Water, water everywhere?

Ah.. healthy competition

boy, do ilike healthy competition..
and i like the way zoho and google docs compete against each other and the market..

zoho, using google gears for its offline features and thanking them in their official youtube vedios, and,
google, interviewing zoho ppl on their official channel and using the same open source technology- google gears- for their offline version of docs!!!

cool eh??

Open Source Propaganda...

Remember the principal shortcomings of the GNU/Linux based Operating systems?
Well, they were:
1. Difficulty in adding new software and,
2. Lack of well known, widely used, user friendly & industry standard software.

These shortcomings greatly limited the spread and adoption of a very beautiful OS that was more efficient, reliable and stable than its chief competitor- Windows.
Lets see how our FLOSS developers managed/are managing to overcome these problems:

Shortcoming 1: Difficulty in adding new software
With the advent of:
1. Package managers such as synaptic, etc.(which give you complete control over your system's software, yet maintaining ease of use),

2. Things such as CnR and One-Click Install, and

3. The traditional download a single package and double click to install, this problem is truly passé.

Gone are the days when one had to compile from source every time they wanted a new piece of software.. phew!

Shortcoming 2:Lack of well known, widely used, user friendly & industry standard software
Note: this one's got a fairly looong explanation

Rewind October 2003: Apple releases its acclaimed iTunes music management software with support for windows 2000 and xp. Coupled with the ipod (the only respectable portable media player of the time), iTunes quickly rises in popularity amongst windows users, who begin to much prefer it over the native Windows Media Player due to its ease of use and better features (not to mention the less technical name, Windows Media Player, phew!)

Soon, this makes people want to know more about the creators of their favourite jukebox. This leads them to know and learn more about Apple, and subsequently the OS X. Inquisitiveness leads them to try out the OS, and many -who prefer its ways, and are adventurous enough- make the switch. The folks at apple quickly realise this and even start a sales propaganda: "Know iTunes? You know Mac"

So, what do our open source developers have to learn from this??
No matter how good a software you create, without substantial market share and general interoperability with the market leader, you and your software aren't getting anywhere!

Enter Firefox (internet browser), Thunderbird (e-mail client), Miro (internet television), VLC media player, open office, Pidgin (IM client), etc.

Now then, what do all these softwares have in common? For one, they're all open source, and, they're all cross-platform applications that support most of the industry standard and the not-so industry standard formats. They work on windows and mac and give the average user an idea of what open source software is!

Now, imagine using these apps on windows/mac and then shifting to Ubuntu Linux... doesn't seem so daunting a task now does it?

Well, that now, my friends, is the Open source propaganda! To create world class apps for all platforms, making them widely accepted so that shifting to Linux is a piece of cake! And trust me, it is!

Take my experience as an example:
I bought a centrino duo (which has almost all open source drivers) based laptop a few months ago, while my friend bought a better by design based laptop.
I installed Ubuntu 7.10 while he installed Vista Ultimate.
Now, while most ofmy drivers were automatically configured, he had to manually download and install them.
Also, he had to get a lot of additional software such as an office suite, iTunes (for his ipod), an antivirus, a divx player et all.. While in my case, most of the required utilities came preinstalled. In case of some required codecs, my system would automatically prompt me to install them, I didn't have to restart my box after every update (only once to date), nor have I defragmented my disc to date! As for the antivirus, don't even get me started about it!!

“Water Wars are here now: One killed in Amravati.”

“UK may suffer worst drought in 100 years.”

“Apocalypse Now? Global warming putting pressure on scarce water resources.”

“Soon water will be as expensive as ghee: Magsaysay winner.”

These are some of the headlines that appeared in leading dailies over the last 2 months alone. How many of us remember having seen them let alone having read them in detail?
For most of us water, like air, is something we take for granted. An abundant resource that is available 24 x 7.
Sure, the municipal supply is limited for a few hours. But all it takes is a one-time investment in storage tanks and a reliable pump to ensure a lifetime of assured supply, isn’t it?
But is it really? Not if we were to listen to what the experts have to say.
The situation, it appears is serious. Grave enough to make your mouth go dry.

And the problem is not restricted to Mumbai city alone. It stretches right across the globe. From the middle-east to Western USA. From UK to Bangladesh.
Sample this - A UN regional co-ordinator for West Asia – Dr Adel Farid Abdel-Kader has warned that Bahrain and other countries in the region could face water scarcity, land and marine degradation very soon, if they continue to ignore environmental sustainability and be driven by profit-centric goals alone.

In the western part of USA, an area called the Colorado River Basin – that stretches from Wyoming to Arizona – is experiencing its worst drought recorded in at least the last 500 years. Rivers in this region are at their lowest levels ever.
The river basin is a major source of water for many cities including Las Vegas, Phoenix and Los Angeles. Entire ecosystems depend on this water, as do ranchers and many other people who live and work in the area.
A prolonged drought would have disastrous consequences.

Moving to Europe, parts of England could this year face their worst drought in 100 years.
Kent – the “Garden of England” is drying up along with Sussex and other surrounding counties in the southeast. Underwater aquifers and reservoirs are witnessing their lowest levels since 1921.
Barbara Young, chief executive of the Environment Agency in England and Wales says – “We are in a serious situation now, where both the environment and our water supplies are at risk.”
Environment Minister Elliot Morley acknowledged that measures such as hosepipe bans and restrictions on non-essential water use were on the cards.

Mexico City (population - 20 million) is sinking because excessive use is depleting underground water faster than the aquifers can be refilled.
Texas city is fast moving towards privatising sale of water. However, the water is expected to be sourced from aquifers that are rapidly depleting anyway and nobody seems to know where future supplies will come from once these go dry.
Closer home in Bangladesh, we are witness to what is termed as “the largest poisoning of a population in history” with 35 to 77 million people drinking water that is laced with arsenic.

Some pundits predict that future wars will be fought over water than oil. India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have long-standing disputes over river water sharing with no resolution in sight. So does Turkey with Syria and Iraq. The list is endless.

A recent UN report paints a grim picture. Based on data received from NASA and WHO it predicts more than half of the world’s population will be living with inadequate water, depleted fisheries and polluted coastlines 50 years from now.

Whilst leading governments and international agencies are working to seek long-term solutions to fix this problem how can we as individuals prevent this doomsday scenario from ever happening?

If you were Shekar Kapoor, you could launch a futuristic film that deals with a bloody battle between a city’s rich and the poor over control of scarce water resources.

Or you could simply resolve to become more aware and do your bit by saving every precious drop.

Beginning with fixing that leaking flush tank. Or spending 5 minutes less under the shower
And taking your distant cousin to a mall rather than to a water park. (How about a starting a movement against water parks?). After all there’s no substitute for water, yet, and you wouldn’t want to pay the price of oil for a glass of water would you?