Recent Posts

301

Living Room / Re: Welcome to Big Brother UK

« Last post by mahesh2k on April 01, 2012, 08:56 PM »

These types of actions are in public because there are still some people within government who care about public. What will happen when every person within government gets sold and new policies will be passed without much public releases? We've seen that happened here in India and now BBM, Skype, Yahoo Messenger and Gtalk logs are shared with government if there is any connection made from this country to war zone (sensitive countries). So we're reacting on things that we read/see in news otherwise many things are done in dark and public is not aware of it.

302

Official Announcements / Re: The DonationCoder 2012 Fundraiser Has Begun!

« Last post by mahesh2k on April 01, 2012, 04:43 AM »

Nice one deo.

Check this page and look at the sidebar. Maybe you can implement recent donation widget or scroller for every fundraiser? Just for visitors/members to see donations coming in...

Cheers to Fundraiser. 

303

Living Room / Re: What are your experiences with payment providers?

« Last post by mahesh2k on March 25, 2012, 12:45 PM »

CCavenue (If you're from US or India) and Authorize.net can handle paypal and multiple other payment processors inside their gateway solution. I have limited success with Okpay service but it is quite costly for gateway solution to bank withdrawals process.

304

General Software Discussion / Re: wordpress is unacceptable

« Last post by mahesh2k on March 24, 2012, 11:02 PM »

I try to use wordpress and it's the most inconvenient thing I could ever imagine.

Try drupal and joomla and let me know what you think. 

305

Living Room / Re: Windows 8 is just a Service/crapware pack for Windows 7

« Last post by mahesh2k on March 24, 2012, 10:59 PM »

These days the only people who gripe about the ribbons are people who never gave it an honest chance & are dead-set against change. Coincidentally, those people usually refuse to move away from the Classic Start Menu interface and/or are Linux users (Sorry, Zaine!).

Are you kidding? I am sure you never heard about HUD and Gnome3 interface, LIbre ribbon interface. Linux users are also equally annoyed at some of the changes which are made for the sake of it. As for not giving a chance, you're seriously assuming that people who type 1500+ words per hour on word processor are going to push cut or paste icons instead of using shortkeys. Then again, you're making that point as if people who appreciate the ribbon interface are majority. I don't see DTP community making that sort of claim. Using shiny stuff that does nothing better over a shortkey is just distraction. What ribbon interface offers better over menus and shortkeys? Is CTR+C and CTR+V less usable compared to clicking icon in ribbon? Let's face it, just because it is shiny and people are getting used to it because they have no choice in windows world doesn't mean they never tried it or head-set against it. Some things are just distractions. If ribbon were to be that productive I don't see same people making that remark against chrome (and now firefox) for getting rid of toolbar. They're also using single icon click menu and shortkeys for the operation and getting rid of shiny bloated toolbars. Making use of real-estate on bigger screen is two sword argument.

If you're going to offer linux users some bloated ribbon interface over more efficient text editors like vim/emacs then surely I find it hard to buy that type of argument. Shiny stuff like ribbon interface and metro for the sake of changes is clutter or distraction. It offers nothing usable. I am all eyes and ears to know what it offers better over menus and shortkeys.

Just because 100$ tablets are selling like hotcakes, company like Microsoft is losing it's attention over desktop market and assuming that even desktop is moving to tablets. I don't see cheap tablet displays to replace current LCD's. That part of future is still beyond the reach of average users pocket. If anyone is showing productivity using GIMP on 7'' tab then I must say hats off to that person. Biggest displays are made for the reason. That's why desktop market shouldn't be ignored. This is where microsoft is going to fail. Microsoft is trying to focus on tablets which is hardly going to make any difference to portable/desktop market. Tablet trend and mobile apps stuff is fad, it has nothing to offer to regular business or any type of serious work.

306

Living Room / Re: Employers asking job seekers for Facebook passwords

« Last post by mahesh2k on March 23, 2012, 09:41 AM »

If that question comes to me, I'll walk out. Seriously, I have done that before when asked too much personal questions and that too during recession time. If my family members asks me for social network pass of my account, I'll deny, sorry but that's how I play.

Recruitment doesn't mean revealing your personal details too much just for the sake of job. In that case prostitution should be glamorous corporate job.

307

Living Room / Re: Google to Spy on Your Phone Calls Now...

« Last post by mahesh2k on March 23, 2012, 09:36 AM »

I feel like starting a troll meme with title (inside spoiler).

Spoiler

Patents are for pussies

308

Living Room / Re: Windows 8 is just a Service/crapware pack for Windows 7

« Last post by mahesh2k on March 22, 2012, 03:41 PM »

Touch Screen is hell, and my mom always told me never to play with fire.

 

On the touch screen point, (i know slightly off topic) I often press click on one thing and another thing opens. I have this old HTC touch based phone with Windows on it. I try to open menu and the first most program link in menu always gets clicked from me. Same is the issue with android, it's really hard to use touch based phones if you've bigger thumb. ( I don't have big fingers but still i had issues with touch displays.

309

Living Room / Re: Windows 8 is just a Service/crapware pack for Windows 7

« Last post by mahesh2k on March 22, 2012, 01:02 PM »

I think it all comes down to selling point. Microsoft seems to have no such selling point since Windows XP. What's in windows vista? XP was the last functional and usable version and anything after that was just attempt to improve from previous versions mistake. Win 7 is likely to replace some of the XP based systems soon(or maybe it started already for many people). Forcing people to use touch based interface was surely a turn off that was the reason even canonical kept classic desktop interface (gnome-panel). You can't sell product out of hype, if you're not the original creator of that hype. I am expecting microsoft to add features that will keep the classic interface alive.

On the topic of tablets, there is no reason why one should buy windows tablets if those tablets are going to be priced at same or higher amount than linux or apple tablets, is there any?

I mean what we get in consumer tablets? We don't use it for photoshop or heavy work.
Retina Display? Not offered by any other manufacturer than apple.
Itunes or music store with songs? apps? I don't see any popular store from microsoft. Hell, even android and Nokia has no functional popular music store.
App store with DRM? Whats the point of keeping self destructive Win apps in tablet?

So if we look at these things, W8 tablets offer nothing worthy compared to Linux or Apple tablet. Let's face it, microsoft is slowly losing the market. They lost the tablet market already. They're not launching surface at cheap cost to make up for that, so why any sane mind will buy MS tablet over any other tablet?

Coming back to W8 and W7. I don't see much success for W8. I mean if we ignore the applications, there seems to be no reason to upgrade to it in future. Hell many people skipped W Vista entirely and jumped directly to W7.

310

Developer's Corner / Re: Invoicing & inventory problem for my business.

« Last post by mahesh2k on March 20, 2012, 05:48 AM »

If I understand your requirements correctly, here is something you need -

1) User asks for an exam with exam code and pays for it.
2) System pulls exam code and license number unique for that paid user and sends an email.
3) System removes the sold license from the specific (unsold license)  table and moves into sold table.
4) You get an email that license is sent to user (confirmation).

If this is what you want then the concept is very easy to formulate and not something you have to pay for hourly contract. You should get the quote of about 1000$ IMO, not more that that. If you need it quickly before april, I suggest getting hold of programmer from odesk or elance.

311

General Software Discussion / Re: Superboyac is throwing in the towel: I'm going to transition to Linux

« Last post by mahesh2k on March 19, 2012, 04:00 PM »

Wine is just a layer that runs windows programs under linux. Think of it as virtual machine running old XP programs on 7.

Install Wine 1.2 from your respective linux respository. You'll get Wine in applications menu or Other" menu. Once you install Wine you don't need to do anything. Just run the windows programs, if it is supported under wine, installation of that program will run (or if it is portable standalone app it will start without any issues). If it is not supported, you'll find nothing and there will be no linux crash either. (Note: in case of window based games running under wine, linux display may crash but nothing will be lost and in next reboot, everything is fine, unless ofcourse if you try to run the same buggy program again. ).

You don't have to run command line, git, adept ..nothing. Wine will run windows program just like you used to run it on windows. Same options, same GUI (okay there is change in window decoration -borders etc as per your linux DE) but that's it. You get your programs running inside linux.

312

Living Room / Re: Is Google Now Evil? Ask the Engineer!

« Last post by mahesh2k on March 19, 2012, 03:29 PM »

Go figure out how to download a driver, it's really not that bad.  But they project that anger out to everyone else...they bully the geeks (the curious and seekers of knowledge are always persecuted)...they like to say things like "you have waaaay too much time"...instead of learning beneficial skills, they learn tactics to intimidate, to market, to advertise, how to weild power, how to supervise, etc.  And frankly, I'm a little tired of it.

I thought i was the only one on this planet thinking in this pattern. Holy galactus, i can die peacefully now.

313

General Software Discussion / Re: Superboyac is throwing in the towel: I'm going to transition to Linux

« Last post by mahesh2k on March 19, 2012, 03:25 PM »

I think it is the right time you need to install Wine and test some of the windows programs. I have managed to run old FARR inside Wine without any issues. I am sure most of the portable apps will run just fine.

Following apps work for me under wine:

Word 2003/07
Treesheets
Sigil
and many others ...

So you can download Wine 1.2 for Mint and then install the windows programs and see if it works.

314

Living Room / Re: Is Google Now Evil? Ask the Engineer!

« Last post by mahesh2k on March 19, 2012, 03:15 PM »

People who have no clue about what is the internet and how it works are the ones who run society in much more conservative ways. I am sure even the people who comment on each others clothes or critic based on their looks are now starting to use the internet. 5-10 more years from now, people with "real life and less internet life" will be minority.

I don't think this has anything to do with google. Google is only cashing in on the gaps of laws. I think there needs to be more changes in the current laws on governing internet ads, or else these ad giants will literally setup devices to stalk people. By no means I am too old to comment on future, hell i am yet to hit 30's. But I do think that if we continue to let these creeps walk over our lives, future is going to be "us vs them".

315

Find And Run Robot / Re: Happy B-Day FARR

« Last post by mahesh2k on March 19, 2012, 11:07 AM »

 

Edit: So you mousered DC's one of the popular program?  How many softwares are there in your HD which never made it out on the interwebs? 

316

General Software Discussion / Re: SCRIBUS - Open Source Desktop Publishing

« Last post by mahesh2k on March 19, 2012, 11:05 AM »

Inkscape is also good for DTP work. It's like Corel but it saves files in SVG format and it also lets you update PDF files which were made using that program.

317

Living Room / Re: Is Google Now Evil? Ask the Engineer!

« Last post by mahesh2k on March 19, 2012, 11:00 AM »

I agree that it was not part of the original research.

318

General Software Discussion / Re: Lite version of C++

« Last post by mahesh2k on March 19, 2012, 08:12 AM »

Codeblocks is a good IDE and it is actively developed. It is good replacement for the Bloodshed DevC++ IDE. There used to be SkyIDE from one of the member of DC, but it is not available on the internet.

319

Living Room / Re: Is Google Now Evil? Ask the Engineer!

« Last post by mahesh2k on March 19, 2012, 07:59 AM »

Hell, everything is social now.

Internet started with social concept to begin with. I don't know why people give google credit for social thing.

Point is if people don't mind giving that much information to google then why stop a stalker salesman? Why fight with government if they're going to install cams to monitor every activity of yours? Why feel bad if any random person creates your cam vid and distributes over interwebs? Everything is social and google is not evil, right?

Just because we abandoned the google account doesn't mean it ends over there. Analytics script which is installed on most of the websites collect enough information about visitors which google uses and passes small pie to the website publisher. So as long as people surf on sites where there is google analytics, they're tracking. It's not about forcing to use any of their service anymore.

320

Living Room / Re: Auslogics promoting false speed tester?

« Last post by mahesh2k on March 17, 2012, 06:58 PM »

Pluto is not a planet.

321

Living Room / Re: On a lighter note: A Man Said to the Universe

« Last post by mahesh2k on March 17, 2012, 06:56 PM »

 

322

Living Room / Re: Moronic would-be scammers

« Last post by mahesh2k on March 17, 2012, 06:54 PM »

That is quite common among insurance agents call too. Some are packing health insurance with credit card deals or bank account combo pack. In today's world of uncertain life, what is the point of health insurance that is sold with card which ultimately expires in just one year?

323

Living Room / Re: On a lighter note: A Man Said to the Universe

« Last post by mahesh2k on March 16, 2012, 12:46 PM »

How dare you to disrespect lady gaga? *Calling all gaga fans, code red - insult on forum indexed* 

324

Living Room / Re: Britannica - would you buy it on (say) Kindle or Nook?

« Last post by mahesh2k on March 16, 2012, 12:19 PM »

This looks like a start of pay per content trend. I think soon, many other offline and online websites will start similar changes in their revenue models.

325

Living Room / Re: Why I Pirate - An Open Letter to Content Creators

« Last post by mahesh2k on March 16, 2012, 12:12 PM »

I can confess too. At the risk of archival of my comments and getting found on the Internet later by other generations (after 2012) or perhaps government and those who know me.

1) The reason pirated movies are better than HBO streaming or DVDs is - because the subtitles in HBO are filtered as per region. So if there is any word like ass, c* t or boobs then Indian media replaces those words with "crap" as common word for all. Seriously, this is the case here. Sometimes those words are also removed in streaming while broadcasting original audio. Another thing to note here- kissing scenes, gore violence and extreme action scenes are also removed. Try watching movies like Hostel, Black swan and few other and you'll see what I mean. In some cases, if there is an actress in see-through dress flashing on movie, that scene is also removed. So tell me, why should one thinking mind bow down to these rules just for the sake of culture and avoid pirated movies?

2) There are some movies which are classic or as per your taste and hard to buy in local market. Be it anime, saturday morning cartoons, old movies with original subtitles or uncut scenes. In local market you get the edited versions and sometimes you don't get chance to buy them at all. They're either found on the Internet or not at all. This applies to many japanese animes, non-english movies, classic hollywood movies etc.

3) Cost. This is something people are forgetting. In third world country cost of the pay per view makes any online movie totally beyond pocket capacity. So does that mean one should stop watching movies or suck it up and blame the destiny? Sorry, that ain't happening. 1 USD =40 or higher amount in asian market so from here you can guess why pay per view is evil and not affordable at all.

This doesn't mean people who share pirated stuff don't want to pay for it. Heck, I can throw double the cost of DVD in USD in some cases for watching the stuff I want. It's just that it's not always possible. You can suck it up for not driving BMW or many other things that you can't do in life, but if there is an option even if it is illegal why you'll stop yourself from having the pleasure? It's just movie or media. It's not for disrespecting or insulting content creators, it's for enjoying life with that content as long as you're alive even though by means which are not allowed as per social rules. Ironically, many things on this planet are free, it's just that you capture it with human creation and the perfect time in image, voila you own the thing.

Rant over.