An infographic on Microsoft’s failures

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


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.

Sorry for the dormancy: RoboCup 2009

Sorry for the recent dormancy, readers… I was participating in the RoboCup 2009, Austria. I was part of my country’s first ever team to the RoboCup Rescue League (team SAVIOUR), and probably the first to any part of the RoboCup. The project site is here at www.projectsaviour.co.cc.

As for me, my regular blogging will resume. Yeah, I do it for interest, but my readers keep coming back, don’t they? 🙂

Rogue Ads

I have had yet another report of a rogue / slightly obscene ad appearing in the top banner. I have filed a complaint at the ad service.

Once again, I request my readers to copy the link of the ad (Right click > Copy Link Location) and paste it into any comment thread whenever they see something of the kind.

I do NOT tolerate bad ads on my blog, and all complaints WILL be acted upon.

Windows 7 – Is it worth it for Vista users to upgrade?

The Windows 7 Release Candidate version has been recently released by Microsoft. The salient features include high performance, and little improvements here and there. [Edit: the final, RTM version has also recently been released to MSDN and TechNet subscribers. My opinions have not changed.]

But what about Vista users? In specific, those that have the more expensive versions, such as Ultimate or Home Premium?

The matter of fact is: those users who have stuck to Vista will have noticed that Vista is no slouch anymore. Post SP1, Vista is pretty high on performance parameters, at least better than XP on the same hardware. And many of the little annoyances have been fixed over time: crashes have become fewer, shares can now be accessed out subnets, and as people become used to the UI, it doesn’t look so poor after all. And finally, the much maligned UAC has proved to be a massive security barrier: an XP system set loose on my university’s wild Local Area Network becomes unusable in less than 5 minutes, but Vista’s system files (at least) last nearly indefinitely unless someone turns off UAC, or accepts the warnings it gives.

In other words, Vista is patched to the hilt – and performs. So why would you move to Windows 7?

Truth is – I wouldn’t. Windows 7 just does not offer enough new features – or any compelling reason (Windows 7 programs are almost certain to run on Vista and vice versa) – for me spend that cash on an upgrade.

For me, that only glaring new feature, the Ribbon type Taskbar, is one step back. It covers a lot of screen real estate, and the merging of multiple icons means I now need to take a few extra milliseconds to make my choice. Of course, this style can be disabled, but why shouldn’t I stick to Vista?

For me, the Vista to Windows 7 upgrade is worth a lot of outgoing cash – and not enough benefit to justify it.

Robotics – Wireless Controls: A starter

I have been working to enter the RoboCup International in the Rescue Robot League division. I have been developing methods of controlling the robot wirelessly from a computer.

I just thought I would share a few starting tips with my readers – in case any of you are also in the same age category as me, and interested. File attached.

Robot Wireless.pdf

Touch Switch Design Schematics

It has been some time since I last posted. That was because I was doing a small project for my third semester Circuit Analysis course. My project was to make a Touch Plate switch, that would switch on/off at the slightest touch, without any pressing required at all.

I have uploaded the schematics for download. They would be very useful for someone else designing a circuit, or just some slightly intelligent fellow who wanted to replace the light switches in his house something more fancy.

Download here.