Srikanth Raghavan

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Recent posts by Srikanth Raghavan

May be I just can't figure out where the link is, I went to "My Profile" and I couldn't find any such link. May be I will just leave if there is no "Close account" link.

I have a reason for deciding to go: I think the moderators have become too strict and self centered. They just can't take good criticism or appreciate debates. They remind me of my old school teachers who punish kids or not let them go the bathroom. I have been observing this for a long time and I have had too much of this in the Windows vs other Operating Systems thread.

To one of my arguments in the same thread, the moderator replied this:

If your friend's developers "struggle to find out where things have gone in Linux" then I might humbly suggest that they're undeserving of the moniker.

In any event, at this point I am just so annoyed by this thread that I'm going to close it so I don't have to listen to the nonsense anymore.



And he did close the thread. I don't want to debate any further, and I don't care if the moderator is right or wrong. I'm moving just out to a better community (for me).

-- Srikanth
16 years ago
Wow, this is fun. But here is the verdict. Windows wins.

Windows wins because:

1) It is easier to use: If you disagree, then you are doing nothing but "simply" disagreeing. You are in denial, and you will continue to hate Windows and god save you. I don't have the time to convince you.

For those you are ready to listen, I have a story.

I know a very small company who use Windows and I had this question for the founder: Why don't you use Linux and save money? He said, he would rather spend $150 than wasting the developers' time in figuring out some stupid thing (like trying to install a software).

And Windows definitely has a better way of installing software. Yes, I know that registry thing is a big crap but do you really think my grand mom has anything to do with regedt32.exe? (She doesn't even know that it exists. That's the problem for developers.)

In Windows, the installation is almost always Installer.exe -> Next -> Next -> Next -> Finish. NullSoft Installer System is a beauty.

I have seen developers struggling with Linux to find out where the apache installation has gone. There is this /usr/lib, there is /etc/, there is /var/log/, and there is this /usr/bin. And apache files are all over the place. In Windows you have "/Program Files/Your Software" and you find almost everything related to it there inside.

And there is only one Desktop Manager in Windows: the explorer. It has "Start -> Programs", a Desktop, and a Quick Launch. The idea is not very simple but consistent. Now think about the same for Linux. You have Gnome, KDE, XFCE. Every distribution does in its own way. And now, you have stuff like Beryl, Compiz Fusion, blah blah. I have lost track of it. I don't care, just give me a consistent UI damnit.

You know the problem? Choice. Simply too many. You can say the same for Windows but how many users do you think install a separate browser? For them, Internet ExploDer is the Internet.

Huh, Jamie Zawinski has problems with Linux: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001089.html


2) Cheaper than Mac: OK, Mac users claim that Mac has a better usability but come on guys, many people can't afford a Mac. I have never used or could afford a Mac. Windows' price strikes a right balance for people to buy.

3) It serves the majority: The majority here is client operating systems or desktop or whatever you call them. It is the OS used by the ordinary mortals. Sure, *nix wins in server market that's because the server market is targetted towards programmers and sys-admins. But even for application programmers, I guess Visual Studio is good and C# implemented many features before Java did. (When are we going to have partial classes?)

Linux can win:
- If they can offer a consistent UI
- If there is one distribution for desktops
- If it looks slighly better and renders the fonts well

That's all they need. Users don't understand security and they give a damn. They just want to write their document, play songs and watch movies. And one more question: why do you think Dell ships Windows (despite the extra cost) with their computers? Because they don't want to get stupid customer calls asking "How do I configure to connect to the Internet?". Because that's really not Dell's problem. They can at least say here: Contact Microsoft for Operating System related issues. But for Linux, what are they going to say? Contact Linus Torvalds? He will probably answer them: Go away *luser*.

I like Linux because I am a programmer. I have to automate many stuff, I need grep, I need pipes. But for a user, these are not the important things.
[ June 07, 2008: Message edited by: Srikanth Raghavan ]
16 years ago
Yep, sadly all score images are broken.
16 years ago

Originally posted by Nitesh Kant:
Vista sucks bug time.HP.



Not starting a flame war, but seriously, what's wrong with Vista if you are getting it anyway?
16 years ago



What's yours?
16 years ago
Ah, thanks Ulf!

I actually forgot to write what I wanted to say after quoting Josh Bloch. I will say it now, even though you pretty much said it better than how I would have put it.

A better open-ended question would be, the innocent killer question, "Tell me about yourself." If the candidate goes about saying, "I have a family which includes a cat. Cats are cute but cunning. They eat rats. I'm scared of rats. Some people who are scared of rats kill them by poisoning... and so on." You get the point. This is a better vague question than "Tell me your strengths or weaknesses or the like." The golden rule of interviewing would be not to let the candidate drive the interview. I hate when candidates don't stop their never-ending-and-boring answers when I hint them, like "alright", "OK that sounds good", etc.

I may not be convincing here, but Ulf's answer was better and useful.

-- Srikanth
16 years ago
OK.. Having successfully answered the question, I will rant about it now. The people who ask such questions are, *clearing my throat*, morons. This is such a vague question which can only have vague answers.

If I am the interviewer, I would ask specific questions. I will try and find out your weaknesses, I *DON'T* expect you to tell me honestly about your weaknesses because I know you are liar.

I won't trust the candidate's answer anytime. And from the candidate's point of view, tell me who would like to say "Hey, I am a loser. I can't understand things very quickly. Pointers scare the shit out of me. Oh no.... But you know, I am such a honest person. If you hire me, I will do anything to improve it. I promise. I swear on my children, I will improve." I think these are *stupid* interview questions that are still being asked. Any sane person will not ask these kind of questions. And of course, it's my point of view.

And if you know for what kind of position you are interviewing, you would easily get the feeling whether the candidate can or cannot do that job. If you failed to do that, they you have failed as an interviewer. I know, sometimes you will have some doubts in your mind and you won't be able to say "Inclined" or "Declined" to the HR. But remember what good old Josh said?

"When in doubt, leave it out."

Phew!

-- Srikanth
[ April 19, 2008: Message edited by: Srikanth Raghavan ]
16 years ago
I am thinking about it for the last 10 minutes to answer this question and honestly, I do not have an answer.

May be I will put it this way. I didn't know Linux 2 years ago and I had to write a few shell scripts. At that point, "not knowing Linux" was my weakness. I worked on it and I picked it up. Now I can safely say I am good at it. I guess it depends on the kind of problem I am solving at that moment. If you ask me to write some code in Lisp now, I may not be able to do it and it may become my high-priority technological weakness. But I will surely work on it and improve. IMHO, weakness in technology depends on context.

"Context is critical." -- Anonymous

Does this seem like a good answer?

Srikanth
16 years ago
Nobody mentioned Da Vinci Code?

And coming to movies, it gotta be these two for me:
- The Shawshank Redemption
- The Godfather Trilogy

"I've made you an offer you can't refuse."

-- Srikanth
16 years ago
LOL! Very funny.

I also loved this one about Python. I loved it even more because that was the same time I was also learning Python.

Srikanth
16 years ago
Hi everyone,

Thanks so much for the suggestions. But this is what I did, I own a domain called srikanths.net, I am using it with Google Apps. And I also have a new account called srikanths@<mydomain.net>

I am migrating my e-mails from my current e-mail address to this new one. I read that it may take a while for Gmail to fetch everything from my old account. Once I am done with it, I will be switching to this account.

I also learned that I can search my own messages from my previous Gmail account in the current Gmail account like "from:me" and "to:me".

More here:

Tips on Migrating
Gmail Help Page

A happy Srikanth
16 years ago

Originally posted by dhwani mathur:



Good night!
16 years ago
Hi friends,

I have my email account with a user name sri1025 which I don't really like it. I wanted to have [email protected] (Gmail.com) but I was too late for Gmail to get that ID. My official name is Srikanth Srinivasaraghavan and I must be crazy to choose [email protected] even though it is still available (Hey, don't take that now to screw me).

I want to choose a new E-Mail ID which must be:
  • Short (max of 10 or 12 chars)
  • No underscores
  • No numbers
  • Readable
  • Can be crazy yet formal (I don't want to have crazysrikanth though )
  • Cool or Hot yet not vulgar


  • Can you guys suggest me? Thanks a lot!

    Srikanth (sri1025@javaranch or am I?)
    16 years ago
    Thanks Nicholas and Paul.

    I've also seen that STX and ETX used quite often. Seems like that's a good protocol to use when we don't know the size of the data well ahead.

    Srikanth