Software Matters

noreply@blogger.com (Krishna K) — Sat, 07 Sep 2013 04:58:00 +0000

Just read a news item - Microsoft announces launch of a developer portal for developers (a portal for developers in India). As we are interested in .Net technologies I visited the portal - developer.microsoft.com -. As it happens many times in this part of the world either the News Reporters did not bother to note the url properly or MS itself released this news item simply to attract hits (which in my view may not be true).

Developer.microsoft.com has long been in existence and has nothing specific for Indian developers.

Message ID: 593f1ceb2d67

noreply@blogger.com (Krishna K) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 04:26:00 +0000

Message ID: 593f1ceb2d67
Big traffic change for top URL

Received a message from Google this morning in your webmaster tools box? It simply means you have over SEO ed your site or a particular page of your website. What do you do now?

Without looking at the website it is difficult to tell, but, here are the general guidelines:

1. Start your text (content of the page) at the top of the page. Of course, after the menu and an ad if present.
2. If you have too many images, remove images particularly those at the top.
3. Reduce the number of times keywords occur in your content.
4. Remove keywords in your title and description. Restrict to only one occurrence.
5. Avoid multiple/excessive linking to same page.

Online Marketing of Books - Resource

noreply@blogger.com (Krishna K) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 00:56:00 +0000

Online marketing is hard work. It takes countless hours of work on PC/Internet, gathering of resources such as Article directories, Directories, Book Forums, sites related to Authors, Publishers, etc.

Not just that you have to sift through all the websites you have collected and ensure that they are reliable and link worthy.

While researching for online marketing of our book(s), I came across this resource which contains all the above neatly organized and easily accessible and all the hard work has already been done.

Check it out : Online marketing of Book and Writings

(from the above page you can access resources such as - Article directories, Directories, Book Forums, sites related to Authors, Publishers, Authors resources, Author Social Networks, Free Press Release sites and much more.)

Enjoy.

IT Training in Hyderabad

noreply@blogger.com (Krishna K) — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 05:12:00 +0000

Hyderabad the capital city of Andhra Pradesh is the IT Training capital of India. Though the net IT exports in dollars is more from Bangalore (Obama's favorite city when it comes to bashing India for stealing IT jobs), Hyderabad is truly the place where all action happens in Training.

There are an estimated more than five hundred training institutes and most within a radius of three to four Kilometres. The epicentre of training is Ameerpet, with many of the training institutes concentrated in the following buildings Aditya Enclave, . These training institutes offer training in varied technologies such as Oracle, .Net, Java, Linux, SAP, 4GL such as Power builder, visual basic, Applications Servers such as BEA web logic server, Borland Appserver, Lotus Domino, NetDynamics, Oracle, Orion server, SilverString, Cybase, WebObjects, WebSphere, Programming courses such as Fundamentals, Operating systems, Programming Concepts, OOPs Programming and System Analysis, Datamining tools such as BusinessMiner, Scenario, IntelligentMiner, SAS Enterprise Miner, TeraMiner, Databases such as Access, SqlServer, DB2, Dbase, Foxpro, MySQL, Graphic tools such as 3D Studio, Bryce, Coreldra, Fireworks, Freehand, Illustrator, Photo shop, Groupware such LotusDomino, Microsoft Exchange server, WebBoard, Languages such as C, C++, C#, COBOL, Fortran, J++, J2EE, Java, Pascal, Perl, Python, SmallTalk,UML, Visual C++, Mail servers such as Eudora, LotusNotes, Microsoft Exchange server, NetScape Messaging Server, SendMail etc.

Also on offer are a variety of options such as payment on installment basis, full time courses, part time courses. Some institutes allow the students to opt for morning or evening classes. Some specialize in overseas placements, and such institutes which are reputed to offer overseas placements charge heavily and are in demand. Some do offer local placement services with in Hyderabad and India, though reputed local companies are way of hiring candidates with only a private training and no relevant reputed professional degree.

The obvious question is Why such a craze in Hyderabad for IT Training. One apparent reason is the glamour of an IT job - High salary, Excellent working environment, a job in which you sit and work without physical strain.

So, how do the IT training institutes in Hyderabad operate. Firstly, we have to recognize that the Hyderabad IT training institutes are directly linked to the Job market in USA and UK. As the demand for programmers in a particular technology grows the IT training institutes of Hyderabad immediately recognize the requirement and put up banners offering day-time, part-time courses to students who are seeking (desperate ?) placements in USA. Some institutes even offer training and placement packages there by reducing the burden on the student to search and get a job in US. When students come to these training institutes and see the latest in-demand technology being offered as a course, they put two and two together and go for it. The key for any training institute is to have a contact in USA preferably in California and east coast and get the latest trends in IT technology job market and suitably offer courses to students.

If you think that the training institutes have highly qualified staff to train students you are grossly mistaken. For the five hundred plus IT training institutes there will not be more than fifty qualified and expert trainers. Just as US companies hire consultants on contract basis to get IT projects done, coaching centers of Hyderabad hire these trainers on a part-time basis and conduct classes.

What are the reasons for the proliferation of Training Institutes in Hyderabad?

Andhraites are dynamic and risk taking in nature. Particularly when Return on Investment is perceived to be high. In the IT job market, they estimate that for a Training fee of Rs. 25000 (less than $1000), they will get a job with salaries of Rs. $1500 upwards.
Parents in Andhra Pradesh are very particular that their students study well and get educated. They go to great lengths to enable their wards do well. Even to the extent of selling their lands. Some time back, a tele serial showed such ambitious parents skipping their work at office and school for weeks together and teaching their children. Dowry (money given by a girl's parents to the boy for marrying their daughter) is another factor. American male residents can demand more dowry as compared to a similarly qualified Indian resident.
The craze for getting a job in USA is predominant in almost all families in Andhra (another state which is similar is Punjab). This is perceived as a stable and secure career option. Even today with all the recession of around 8% plus and depressing economy, parents secretly hope that their children will somehow settle down in USA!
The very nature of IT jobs where you learn a tool in sufficient depth and get a job is a big attraction. No long courses and period of training. It is another matter that such training lead us nowhere.
For the Training Institutes it is simply a matter of putting together a dozen or so computers, getting the software (mostly pirated) or limited use versions and the required furniture. The only missing piece is Faculty, which is managed.
Lax Govt. controls is one reason why you will find all and sundry owning training institutes. Back in 1995 on a visit to Singapore, I was told that a company could ask a Govt. department to conduct a study and recommend/suggest the best option - whether to go in for tailor made software or off the shelf software. In India it is free for all.
Over and above all this is the rampant inflation, congested environment, and insecurity which drives people for better pastures. Till now USA and UK, the recent trend is Europe, NZ etc.

The Training Institutes are now set for a change in their business model !!

Do you wish to comment or add something. You are welcome.

Android for beginners

noreply@blogger.com (Krishna K) — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 05:08:00 +0000

1. The Android software is developed and released by GOOGLE, the search engine behemoth.

2. This software is used by Mobile manufacturing companies (eg. Samsung, HTC, LG) for enabling users (such as you and me) to use the mobile.

3. Android is meant to be used on Smartphones. Smartphones or powerful cellphones and which have equivalent capacity as computers.

4. Google also makes its own version of Smartphones under collaboration with popular hardware manufacturers. These phones are called Nexus 1, etc.

5. The latest version of ANDROID is Gingerbread, 2.3. Samsung Galaxy 2 9100, which uses Android OS 2.3, is approximately priced in India Rs.30500/-.

6. Smartphones have much larger capability then a normal cellphone. A typical processor on a smartphone which hopes to put Android to full us is of 1.2 GHZ dual core processor and memory as 16GB.

7. What do we get when we buy a Android smartphone?

Regular features such as Phone calling, SMS, Camera, Calender, Video recording, Stopwatch, Clock, Browser - Webkit (similar to Chrome, Internet Explorer, Internet browsing, Address Book, Powerful maps - Google maps, facility to store hundred of applications such as games - solitaire, ping pong, angry birds, run the applications simultaneously, edit pictures, send pics by email compass, write letters, do spreadsheet calculations, bankers can use it to browse RBI or World bank documents much more easily, companies can develop custom software such ERP and allow its staff, to enter and save data, and many more. In short it is a computer which is small, and portable and can be held in your hand.

8. The ANDROID symbol -

9. ANDROID is developed using JAVA, C++ and C#. It uses LINUX for driving the Hardware.

10. Can you develop an ANDROID application? Yes, of course. If you are a windows developer you have to use Eclipse IDE, Android SDK, and JAVA installed on your machine. And, you should know programming in - Java or C# is preferred. Visit this site - Android for Developers

11. Can you sell Android applications you develop? Yes, why not? You have to use the Android marketplace to sell your apps. Visit this site - Android Market to see what are all the applications you can download to your Android Smartphone

12. Android has 100 million downloads, 2011.

13. Where is Android conference held?
Visit this site for details of conference: ANDROID CONFERENCE

14. Is it beneficial to learn Android? You bet. With smartphones becoming cheaper day by day, ANDROID phones will be used in many day to day apps. So, knowledge of development is useful for developers.

15. When I buy an Android smartphone, such as Galaxy S2, with ANDROID 2.3, can I upgrade to a later version, YES.

16. Google purchased ANDROID in 2005.

17. There are 175000 + applications written in ANDRIOD

18. ANDROID machines are aware of your geographical location

19. ANDROID 3.0 is an Android OS for Tablets

20. Android ICE Cream Sandwich is the upcoming OS for both Mobiles and Tablets.

21. This OS can run on Tablets, Google TV, and Mobiles

22. 100 Million devices are now running on Android in the world !!!

23. Google dreams of bringing ANDROID to your home. Switch on your Geyser, TV, Lights with ANROIDS enabled home, and with an ANDROID remote!!

Web Application Development

noreply@blogger.com (Krishna K) — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 11:02:00 +0000

Web Application Development is a challenging software assignment. It requires a team of developers with varied skills to create and implement the software. What are these varied skills? Which colleges and Universities teach these skills? What are the low cost alternatives? I will try and answer these questions in this blog post.

Let us begin with the skills required to develop a Web based Application Software. Before we list out the skills, let us see how a Web Application looks like. A typical Web Software Application contains software code written to handle the UI, software code to handle the business rules, and software code to generate reports. These software programs and code are neatly laid out as different layers, each layer identified to handle a specific set of programming tasks. A typical Web Application of today contains four layers - Presentation layer, Business layer, Data Access layer, and Data layer. So, the Presentation layer contains code which presents the User Interface to the User, Business layer contains code to handle and process all the data entered, Data Access layer contains code to connect UI and Bl to the database - datastore, and Data layer is the data store itself.

Before, we discuss the programming tasks handled in each layer, it should be noted that domain knowledge is a must before one starts designing a software application. When software applications started proliferating, back in 1990's, professionals with domain specific knowledge were rare. Now, in 2011, you will find hundreds of IT professionals, with domain specific knowledge. Accounting, ERP, Banking, Hospitals (Health care), Travel, Education, Govt., you name it and you will find them.

As a particular Web Application is developed for a particular domain, developers have to be aware of the domain aspects to understand the working of a Web App. Most training institutes and colleges attempt to teach Web Application Software development without considering a domain or they choose a simple domain. This may be good for beginners but for those who choose programming as a career it does not help much. So, a fairly vast domain has to be used as the basis, to teach Web Application development.

Now, let us list out specific programming tasks handled in each layer.

Presentation Layer
Visual studio, events, logics, controls, WPF, windows controls and events, Web forms, asp.net controls, standard controls and validation controls, page life cycle, sessions, viewstate, AJAX, JQUERY, Silverlight for Mobile Apps.

Business Layer
OOPs concepts, business logic, validations, domain knowledge (high level), patterns, class development, persistence logic,

Data Access Layer
ADO.Net technology, ORMs such Entity framework, LINQ to SQL, NHibernate, creation of dlls,

Data Layer
Database concepts, writing stored procedures, setting relationship between tables, tables creation, validation rules, setting primary keys, normalizing.

As you will have observed, the skills sets are varied and it is difficult for a single individual IT professional to master all of the skills listed. However, an individual who gets all the basics of each of the above skill will command a high price in the Job market and will approach a job with much enthusiasm, and also be able to take up a leadership role.

The steps to develop a Web Application are:

Acquire Domain Knowledge
Create Data Layer
Create Data access layer
Create Business Layer
Create Presentation Layer
Create reports

Acquiring domain knowledge is the first step. A programmer developing a Web ASP software should be aware of what functionality the application is going to achieve. What data it will accept, and where - in which table the data is going to be saved. Armed with the domain knowledge, the database and tables have to be created. With the data layer ready it is possible to create the Data Layer. The next step is to create the Business Layer which will contain all the code to enforce the business logic and rules. The last step is to create the Presentation Layer and finally the reports which can be considered as an independent module.

The colleges and universities which offer a course on Web Application Development.

NC State Univerisity - Develop Web Application using Visual Studio
A detailed course content is given along with dates. This is a Five day course. The domain which will be used has not been mentioned.

University of Washington - Continuing Professional Education - Advanced Web Application Development
A course in Web App Development spread over Nine months, charging a fees of $2500+.

Wichita State University - Microsoft Training Academy
A set of courses with intense focus on Microsoft related products.

Dominican University - Windows and Web based Application development
A regular course, with 4 and 3 credits. A brief description is only given. We will have to look at the detailed content to see whether it is truly Web Application development.

University of California - Irvine
A comprehensive course, with Visual Studio as the tool, lasting less than a month, carrying a fee of $700+. Covers mostly ASP.Net and ADO.Net technologies, which means - Presentation Layer and Data Access Layer.

Madison Technical College - Web Application Development using ASP.Net
This is a ASP.Net specific course, lasting a full three months, covering ADO.Net, and a bit of databases.

When searching for Web Application courses, I was expecting that not many colleges would offer Web Application Development courses. From a brief scan it appears as if colleges are recognizing the need for teaching end to end application development for the Web. Of course, private training institutes do offer these courses, with a high fee. Universities will be able to offer at a lower cost, but find it difficult to hire faculty as knowledge of End to End Web Application development is a prized know-how, and such professionals are paid highly.

Where can you buy Microsoft Software in India

noreply@blogger.com (Krishna K) — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 14:38:00 +0000

Buying Microsoft Software in India has become easier now, as compared to earlier days when we had to depend on the retailers for list prices. Microsoft has listed all their products on their website - Microsoft India from where you can easily order.

Not just software, you can buy a Microsoft HTC Windows Mobile too.

Bill Gates Speaks at Harvard - Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Krishna K) — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 10:47:00 +0000

Bill Gates Speaks at Harvard

noreply@blogger.com (Krishna K) — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 10:43:00 +0000

America is different. Harvard, Stanford, MIT...

Steve Jobs Speech at Stanford 2005

noreply@blogger.com (Krishna K) — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 10:08:00 +0000

Steve Jobs Speech at Stanford 2005 - a must for everyone.

TechEd 2011 India

noreply@blogger.com (Krishna K) — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 06:59:00 +0000

Microsoft finally Announces TechEd 2011.

in Bangalore from March 23-25th.

March 23rd, 2011 - Wednesday
March 24th, 2011 - Thursday
March 25th, 2011 - Friday

http://www.microsoftteched.in/

Fees:

Developer Track : Rs.7000/- and Rs. 5000 for those who pay before 11th Feb 2011.
Architect Track : Rs. 9000/- and Rs. 7000 for those who pay before 11th Feb 2011.

(as per the web site, there seems to be some confusion on the dates and fees. expect it to be sorted out soon).

Register here - REGISTRATION

Do you have anything to add? Do comment.

Pagerank Update 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Krishna K) — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 01:23:00 +0000

Every three months or so, SEO experts all over the world look forward to Google Page Rank update. This reflects the latest rank of how Google views your site.

But, I can say with almost 100% certainty that Page Rank update is an ongoing activity. One of our internal pages was updated recently with a tiny Page Rank.

However, I also feel that a major update is something which happens every three months or so and is due anytime now in Jan 2011. This is by looking at the changes in Webmaster Tools. Before an major update happens, the number of 'not found pages' increases dramatically, showing some old pages. As soon as the major update happens, the 'not found pages' vanish. However, I am not 100% certain on this. Needs to be voted on.

So, let us wait and look forward to the major update.

TechEd 2011 India

noreply@blogger.com (Krishna K) — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 04:24:00 +0000

Microsoft TechEd 2011 India

The first post for TechEd 2011 appears on the Net. Mr. Vinod Kumar, Technology Evangelist at MS, has posted asking for views and interests for the upcoming TechEd 2011. The post appears here : MS TECHED 2011 Express your views.

My interesting topics would be:

1. Windows Mobile Application Development. (News: MS now selling software and mobiles from its website MS Store.
2. Azure - What are the related technologies small companies would be interested in.
3. WPF in .Net 4
4. Networking for Developers.
5. ERP in the Cloud.
6. Windows Mobile and ERP software / Business Software.

Mr. Srinivasan who has an excellent blog writes his experience of TechEd 2010, here : http://proteans.wordpress.com/2010/04/14/experience-at-teched-2010-india/.
He has noted many positives and a few issues which organizers should look at.

Will keep track of TechEd 2011. Keep posting if you see something.

Microsoft announces WebMatrix

noreply@blogger.com (Krishna K) — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 12:30:00 +0000

Microsoft announces WebMatrix a tool to get started in developing web applications. Read full details at Scott Guthrie's blog

Visual Studio - An update

noreply@blogger.com (Krishna K) — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 04:33:00 +0000

Visual Studio

An Integrated Application Development Environment from Microsoft Corp. Present Release Visual Studio 2010 (April 2010). Visual Studio includes:

Visual C++

Visual C#

Visual Basic

Available for Free via Microsoft Dreamspark program >> DreamSpark.

Most Stable Version yet : Visual Studio 2008. Earliest Version : Visual Studio 97

Used : For Application Development

Competitors: Delphi

What you get: A code editor, where you can write code. The code editor includes intellisense feature, which is a auto completion feature. Reduces keystrokes, reduces memorization of commands and keywords.

Download site: http://www.microsoft.com/express/Downloads/#2010-All

Steps of Application Development using VC#:

1. Acquiring Domain Knowledge - Accounting, Stock, Manufacturing, Sales, Purchase.
2. Design the Database.
3. Design the Reports.
4. Design the UI.
5. Tie up the Application.

Visual Studio Jobs:

Job opportunities for Visual Studio are picking up. With the release of Visual Studio 2010s, Silverlight, and Azure operating system for the cloud Microsoft is set to retain its position in the software world. The expected release of Windows Mobile phone 7 during Christmas 2010, is expected to help MS reclaim its space in the mobile world which is occupied by Android by iPhone, and in turn create openings for Visual Studio developers.

http://jobs.codebeach.com/

http://www.careerbuilder.com

http://www.efinancialcareers.com/

http://seeker.dice.com

Interview and written test questions for .Net programmers

http://www.devbistro.com/tech-interview-questions/.NET.jsp

Visual Studio Forums:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/categories/

http://www.vbdotnetforums.com/vs-net-general-discussion/

Visual Studio Microsoft Resource:

http://www.microsoft.com/net/

Visual Studio Libraries:

http://www.spreadsheetgear.com/

Visual Studio Mobile:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsmobile/default.aspx

Visual Studio Mobile Downloads

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsmobile/bb264327.aspx

Visual Studio Books:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vcsharp/aa336795.aspx

http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Visual-Studio-Chris-Sells/dp/0596003609

http://broadcast.oreilly.com/2010/08/essential-developer-skills-ref.html

Chop Shop - Not OK, Body Shop - OK !

noreply@blogger.com (Krishna K) — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 08:48:00 +0000

The reaction of Indian media, Software companies and NASSCOM to the comment made by an American Senator is comical to say the least.

The comment - "Indian Software companies like Infosys, Satyam, Wipro, TCS are chop shops" may not be completely true. Given the scam managed for a decade or more by Satyam's Lingam Raju, we really do not know what goes on in these companies behind the facade of BPO and Call Centers.

However, the chop shop comment drew immediate protests, supported by the Govt. which was too happy to put in a few words in the media and parliament.

A chop shop is a derogatory word used to refer to outfits which steal cars - read here for a more clear explanation - Chop Shop .

A body shop, when referred to a software company, is a company which sends people to to get software work done. It is similar to a security agency which hires watchmen and sends them wherever required. However, these software companies have the capacity to get outsourced orders of high volumes, which is the beginning of the order cycle (to get this cycle going, Satyam's Raju used to quote abnormally low prices, and initially orders were done for free). There is nothing wrong till here. What is wrong comes next : claiming that there are no locals to do the job. (Indian companies go to any extent to prove that there are no locals to do the job).

Indian IT companies have been subverting this democratic and free spirited rule of America from many years.

Once orders are bagged, and ways are found to subvert the rule, it is bonanza time. All companies need to do now is, hire bright, hardworking boys and girls (youngsters, desperate for a job and with a noble objective of careers, 40% of whose parents have not passed SSLC), train them in order specific technologies and rush them to USA, get them work ready and get them back for off-shore work. Repeat this wave, till there is no requirement for local employees. Once, this stage is reached, the company (mostly banks or insurance companies) which has outsourced orders, awards bonuses, and the local chop shop sorry, I apologize, body shop outfits become millionaires.

So, Body Shop is Ok. Chop Shop ? You are wrong. Ba, Ba, Ba.....(cribbing)

Read this article on Wall Street Journal -

Windows Mobile 7

noreply@blogger.com (Krishna K) — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 05:13:00 +0000

Did you know Windows mobile 7 is due this Christmas 2010 ? Windows Phone 7 will compete with Google Android driven phones and iPhones.

The official mobile 7 website is here : Windows Mobile 7

Get the latest (and most useful) info on Windows Mobile Phone 7, here : Windows Mobile 7 blog

College Professors - Do Managements Give them their Due?

noreply@blogger.com (Krishna K) — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 09:49:00 +0000

We all tend to think that College Managements flaunt their faculty and get the best mileage out of them. But, do they? Forget about flaunting them, most college administrations prefer to hide their faculty details. Why is it? The first thing I can think of is to deny easy access to faculty. By, doing so, they are ensuring that it becomes difficult for anyone to contact professors - faculty directly. I cannot think of any other reason. If this is true, this is really sad. I visited about 20 college websites and the faculty pages to see how Professor profiles are listed. Here is what I found. I suggest you visit the pages and see for yourselves. I have listed the URL for each college.

College / Institute

IISc
IISc is one of the top institutes of the world. Befitting its status, IISc has a separate URL for each of its departments, and a page listing all faculty of a particular department. The faculty of Mechanical Engineering department are listed here : Faculty - Mechanical Engineering Department -. Another interesting website for engineers would be the Aerospace website - click here : Aerospace Department . On this site, you will see a Photo of LCA (Light Combat Aircraft) taking off. You will also see, in the menu - PEOPLE option. The department by giving a prominent position to list the details of people who matter in the department, has shown the way,

You will also see, on the home page IISc, names and photographs of all past Directors of the institute. It shows the institute is proud of its past, and willing to recognize the same.

The question is : Are other institutes willing to follow? Read on...

Indian Institute of Technology IIT Kharagpur
The second URL for IIT Kharagpur in Google.com SERPs is working. Here it is - http://www.iitkgp.ac.in/.

The India flag colors are obvious on the website. Past directors on the homepage? No show. The Alumini page is also a no show. Now, let us look for faculty. For this we have to visit each department's website. Let us see the Aerospace page : Aerospace Department . You will notice that Faculty page is down at the 7th link and it displays the following page : Faculty Aerospace IIT Kharagpur . It looks OK, but a brief of each Professor's profile would do a world of good. On clicking a prof's name, you will go to the Professor's profile. Fine.

One aspect you will notice is that, unlike the IISc website, IIT Kharagpur have designed a standard template and all department's have put in their info. Even the pics are in same place. A bit bland for such a premier institution.

Indian Institute of Technology IIT Mumbai
Indian Institute of Technology IIT Mumbai is premier engineering college and their website IIT Mumbai works fine. When you click on the departments page Departments - you will see a list of departments and links to each one. You will also see some scrambled text. If you ignore that and go to say, AEROSPACE page, you are greeted an impressive welcome page, with lots detail. Faculty are listed in the PEOPLE section, just as in IISc pages, and full details of each faculty is given.

No past directors on the home page - nor an easy and prominent link to the present director's page.

Navigation is difficult, accessing director's profile directly is not possible - you have to see the department page.

Indian Institute of Technology IIT Delhi
IIT Delhi website - homepage is impressive. An Award given in 2009 to a faculty to displayed prominently. One click takes you to the administration page. IIT Delhi has a Chairman and a Director, all their names are listed. Each department has a unique URL. Some departments have left out links to home page of the parent website.

Space given to each faculty is minimal. Very brief. The photographs of faculty occupies a much larger space
than their accomplishments.

No revealing of former directors. No Luminaries.

Indian Institute of Technology IIT Kanpur
IIT Kanpur website works very well - see here - IIT Kanpur - each department gets its own website URL and a different format. Faculty are listed prominently. Some names are listed twice, once from the home page and next from the department page.

Awards won by Faculty are listed on the homepage. Academic achievements of each faculty are not listed in detail, which is essential for any educational institute, as shown by IISc and IIT Mumbai websites.

Indian Institute of Technology IIT Madras
IIT M has a website which looks good - IIT Madras . Includes a slide show. Has detailed Alumini website with a listing of all major donors.

Faculty exposure? Very good. Each faculty has a individual page, contact info, and academic qualifications, and achievements. Each department has a unique URL.

However, past directors are given a brief mention in one of the sub pages, and present director is not given a prominent place.

Indian Institute of Technology IIT Roorkee
IIT Roorkee website shows an impressive building to start with. See it here : IIT Roorkee. However, we are discussing about the importance given to Faculty on websites. If you will notice, each department of has a different website - the college of Computers and Telecommunications is listed as : Electronics and Computer Engineering. Each faculty is listed in fair detail : HOD of computer science is listed here : HOD

Past directors and popular personalities associated with the Institute are mentioned in great detail (comparitively) here : Luminaries. Good and is close to IISc website.

CUSAT Cochin Cochin Institute of Science and Technology
The direct link to the institute's website is : CUSAT. However, the official website of the Institute is : CUSAT - official . Suppose, you land up the site : CUSAT - the only way to go to the official site is by clicking the Institute pic (I assume it is the pic of the institute) on the top right hand side.

On entering the official website, you will notice a list of all the people who matter in the institute - the Chancellor to the Pro Chancellor. ( A pro chancellor a is post in Universities, frequently seen in common wealth countries, and he/she acts as a deputy to the Chancellor). A Vice Chancellor is the executive head of the University.

This institute has listed its Chancellor and Pro Chancellor in full detail, but little about its VC who is the man who should matter.

Each department (College) gets its own website and the website of Engineering school is : School of Engineering. From here you can traverse to the Computer Department - and from there you can access the list of faculty. And as we can sense the trend, faculty are listed very briefly, no pics expect for Mr. Vinod Kumar. Not much importance to its "People".

Indian Institute of Technology IIT Guwahati
The first thing that strikes you is the compact and impressive layout of the IIT Guwahati website. In fact, the overall layout on first impression is the best we have seen. There is a separate comprehensive phone directory, which is not to be seen even in top websites of this list. A brief description of the past occupations of the Administration is to be appreciated. Faculty heads are listed in order in a separate list which is very handy.

Each department gets its own directory, and the Department of Computer Science listed here : Computer Science. All faculty get their own webpages with a detailed listing of their profile and interests.

College of Engineering Anna University
College of Eng. Anna University is an Eng. college has given a separate website for the Department of Computer Science. I cannot easily find the luminaries of this college on the website. A listing of all the faculty of the department is here : Faculty at Department of Computer .

However, not much of their interests, specialization, is listed or revealed.

Being a premier University of the South India, Anna would do well to include a detailed bio of each professor, and list of luminaries associated with the University.

BITS Pilani
BITS pilani is a premier Engineering institute of India. Their website is compact and clear. However, you do not see a luminaries list. Each department is given a separate section, and the computer science department is listed here : Computer Science Department.

Details of faculty is minimal - and can be seen here : Faculty of Computer Science

BITS Pilani - Hyderabad Campus
BITS Pilani - Hyderabad, the name is confusing. It should have been BITS Hyderabad. It smacks of superiority complex on the part of BIT management to include the name Pilani - in all of its institutes.

It is a recent Institute, so no Luminaries, but, does a better job of listing its faculty. Each faculty is given an individual page, with a photograph and details of qualification and other interests.

BHU Varnasi
BHU is one of the earliest Universities. Has a hoary past and heritage . Neatly laid out website, pics are old and reveal a very dull outlook. A better camera could do a world of good.

Being one of the earliest University, BHU should have a long list of luminaries. But, I could not see one. Faculty of the computer science department are listed here: Faculty. Not much details to browse.

PSG College of Technology and Polytechnic
PSG college Coimbatore, is an old and popular Engineering College in the South of India. Their website is listed here : PSG Coimbatore . This is the first database driven website, we have come across in this list. You can access the faculty details easily from the home page. However, not much details can be had from the website about the faculty. A listing of all the faculty of the Computer Department is here : Faculty Computer Department.

No listing of luminaries.

National Institute of Technology/REC, Trichy
NIT REC is a premier institute of India. The home page is simple in design - NIT Trichy. The computer department is listed as a separate section. Faculty page of the Computer Science department can be easily accessed. Each Professor is given a separate page - but the details of each faculty is in brief.

I can somehow sense that we have already seen the best websites or are there surprises?

S J C of Engineering Mysore
SJCE Mysore has a decent and updated website - SJCE. A list of faculty can be seen on the faculty page - Faculty at SJCE. You will notice that Administrative staff, and Faculty are listed on the same page. Each department gets a unique page : Computer Department.

However, you will not find any detail of staff at SJCE from the website. No luminaries from the institution.

You will find the Swami's message, and Principal's message.

Let us move on to another college in Mysore

NIE Mysore
NIE Mysore, is an institution of long standing and its website home page has to two pictures, like a travel website. NIE Mysore . Menus are clearly laid out. Each department gets separate section, and Computer Science department is listed here : CS Department. Pictures of the computer lab show that the lab has been renovated recently and computers are of a more recent origin!

However, the importance given to faculty is minimal with no photograph, no details except a bland listing.

PES Institute of Technology (Bangalore)
PES Institute of Tech Bangalore has an impressive home page. You can straight away jump to the department page. Listing of faculty is at the bottom and difficult to find. Very brief information is available about the achievements and interests of each faculty.

UVCE Bangalore
UVCE Bangalore website has a very simple appearance. Faculty can be accessed easily. The Principal has his own website. Each faculty has a pdf attachment to his / her name. No luminaries for such a premier institution. The founder Sir M.Visweswaraya is listed prominently, which is the saving grace of an otherwise dull website.

Sardar Patel College Mumbai
Sardar Patel College Mumbai is a premier institute and its website has a very staid appearance. No luminaries from the college are listed. Each department gets a separate section but very brief listing of all staff. The inauguration function is listed in detail.

JNTU Hyderabad
JNTU Hyderabad has an impressive website. Each department gets a separate section. No listing of luminaries. But each faculty gets a separate listing with a pdf file file listing of all their interests. Good, but opening of pdf takes time and first pages in the pdf are not listed properly which is a let down.

Hartcourt Butler Technological Institute Kanpur
Hartcourt Butler Technological Institute Kanpur Hartcourt institute's website has an impressive first appearance. Only the deans are listed - no detailed listing of staff.

NIE Warangal
NIE Warangal has an 70 mm wide website. In this age of ready templates and so many college students who can create web sites, a bland website does not highlight the greatness of this institution. The college website is listed here : NIE warangal. Not much importance to the Faculty either, which is listed here: Faculty computer science

NIE Suratkal
Has well laid out website - NIE Suratkal. No luminaries listed nor detailed faculty pages.

VNIT Nagpur
Instead of luminaries, the college has taken pains to list inspirational videos by famous personalities, and the one by Steve Jobs is apt for Engineers - you can see it here : Steve at Stanford University.

Each department gets a separate section and the faculty are listed in very very brief. Not very inspirational.

Conclusion:
Only the top institutes of India have cared to list details of their Faculty. This is not very good sign. Colleges and Institutions is all about teachers and research. When we are proud of something, we flaunt it. Just like a peacock!. By not listing their faculty interests and achievements in greater detail - Institute managements convey a message that they would rather prefer public not know much about their faculty.

You have a comment? Go ahead post by clicking on the comment section given below.

Moving SQL Server Database from one machine to another

noreply@blogger.com (Krishna K) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 05:34:00 +0000

Moving SQL Server Database from one machine to another

Copy, .bak file to your machine.
Open Sql Server 2005 Management studio.
Right click on the Databases node and select Restore database option.
The Restore Database window will appear.
Select or type FinAccounting in the 'To database:' field.
Under Source for restore, select the From device radio button.
Click the button next to the textbox to select the device to restore from.
The Specify Backup window will appear.
Click Add and locate and select the backup file from the Locate Backup File Window.
Click OK.
Under Select the backup sets to restore, select restore check box.
In the left pane, select Options.
Under Recovery state, ensure that the Restore with Recovery radio button is selected.
Click OK to begin restoring the database.

If the above procedure does not work, then follow the below alternative.

Copy, .bak file to your machine.
Create a database and give it the same name : FinAccounting
Then right click on the database name and select restore option
The Restore Database window will appear.
Select FinAccounting in the 'To database:' field.
Under Source for restore, select the From device radio button.
Click the button next to the textbox to select the device to restore from.
The Specify Backup window will appear.
Click Add and locate and select the backup file from the Locate Backup File Window.
Click OK.
Under Select the backup sets to restore, select restore check box.
In the left pane, select Options and under restore option select the 'Overwrite the existing database'.
Click OK to begin restoring the database.

If you are interested in SQL Server related topics, see the articles under the SQL Server label.

If you have comments do post them.

Infosys - new take on Enterprise Architecture...

noreply@blogger.com (Krishna K) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 03:48:00 +0000

Recently, Infosys published a news item stating that there is a shift - more and more companies are using Enterprise Architecture to enable business transformation efforts. Business transformation could be towards adopting new businesses and the required processes or adopting better businesses processes.

I asked my colleague what she thinks of this press report. She simply brushed it aside stating it as another gimmick of NRN to convince companies to go for EA software. And she added, 'as a programmer i fail to understand how companies can achieve best business practices by going for a particular software. If you extend the logic, there are so many great business practises and software out there, will using all the softwares get you all business processes?' Good point. Coming from a programmer, it is all the more credible. With this answer, i felt there was no need to complete this post. But, as always, here i go.

What Infosys wants us (more so the companies) to be convinced of is that more and more companies are using Enterprise Architecture to transform their businesses. If this was true, all that the companies needed to do was start installing software and hardware on an enterprise scale and transform their businesses.

In fact, Enterprise Architecture has been in use from many years and .Net from MS was a big effort to enable seamless implementation of Enterprise Software. No wonder .Net is hot in USA drawing anywhere from 65$ per hour to 200$ per hour depening on the expertise.

What companies are looking for are Enterprise Architects who can be involved at the strategic level. Wiki describes an EArchitect as one who can understand the company's business processes and match it up with the IT Infrastructure.

Microsoft, in its article on Enterprise Architecture has stressed the importance of an architecural view of the company's sytems. With the advent of SAAS and online software packages, we are seeing the need for macro view, as this can greatly reduce redundant expenditure and enable more integration.

In the conclusion given above (in bold), business transformation can mean many things and it is misleading to state that Enterprise Architecture can help in business transformation efforts.

Related info:

Enterprise Architecture Standards

Infosys 2007 and 2005 survey pdfs

Microsoft guide to programmers building E A Software

How programmers can beat the slowdown..

noreply@blogger.com (Krishna K) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 04:34:00 +0000

It is now clear that there is a marked slowdown everywhere. Rising unemployment in US, shrinking economies and lesser demand world over.

And, IT is no exception. In this scenario what should be the objectives of fresh programmers? Programmers should identify three overall objectives during this slowdown. Firstly, which is the area in IT which will pick up first? If you were to ask for my vote, I would say, Database Programming for the domain ERP as applicable to Manufacturing companies and as applicable to Telecom. I would say, given the chaos in the US financial segment, this area, though it is the larger job provider, manufacturing and telecom are a better bet. Programmers should start checking whether they would like to work in such an environment. If yes, they should select software tools which are widely used such as VB.Net, C#, SQL Server, PHP and start acquiring core competencies in these tools.

Secondly, programmers should consider undergoing a training program from a non established provider. The reason is, today it is not where you got the training from which matters. It is what you know. So, check out for a qualified teacher in your area, get yourselves convinced about the syllabus and go for it.

Thirdly, think of buying a second or third rung computer or renting one for a month or two and starting learning from the beginning. Note that the online Microsoft manual is a very important resource and you should read from that source to acquire knowledge. Along with these three, a few more ..

Fourth, start a blog on blooger.com or wordpress.com and start writing what all you have learnt and the sources you have used.

Fifth, locate a Microsoft user group near your place and start participating. This is the best place get inside info on placements.

Sixth, start scouting job ads and note down the hot jobs coming up. This will give you a feel of the job market.

Search the net for free/low priced resources. Books, pdfs, online stuff, all these go a long way to help you in need. Do not forget the forums.

Eight, learn how to search for the required info on google. This is very important when you are stuck in a project and need some quick and crucial info on a particular feature or function.

How many have lost jobs in Bangalore during 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Krishna K) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 10:01:00 +0000

Difficult to tell exactly. But, informed sources say around 10000. More are in the IT sector. Which segment is attracting the pink slips. It is the 1-3 yrs experienced programmers.

Major companies like HCL, INFOSYS and WIPRO are announcing a slew of measures to cut costs. With the downturn in the finance / banking business in US, these companies are in for difficult times.

With the laying off picking up, the real estate sector has taken a severe beating. Foreclosures, are happening in India too.

Will Outsourcing to India STOP finally...

noreply@blogger.com (Krishna K) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 09:54:00 +0000

Outsourcing to India, or Bangaloreod (a word used to convey a loss of job due to outsourcing) has been music to some and not so for many.

Job seekers in US have found it tough to compete with Indians working on a low pay both in US and in India. But, now it looks like the Govt. of US has woken up and is emphasizing on retaining jobs in US and creating new jobs which cannot be outsourced.

Powers in US are conveying that it is not enough to have profitable companies, it is necessary to provide employment. If this trend continues, outsourcing of labor intensive jobs might reduce resulting in tougher times for companies which are built on low cost business model.

IT Companies and PR.

noreply@blogger.com (Krishna K) — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 06:14:00 +0000

In my work, I am constantly checking out the incoming links and other seo parameters of a company / website. It is interesting to see the financial performance of a company and check the company's history. Sometimes, i wonder, how do these companies do so well ? Obviously, they have other marketing means. But, what we will focus on is a comparison of the website and the financial performance.

To make things easier, i will follow the following format:

a.Name of Company:
b.Sales reported - Website / Newspaper:
c.Services offered:
d.Pagerank:
e.Incoming links:
f.Number of pages:
g.Created date:

1. The first company we will see is :

a.Name of Company: moberasystems.com/ (Mobera Syst)
b.Sales reported - Website / Newspaper: $100 million - 2006-2007
c.Services offered: security, networking, wireless gaming, medical communications
d.Pagerank: 2
e.Incoming links: 2(google)
f.Number of pages: 90
g.Created date: 2000
h.Number of staff: Not revealed

- Newspaper reports say- company was started in 2000
- If the website was created in 2000 (confirmed by whois regstry check, the minimum pagerank would have been 4, considering that google gives a pagerank based on age.

2.
a.Name of Company: safaltek.com
b.Sales reported - Website / Newspaper: Not yet stated
c.Services offered: security, networking, wireless gaming, medical communications
d.Pagerank: GREY
e.Incoming links: 0 (google)
f.Number of pages: 66
g.Created date: 2006-03-01
h.Number of staff: Not revealed

-started in 2006 and no rank yet

My First Web Service

noreply@blogger.com (Krishna K) — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 04:09:00 +0000

I have been entrusted with the task of programming a web service using Visual Basic / C#. The task is simply "program a web service using visual basic and c#". This task was given to me on the first of this month.

I have also been told that Ms. Bharathi who is the senior most programmer will be available to help me out - only on phone or email !

Looks like crossing a forest, with no paths !

I will make an assessment will be back with more.

Aish