John’s Blog-o-Rama

One of these days microsoft will figure it out: their Windows desktop operating systems are now a commodity. In the news today is the announcement that Microsoft has released Windows XP Starter Edition, which is a stripped-down, limited-capability version of Windows XP. Why would anyone ever pay for this trash, when you can get the full Windows XP for free via pirating? Or you could get a fully-featured Linux distribution with more software than you could ever get with Windows? I see no reason why anyone in a developing country would ever shell out any money for that. I think the days are numbered for Microsoft riding the Windows cash cow. My prediction is that for their next OS after Longhorn, they’ll be giving it away for free, and that Office will be included for free as well.

Or maybe this is just a smokescreen to say that they tried?

Finally received my luggage, only 4 days late! I had the toughest time this week getting my suitcase transferred here to Bangalore from Chennai. First, I couldn’t find anyone to talk to on Sunday when I arrived, since the BA counter is closed in Chennai, so I had to wait until Monday to talk to anyone. Then it took most of the today to get a response back from British Airways that they had my luggage and would send it. Finally they told me that it would be sent within 48 hours on and Indian Airlines flight, but they didn’t know exactly when. So I waited 2 days and called up yesterday and found that it had finally arrived. So then this morning Charles (co-worker here in Bangalore) took me over to the airport to pick it up. However, they wouldn’t let me into the airport because I didn’t have a lost baggage ticket, so we had to talk to an airport administrator, Indian Airlines managers, and the head of airport security to finally get into the Baggage Services office for Indian Airlines. I was relieved to finally see my suitcase, but then we had to go clear it through customs, which is essentially an X-ray scan. After 2 hours at the airport, I finally had my stuff.

Stomach hasn’t been so good lately…I think it’s all the Indian food. I’ve been trying to eat more “American” food, but even that has its own Indian flare. Hopefully I won’t have this problem for long, but I’m gonna be sick of Indian food for a while.

On the positive side, I’m having a good time getting to know the Dell Linux team here in Bangalore. We’re having some really good discussions on how to improve our testing processes, and I think we’ll really be solid for our next projects. I’m also learning a lot about India, its people, and its history. It’s really interesting to learn the background of why people are the way they are, and this trip is giving me a really good insight into the Indian culture. I definitely need to travel abroad more often.

I made it to Bangalore early this morning after over 24 hours of travel to work with our Dell Linux team for the next 2 weeks. I connected to Chicago, London, Chennai, and then Bangalore, and the flights went pretty well. Flew AA to Chicago and London, British Airways to Chennai, and then Jet Airways to Bangalore. I have to say that I’m EXTREMELY impressed with British Airways and how they treat their customers. The business class seat I had was awesome (full recline, lots of privacy, large selection of entertainment), and it seems like they actually care about your well-being. I will definitely fly them whenever I can in the future.

After getting to India, though, things didn’t go as well. The one suitcase I checked didn’t make it, and I spent all day trying to get ahold of Britsh Airways in Mumbai and Chennai. I’m guessing they were closed since nobody ever answered the phone, Guess I’ll try tomorrow. Unfortunately I don’t have much patience for things like that, so I was upset all day long.

Some first impressions of India:

• I can see why FOB Indians seem like such awful drivers in the US: they’re used to driving in a completely manner from what we do. The main streets here in Bangalore are about 2 lanes wide either way, but nobody pays attention to them. Most cars here are tiny, including LOTS of motorcycles and mopeds all over. People here just weave in and out of traffic whenever/wherever they can, honking and flashing their lights contantly. There is no right of way, other than whomever gets their first has it
• People here are a little pushy and impatient. I don’t know how many people tried it cut in front of me today when I was standing in lines, If you’re not aggressive at trying to keep your place in line, you lose your spot. A lot like the traffic
• Being in a new place so different from the US makes me feel uncomfortable. It’s been a while since I’ve been somewhere this different, so I was a little uneasy today getting around and interacting with people. Luckily most people here speak very good English, so that makes things a lot easier. Hopefully I’ll relax a little as I get used to the place
• After only one day here, I’ve learned to always look like I know where I’m going and what I’m doing. If you look even a little uncertain, the vultures start to swarm over you to take advantage somehow. My main experience with this was at the airport when I first walked out and cabbies were all over me. Luckily I now have the confident look down pat.

Looking forward to meeting all of the guys on the team tomorrow at the Development Center here in Bangalore. More info and pictures to follow soon.

I loved the movie Fight Club (one of my all-time favorites), which is based on a book of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk. It was an extremely well-acted and well-written story that made some very interesting observations on consumerism and the state of American culture today, and as well as had some very dark humor and shocking scenes. I’ve seen it over and over during the past several years, and it always entertains. So now every time I see or hear the name “Chuck Palahniuk”, I pay attention.

So I was reading Boing Boing a few weeks ago, and I saw a post about an NPR interview with Chuck. So I downloaded the interview from the link and listened to it over a few days (it was 45 minutes long). It gave a lot of insight into how he writes and approaches stories, what his mindset is and what his motivations are. One thing he mentioned was as short story from his new book, Haunted, called “Guts”, that he reads often on his book tour. Apparently, whenever he reads it, people seem to faint because of the horror. Now I found that hard to believe, but I was curious, so I found a website that had the story and read it. Now I didn’t pass out, but I’d be hard pressed to find a better combination of “imaginative”, “disgusting”, and “horrifying” in any other story in all of literature. It’s certainly not for the easily-sickened or faint-hearted, but entertaining nonetheless. Needless to say I just bought a copy of Haunted, so we’ll see how many other stories like that it has. I’ll just make sure I don’t eat before reading it.

I was out at Best Buy this weekend and saw the new Audioslave album, Out of Exile, was on the shelves, so I bought it. I’m not a big fan of handing over money to the RIAA consortium, but this band is one of a handful that is worth the money. I was a huge fan of Soundgarden in the 90’s, and somewhat of a Rage Against the Machine fan as well, so there really wasn’t any question that I would enjoy Audioslave. I loved their self-titled first album, so I had high expectations for the second one.

When Chuchu and I first walked out of Best Buy and got into the car, we popped in the album and played it “Chuchu style”, meaning we listened to about the first 30 seconds of each song, played it at medium volume, and skipped through the whole thing (no, she’s not a rock fan). Listening to it like that, I was a little worried about liking the album, since it seemed a little soft from only hearing the beginnings of the songs. However, after Chuchu went home later that day, I played it “John style”, meaning I turned up the volume and bass and played the album so that it makes the house/car shake, and the true nature of the album exploded at me. Now after listening to it for a few days and losing a little bit of hearing, I can honestly say that the new album is awesome, maybe even better than the first. The title track “Out of Exile”, is definitely my favorite so far, but like a lot of great bands, my initial favorite never ends up being my favorite on the album (”Like a Stone” was the initial fav on the first, but I now feel “Gasoline” was the best). The rest of the album is solid also…I’m sure I’ll be playing this for several months to come.