Patents and Innovation

Recently, at the place, where I work, there was a talk on patent process. In this age, companies
are trying hard to build a good patent portfolio. While we were discussing about patents, someone
remarked - encouraging Patent fosters innovation. Nothing can be farther from truth. In fact, FSF
and some like minded guys have exactly the opposite outlook. According to them patents kill
innovation !

So, do patents kill innovation or do they promote innovation ? If one looks at software(including
networking) industry, it is clear, that networking, particularly TCP/IP is one field, which has
truly revolutionized our lives. Other is the PC. Also one remarkable thing about these two
technologies, was the lack of patents filed around these technologies. Imagine what would have
happened, if TCP/IP would have been patented, and there weren't publicly and freely
available RFC's. And even if someone gets them, they have to pay a huge royalty to use TCP/IP.
That would have discouraged companies/institutions from using TCP/IP, and we wouldn't have the
phenomenon called the www.

Most of the technologies, that we use, gained widespread adoption, because they were good,
and more importantly they were much more open, then their counterparts. NFS is a good
example of this. Sun, put the protocol in public domain, and the result is that NFS gained so much
acceptance.

Patents might not be necessarily evil, but to say that they "foster innovation" is ridiculous, and
people, who say that, do not understand innovation.

OpenSuse 11.0

After playing with KDE4.0 (OpenSuse 11.0), I have installed KDE 3.* . From what I have read, opensuse and other vendors have bundled a half backed version of KDE 4, they should have waited for KDE 4.1 to be out. I really hated the fact that Konsole didn't allowed me to switch between shells, using Short-Cut keys. That is my most used application, and I cannot live without the short cut keys. Even plain/simple Linux console allows that :-)

Most of the apps, seem half baked (WIP). Though I really liked the display of KDE4, and would switch to it, once it becomes stable(I hope 4.1 is better), and more importantly Konsole is improved.

OpenSuse 11.0

Recently(well just today) I installed OpenSuse 11.0. I was a bit excited to see
the all new KDE 4 desktop, that came alongwith. After installing, OpenSuse(OS),
the first thing I noticed was that the fonts were better looking, and more crisp,
then in 10.3. Note -> I did a clean re-install, not an upgrade. After browsing
through the system for a while, I noticed that Alt-Tab combination wasn't working
well sometimes. The configuration of desktop has changed quite a bit.

The thing, that was annoying me most, however was that I was not able to
do an update. Yast kept giving error, about malformed URL. Since I was
able to browse net using firefox, I was a bit intrigued. The soln was, I had to
configure Proxy under Yast,. And the proxy I was using had a diff port number,
which I had to give in the proxy's URL. So my proxy looked like
http://proxy....com:Port_Number , after that things worked well.

Save Tibet

The peace loving people of Tibet have been oppressed by the cruel Chinese government, for
almost half a century. Despite being oppressed so much, the Tibetans didn't took to arms.
Recently there has been a spate of demonstrations against the Chinese government by the
Tibetan people. The Beijing Olympics have provided a nice opportunity to highlight the pains
of the Tibetan people.
The Dalai Lama is currently living in exile in India. It is a great tragedy that the Indian goverment
is not extending its support to the Tibetan cause, and on the contrary it is trying to stifle the Tibetan
protests. Kudos to Baichung Butia, who has refused to carry the Olympic torch, in protest of
the Chinese oppression of Tibetans. Unfortunately he is the only public figure to do that.

It is very rare that public figures in India have ever expressed solidarity with any group of people
suffering from a repressive regime. I never expect the meek and corrupt Indian government
to stand up against such a regime. It is very unfortunate to see, how the so called celebrities in
India are dying to carry the Olympic torch. May God torch their souls in Hell :-)

It is really a shame, to see how the Indian government is working hard to ensure that, Tibetan
protests are stifled, and the Chinese are protected. Indian government is doing this, at a time,
while China continues its repressive policy, against the Tibetans.

WagonR Duo or Zen Vxi

I am planning to buy a car pretty soon. I am right now doing reviews of the cars, and have finally
zeroed in on two cars, viz, WagonR Lxi Duo and Zen Estillo Vxi, both from Maruti(Suzuki).

The reasons for choosing a Maruti over others were -
1.) Maruti's dealer network is very good, and little problem finding anyone to repair a maruti.
2.) Its resale value is better then other cars
3.) A safe bet for first time car buyers.

Prices for both these cars are almost the same. The technical features of both the cars are also almost
the same, the only major differences, that I can see are below
WagonR Lxi Duo
1.) Runs on LPG. By doing this, you are going green. Though, not sure, if in future, LPG will be as
cheap, as it is today.
2.) It has more space then Zen
3.) More space in the front, so impact on front would be less compared to estillo.

Zen Vxi
1.) Looks better then WagonR. I like the capsule look of it.
2.) Interiors are better looking.
3.) More features like all powered windows, door open alarm, etc. It comes fully loaded with all features.


Rest everything is same, the gear shift is not so good in both :-)

The People's car aka Nano

So finally Tata group launched its ultra secret small car, which
they have named Nano.
http://www.tata.com/0_media/features/interviews/20080110_one_lakh_car.htm

This is really an amazing achievement. To dream something, and to
make it true, is very tough. But even tough is to dream, something
impossible, and then to achieve it. This is precisely what
Mr. Ratan Tata, the chairman of Tata group has achieved. Defying
all the nay-sayers, he delivered a car, which, well, almost
every-one except the Tata's had doubts about.

There are a number of things, which add greatness to this
gentleman.
- Indian automobile industry is well, not so much famous. This
achievement of Tata, has certainly put the Tata's in the top
league.
- Achieving efficiency in India's manufacturing industry is an
arduous task.
- While the car was in the making, inflation, was also rising, but
still, the cost of the car is same as, what was promised.

Mr. Ratan Tata has surely made every Indian proud, by this
launch. He is one genuine role model for Indians. It has proven
to the world, that India _can_ deliver.

I have never felt so proud to be an Indian.

Kudos to Mr. Ratan Tata, he has became a legend now.

Benazir Bhutto an evil lady

With all the emotional farce surrounding Pakistan's ex-PM Benazir, one
level headed French journalist Francois Gautier, had this nice article
on her, which portrays what Benazir actually did
http://in.rediff.com/news/2007/dec/31gautier.htm

She was an evil lady, who indulge very much in India bashing,
and spreading the poison of terrorism.

She got the death which she deserved, in fact, she was lucky to
die a quick death, unlike the millions of Indians, who are living a
hellish life, thanks due to her policy of supporting terrorism.

It is hard to understand, why all the idiots are mourning her death ?
Or are they mourning, that she died so easily, and deserved a
more painful death ?