An infographic on Microsoft’s failures

Here’s a little something I found floating around the web. Bit old, but still rather funny.


LaTeX characteristics being adopted by Microsoft Word 2010

I have used LaTeX fairly extensively in my academic work for producing research papers, CVs, reports and so on. I have always felt that the final document produced by LaTeX justifies the steeper learning curve and somewhat obsolete method of document production. In a nutshell, documents produced using LaTeX look good. The page at [Dario Taraborelli: The Beauty of LaTeX] explains some of the reasons this is so.

But Microsoft Office 2010 has, finally, added some typesetting features to it’s Word application, even though they are turned off by default. Calibri and Cambria are excellent expert fonts – at par with Libertine or Hoefler, perhaps. Kerning is now supported, as are ligatures. Glyph variants can now be selected manually, even if it is still rather cumbersome. Line breaks and paragraphing is still not intelligent, though. And true small caps are not offered either. Font transparency can only be achieved using the trick of textboxes.

Nevertheless, it is a step ahead, like so many others. Text styling offered by Microsoft Word 2010 is almost at par with LaTeX. Large documents are now less prone to problems. Direct PDF output is also now a Word feature.

Unless LaTeX offers ease of use and greater features, I can see even fewer people who will want to move to LaTeX’s niche world.

Firefox 4.0, Safari 5, Chrome 6 and Opera 10.53

In recent days, the browser war has heated up. Development is continuing at a breakneck pace. Firefox 4.0 is in development, as is Chrome 6. Safari 5 and Opera 10.53 were released very recently.

Safari and Chrome are the undisputed speed kings, with Opera and even Firefox far behind. Still, Firefox usage is not expected to fall down. That, of course, would be primarily due to the the customization of Firefox.

• Firefox: For power users
• Safari: For it’s very, very useful Safari Reader – a utility that allows screen reader view of any article Safari detects. It even unifies multi page articles.
• Chrome: For speed and simplistic UI
• Opera: Falling behind the times – it’s difficult to think of even one uniquely compelling reason to use Opera.

Just a rant.

Old Blog Deprecated

Time has always been my enemy. All posts older than this are from superphysics.awardpace.com – that used to be my primary blog, but has since been deprecated because I could not put enough time into it.

Following this announcement, all new posts will either be news articles or just things I want to discuss: no standard blogging. However, the mirroring of the old information simply serves as a resource to those who wish to read it and use it.

Windows 7 – Why I'll take Ubuntu 9.10 over it anyday

I’ve written about this before – a view on why both Windows 7 and Ubuntu 9.10 will co-exist. But the matter of fact is, I have a preference. I run Vista as my primary OS, yet I see no reason whatsoever to upgrade to Windows 7.

Much maligned as Vista was, two service packs down the lane and it has become reliable enough for my needs. But if one must really toss aside Windows Vista, Windows 7 is probably not the best way to go.

Exorbitantly expensive for all who need any less that full scale compatibility with specialist software suites such as Adobe Creative Suite or Microsoft Word 2007, Windows 7 is trumped by the upcoming Ubuntu 9.10 in four critical areas:

1. Price. Face it – Ubuntu 9.10 is free. And Windows 7 costs a fair amount of money.
2. Performance. I have tried the release candidates of both OSes and I can say with complete certainty that Ubuntu is far faster at all common tasks than Windows 7.
3. Security. Frankly, the only real method you would get a virus into Ubuntu (due to it’s Linux heritage) is if you made a deliberate effort to do so using WINE.
4. Hardware support. Windows 7 has indeed improved in many areas or hardware support – but one fact remains: Ubuntu supports far more hardware out of the box than Windows 7. This is not to say that Ubuntu will support all hardware, but most. I have an averagely dated machine for testing, and Ubuntu picks up all the hardware, while the Windows 7 test run missed the graphics.

Windows 7, of course, has it’s trump cards too:

1. Software. Windows has a greater range of software than all other OSes combined. Reason: Windows has been the desktop OS of choice for aeons and a lot of work has been put into it.
2. Pre-configured PCs. If you’re buying a new PC, chances are that Windows 7 will be bundled with it. With that comes a lot of guarantee, none of which comes with a Linux box.

Note that the two Windows advantages apply to new sets. If you’re already working, or familiar enough with computers to adapt to Linux alternatives to Windows software, Ubuntu 9.10 is the way to go.

Eid Greetings!

Eid is a Muslim celebration that comes after the holy month of Ramadan, in which we fast from daybreak to sunset everyday. Eid is, thus, a day of rejoicing for all Muslims, everywhere in the world.

I extend the Eid Greetings to all readers, Muslim and non-Muslim alike (non-Muslims must share in the happiness too 🙂

Eid ‘Mubarik’!

Scientechie is now on AboutUs.org

I just finished adding my blog to AboutUs.org. Please feel free to visit aboutus.org/superphysics.awardspace.com and edit it!

To be very truthful, I’m interested in seeing what kind of reaction I get: in terms of visits and/or comments.

The Excellent SUSE Studio (and tips)

I study in an engineering university full of geeks and nerds. Most of them use some (pirated) version of Windows, though they all know how superiorly Linux would perform on our sprawling LAN network.

They do not. And one of the major reasons is that there are some particular softwares that everyone here uses, but cannot be bothered to download for a Linux distro. People in Pakistan do not like the idea of not being able to double click and install, and when they see their favourite apps missing, they don’t bother to enable a repo and download them. They ditch Linux altogether.

Enter SUSE Studio. I’m a SUSE apologist, and nothing could be more exciting then a simple, easy way to build a personalized (or in my case, universitized) Linux distro – one that can keep the people on board the Linux ship longer, until they find out how good it can be.

SUSE Studio is still by invite only, but I got mine fairly quickly (in under a day).

And I went in. Many people in the blogosphere have already commented on how easy it is, how it runs in a browser, and how simple it is to test created distros. TuxRadar has a particularly nice account of the SUSE Studio.

My point is that in under 30 minutes, I had added the necessary repos, added the required software (recommended packages + DCPP, XChat, Blender, some DTP software, CAD, and some others). I also put in some artwork (our logo and wallpaper). But most importantly, I put in place of the license some basic starting instructions for getting up and about with iGIKI OS. I also set some of the fancier network settings that every node on our LAN has.

(The SUSE Config Panel screenshot. Taken from a VMWare guest running Windows Vista on a stock openSUSE 11.1 host)

The Test Drive works extremely well too. After making sure nothing was broken, I downloaded a LiveDVD image.

The result was a beautiful, custom, effortless openSUSE 11.1, that worked flawlessly. And it was a first time build. No second builds needed.

All I can say is that I am speechless in front of the technology Novell has brought to us. It is astounding. The bar has been lowered so much, even toddlers can vault.

My only gripe is the SUSE Studio itself is closed source. Hope you’re listening, Novell!

I have, since, built several distros for different purposes. I would like to share a few tips, that may come in handy:

• For initial testing, build hard drive images. You can then test, and also know what files changed when you ran it.
• Pay particular attention to the Messages in the left hand column. It often helps you avoid bloat.
• The software section is the one to which you must pay utmost attention. That, in all probability, is where any breaking or making of the produced distro will take place.
• Package dependencies are automatically resolved in most cases. However, I have found that some software that calls on E17 repos causes conflict with Gnome libraries. The Message section will notify you – take care.
• Live images test best. No matter which format you want to deploy in, I have found live images to be the best indicator of final performance. Then again, that may just be me.
• Don’t forget to create a new user account in the config section! It looks nice when you can show off to a first timer with a custom login.
• If you enable the firewall and also install some odd-port-requiring server or other networking tools like Samba or Nmap or Cain & Abel or something, then be sure to configure the firewall later through YaST. I have found the default firewall to be VERY draconic.
• (Other tips if somebody suggests them)

Happy building with this great service!

Gearing up for the next RoboCup

As my readers might know, I was part of Pakistan’s first participation in the RoboCup, this July. It was SAVIOUR, a team of GIKI institute.

Admitted, we participated only in the rescue leagues, and the results were not quite astounding, a start is a start.

We are already gearing up the next RoboCup. www.projectsaviour.co.cc has the details.

RockMelt – New Browser in the Making

The technology world never fails to surprise. The latest surprise comes from the ever more traction-gaining browser wars – the battle to make the most accepted web browser in the world.

The news, of course, is the creation of a new ‘mystery browser’ (as the blogosphere is labeling it) called RockMelt.

Almost nothing is known about it except for two very vital facts:

1. The people involved in the making of this browser from ‘ground up’ are Tim Howe, Eric Vishria and Marc Andreessen. All of them were involved in the making of the once universal, but now dead, Netscape browser. Marc Andreessen, of course, the creator of Netscape.
   • The point to ponder would be: why is he willing to back a complete underdog and startup in this deadly game?
2. The browser is supposed to be different from other browser. How different, we don’t know. But for one, it will be extremely integrated with the social network Facebook.
   • The RockMelt team is leaking nothing. What unique differences can RockMelt bring in, that will set it up over other existing browsers? Remember, one social browser (Flock) already exists.

Personally, I cannot see why a company would be willing to invest so much money (reportedly many millions of dollars) into a new browser. Browsers are free, and there is not much to be gained unless widespread adoption is reached. Chrome, Safari and Opera are already around, and have very little share.

I wonder what’s RockMelt’s top secret weapon?