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Windows 7 : Installer Issues

As posted here, I have been playing around with the Beta version of Windows 7. Everything was working great, until I started getting  a mysterious error “Installer stopped working”, when I tried to install any new software. A Google search, led me to this site (http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/2349-windows-installer-cant-install-any-msi-package-4.html) . Here’s the solution to the issue. 

start regedit
navigate to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\SQMClient\Windows\DisabledSessions
rename MachineThrottling to _MachineThrottling

January 19, 2009 by Technology Uncategorized Windows 0

What does one trillian dollars get you?

If you are a Zimbabwean, it will get you USD30 worth of stuff!! Ran across this story (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7832601.stm) on BBC, about the government of Zimbabwe releasing a trillian dollar note to cope with inflation. Zimbabwe was one of the most stable and prosporous country in Africa, until Robert Mugabe, started to enforce his lunatic policies. I can never understand, why people allow such morons to rule them..

BTW, One trillion has 12 zeros in it :-).. It looks like this..

$1000000000000

I would like to get my hands on one of these notes.. just to look at it :). I tried a search on Ebay and it looks like there is an active market for the Zimbabwean currency. At least Robert Mugabe managed to make a Zimbabwean product desirable :).

January 16, 2009 by Politics Rantings Uncategorized 2

Beta for the Beta

I got a copy of the Windows 7 Beta copy from my colleague and installed it on my Lenovo X61 tablet. The install went through pretty smoothly and . upon booting up the computer, me and my colleague had the following conversation..

Colleague : Thats a Beta!!

Me : Yes.. it is Beta..

Colleague : No.. No.. that”s a beta!!

Me : Dude.. seriously.. it is Beta.. I know it..

Colleague : (almost smacking me on my head) No..that is a Beta Fish!!

Looks like a smart programmer (or marketing person) put the picture of a Beta fish as the default background for Windows 7 Beta :-).. Here’s a screenshot.

Hopefully, Windows 7 will finally convince us XP lovers to upgrade. Vista is a failed operating system as far as I am concerned. Not in the league of “Windows Millenium“, but it is going to be shoved away into the annals of history soon if Windows 7 delivers as promised.

January 16, 2009 by Fun Technology Uncategorized Windows 3

Stomach Stimulus Package

I stopped at Hippos, a hot dog place in Elk Grove for lunch today. I was using the drive through and saw this sign on the drive through window

The owner put together a combo for $15.99, which will get you a meal for 4 people. The sign reads “Feed a Family of 4 for under four bucks per person!!! Times are Tough. Hippo’s will help you get through it with our stomach stimulus package.”

After I pay for my lunch, the hostess hands me an envelope which looks like this

Simple but brilliant marketing. First connect with your customers in this tough time.. then give them an incentive to come back.  I would go back to the place to check out if I won anything.. and guess what, even if I don’t win anything, I will most probably end up getting something to eat there. I am sure this joint is going to survive

January 13, 2009 by Management Uncategorized 0

Tools of the trade : Postfix Configuration

Good link with information on configuring a custom transport link in Postfix. A transport link in a SMTP server is a way to define a communiction/delivery channel with particular settings. Example, you want all e-mails for a particular domain to be sent to a particular server at a particular time.

http://linuxnet.ca/postfix/dedicated_transport.html

In this particular link, the author shows the steps to configure a transport link for sending e-mails to servers/domains with high latency.

January 12, 2009 by Linux Technology Uncategorized Web 0

Visual outlook of Kudithipudi.org

I ran across an interesting app called Wordle, that the BBC news service, used to show a visual representation of all the words president Bush used in his state of Union speeches (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7813432.stm).

Wordle (http://www.wordle.net/) take text or a URL as input and automatically generates a visual representation of the text based on the number of times a term appears. Very cool application of Web 2.0  technology.

Here’s how this website looks after wordle analyzed it.

Wordle is a “toy” created by Jonathan Feinberg. Here is a good interview with him regdarding Wordle and how he created it (http://domino.research.ibm.com/comm/research.nsf/pages/d.compsci.can_i_have_a_wordle_with_you.html).

January 12, 2009 by Technology Uncategorized Web 0

Why SouthWest gets it..

Another reason to fly SouthWest.. Look at the picture of the chairs they are providing their customers at the Midway airport in Chicago.

This is good marketing and customer care. Not only did Southwest take the time to put in comfortable seating at their gates, but also took the extra step to provide power outlets and listen to this.. USB charging outlets. How many of you have had to run around airports looking for a power socket to charge your dying battery? :-).. I am going to fly SouthWest moving forward.. whenever I can.

Yes.. that is my laptop getting charged :-).

January 9, 2009 by Rantings Travel Uncategorized 2