Comparisons - Microsoft software and Iron Man!

I'm trying to understand Microsoft Operations Manager - it's a beast. It's something that is powerful, but is complex and at this point very mind numbing.

I'm starting with this and someone walked over to my desk and asked me "Whats going on?" I couldn't resist not comparing this with the beast in Iron Man.

The "real" Iron Man has a very nice finesse robotic suit - where as the beast - is over engineered and can't do everything that the "real Iron Mans" robotic suit can do not to mention the beast is ugly and has a huge footprint!

I say this - because when we are developing tools / software -we try to make it as flexible as possible. However, when you try to give someone a tool with every lever possible, you need to find a way to make sure it has some value right out of the box. Otherwise - all your left is with frustration and possibly loss of users, not to mention productivity!

Executive Salries - Can we please STOP talking about them!

It seems that the media can't let go of the salaries of some of the CEO's or management in companies. I for one am sick and tired of hearing about it.

You really have 2 options -
1. Find a person who can do a better job at a lower salary.
2. Become a board member of the company and do something about it.

I don't get the point why the media or people have to complain about someone elses salary. If someone is not doing their job fire them. If they are or protected you as an investor from significant losses, then they deserve their salary. If you think you can do a better job - go for it, convince the board of directors.

What I don't get is, why the hell are you talking about it day in and day out, when there are significant other topics to be discussed about! Some executives don't deserve their salary, but when the company is not doing anything about it - why are you - perhaps a non-investor so worried about someone elses pay!

Republicans killing the bailout

I have only one question - weren't most of these guys fired during this previous election.

Didn't they see what happened when a big company like Lehman went down. You really really dont cut off another hand when one of them is bleeding.

Update: Now they're going back to the TARP funds. Didn't the Democrats ask the White House to do that in the first place?

The Republicans can have a new mantra - "Republicans - Our Way or the Highway" or "Republicans - Ask Us How to Lower Your Net Worth"

Perl vs Java!

I had to write a simple program to send an email when a log file didn't have the right data. This log file is always apppended to - and the last line is what I needed.

That meant reading the file backwards - or perhaps from the end. I wanted to find something really simple in Java to do it. As much as I looked (FileInputStream, FileReader) etc, it all involved copious amounts of work. Since, I didn't know the length of each line, I couldn't easily go to the end of the file, and set an offset!

Here's one of the examples I found: readingfilebackwards for java.

Here's how I did it in perl:

open FILE "$file";
@lines = reverse ;
foreach $line(@lines)
{
do something
}

Simplicity simplicity simplicity!

Human Communication changes....

When the Mumbai blasts happened, one thing was new - the social networks. Twitter! The number of messages on #mumbai during the blasts, almost a blow by blow account. There are stories where people inside the hotel used twitter to find out if it was really true, and blasts were occuring. Twitter for communication!! Next generation of quicker communication! Move to SMS's and Twitter! Smart phones are changing the way we communicate with each other.

I'm excited to think of what the next generation of communication is going to be - while wondering - are we as humans going to lose the actual social network of sitting at a table and making a deal?

Mumbai Blasts

This was a little disconcerting on all fronts. A number of questions raced through my head.

1. How could after a parliment attack in Dec 2001, India be so woefully unprepared with the placement of the commandos?
1. Why should it take 9 hrs for commandos to get there?
1. Why on earth should there be only one unit based in one place for a country as large and populous as India?
and many more (and yes, they're all 1 because they're all screaming questions).

That said, after the initial 60 hours of gruelling, just by 10 people, we now have a situation where we're not doing anything. The reason the ISI or whoever keeps coming after us, is because theres a ridiculously poor response to an attack. Right now - theres a woeful lack of leadership in India. I heard there were protests in India with the slogans " A country of Lions lead by a a leadership of donkeys" (I paraphrase) - but the quote is such an accurate depiction of most of the leaders in the country today.

I don't know what to say at this point. I feel so helpless (for the lack of a better word) right now. I really wish I was in India. I wish I could be putting together some sort of team - a leadership team of sorts, to start a grass roots movement. May be not now, but in 5 years time, we could be in a better position to demand from our leaders, or put better leaders in place, or perhaps be leaders ourselves?

All that though - starts from the individual. The more I think about it, the more I believe that each individual that starts thinking about the betterment of their surroundings, starts talking to their friends and neighbours and starts forming groups and networks is what will be required to get a better country. It seems so simple - but when you put a diverse group of people - who's first thought on their minds are - how am I going to earn my lunch today - it gets immensely difficult.

The middle class per se - is already caught up in the material wealth gaining - so the middle class turns a blind eye, and when nothing else - bribes its way to what they need. We need to stop doing that. We need to ask for better leaders - and we need to start making sure that our kids can become better people!