Its my favorite browser. My only browser for that matter (yes, I sometimes do use Konqueror) and only use the more ubiquitous IE but only to go to Mozilla site and download the latest release of Firefox.
Its great to know that all of us have contributed to the magic number. 500,000,000. There’s hope to this world after all :-)
One more example of how the user and customer opinion and feedback was taken into account while developing the product. It sometimes becomes very difficult to choose between the two dictums Customer is always right and To thine own be true. Many a times people have to make those hard choices in order to keep a business running. So what if the product is slightly flawed … the customers wont complain, because they do not have any other obvious choice. Yes I am talking about you-know-who-who-bundles-their-browsers-with-their-operating-systems. Try uninstalling IE from WinXPSP2 and you will know what I am talking about.
Well, now they do. And they know about it!! Power to the people!!
Its 4pm today (read day-before-yesterday), when I have started doodling this blog post. Yes, I am one of those people who sometimes write their blog post on paper before they digitize it. This is being done in the throes or should I say meanders of a meeting. It had started 2 hours ago, and I am getting shudders remembering it. From the start, all of us knew that it was going to be a monster of a meeting.
Still, we managed to touch base upon pollination of flowers, onion and potato rates and how interesting the commodities market is becoming. We had assembled to finalize SAP process flows. We are a retail merchandising firm. I love meetings.
The ideal number of people in a meeting is 3-4, the moment it goes above that, you are asking for trouble. You will have atleast one person (like moi in this case) who will be doodling on a piece of paper.
Focus Prasad!! Focus!!!
Its 8pm now, and we have managed to cover some ground, but it looks pretty glum from my end. I decided to put together a small list that people like me can do when they end up in meetings such as these –
Think about the more recent interesting stuff you have read
Start a screensaver in your mind, I personally like the Hufo’s Smoke on a linux machine
Butt into the meeting with something that borders between sense and incoherence to make your presence felt
Try listening for a change and even add “value” to the meeting
Try playing your favorite tune in your head
Send stratified SMSes to your loved ones
Make lists such as these, preferably with a straight face
Think about new ways to customize your blog and your website
Order for coffee and biscuits
Move about the meeting as if people are calling you out for something important or the other
Drink enough coffee/water that you have to visit the water closet
The mountain giant picked up a boulder and heaved it towards me. My female orc wizard ducked and narrowly missed the hulk of rock. I decided to take my Wand of striking and kill both the giant and the killer bee buzzing behind him in a single strike. The giant absorbed the magic and moved on to pick up the boulder for another shot. I smote off the killer bee with a couple of blows with my trusted +4 magic staff and turned to face the giant. The goliath had managed to pick up the boulder, now was the time … I took out another wand of magic missile and let go its fury at him. No effect. I would have to kill this one by hand-to-hand. No matter. The staff was up for the challenge and my mithril coat was unharmed. A fast flurry of blows was exchanged the giant lay bested at my feet.
No, this is not a dream. Its one of my favorite games, NetHack!! This is a single player game released in around late 1980’s … the development of this game has been completely on the net … and its a hack and slash game … hence net + hack = nethack :-)
Everytime I play the game, theres something new that happens. The maps are different, the characters are many to play with … and the game decides to behave differently on a full moon day!!
Just one more example of how a product has developed in a decentralized fashion over an open interactive medium (IRC and Usenets) to result in a customer oriented product.
When I was a small kid, I used to absolutely love reading fairy tales. My grandfather had bought these two hardbound volumes from the seven seas yonder that were absolutely full of them. I never managed to completely read the books end to end, but I had pored over them a lot as a child.
Then came school, junior college, engineering, work, post-graduation, some more work and with all of them, the realities about life. Now I am a person who can safely say is well-grounded in reality. So much so that I have more or less stopped watching cartoons, even Tom & Jerry, which my father still loves and laughs out loud like a small child when watching the same.
Disney and this new movie, Enchanted brings out that mirthful child in all of us. I had an absolute rollicking time throughout this movie.
The plot is simple, a fairy tale couple (prince and princess, with their chipmunk friend) are thrown into reality by the wicked witch step-mother. The princess is hurtled into Earth and this guy who is your normal Joe, who also happens to be a divorce lawyer. As the plot thickens, by and by, reality also has its effect on the fairy tale world and I wont spoil it, please watch the movie :-)
After a long time have I seen an all out movie, the likes of Cinderella or Snow White, et al. A musical cartoon flick which turns into a romantic comedy movie. Very nicely done. I think I will try to get my hands on the digital version of this movie. Definitely an 8.0.
