that Jay Cee, is actually Chromium built into a Linux system. Confusion, confusion.

So, jay cee should have behaved exactly like Chromium did. No. It didn't. It was adequately fast. And this came as a surprise, since Chromium (see above), is just Chrome browser, while Jay Cee, is Chromium plus a little bit of Linux (ubuntu). It has an app store, with apps like Open office, etc.

Update: After a few days working on Jay Cee, I learnt that it could install all Linux apps. It supports the Debian format (.deb). So I was able to install: Google Earth, Picasa, Foxit PDF reader, plus my favourite other browsers: Opera, and Firefox.

Another surprise, was to learn that this built-in Chromium had no Flash. So much, as Html5 fans would call it dead, I realised that browsing without flash feels a tad empty. Think about being without youtube videos. Without educational, interactive, flash websites. Its when you don't have flash installed, that you realise its worth.

Again, there were solutions on the internet. Again, they were confusing, and difficult. I tried a few of the instructions to get Flash, but was in vain every time.

Update: A few days later, Jolicloud automatically updated itself, and this brought built-in Adobe Flash. Thank God.

 

End of story

I stopped. The testing of Operating systems stopped with Jay Cee (joliCloud). I have been using Jay Cee for browsing. Watching movies. And writing essays in a bare bones text editor. For all that, and a little more, its good.

Meego, had it been installed, would have been great. It was blazing fast, and its Chrome browser had flash built in.

Note: Once in a while, all three: Chromium, JoliCloud, and Meego; froze, and a restart was required. This showed, that all of them were in the process of development, and by no means, stable operating systems (when compared to Windows).

 

Further reading

• Netbook OS
• JoliCloud: Two steps back!

Surviving but not succeeding

There isn’t enough electricity. A lot of natural gas. Lots of money, with a select few. A lot of confusion, and uncertainty. Pakistan. Specially, Karachi, is one difficult place to live, to remain spirited and upbeat.

We have all the problems that any city in this country faces, plus, violence, and water shortage. There are the obvious thugs, guns and all. A lot of them.

Even more, we have those thugs which rob us out, in suits and ties. Educated thugs. They have got degrees to cheat us into lose-lose situations. Tuition centres, consultancies, hospitals.

Ethnicity. 

The city is clearly divided. Each town is divided. On the basis of race, status, and religious affinity. Army areas, posh areas, slum areas, Pathan areas, Mohajir areas, Christian areas, and the list keeps going. This city is an incorrectly placed jigsaw puzzle. Its not a pretty mosaic. Its a metropolitan of problems.

It keeps running. How?

Yet, there is one thing which keeps this city running. Its people. The are durable. A lot like the ‘cockroach’. It survives the atom bombs of violence, electricity shortage, and traffic jams. Daily. Without giving in. The Karachiite, just keeps going on. The city keeps living.

However, just like that durable cockroach, the Karachiite, does not have anything special in itself. Its only speciality is its art of survival. You will find that the people living in the city may be good, but they are seldom, amazing.

Partly, this is because they are so transfixed on their day to day affairs. There is a serious dearth of long term vision. The end goal every Karachiite seeks is a better life. The focus, is never on the more revolutionary mission: better city.

Yes, there have been moments of brilliance. We have had campaigns like I own Karachi, and radio stations, like Apna Karachi, which have tried to capture, and enhance the essence of the city. We may have the Kara Film festival, the Kucha-e-Saqafat (Culture street), but en masse, this is a dead metropolitan.

The citizens, have learnt to live with it. This is a dangerous situation. An acceptance for mediocrity, leads to imminent failure. The Karachiite, has to stand up.

The Karachiite has to stand up.

He has to ensure that its education system is dynamic. He has to ensure that the examination system is fair. He has to have a leader. Someone to lookup to, in times of happiness, and in times of anxiety. A leader who meets the spirit of Karachi.

Again, there was this flash of brilliance. The city looked beautiful, heading towards prosperity. The city had a mayor, whom everybody looked up to.

Again, this was temporary. This leader had to leave. The city left wanting. Again, the Karachiites, continuing to brave out the tyrannies of Karachi.

Brave it out. Over, and over, again.

Tuition overdose

Karachi. Lets get the facts straight. Around forty percent of the students at NED university give tuitions. That’s a big number. Almost all students in Karachi turn to tuitions after year 8 of their school. Hence, NEDians can earn as much as thirty thousand rupees every month.

I had once asked the position holder from our class, “Why do you give tuitions? And why do you charge for it? Education should be spread for free. It should not be used as a means to financial rewards.” His eyes sparkled, the way it used to sparkle when he used to literally drool over the thought of the opposite gender, and said, “We have some financial needs as well.”

Taking to tuitions

Students taking the tuitions say that they do not have good teachers at their schools. Their parents double agree.

So, is it a win-win situation. No. This may be a rude analogy, but kids coming out from the tuition process are like the artificial, domesticated chicken. They have got wings, but don’t know how to fly.

The education system is flawed. Our tutoring, constant tutoring, has made our kids dumb. They are painfully unoriginal. They are one hollow structure, full of disconnected equations, laws and quotations. The ultimate goal for this hollow being is that proverbial big house, luxury car, and a team of helpers. Whoever gets their, gets the crown.

The solution

For the time being, there isn’t any. The people of Karachi, (just being specific to a city), are not ready.They may walk the extra mile to get the most feature packed internet connection, the best Cable TV system. 99 TV stations, anyone?

Then, we make the extra investment. We build a house in a posh locality. Most Pakistani’s spend ninety percent of their income to build that dream home.

Finally, we unite. We unite to uphold the the Sanctity of Muhammad (SAW)’s name.

17 million people is a big crowd. Once they get going, it snowballs into a magnificent avalanche. Even the biggest of tyrants have to give in.

The problem is that we unite only on a select few issues. Most of the times, the issue at hand is more symbolic in nature, than rooted in reality.

The tutor

I asked Ali. “Why do (so many of ) my class fellows give tuitions?”. Ali gave an emotional reply: “Not everybody has wealthy parents. Therefore, some people have to start making money, even while studying.” And then, he fired the final bullet, “Not everybody has the luxury to go back home, and relax all day, sleeping.” He was pointing at me. (I can sleep 14hrs at a stretch.)

Now, to be of any financial help to the family, this poor kid will have to give four to five hours, daily, to get twenty to thirty thousand rupees home. You know what routine does that translate to:

• 8:00am  –  3:00pm: NED university
• 5:00pm – 10:00pm: Providing tuitions ($)

Its a disaster. When is this kid going to sit down, and have that idle chat with the whole family? What about his hobbies? When shall he spend some time having fun with his friends?

Bing!

This tutor has a bright idea. He has found a way out: Party hard at the university, and then work hard at the tuitions. This is a simple, yet realistic plan, since NED literally awards degrees to all the students. Students have to put in some effort to fail over here.

Four years later, we see him, smiling with the degree in his hands. Its a superficial engineer that has been generated. Irony, of ironies; the society needs him. He is low on principles, and that is what all our Project contractors and government agencies need.
Good. So not only did this guy earn a lot of bucks while still a student, he is now going to get even more; bucket loads of money, waiting!

The next stages are the same old: the big house, a pretty wife, some kids, and that dream car.

Any problem?

Absolutely. Disillusionment. The feeling of uselessness. This money making machine gets tired of piling up money over money.

Where's the fun?

The hunger for material success has turned us into sadists. We leap at every opportunity to get some fun, be that at the expense of someone's emotions or physical health.

So today, it is deemed a real entertainment, when two people fight. The fun increases exponentially, as the number of people involved in the fight increase. Ironically, our religion preaches peace, and its a sin to set two animals fighting.

They look deep into people's personal lives; in search of some odd news to be verified.

Fun. None?

The parents can be the solution. In this whole tuition farce, parents are the most to blame. They are the one’s who feed this tuition system. They assume that by giving their kids the best tutor available in the market, they have done their job of parenting.

Parents, especially those oh-so-busy and am-so-rich, should understand that the reason the tutor is teaching your (spoilt) kid is purely financial; he is not on an education crusade. The tutor loses nothing if the kid grows to be an idiot. The parents would have a lot to loose then. Maybe, then they shall try to solve the issue with some more tuitions. More expensive tuitions.

Parents have to understand the psyches of the tutors. They have to realise that their kid may be getting all the good grades; but only after a little bit of cheating, and a lot of rote learning.

Ali disagrees.

He says that with the help of his tutor, a student can learn in 20 minutes, what he would have otherwise grasped in 3 hours, studying on his own.

Ali, for you, this is the movie, 3 idiots. A three hour movie, for you, in just one minute:

• Friends: Raju + Farhan + Rancho
• Farhan: Photographer
• Rancho: Cool + Position holder
• Place: University
• Ending: Rancho= Scientist.

Just saved you two hours and fifty nine minutes.

 

Give me another chance