இன்று காலை அலுவலகம் வரும் வழியில், நான் ரசித்த வாசகம் (கீழே பார்க்க), எழுதப்பட்டுருந்தது ஒரு “சுமை தாங்கி” ஆட்டோ பின்புறம்.

மருத்துவர் சான்று மனிதனுக்கு

புகை சான்று வாகனத்திற்கு

Most of the Internet Power users are aware of Internic's WhoIs service. Given a domain name (Say venkatarangan.com) WhoIs tells you details about the owner and name server details. But Internic's WhoIs is limited to gTLD (Global Top Level Domains like .COM, .NET, .ORG) and you are left on your own if you want to find details about ccTLD (Country Code TLDs) like .co.in or .co.uk.

This has changed now with the launch of the Universal WhoIs service that works not only with gTLDs but also with 246 ccTLD. Check it out, by giving say vishwak.co.in.

First it was Google Search, then Gmail with 1GB of Storage. Now it seems to be Microsoft's turn at the table.

Early this month, MSN launched the new look MSN Search, this version sports new sleek look. What I found more interesting was Technical Preview of MSN's new Algorithm Search Engine. Currently MSN Search uses third-party Search Engine, but with this new version, believed to be launched by end of this year, it will be completely on MS Technologies. This will take Google heads-on. Meanwhile, I am enjoying in having a choice of two very powerful searches to help me in navigating through the Wild World Wide Web (WWWW).

Yesterday my Hotmail Extra Storage, the Paid version of Hotmail, where I pay $19.95 per year was upgraded automatically to Hotmail Plus at no extra cost. Plus gives me 2GB (wait few minutes here and count the number of Zeros in this), 20MB of Attachment in one email, no Graphics Ads (Thanks Microsoft for listening to us) and more.

While on this subject, remember to get a Sneak Peak at other MSN's Work in Progress here at MSN Sandbox. You can get a free download of LookOut - Fast Outlook Search Software and Three Degrees - A family get-together software.

Being in a City, where the temperature throughout the year is “Hot”, I have always opted for Light Coloured Cars. My reasoning was simple. If you have a dark coloured car parked under the sun for long and then when you get into it, it is going to feel like sitting inside a toaster. Whereas a light car will reflect most of the sun light and you will relatively feel better.

Now my choice is being proved right by a study conducted by an Australian Auto Insurance firm. The study has categorized (in the order) light colours like Yellow, Beige, White & Silver to be safe and dark colours  Red, Blue, Green, Black and even Gold as not so safe.

“Strange” are the illnesses that affect Humans. What else can you call an illness where our own Immune System, that is designed to protect us from foreign bodies starts attacking our own Nervous system. Even strange is that, scientists don't have a clue on what causes this deadly disease or why it occurs or how to cure it effectively. So deadly is the disorder that one site on the Internet calls this disease as "From Healthy to Helpless"

In the last two weeks alone, I heard about this serious illness “Guillain-Barrè Syndrome” affecting relatives of two of my colleagues in office. One of them had her Sister-In-Law in her middle age affected by this and for the other it was his sister barely in her teens getting affected. I pray for the speedy recovery of both of them!

While trying to educate me on this disorder, I came across several numerous voluntary organizations' websites around the world about GBS; I even found a special GBS Support Group based in UK that aims support not only patients but also their families and friends in a number of ways.

While Internet search definitely helps us to be more informed about these illnesses, the numerous websites also raises serious questions.

• How credible are these sites?
• As general public, do we face any danger because of this wealth of information?
• Should all information about an illness be made available to general public - meaning can some information known outside the medical community, can it pose threat to society's overall health and well being?
• At times, faith and trust on your doctor does have tremondous healing power. Does all this, make us doubt our doctor and affect his treatment?
• Sometimes, hiding the actual health condition to a patient, who is critically ill by his friends and relatives may help to ease his pain and anxiety. Does all this information, affect this as well?

Post your thoughts about this in the comments section below.

Last week India Budget 2004 was presented by Hon'ble Finance Minister P.Chidambaram in the parliament. The budget had promised to improve the reach of Education, making education compulsory for atleast 8 years for every child and guarantees 100 days of minimum employment for one person in every family. Though it is unclear how the government is going to ensure these to happen, the focus on these two important items is laudable. It has announced VAT will finally be implemented from 1^st of April 2005, this will pave way to avoid double taxation in many areas. A huge investment announcement for a Desalination plant in Chennai for solving the metropolis water problem is also a welcome move.

Last year, the central government has made record collections in Service Tax, riding on that the budget has increased the tax from 8% to 10%. Though the planned expenses on that by government for education is good, the increase is going to hurt small and medium size service providers. Apart from this, I would have loved to see a mention in the budget for Vajpayees' favourite Golden Quadrilateral road project, which will link all the metropolis in the country and save country tons of foreign exchange in Oil savings.

Impact of Union Budgets' in India
Though in India, Union Government Taxes control majority of prices and peoples life, the impact of a budget has been reducing. The reason being in the last few years, the Income Tax has been more or less left unchanged at 30%, Oil prices has been decentralized and not controlled by Govt., but my major Oil companies and most of the indirect taxes have been coming down. These have been possible because of liberalization and globalization which has brought in a stability in tax rates.

You can view the webcast of the budget speech and the complete budget of 2004 and previous years, in the India Budget site.

The search engine war seems to be hotting up. First it was Yahoo coming out with its own search engine, independent of Google. This month, MSN Search has been upgraded with brand new interface and simpler results, this currently is based on Inktomi. Meanwhile, Microsoft is working on building its own search back-end that promises improved search relevance and accruracy.

Recently two new search engines have been launced. First is A9.com from Amazon and other is Ujiko which allows you to personalize the search experience. Try them out.

Current PC Mag issue online has an interesting article and interview that talks about “Why Windows is the target of most attacks, what is the reason behind it?”. Most article's on this subject takes a blind standpoint that supports Linux and Mac as more secure without looking into the subject in depth. But this article presents both the views. It even brings out the fact that Windows had lesser number of flaws in last year compared with Linux Distros and Microsoft is prompt with fixes once problems are identified. It also highlights the strides Microsoft has made in Windows Updates and in the upcoming Service Pack 2.

For every organization with IT Projects, a good source control system is essential. The actual product to be used depends highly on the team size and to some extent on the project type (Windows/Web/Mobile).

For teams working with Visual Studio, the source control was generally Microsoft Visual SourceSafe (VSS). There are many alternatives to VSS like CVS (from the Unix and Open Source world) and Sourcevault (based on SQL Server backend). But many teams, especially SME preferred it as it came along with Visual Studio and was tightly integrated with it. Though VSS fulfilled basic source control (check-in, check-out), the product was aging and was crying for an urgent update with the release of .NET.

Finally Microsoft seem to woken upto this fact and have launched a solid road-map to VSS in may here. The basic idea of MS plan is to have two products, one aimed at Small/Medium teams and other for enterprises. VSS 2005 (Sequel to existing VSS with HTTP/HTTPS, Unicode, XML and 4GB DB Size) is the SME product and Visual Studio Team Foundation will be the Enterprise product (with Sharepoint Support and other Enterprise SDLC support). 

Today was a sad day for all of us in the house of “LIFCO”. Our beloved V.V.Mama (Brahmasri Kureru V.Venkatesa Ayyar, affectionately “Mama” for us) left all of us and attained the lotus feet of Lord Sri Lakshmi Hayagreeva. Mama passed away yesterday at 8:20PM in his bedroom, after suffering for last 1 week, with the last 48 hours unconscious. On Saturday he had stopped breathing for few minutes and was revived by the help of a near-by doctor; it happened once again, but on that last moment it didn’t work.

V.V.Mama (88 Years) has been part of LIFCO (Estd.1929) for over last 60 years. During these 60 years, he had performed various roles as a clerk, accountant, manager, administrative officer and always an advisor. He was well versed in 4 languages – Telugu (his mother tongue), Tamil, Sanskrit and English; amazingly he was equally fluent in all of them. He had edited/written several of the titles in LIFCO, his hardwork being eminent in LIFCO’s various Dictionaries. Apart from Administration & Accounts, V.V.Mama was experienced in Astrology, Brahmin Traditions, Traditional Medicine and Typing. He was a Musician as well – a Mridhangam player, he has also conducted various religious discourses and bhajans. 

For all of us, the younger generation at LIFCO, he was our “Grand Father”.

May his soul rest in peace!

In my earlier post “Indian Stock Market - Both Sides”, I had written about how Indian companies are venturing into Sri Lanka and doing well. This seems to be picking pace now.

One of the good examples is in Dairy. Last time I visited Sri Lanka and happen to buy Milk/Yoghurt, I was surprised to see only Nestle (from Europe) and New Zealand Dairy products. India with its huge Dairy capacity and proximity to Sri Lanka doesn't have any of its dairy products in Sri Lankan stores. All this is going to change, with Indian Dairy Giant Mr.Kurian's Amul setting up soon its operations in Sri Lanka. Initially they will source the products from India, but sooner Amul is planning to setup a complete Co-operative chain in the models of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (GCMMF) and transfer control to Sri Lankans.

On the other side, Sri Lankans are also expanding to India. One example, is Sri Lanka's famous Maliban Biscuits coming into India in a big way. Another example is seen in Chennai's biggest Mall (Spencer Plaza), in the new 3rd phase, Sri Lanka Export Development Board has setup “Sri Lanka Trade Centre - Chennai” with several participating Sri Lankan's speciality stores including Confectionaries, Flowers, Toys, FootWear and more.

All these are still tip of the iceberg, I am sure in the next few years there is going to be a windfall in the bilateral trade between the two countries.

Couple of months back, I had travelled to Mumbai (from Chennai) by Jet Airways. Generally the in-flight comfort and service in Jet has been good.

In this trip, the in-flight experience was bad with the cabin temperature very hot, Air Conditioner mal-functioning. Even in World-leading airlines like in British Airways sometimes the Air Conditioners don't work when the flight is in Tarmac, but works when on sky. But in this trip, throughout the flight the Air conditioner was not working correctly, it was unbearable inside.

When I landed in Mumbai I had also landed up with a bad headache; Inspite of that I approached Jet customer counter, waited for their complaints form to come (they didn't have one in that counter!), completed it and gave it to the assistant in the counter. I never expected them to write to me about this, or for that matter even read it. But to my surprise, within few weeks, I received an email from Jet Customer Care. In the email they apologised for the inconvenience and their deficiency in service. On top, they awarded me “500” Jet Privilege points in their Frequent Flier programme.

For people in service industry this brings in an interesting point to thing about. While offering a consumer service, it is very important to plan, have backups and do everything possible to deliver consistent quality to customers. Even with all the precautions, at times there may be slips. When the inevitable slip happens, it is very important to first identify it, then accept it and explain it to customer. Above all, without delay compensate for the loss to the customer.