Desktop Search , Forget whats in your Computer !

The desktop software giants Microsoft,Yahoo and Google are locking their horns frequently these days to get a major pie in the market.Be it Email,Search,Groups,Blogs,Sky search,Auctions they are competing heavily to develop more effective,more beautiful products.Recently the war extended to Desktop Search"

Logic goes like this:As soon as you install the Desktop Seacrh application ,it will prepare an index for the all the files located in your computer when your system is idle.The Desktop Search application will be running in background continuously looking for new files to index.Then how is it different from conventional "Windows+F" search. Conventional search goes through all the files each time you search(fewer indices) . Desktop Search apps will use the created index at the time of your search.

I have been using both Yahoo and Google DS apps for more than 2 months.I found Yahoo DS is better over the three in many aspects:
1)YDS lets you do more confined/Specific search like (Images/Emails/Outlook/PDFs/Music etc) which GDS doesnt.
2)The preview on the right pane lets you peer in to the file without opening it(Others doesnt)(Really Good).
3)The main difference I found is suppose you had a file"ABC.html" ,but now you don't.GDS still displays it.YDS lets you delete the entry from the index(Obvously Cool feature).

Tips:
1)Do not enable indexing on your Outlook/IM/Emails , that spoils your privacy.
2)Disable splash in YDS : For Quick launching.

One greatest threat I found from these is "Index".For the entire computer,an index will be generated and kept in one location.If hackers manage to get the index,thats it.Some sort of encryption needs to be done to prevent such a misdeed.If they manages to do this,desktop search will really become joyfull,because we need not remember any thing.

I havent done much research on one by Microsoft,but heard like Microsoft Vista is going to come with this desktop search tool.
TestTry them.My vote is for YDS.

Dowloads

• Yahoo Desktop Search
• Google Desktop Search
• GDS comes with some plugins developed by thrid partypeople.
• Windows Desktop search.
  

Boosting India Post

The advent of telephone,Email,Private courier services side marked the erstwhile mass communication channel 'Post'.Huge employee count(6 lakh) ,raising salaries,raising maintenance costs,stiff competition from new entrants threatened the very existence of the post wagon of new services being launched year after year ,lack of proper publicity,seriousness in services further added fuel.
Thanks to Dayanidhi Maran,Union minister of Communication and his Team for the taking timely step in revitalising India post the conference of chief post Masters General held on July 18 at Hotel Park Sheraton,Chennai ,he ushered the future post.
New initiatives on Card:

• Going to establish 1 lakh service centers all over the country providing services like issuing Birth ,Death certificates,value added services like Browsing,Checking examination results etc., Each centre will look after 6 villages.(6 lakh villages in India)
• Direct Post, a service that helps entrepreneurs reach out a large customer base. Explaining the service ,suppose,Rasna is planning to release new flavour of juice powder.To distribute sachets it takes help of some leading magazines or news papers for distribution.Based on the circulation the newspaper/magazine has it will charge certain amount for each sachets.With the 'Direct post' service ,they can distribute sachets more cheaply all over country.This service in confined to India.On similar lines it distributes several un-addressed goodies like Floppies,CDs,pamphlets,samples etc., For more details ping here
  
• Mail collection by postmen countrywide ,in addition to delivering letters.
• Stamp pouches to be sold by postmen in denominations of 100Rs+.(Main draw back with the existing system was to buy stamps one need to go to post offices,or else outside vendors charge 25Ps or 50 Ps extra.This is the main reason behind fall in the usage of letters)
  
• Postal Bank : Postal department is planning to install ATMs at post offices and tieup with otherbanks to allow its 16 crore account holders do transactions.

Today E-mail has penetrated so much that written form of communication has just remained as a communication channel among people of generation gaps like , me and my grand mother or you and your grand father.But the accepted fact is "The feel we get in reading/writing letters is irreplaceable" .If govt takes enough measures in providing good services,surely the customer base will raise.Hope this wil happen.
For more details ping the official site of india post here.

Microsoft Re-christens its latest baby:Windows Vista.

CodeName ---> Market Name:
After 5 long years of major launch ,Microsoft is all set to launch its much publisized LongHorn in Aug 2006.In that direction it came out with the naming ceremony on 22 nd this month re-christening LongHorn “Windows Vista” with tagline "Clear, Confident, Connected; Bringing clarity to your world".

Vista:
A quick look at the meaning of the word form Answers.com says :
n. 1. a. A distant view or prospect, especially one seen through an opening, as between rows of buildings or trees.
b. An avenue or other passage affording such a view.
2. An awareness of a range of time, events, or subjects; a broad mental view: “the deep and sweeping vistas these pioneering critics opened up” (Arthur C. Danto).

The stress is on “Distant View”.Microsoft is promising with its new OS cutomer can focus only on what he want want and nothing else.

LSB1(Longhorn Server Beta1) :Beta 1 is not for general users:
The first beta version of the software is heading towards IT professionals and developers on August 3.
. Some new features in the OS include security improvements, new graphics, and a new means of searching and organizing information. The use of virtual folders will prevent users from having to remember the single folder where something is stored.
.The "look and feel" will come in the second beta(LSB2).
.Vista has been designed with security as "part of the design, not a bolt-on".
The purpose of the first beta, according to Microsoft, is to give developers the ability to begin developing drivers and apps for the new OS.

The final product will be released in the August 2006, which will be preceded by at least one release candidate (RC) and a second beta, which is rumored to become available sometime in November of this year.
Links more info:
1.windowsvista
2.Video of Naming Ceremony
3.The Name "Vista" Gives Microsoft Headaches
4.Windows Vista Beta 1 Is Already Available on internet

Top

Dont waste

A young infant suffering from severe malnutrition is treated at the Medecins Sans Frontieres center in Maradi, Niger. After months of desperate appeals, emergency food aid for Niger began arriving from Western countries.
We are very lucky to be in a nation, atleast to fold our fingers in to mouth 3 times a day.Right........
So Waste not food anymore.

Pay cheques of IT industry Big Heads

Wipro
Azim Premzi Chairman 2.26 Crore
Vivek Paul Ex-Vice Chaiman 7.21 Crore
HCL
Shiv Nadar Chariman Doesnt draw Salary
S.Raman ex-COO & President 1.20 Crore
TCS
Ramadorai CEO & MD 1.25 Crore
Satyam
B.Ramalinga Raju Chairman 50.05 Lakhs
B.Rama Raju MD & CEO 40.22 Lakhs
Infosys
R.Narayana Murthy Chairman & Chief Mentor 31.73 Lakhs
Nandan Nilekani President & MD 31.58 Lakhs

PDF

The file format in Adobe's Acrobat document exchange technology. Acrobat/PDF has become the de facto standard for document exchange as well as for publishing documents on the Web that are downloaded and read independently of the HTML pages. Millions of brochures, data sheets, white papers and technical manuals are on the Web in PDF format.

Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format developed by Adobe Systems for representing documents in a manner that is independent of the original application software, hardware, and operating system used to create those documents. A PDF file can describe documents containing any combination of text, graphics, and images in a device independent and resolution independent format. These documents can be one page or thousands of pages, very simple or extremely complex with a rich use of fonts, graphics, colour, and images. PDF is an open standard, and anyone may write applications that can read or write PDFs royalty-free.
Technology
PDF is primarily the combination of three technologies:
a cut-down form of PostScript for generating the layout and graphics,
a font-embedding/replacement system to allow fonts to travel with the documents, and
a structured storage system to bundle these elements into a single file, with data compression where appropriate.
History
When PDF first came out, in the early 1990s, it was slow to catch on. At the time, not only did the only PDF creation tools of the time (Acrobat) cost money, but so did the software to view and print PDF files. Additionally, there were competing formats such as Envoy, Common Ground Digital Paper, DjVu and even Adobe's own PostScript file format (.ps). Adobe started distributing the Acrobat Reader program at no cost, and continued to support PDF through its slow multi-year ramp-up. Competing formats eventually died out, and PDF became a well-accepted standard.
In 2005 Microsoft presented a competing format referenced by the code name "Metro". It is developed together with Global Graphics. Metro is based on XML, but requires a license. Metro is scheduled to be included in the next version of MS Windows with the codename "Longhorn".
PDF Converters
Keeping and sending files in PDF format has its own advantages like it cannot be modified, clarity etc.How about converting a file on your desktop to PDF format. There are many tools across web .Lets go through some of them. Adobe itself allows you to register in its site and convert a sample of 5 files. It lets you upload your file and the PDF file will be sent to your Email.
There are applications that run standalone and allow unlimited conversions yet Free of cost. One such one I found to be good is PrimoPDF.The instructions to convert the file is given clearly in the website. Test try it.
Online PDF Converter : http://convert.neevia.com/ PDF file will EMailed to your inbox.

Scholarship For Women

THE FAIR and Lovely Foundation has invited applications for the Project Saraswati Scholarships for women pursuing graduate and postgraduate studies but are financially constrained. Application forms can be downloaded from www.hll.com and www.fairandlovelyfoundation.com. The last date for receiving entries is July 31.
Under the project, scholarships of upto Rs. l lakh will be awarded to deserving women from across the country, for any graduate and postgraduate course within India.
The scholarships will be given on the basis of academic performance and a personal interview by a panel of judges. Application forms can be posted to Project Saraswati,
Fair & Lovely Foundation, P.O. Box No. 11281, Marine Lines Post Office, Mumbai-400 020.

• Download Form
• Press Release

For more scholarships ping:

• http://www.scholarshipsinindia.com/
• http://www.education.nic.in/
• http://www.britishcouncil.org/india-scholarships-cwit.htm

No-frills densifying the Indian Skies

It was day 5 of the 2005 Paris Airshow , Airbus executives were ecstatic ,reasin , IndiGo Airlines prompted by Delhi-based travel house InterGlobe placed a massive $6-billion order for 100 Airbus A320 aircrafts to be delivered in the next 5 years.
In the last 6 months private Indian airline companies have placed orders for 250 aircrafts + 93 by national carriers Air India snd Indian Airlines , representing more than 50 per cent of the total global orders placed with aircraft manufacturers Airbus and Boeing.The result ,India stealed the limelight in the Paris Airshow.
Root for no-frills-
Going down the calendar when Ramaswamy Iyengar Gopinath launched the first n0-frills airline AirDeccan in August 2003 with the tagline "Simplifly",everyone expected it will fade one day in the future.But Gopi(as he is called) proved critics wrong and today he created an industry entire world is looking for a slice in the Indian sky.
Gopi lists the following to be his success keys behind cost reduction:

• More seats: AirDeccan Airbus A320 can carry 180 passengers compared to 142 of indain Airlines and 145 ofJetAirways.That extra seats accounting 23% are reserved for sale at 500Rs(plus Tax).Some more seats are sold just fpr 1Re(plus tax).Remaining 75% are sold at reduced price.
• Turn Around time:It is calculated based on the time a flight spends in air to the time spent on ground.AirDeccan flights spends 13 hours in air compared to 11.5 to 12 hours by other domestic players.Fewer time on ground means lesser parking charge. Air deccan doesnt provide cargo shipping means no wastage of time in loading and unloading on ground.
• The free online reservation system,with very selected travel agents reduce the intermediate costs ,that account close to 25% of ticket cost.
• Further AirDeccan doesnt provide free meals,headsets ot magazines......No frills.
• It employes only 4 member onboard crew compared to 8 by other players.Further it recruits part time employees in smaller places like Vijayawada,mangalore etc rather than full time by others.
• Additionally Air Deccan lets companies paint their logos on its aircraft for a fee.Even the reverse side of checked-in baggage ticket is given to advertisers.

Finally Gopi's model has frutified ,successfully going to celebrate 2 years coming August.It carried 1.2 million passengers in the first one year.The success fruits of Gopi's model attracted many others,leading to launching of many low cost Airlines like KingFisher(Liquor Barron Vijay Mallya),spice Jet.Already 6 players competing in the Indian skies,half a dozen players like GOair(of Wadias),IndiGo(InterGlobe),Indus Airways ,AirOne,Magic Air and East West Airlines have got NOC and are in the process of purchasing/leasing aircrafts and fund raising process.Another 1/2 dozen expressed plans of launching low cost carriers.Even the international carrier AirIndia launced low cost carrier AirIndiaExpress to Gulf that significantly increased the traffic.

State governments too want to share the pie:

Most of the airlines are confined to big and medium cities, they cannot operate flights to smaller towns like ooty,Malabar,Khajuraho,varanasi etc.,Some of the state governments having huge tourist inflows want to exploit this base using the no-frills model.

The kerala government backed Kerala Airlines,Madhya Pradesh government' Khajuraho Airlines ,one by UP govt are in the process of undertaking a feasibility study to understand the costing ,possible revenue sources and cities to be connected.For this they do not want to depend on the central government.

What to the customer-

Well all these changes in the Indian sky really delighted the upper middle class Indian to whom travelling by flight was a distant dream.The low cost carriers succeded in grabbing the Ist class AC train passengers to their seats.One survey revealed many IT employees are making most of it by advance booking the low cast seats.The recent launch of Spice jet was a huge success whose 2 weeks seats were booked in advance to its launch.

Golden word: The customer will be the ultimate benefiter in the growing competition.So no worries all happies.

Government Angle:

Obviously the government is pretty much delighted with kind of competition in the Aviation sector.The prices of the Aviation Turbine Fuel has slashed by 8% in the interntional market bringing the cost to 29,500Rs per kilolitre.Govt is further promising in reduction of taxes.

The low cost Airlines complain of the infrastructure being provided in the airports are poor and needs to be improved.The parking cost on the low cost carriers should be subsidised keeping in view of the middle class people.Further the existing airports in Hyderabad ,Bangalore etc., should be given to low cost carriers at a reduced parking cost,when the new airports starts operating(As many countries have a separate Air ports for low cost carriers).

Also the low cost carriers need to be cautious of the safety measures taken before taking off.Although no major mishap happened so far ,but everyone is aware of the incident happened to the much publicised launch of Air Deccan in Vijayawada.

oooh..Any way thanks to Gopinath for bringing new colour to the Aviation field that increased the traveller base by 20 per cent last year.Hope every one of will fly one day.