Wonderware ~ The Best Software Collection...

For those who are guessing what a wonderware is... its a term coined by myself just when I started to write this blog. It means the list of ultimate software that comes in use during the daily process of using our computer.

I'm one of those tech-junkies who frequently keep formatting their hard disks if they feel that the speed is not "good enough". It essentially means that the processor is doing its best, but the great Windows XP is too tired to leverage the speed of the processor.

So... here goes my list:

MS Office 2007:
This is one of the latest additions to my list of Wonderware. The revamped user interface is really attractive. It may not be very user friendly initially because Microsoft have gone out of the way to create a UI that will be very easy to use once you get used to it. Besides, MS Outlook looks better in this version!

Mozilla Firefox 2.0:
Those who use Firefox know why I love Firefox. It’s far better that IE any day. It’s a lot faster, it supports hundred of extensions, and it’s addictive. Its like the seductive mistress who compels you to leave your wife (IE) and you do it in spite of knowing that people in the society may think that u are a fool. J

Agent Ransack:
Never heard this name before? I’m sure you might not have. This tool is an awesome replacement for the Search that comes inbuilt with Windows XP. The XP Search is good only if you want to find the file with their file names. If you want to look for what is inside the file, Agent Ransack is the best.

All My Movies:
If you are a big movie buff and have a large collection of movies, this one is the best for managing it. It gets all the movie related details from IMDB, its DVD front/back cover from DVDEmpire.com and above all, it has a feature to generate HTML output which you can host in your website.

Azureus:
The best torrent downloading software available on the planet. There are innumerable number of torrent downloading software available. I have myself used around 8-9 different software, but Azureus, by far is better than any other software.

Download Accelerator Plus:
Want to download files quickly using multiple connections from the server… this is the best tool. It also has additional features like scheduled download, resuming paused downloads, etc. A very nice and handy tool.

Editplus 2:
You think of writing code in a text editor and Editplus should be the first choice. Its small, fast, neat, easily customizable, and feature rich. Its just too good to be ignored.

Google Talk:
The messenger that came in last into the messenger market, especially since MSN and Yahoo had captured the market. Yet the “Google” factor took this messenger to a new high. A good install if you have friends in GTalk.

IrfanView:
Don’t go by the name. Use this software once and you will never leave it again. I have been using it since the last 7 years, and I just love it. It’s a compact, super-high featured image viewer. Its far far far better than the image viewing tool that comes with XP. It also has loads of the other features of image editing too. It’s a “must-install” on every PC.

Macromedia Flash:
A developer’s dream tool. A designer’s dream tool. What else can I say! A wonderful software. Endless features. If you know Flash, it’s a MUST on your PC.

McAfee Antivirus:
I strongly recommend McAfee over Norton every time anyone asks me. I had used Norton some 4 years back. It screwed up my PC badly. And since then, I had pledged never to install it again. And time and again, I keep on getting bad feedbacks about Norton. McAfee rocks…. Norton sucks….!!!

Media Player Classic:
An excellent replacement for Windows Media Player. Since WMP7, Microsoft tried to do many different things and in the process lost the charm of Windows Media Player 4. Media Player Classic restores that lost magic.

MusicMatch Jukebox:
This software is supposed to be a competitor for Windows Media Player. But I don’t think it even competes! I use it for MP3 batch conversion at any required bit-rate.

Nero 7:
If you think of burning a CD, Nero is THE software. It has all the features required for CD/DVD writing and there is no other software that is even comparable with Nero.

PowerISO:
Now PowerISO is Nero’s competitor. But I use it only for ISO/bin-cue extraction. A very handy software for extraction purposes.

Real Player 10.5:
Since many radio/music sites play RM format audio, I had to install it. Otherwise I never use it. But it’s a must if you are interested in online music.

WinAmp 5:
This is my first love. The first day I used it, and ever since I have not stopped using it. It’s just that good. A simple and efficient music playing software. But I still loved WinAmp 2.95 more than WinAmp5.

Any suggestions are welcome...

War of Browsers

War of Browsers

Starring: Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0, Mozilla Firefox 2.0

The Story
Long long ago, there was a browser called Netscape Navigator. This browser ruled the world of computers. Suddenly the company that made Windows, the largest used operating system in the world, Microsoft Inc got up from sleep and made a browser of its own... called the Internet Explorer. The best thing about this browser was that it came pre-installed with the operating system. And for lazy people who did not know the "i" of installation, this was a dream come true.

The Rise of IE's Empire
Years passed by and the users of Internet Explorer were just increasing. The empire of IE was at the peak in 1999 with more than 96% of the users across the world used this magical browser. People enjoyed every bit of it. With the introduction of IE 5.0, the web-programming community was delighted. The reason - IE5 had support for so many new visual enhancements that can be brought in to the website, that it was just unbelievable. But as they say... every empire, irrespective of how powerful it is, has to eventually fall one day. And then from nowhere came in a dark horse that
was all set to capture the empire that IE had maintained for almost half of a decade.

The Fall of the Empire
The name of the dark horse was Firefox. The browser that was "simple, fast and secure". Although in the initial stages, the browser did not seem to be a real competition for the giant IE, but later it took on speed and today it has taken away almost 15-20% of IE's market.

The primary reason for the fall of IE's user base is its lack of innovation. What Microsoft forgot was that the only thing that is constant in the world is "change". Unless you offer new things to your users, they will move on to some other product. That's exactly what happened to IE. To add to their woes there were many great hackers/crackers who continuously found loopholes and flaws in the security system in IE.

The only thing that has kept IE still in the race is the laziness or ignorance of users. A large user base still does not know that there is a browser in the market that is better than IE. Or the other way round; they may know that there is something called as Firefox that has created a buzz... but maybe its not worth an installation!

The Current Scenario:
In October 2006, Microsoft released version 7 of IE after five long years. What was there in this new browser is just what was there in Firefox and Safari since the past two years... So essentially, there is nothing really innovative that Microsoft has done with this new release other than making an attempt to catch up with the competing browsers.

On the other hand, Firefox released version 2.0 of its browser. Firefox continuously tries to make new advancements to its browser by adding features that would make surfing safe and secure. Although IE also is not behind in this race, it is still always a couple of steps behind Firefox in implementation of these new features.

The Climax:
No one knows what is going to happen in the future. Will Firefox be able to grab the bigger part of market share? Will IE be able to grab back its empire that Firefox has taken away? How long, how quick, no one knows. But one thing is sure... with this war the benefit will be for us -- the consumers!

Navaratri Golu

South-Indians, the ones from Tamil Nadu and Kerala Tamilians celebrate Navaratri by what is known as "Navaratri Golu". During the nine days of Navaratri, a set of dolls (known as "bommai") is displayed on steps (known as "padi"). The number of steps are supposed to be in odd numbers - 3, 5, 7, 9 or 11.

One of the most important part of the display is the Kalasam. It is a brass pot with a coconut on mango leaves. This coconut is not changed throughout the nine days of the festival. The Kalasam is to be kept on the first step. A "kutti-valakku" (traditional lamp) is also lit near the Golu. Kolam (rangoli) is put in front of Kolu.

The dolls consist of various Gods and Godesses. The dolls may vary from house to house. But one doll that is considered mandatory is "Marapaachi". It is a pair of wooden dolls of a boy and girl. They indicate fertility.

Throughout the nine days of Navaratri, various kinds of prasads are made and offered to God. Ladies from the neighbourhood, relatives, and friends are invited to see the Golu. They are given kumkum, manjal (turmeric), comb, mirror, fruits, and some gift as per one's capacity.


Every night, aarti is taken of the dolls. The aarti is prepared by mixing kumkum and chunna (lime) with water. This solution is then thrown somewhere outside the house. It is considered as removal of "drishthi" (evil eye).

The nineth day is the day of Saraswati Pooja. On this day, all the books that are regularly used are kept in front of Devi Saraswati - The Goddess of Wisdom and Knowledge - and prayers are offered. On this day, kids are not supposed to study or read - one of those rare days when parents don't allow to children to study. Tools are also placed as a part of "Ayudha Pooja". Vehicles are also decorated and pooja is performed.

On the tenth day, the day of Dusshera also known as Vijayadashami, is considered as the most auspicious days of all. Its the day marking the end of evil, destruction of the bad, and the start of a new year. New ventures are started on this day. The books that were kept for Saraswati Pooja are taken and read out. Small kids are made to start writing on this day. This is usually done in temples like Mookambika Temple at Kollur and Guruvayur Temple at Guruvayur.

On the eve of Vijayadashami, one of the dolls are symbollically made to sleep by making the doll lie down. The kalasam is also moved a bit towards north to mark the end of Navaratri for that year. Prayers are offered to thank God for helping successfully complete this year's Navaratri and also pray to provide opportunity to keep Navaratri Golu for the next year.

Nokia N95

It seems Nokia is into seriously turning mobiles into high-tech gadgets that will have almost everything inside it. With N93, they have made a cell phone into a camcorder by giving DVD-quality video recording capability. Not surprisingly, they have carried forward that feature in N95. Design-wise, N95 is quite different from N9* series phones. This one has a slider instead of a flap, which makes its design more robust as other Nokia phones.

Nokia N95 runs on Series 60 3rd edition. It has a 5.0 Mega Pixel camera using the Carl Zeiss lens. The camera has other features like auto focus, built-in flash, and a mechanical shutter. Well, that makes it a complete digital camera, huh!!! That's not it! It also has facility for video conferencing. It uses a VGA camera for the same.

N95 comes with a 4 GB hard-disk. And it has a expandable memory slot. It uses the micro card for storage. That's quite some storage for a mobile phone.

It has a 352 x 412 pixel display with 16 million colors. It uses Bluetooth 2.0. It also has a MP3 and AAC playback facility. It supports triband.

The phone is expected to be released in the first quarter of 2007. So, till then... let's wait and watch!!!

Torpark :: The portable/anonymous Firefox

Presenting... yet another browser!!! But this is just not "yet" another browser. This is certainly Old Wine in New Bottle, but this new Bottle has lots of features along with the reliable wine (Firefox). So, lets see what are the pros and cons of Torpark — the browser that may make surfing a whole new experience...

Torpark is based on Firefox. This means that it will have everything that Firefox 1.5 has. Apart from that, it comes in with two unique features:- Portability and Anonymity.

Portability: Torpark need not be installed on your machine before you use it. All you need is the files and that's. It runs without any problems. It can even run from your USB pen drive. That makes it "literally" portable. The only problem is that it can't run from a CD/DVD. Every time you open Torpark, it amends some of its files. ThThat'she reason why we need a writable medium for storage.

Anonymity: The browser is completely anonymous while you surf. It means that no one would know that "you", as in someone from your IP address has/had visited a site. You can test that my checking it out yourself. Visit http://www.whatismyip.com. First visit it from Internet Explorer/Firefox, and note the IP Address. And now visit the same site from Torpark. You'll find a new IP address... That's the beauty of the browser.

Speed: The speed of surfing is far slower as compared to a normal browser. This is because every request is routed through another IP, and that creates the delay.

The browser is at a very primitive stage right now. Lots of improvements are required. If the browser stays in the market without getting into any legal hassles, it could be one of the best browsers !!!