Microsoft Vs Google

Google jumped directly into Microsoft’s home turf by announcing Google Chrome OS, its new operating system for PCs and netbooks. And while we’re still debating whether it will take down Windows or flop like a fish on land, we tend to forget that this isn’t the first time Google’s challenged Microsoft. In fact, it’s become almost routine.

Whether its operating systems, documents, search, communication, or mobile, the two behemoths have been increasingly butting heads in a war for tech supremacy. Now with Google Chrome OS making headlines, we thought it would be appropriate to perform a straight-up comparison of where the competition between Google and Microsoft stands. So who’s winning the war? And how will Google Chrome OS affect this longstanding battle? Here’s an overview:

1.Search Engine Market


Google: What is there to say, really? Search is to Google as Windows is to Microsoft. They dominate the search market by a wide margin, despite Microsoft’s best efforts (including the company’s failed attempt to buy Yahoo)

Microsoft: It would be an uphill task for Microsoft if it believes it can be the front runner in the search engine market.... Bing wasnt brought as a bang by the Microsoft. Advantage: Google.

2.Operating system




Microsoft: This is Microsoft’s bread and butter. Windows is the reason Microsoft makes $60+ billion in revenue every year and has stayed on top for so long. Its stranglehold is legendary. Yet Windows Vista proved that it is not invincible.

Google: Let’s say this: we can’t wait to see what Google has in store for Google Chrome OS. We’re skeptical that it could ever kill Windows, but Google will be Microsoft’s most powerful challenger yet.

Conclusion:We look forward to the upcoming war.

Advantage:Microsoft

3.Documents

Microsoft: Microsoft Office, with Word, Powerpoint, and Excel have been the leading way to create and edit documents for years, and for good reason – they’re widely used, widely known, and feature-rich. There’s also now Microsoft Office Live, which while not as collaborative as Google Docs , isn’t a bad solution and has the benefit of being connected to the desktop apps.

Google: Google Docs have been growing in features and users. They provide a level of collaboration that Microsoft documents simply don’t offer. But they don’t provide as many options as Microsoft Office and they just don’t have nearly as many users. This is one area where the majority of users still prefer the desktop to the web.

Advantage: Microsoft

4. Communication, Email, and IM

Microsoft: While Google’s probably more revered for Gmail (Gmail) and its communication suite, Hotmail is still bigger, and Live Messenger is heavily used. Microsoft also produces the popular Outlook software and has software in a variety of arenas, such as Windows Live Meeting, giving the company an edge in the enterprise.

Google: The search giant has a suite of very popular communication products – Gmail and Gtalk (Gtalk) being the best known. The X factor in this debate though, is the upcoming Google Wave (Google Wave) communication platform, which has impressed us so far. There’s also the intriguing Google Voice (Google Voice) offering to consider.

Formula: Google + yahoo > Microsoft(lol)

5. Mobile

Google: Google’s has good traction with its Android (Android) mobile OS given it’s relatively new to the space. It runs on more than one million T Mobile phones and has a strong app platform. Many of Google’s apps also run well on mobile phones, especially Google Maps (Google Maps) and YouTube (YouTube).

Microsoft: Windows Mobile still shipped tens of millions of units last year, far outpacing Android. It also has apps to run Office, Outlook, and Windows Media Player. We think the long-term trend favors Google, but as of right now Microsoft is the leader.

Advantage: Microsoft....But its dominance may fall in the near future....

Silverlight Vs Flash

Silverlight vs. Flash

A few people didn’t like my proclaimation that Flash is dead. This is understandable. It is a bit premature to make such claims, but the Silverlight model is pretty amazing. As someone who works with Flash on an ongoing basis, I thought I'd chime in with a more in depth look at the issues.

First off, let me explain my background for those of you who may not know. Way back in the day, when Flash 4 was the latest and greatest, Macromedia decided to “open up” the Flash file format. They released documentation (which was poor at best) and an SDK (which was horrible at best). I saw the potential here. Finally, the format third party developers could unleash their creativity and usher in all kinds of amazing tools. Unfortunately, the documentation was full of errors and the SDK was so riddled with bugs that you spent more time debugging it than using it.

Nevertheless, debug I did. I came up with quite a list of fixes to the SDK, fixes which would render it near complete and bug free. I signed up for a free hosting account and promptly placed a list of the updates you had to make to the SDK in order for it to be bug free online. Macromedia’s response: cease and decist. Rather than integrating the changes themselves or acknowledging that they solved a serious problem, they told me that it was a violation of the license agreement to be posting that kind of information…. Some definition of “open” they have there.

Not to be dismayed, I determined that the source code license was just far to restrictive then and I would create my own SDK. As familiar with the spec as I had become, it didn’t take long for me to put something together. In a few short weeks, I had an SDK that was far more complete, far less buggy, and far easier to work with than the Macromedia SDK. It wasn’t long before hundreds, then thousands of developers were downloading the SDK and posts to Macromedia’s own open-swf forum turned from questions about the Macromedia SDK to questions about this new alternative SDK. It wasn’t too long before Macromedia completely discontinued their SDK (rumor has it that product teams internal to Macromedia even considered using the SwfSource code for their own projects).

Ever since then, I've been working with the Flash File Format. I've helped put together some award winning tools that are arguably some of the most successful SWF generation tools outside of Macromedia. This gives be a unique perspective on the differences between the two formats and how these formats enable developers to create tools that work with each of them.

Admittedly, my view point isn’t the same as a lot of people, who are perfectly content just buying the Flash IDE and can do everything they will ever need to do from there. I create tools that work with the File Format itself, tools that export their content into the Flash Format. So, if you are a software developer like myself (which is probably a good chance if you are reading this blog), then you would almost assuredly come to the same exact conclusion as myself if you knew the details of the two formats.

Animation

The Flash format itself has no notion of animation other than transformation matrices. You can apply a matrix to an element on a per frame basis to move it around. Want to move something across the screen in 3 seconds? Calculate how many frames 3 seconds will take, then calculate the matrixes required for each frame along the way. Oh, and don’t forget that the player won’t actually maintain any frame rate unless you embed blank audio tracks, so that 3 seconds might turn out to be 2 or 6 or 5, it just depends what kind of mood the machine is in.

Silverlight supports the WPF animation model, which is not only time based instead of frame based, but lets you define the start and end conditions and it will figure out how to get there for you. No need to deal with matrixes. No need to calculate positions on various frames. It just works.

Shapes

Flash stores its shapes using binary shape records. In order to write shape definitions, you will need to either license a 3^rd party Flash file format SDK, or build your own. It isn’t too difficult, but it does require a bit of a learning curve and the ability to manipulate things at the bit level, since shape records don’t align on byte boundaries. Needless to say, it isn’t the kind of thing most people can write and have all debugged in one afternoon.

Silverlight uses XAML. XAML is text based and can be output using a simple XML object. No need to buy special libraries to write files. No need to write your own libraries. Just stream some text to a file and you’re done--easily the type of thing that can be debugged and finished in an afternoon.

Text

Flash stores its fonts glyphs using the same exact shape definitions that are used for any other shape. The player itself does not understand TTF files, so you’ll end up digging deep into the Win32 APIs and the fairly vague definitions in the Flash file format documentation to come up with something that sort of does the trick. You’ll probably spend ages trying to deal with all the intricacies of fonts, because it turns out that typography is actually fairly complex… and you will have to deal with all those complexities yourself.

WPF/E lets you embed true type font information directly into your projects, and download that information with the downloader object. No need to do anything special. No need to handle anything yourself. It just works.

Video / Audio

Flash supports multiple video formats. The latest codec is really high quality and the bandwidth usage is nice. There is one problem though if you are creating a tool that outputs Flash content… the formats it supports aren’t really used by anyone else. The original video codec, Sorenson’s proprietary H.263 implementation is a mutant version of H.263. The compression follows the spec fairly closely, but there are a bunch of features dropped out and you can’t exactly just go find a complete spec on how to build your own encoder. The later codec from On2 puts you in an even worse position. Licensing Sorenson’s codec isn’t that expensive, but On2 will rape you with fees. They are relying on revenue from licensing the codec used by Flash to revive their $2 a share stock price. It is also a completely proprietary format (where at least the Sorenson one was loosely based on a standard). The audio formats Flash supports are all proprietary, except for ADPCM, which no one uses because of its horrible compression, and MP3, which is decent but dated, and still requires licensing fees and 3^rd party conversion libraries.

Compare that to the Silverlight story. Silverlight implements industry standard VC-1 codec for video, as well as offering support for WMV and WMA. Just about everyone already has Windows Movie Maker, but if they don’t it’s not a big deal. Why? Because Microsoft makes available a free Encoder SDK for producing WMA and WMV. So, not only are you using formats that people are more likely to be able to encode themselves, but Microsoft also provides your product with SDKs if you want to do the encoding yourself. The best part about it is that Microsoft doesn’t rely on WMA/WMV licensing revenue to keep themselves alive, so not only is it easier to integrate, but it’s also cheaper.

Scripting

You can reuse C# classes from your tool inside your exported content. There is no development environment out there for creating real desktop applications which is based on ActionScript. If you go the Flash route, this means that all your classes and objects have to be written twice. You need .NET classes to handle the author time experience and Flash classes to handle the run-time. If you have server components, once again you need to switch back to .NET and throw out all the classes that the run time is using. For example, let’s say you are creating a tool that outputs rich media quizzes. With Silverlight / .NET, the same entity classes you use to deal with results in the player could be reused on the server side. With Flash, you’d have to write all that logic 2x and keep it in sync as your tool changes.

Tools

You can create Silverlight content with the same tools you use on a daily basis. Visual Studio.NET is by far the most powerful and most popular IDE. You can potentially have all the code for the server components, the authoring tool components, and the runtime/player components inside the same project. No extra skills required. No needing to hire some special Flash guru to do the graphics junk. Every developer can contribute to every part of your application.

The bottom line: about the only thing Flash has going for it from my perspective is adoption. Adoption isn't hard to achieve, especially for the people that ship the operating system 90% of the world uses. As such, it's just a matter of time till that is no longer part of the equation. Adobe has a lot of work to do in the mean time, and the clock is ticking. Open sourcing Flex is a really good start in the right direction... unfortunately, Flex was built on top of the wrong platform from the start (something I told the Flex team while Flex was still in Alpha), so this last effort, while a good one, still might not be big enough to turn the tide that is coming. Now, this isn't to say that Flash isn't a great format and doesn't enable a lot of scenarios (like I said, my job is working with Flash and I'd be doing something completely different if it wasn't for Flash). So, Flash is great. Silverlight just solves a lot of the major problems that I've run into with Flash.

(By the creator of Silverlight Jesse Ezell)

Microsoft Student Partners

The Microsoft Student Partners is a worldwide educational program to sponsor students majoring in disciplines related to technology. The MSP program attempts to enhance students' employability by offering training in skills not usually taught in academia, including knowledge in various Microsoft technologies.

The program is available in most countries, and all students in college and university level are eligible to apply. Typically, few most skilled students from each institution are chosen at a time. If accepted, Student Partners are assumed to further share the knowledge among the academic community by, for example, arranging courses, giving presentations and initiating projects.

For more info visit Microsoft Students Partners.

Career in Hardware and Networking

Imagining life without computers has become almost impossible for a large chunk of population today. But understanding its nitty-gritty is not a child's game and people often feel the need of expert professionals for smooth operation of their computers. Therefore, a career in Hardware and Networking has become a very good career option for those who have an interest in the field.

Computer hardware includes various physical parts of computer.


Networking involves the practice of linking a group of two or more computer systems for sharing data and information. The professionals related to discipline of computer hardware research and computer network developments are called as hardware and networking engineers. They also design and supervise manufacturing and installation of hardware.Career in hardware and networking is mainly for the people in Information Technology sector. Proper management and implementation of hardware and networking is one of the premiere needs for success in Information Technology.

Qualifications Needed for Hardware and Networking Jobs:


To be hardware professional, one should go for various diploma and degree courses. For networking, the candidate should hold diploma or degree in computer science, electrical, electronics or telecommunication. The programs are offered by numerous well-known colleges, institutes and universities in India.

There are ample job opportunities in hardware and networking sector for hardware professionals all over India. Good jobs in hardware and networking are offered by the hardware manufacturing companies, system design companies, software companies, call centers, telecom companies, BPO companies and hardware repair shops. Hardware jobs are available according to skill and qualification of the candidate. The candidates holding the degree in hardware engineering are in high demand in several companies. Hardware diploma engineers and technicians get employed according to their skill and qualification. Career in hardware and networking offers excellent wages, good progress and job security.

Companies recruiting Hardware and Networking Professionals


Some of the reputed companies in India recruiting the professionals are- Casio India Company, Acer India (PVT) Ltd, Microchip Technologies India in New Delhi, CMC Limited, Comarco Wireless Technologies, SK International in Mumbai, Intel Corporation, Hewlett-Packard India, Dell in Bangalore etc.

The hardware and networking professionals can also start own business ventures in the form of maintenance and assembling.

Top 10 careers to pursue during recession

As unemployment soars to its highest mark in over a decade, more and more of us are wondering how safe our job is.

If you are one of the 2.38m people now out of work, and are unlikely to find the same type of work again, a career change will be forced on you.

Many of us, on the other hand, will welcome the opportunity to try something new. But which are the safest career choices at a time of economic slowdown?

A recent report by the UK's largest recruitment company, Hays, has the answers. It has outlined 10 sectors which offer the greatest security in the current climate. It should also give all you job-hunters out there some much needed room for optimism.

1.Education

Children still need to go to school in a recession, and their numbers don't decline in line with economic output. So teachers should enjoy good job security during a downturn. A massive shortage of science, maths and head teachers makes the sector a safe bet. New schools being built are also giving construction companies a boost.

"While manufacturing and service industries can always reduce staff numbers as their workload falls, demand doesn't fall in schools during a recession so there is less scope for shedding employees," says a spokesman for the Institute for Employment Studies (IES).
"That's that's not to say there is never any room for cost-cutting, though," he adds.

2. Health and Social Care

As with education, the demand for doctors, social and healthcare workers is undiminished, regardless of the economic climate. And the Government doesn't want to make unemployment worse by cutting jobs in essential services. According to the Labour Market Report, the sector grew for the twelfth month running in June.

"This Government is committed to keeping unemployment down and therefore health, education and social services will continue to hire," says Michael Moran, the chief executive of Fairplace, an "outplacement" agency that helps employers find jobs for redundant employees.

* Job-finding tips for the recession
* What to do if you lose your job

3. Social and "green" housing

This sector requires accountants, builders and housing officers, as the Government steps up it commitment to creating affordable housing. Similarly, public funds are to pumped into environmentally friendly projects - the mass insulation of Britain's housing stock was recently proposed - as a means of boosting the economy and cutting carbon dioxide emissions.

4. Accountants/finance directors/compliance officers

In the wake of the financial crisis, closer supervision of banks is the order of the day. These are some of the professionals whose services are more in demand in a downturn, as companies pull out all the stops to survive, or as failed firms are wound up or sold on.

"Accountants with insolvency skillsets are much sought after at present," says Mr Moran, "as are finance directors with experience of restructuring debt for companies in danger of breaching their agreements with their lenders."

Compliance/risk officers are another good example, he adds: "With the widespread awareness that excessive risk-taking got banks - and so the wider economy - into their current difficulties, companies are stepping up their efforts to monitor potentially disastrous transactions and to comply with the tighter regulations that the financial crisis is bringing."

5. Internal audit

For the same reason, internal auditors are in demand as companies attempt to reign in their spending. Hays adds that this sector will come out on top when companies start hiring once more.

6. Insurance

In times of downturn, consumers look to protect themselves against hardship by increasing the amount of insurance cover they buy. This is accompanied by a surge in claims activity, much of which is fraudulent. As a result, there is demand for employees across the sector: especially in claims handling, underwriting and business development. Senior staff are also required - good news for any former big earners out there.

7. Credit control and Purchasing

As companies, desperate to see money flowing in to the coffers, focus increasingly on late payments of outstanding bills, expertise in this area is highly sought after. Similarly, with profits margins under pressure, improving the efficiency of the supply chain has seen demand for staff responsible for purchasing and procurement soar - both in the private and public sector.

8. Energy

Britain needs a new tranche of power stations to replace ageing nuclear plants and the most polluting fossil-fuel-burning facilities. If building doesn't start soon, the country is expected to face blackouts within a few years. Those who get jobs as engineers, say, working on one of these projects are probably safe until it is complete - and they often last many years.

9. IT

Information technology specialists remain much sought after, says Mr Moran. "Typically, the more specialised the skill, the better," he says, "with the proviso that it's a skill in demand. The fear of all specialists is that the market moves and they find themselves unemployable."

And, as with the examples above, the sector in which you are working is as important as the job you do. For example, an IT specialist is likely to have better job security working for the NHS than in a bank.

10. Public transport projects

If you're working for a contractor on a new road or railway, for example, you are in the private sector - but the money being spent still comes from the Government, not the consumer. And again, the budgets tend to be made available in advance. So jobs such as this tend to be safe - at least for the duration of the project.

The Government may put more resources into this kind of programme to take up the spare capacity in the economy that occurs in a recession.

source - 'yahoo'

Improving Communication skills

Here are 6 great tips you can use:

1. Awareness of your own interaction with other people is the first step in improving your communication skills.

Learn to identify which types of situations make you uncomfortable and then modify your behavior to achieve positive results is a critical step in improving your communication skills.

You can learn to become aware of behaviors in other people that prompt you to respond in negative ways and modify your own behavior to turn the situation into a positive experience.

2. You must accept responsibility for your own behavior and do not fear apologizing for errors in judgment or insensitive actions.

Asking others for honest feedback about the way you interact with others can be very helpful. Accept the negative feedback along with the positive and make changes accordingly.

3. Your non-verbal communication is equally as important as the things that you say. Positive body language is extremely important in your interactions with other people.

If your words and your actions do not match, you will have a difficult time succeeding in social situations.

4. In order to learn how to improve your communication skills, you must become a great listener. You must fight the urge to respond immediately and really listen to what the other person is trying to communicate.

Offering suggestions or criticism before you are certain of the other person’s intent can only lead to frustration for both parties.

5. Improving your communication skills is a process and cannot be accomplished overnight. Trying to improve or change too many things at once will be counter-productive.

You will become discouraged and overwhelmed if you attempt to change your entire personality all at once. Choose one or two traits at a time and work on those over a period of time. Learn to take advantage of your personal strengths and make a positive impact on others.

6. Maximize your positive personality traits and use them in your interactions with others. Good communication and great listening skills are the most important tools you can use in improving your communication skills.

You can learn how to improve your communication skills by developing excellent listening skills, learning to resolve problems and conflicts, understanding body language, and accepting responsibility for your own negative behavior.

Determination and self-awareness will make your desire to improve your communication skills a reality.

You can change your life and now is the time to start.

Exceptional communication skills can be Learned…and Mastered!!!

EQ reigns over IQ

Be it for newborn babies or adults, it is Emotional Intelligence that determines the way you deal with situations and emotions. EI is the oil in the big human machine.

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE MAKES FOR BETTER WORKPLACES AND HOMES


Emotional intelligence (E.I.), or your`emotional quotient' (E.Q.) as pop quizzes like to call it, is the human empathetic ability. Whether in office poli- tics, familial manouevring, short, random interactions with strangers or more macro environmental stimuli, a natural disaster, a momentous time in political history; there is good reason to regard E.I. as the oil in the big human machine.

EI in babies :

While DNA is a sum of its parts, a child's E.I. potential is arguably unlimited. Empathy, self-awareness, emotional self-management and interpersonal skills are mostly taught by parents, belief and academic educators, family and the extended community.

Child psychologist, Dr. Anjali Chabria says, "Children learn about emotions more from observation so it is very important for parents to have a healthy E.I. Parents must increase the child's frustration tolerance; minimize negative emotions.


Don't shout at the maid in front of the child. Don't deal with employees shabbily. Deal with situations assertively." If kids have to be left in the care of a maid or day care centre then parents need to ensure that their children are around unconditionally healthy and happy people who are loving and caring.

New mummy, actress Mahima Choudhury values E.I. higher than I.Q.:

"Forraising a child. I took a conscious decision to bring up my child myself. I've never left my kid alone with the maid. If I have to go out which is very rare, I generally leave her with my mother or my husband. Bringing up a child is a wonderful experience. I don't want to miss out." Developing E.I. in children is important. Teach them to ask, `How will I feel?' and `How will others feel?' Over time, through valid discussion, this will help them act intelligently in identifying or avoiding threatening situations like bullying, child abuse or abduction.


E.I. for the young adult :


Teenagers are notorious for being aloof at best, self-destructive at worst.However, inculcating the habit of empathy will stand them in good stead. The best way to explain this to the pimplygrumpy-lump on your sofa is to tell him that E.I. will get him a date. Though suc- cess in early dating is far more reliant on external appearance and swaggering, valuable friendships, feelings of respect and love between young members of the opposite sex can only be developed with E.I.


Former actress Poonam Dhillon's children are growing up, "I want to be there when my children come home. What children learn of life comes from so many different sources today -- TV, Internet, SMS. Parents need to be around to help them identify unwanted or inappropriate information. If you are reasonably well aware and knowledgeable of your world you adapt that much better to yourenvironment." A good EQ will get your kids great jobs too. Sanjiv Kumar, VP & Head Human Resources People Group explains, "At People Interactive (I) Pvt. Ltd., the initial filtration of employees is based on IQ; subsequently, competencies and behaviors are key filtration criteria for recruiting a suitable candidate.


One essential competency/behavior is indeed the Emotional Quotient, EQ." NS Rajan, Partner, Human Capital, Ernst & Young, gauges a potential employee's E.I. by test successing how he or she has handled failure and ennui in real life situations. He says, "A person who is going to be the CEO of a company must have the inspire leadership qualities. He must confidence in others."


The manager ­ at home, at work :


Whether at home or at work, Sanjiv Kumar's thoughts on high E.I. levels are applicable,


"People with high E.I.have 5 key traits -- Optimism, Self Awareness, Empathy, Impulse Control, and Reality Testing.


These traits are crucial in managing relationships, interacting positively and making the right decisions in adverse situations.


This is what makes them true leaders." Archana Shahani, a housewife from Mumbai compares herself to her best friend Payal, "We both have two kids each. Payal went back to work one year ago. She developed a smooth support system of nannies, maids and her in-laws. Even her husband rushes home to help and everyone is happy. I don't know how she does it.


" E.I. makes for better workplaces and home-spaces. Whether handling a top team of professionals or support staff and domestic help, the way you deal with egos, emotions, crises and successes will cement or destroy what you wish to achieve. "How will I feel?" "How will others feel?" are the two sides of the coin that will buy you achievement.

Source - "Deccan chronicle"

Teach India

A self sustaining initiative from the Times of India, Teach India this year brings another ray of hope for thousands of underprivileged children and a platform for volunteers to help change a child's future.....

For more visit

Teach India Website

Hats off to "Times of India" for such a great initiative.

Life's Laps

However bad the traffic may be, you will eventually reach home. Similarly However tough the times may be, believe you will eventually triumph.

" When we go over different laps in our life, we tend to think that lap we are in is not fine and it could have been better. Say, when we are at college we say school life is the best, and after we complete college we think college life is the best. When we are in our home country we dream about going to foreign countries and once we go there we feel our country is the best place to live....."

Human mind always aims for something or other and have a sense of dissatisfaction when it fails. No one is born with an objective. Its the one that we create.

When we are at school we want to be a topper there and once we get into a college we want to enjoy the early years and in the later years we want to get into a lucrative job. Once we have got a job we would want to have a promotion in our job. Then in the later years we would want to build a new house and get married, then shape our children towards a goal for their better lives. Well its hard to find why the objectives in each lap remains the same for almost everyone....

Regret or rejoice? Its in our hands!