I like cloud

When I am ill, I have two options: I can do something myself to cure my illness.  Or I can go to a doctor and seek help.  My doctor will get to know that I have piles or constipation or AIDS or any such "embarrassing" disease, of course.  But the treatment I get would be way better than the treatment I'd have done myself.

The same goes with keeping my data on the cloud.  I have two options to keep and protect my data.  I can store them in my own computers and hard disks and DVDs.  Or I can store them "on the cloud" where some expert takes care of protecting my data.  I believe those who run Picasa Web know much better to protect my data than I do.  I know I cannot afford to keep as many backup copies as the Picasa guys can.  And hey, it's free (mostly) to store your data online.

PS: I like these clouds too :)

Google bashing is the next cool thing

There is hate, and then there is blind hate.  There is fear, and then there is paranoia.  Reading this Google-basing post in The Registrar makes me think that the author is a paranoid who just blindly hates Google.

The author is not happy with the way Android project is run by Google.  That's pretty much it.  Maybe it really is hard for third party to track Android development progress. [Update: I just remembered that Android project is run by Open Handset Alliance in which 50 companies are partners.  Although Google might have a lot of say in OHA, I don't think Google makes all project decisions and the rest of OHA only nods to everything that Google says.]  But the way the post is written is, hmmm, funny.

Developers have almost no place in Google's grand plan

it says.  Google gave a preview of Wave to the developer community and there's a sandbox environment for the developers to try out and build apps for Wave.  And this was done years before the product's beta launch.  (Wave is not solely Web development, by the way.)

And with Google dictating hardware terms for the Chrome OS - not to mention the swirling rumors of a Google-branded Googlephone - even hardware developers can't be sure of their place in Google's world.

In the video (and I am pretty sure in many other places too) they tell explicitly: Chrome OS does unprecedented and very aggressive optimization to the start-up process.  Such an optimization makes a lot of assumptions about the hardware it runs on.  So it can only run on hardware that match these assumptions.

Besides, operating system is the lowest level software[*] your computer runs and it's not uncommon for an OS to require special hardware to run on.  (For a long time, Solaris ran only on SPARC machines.  Even now, Mac OS runs only on Apple hardware.  Windows does not run on many processors.)

But make no mistake: The plan is to collect your data and serve you ads.

Oh yes.  And also, do you know why Google gives free wi-fi Internet in Mountain View? To collect your data.  Do you know why Google keeps Bing as a search engine option in Chrome? To collect your data.  Do you know why Google uses solar electricity in their Mountain View campus?  To collect your data.  Do you know why Google gives you free access to millions of books?  To collect your data.

Google wants to force you into using its very own web-based services/data-hoarding ad platforms.

Like how?  By letting you download all your Google Docs files with one mouse click?  By not letting companies like Microsoft and Apple develop software?  (Google has written loads of Windows, Mac, and iPhone applications in fact.)  Gmail was the first web email client to let you access your email from desktop clients for free.

If [Chrome OS] can't run native applications, it can't run Skype.

Yes, it cannot.  Your shiny Apple computer cannot run WinAmp either.  Your Windows mobile cannot run iPhone apps either.  If Skype won't develop a web client and Skype is important for you, you don't buy a Chrome OS computer.  You don't need to be an Einstein to understand that,  I guess.

It can't run all sorts of media players and IM clients.

Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger, and Facebook have web-based chat clients as far as I know.  And there's Meebo if you use a different IM service.

Once Microsoft bashing was considered to be the Cool Thing.  Now Google bashing is, maybe.

[*] Low level software deal with idiosyncrasies of the hardware it's running on.  Think of it this way: reading a spreadsheet from a hard disk and from a DVD are the same thing for Excel (because it's a high level software), but they are very different for Windows (because it's at a lower level, closer to hardware, than Excel.)

Disclaimer: This post (and everything in this blog) is my own personal opinion.  I am not speaking for my employer or any other party.

Random Thoughts: Hope

Yes, hope is not a strategy.  But when you don't have a strategy, you're better off with some hope.

Random Thoughts: Self-pity and worries

This is a note I am writing to myself.  You may not want to read it.

"Frame every so-called disaster with these words: In 5 years, will this matter?" is one of Life's 45 Lessons.  I want to add one more view-point to the so-called disasters.  I want to ask myself whenever I am worried about something, "If I will die tomorrow, is this worth worrying about now?"

Like a wise man once said, we worry because that makes us feel good (yes, feel good).  Self-pity is an addiction you wouldn't usually want to get rid of.  Like most addictions, self-pity also does undesirable things to us in the long run.  So I'm gonna tell myself that self-pity is for people who don't care, but I do care about myself.  I'm gonna ask myself these two questions as soon as I become conscious that I am worrying.

I am writing this down here, on my public blog because I want to remember this choice I am making now.  So, no more self-pity, Kanna.  And remember the questions.

Random Thoughts: Letting go

If we consciously think about each step, we cannot even walk fast.  The secret is letting go.

Random Thoughts: Freedom and happiness

Freedom is not free.  You have to earn it.  So is happiness.  If you just sit idle waiting for happiness to knock your door, probably you are gonna wait for a very long time.

Hopping crow

Soon after the car hit the dog
There came some twenty crows.
Some flying, some hopping
They ate the driver's sin.

There I saw the one-legged crow
As he hopped near the dead dog.
He didn't have a wheelchair.
Neither did he skip the queue.

I smiled, clutching my crutches.

Random Thoughts: Life

Life: is that any different from a band in a spectrum?