IBM's dream: computer, heal thyself............cooooooool

posted under , by shanky.........

The post of systems administrator could soon become little more than a memory as IBM is planning to create a highly evolved computer - a machine working like the human central nervous system to become the world's first self-healing computer.

IBM is progressing in the future, entitled this as "Autonomic Computing", a call for researchers and developers worldwide to create a computer system that will make the problems and the complexities of IT systems a thing of the past.

Autonomic computing will see most systems maintaining higher levels of automation by working in a similar way to a human's central nervous system, which takes care of the basic maintenance of the human body, such as breathing, digestion and heart rate.

Similarly computers will evolve to become automatically configured for example a machine that will correct any human errors made during programming.

Mandy Chessell, master innovator at IBM, said: "Our aim is to create computer systems and software which can respond to the digital environment so systems can adapt and even heal themselves which will result in less work for humans and the IT departments. We will aim to develop our hardware and software with built-in autonomy," she said.

IBM compared the mechanisms of an autonomic computer with the human brain. For instance, if a child burns his hand, his brain automatically sends a message to the hand to pull it away. Similarly, a computer will be able to self-diagnose any fault in the network automatically.

IBM's concept of autonomy consists of many different components, such as the pervasive computing model which sees high-speed access anywhere at anytime and grid computing, which aims to treat computing power like an electrical utility network and involves sharing huge database files and programs across network connections.

Dr Daron G Green, EMEA manager of Grid technologies, gave a more practical example of autonomic computing:

"Presently computers come with manuals to describe how to configure the system, creating a certain mindset for the IT worker. One of our first aims is to try to build computers that can configure themselves without human intervention," he said.

For more rock solid predictions for the future, check out silicon.com's new hot topic, Beyond the Processor at http://www.silicon.com/btp

Microsoft to ease XP activation with SP3

posted under , , by shanky.........
Microsoft Corp. will change how users activate Windows XP when Service Pack 3 launches in the first half of 2008, a company white paper said.

New installations of Windows XP SP3 will give users the same 30-day grace period currently offered to Windows Vista customers before they're required to enter a product activation key, the 25-character code that proves the copy is legitimate.

"As in Windows Server 2003 SP2 and Windows Vista, users can now complete operating system installation without providing a product key during a full, integrated installation of Windows XP SP3," the Microsoft paper stated. "The operating system will prompt the user for a product key later as part of Genuine Advantage."

With earlier editions of Windows XP, users must enter the activation key during the installation process itself; failing to do so, or using an invalid key, would result in the installation being blocked.

The white paper, however, noted that the change does not apply to existing Windows XP installations upgraded to SP3. Those copies, which have presumably passed the activation stage previously, will not request the key again, Microsoft said.

Ed Bott of ZDNet, who created a "slip-streamed" Windows XP SP3 installation CD from the release candidate issued 10 days ago to simulate a fresh installation, noted that after the 30-day grace period expired, Windows masked the log-on screen with a message demanding a valid activation key.

"If you click No, you're returned to the log-on screen," said Bott. "Click Yes and you go to a desktop where your only option is to enter a product key. If you click Remind Me Later in that box, you'll also be sent back to the log-on screen."

The change is the second this month that Microsoft has made to its product activation and anticounterfeit technology, collectively dubbed "Windows Genuine Advantage." In early December, for example, the company softened its stance on Windows Vista and Windows Server by promising to kill the "kill switch," and stop turning off features or restricting access to files when a copy fails validation.

Microsoft has eliminated what it called "reduced functionality mode" in both Vista SP1's final form, which will be available in early 2008, and Windows Server 2008 Release Candidate 1 (RC1). Rather than disable some features (as Vista did) or block most applications (as Windows Server did), the new editions simply post more persistent notices to nag users into upgrading to a valid, licensed copy.

Other than to hint that Windows XP users will see no changes to activation after upgrading their existing copies to SP3 next year, a Microsoft spokeswoman was unable to answer several questions about the modifications, including queries about whether the 30-day grace period will be able to be extended, as is Windows Vista's, and what prompted the new process.

India 's fastest super computer up and running hard.............coooooool

posted under , , by shanky.........
After proving its mettle in areas like steel, automotive and IT services on the global arena, corporate behemoth Tata group has now developed the world's fourth fastest supercomputer EKA that can do 117.9 trillion calculations per second.

EKA - A supercomputer developed by Computational Research Laboratories (CRL), a subsidiary of Tata Sons Ltd, at a cost of $30 million (Rs118.11 crore) has been ranked the fourth fastest in the world by Top500, a project that ranks world’s 500 most powerful computers.ka, the supercomputer, is also ranked the fastest computer in Asia, and is based on a Hewlett-Packard Co. system.This is the first time that an Indian supercomputer has been ranked among the top 10 in this list.

International Business Machines Corp.’s (IBM) super computer Blue Gene/L, installed in the US, ranked first in the list with a benchmark performance of 478.2 teraflops.CRL develops applications in areas such as neural simulation, molecular simulation, computational fluid dynamics, crash simulation and digital media animation and rendering.

the open source (Linux)- based supercomputer Eka is housed at the Computational Mathematics Laboratory (CML) of TIFR, located at the Pune University campus. The computer has a speed of one tera floating point operations per second (flops), equivalent to Param Padma, the fastest and most powerful in the Param series of supercomputers developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), and allows CML to run various complex algorithms with upto one billion variables. It is cool to see India's fastest supercomputer under top 10 in the tentative list of 500 . Surely , We will build fastest supercomputer in the world in recent years .

The supercomputer rankings are compiled by Hans Meuer of the University of Mannheim, Germany; Erich Strohmaier and Horst Simon of NERSC/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; and Jack Dongarra of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.Bloomberg’s Mathew Miller contributed to this story.source : IBEF

The benchmarks war : AMD vs. Intel

posted under , , by shanky.........
I see lots of people talking about Intel and AMD processors . After the release of Intel core 2 duo processors it seems to all that AMD is far behind Intel in the field of processors. But If you will see the real benchmarks between AMD processors ( talking about athlon ) and intel processors you will find AMD better in each aspects ranging from calculation per seconds to power consumption . But Many People won't believe me . So for those people I am presenting here a perfect comparison in these processors so that they can also know How and why AMD is better?

First of all I am concentrating on it's design .AMD and Intel have concurrent design and manufacturing contests going on - with AMD ahead in design and Intel ahead in manufacturing, but both already committing to taking x86 evolution back to the megahertz race.

Thus AMD's on-board hypertransport -and the forthcoming "barcelona" evolution - is clearly better than Intel's reliance on bridging hardware, while Intel's lead to both 65nm and 45nm manufacturing gives it clear advantages on both processor cycles and processor power use. Basically, AMD's design lead produces more throughput per cycle while Intel's manufacturing lead allows it to produce more cycles per second for less input power.

So what does this mean in real life? I think it means that, on average, AMD boards are likely to perform closer to their potential in the hands of ordinary users than Intel boards because the defaults are pretty good and you don't need a lot of hardware expertise to tune them for specific uses.

With hypertransport, for example, you don't need to debottleneck the bridge for large shared memory applications by tweaking the BIOS to create a kind of faux NUMA -arranging for large objects to be spread across multiple SIMMS, and therefore channels.

Since Intel has that expertise and the average user hasn't, you'd expect their benchmark results to be unapproachable in ordinary use - but, of course, we can't really test for that effect from published data. A corolary effect we can test for, however, suggests that AMD's benchmarking efforts should show better returns to power input than Intel's -i.e. less loss of processing efficiency per cycle as the number of cycles per second rises.

And, in fact, you do see that effect in published results. Consider, for example, a number of late 2006 results for the 100GB the TPC/H benchmark, all on Dell PCs using Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edt (x64) and Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise x64 Edition.

The best of the Intel dual core results shows a Dell PE6800 with 64GB and four dual core Intel Xeon MPs at 3.4Ghz scoring 16,320 QphH or 1.66Mhz/QphH, while the top rated Dell 6900 with dual Intel X5355 "quad" core packs at 2.66Ghz achieved 15,724QphH or 1.353Mhz/QphH.

In comparison the result for a Dell PE6950 with 64GB and four AMD dual core Opteron 8220SE at 2.8GHz shows 17,180 QphH or 1.30Mhz/QphH - 27% better per cycle ( and 5% better in absolute terms) than the comparable Xeon and trivially better (4%) per cycle but almost 10% better in absolute terms than the Intel quad pack.

And if all of that leaves you confused, think about it this way: all of these comparisons pit 90nm AMD processors against 65nm Intel products - meaning that AMD should jump to a 25% or greater lead when both are made at 65nm, and Intel will catch up again when they go to 4Ghz and 45nm.

So finally coming to conclusion that at present for the normal user better choice should be AMD rather than Intel not because AMD is cheaper than Intel but according to benchmarks which we have developed above. Normally people believe only in written data but don't go through the facts , which is the main reason why people divert their mind from AMD to Intel .



Linux Vs. Windows Vista: The Battle For Your Desktop

posted under , , , by shanky.........
After the release of Microsoft Dream Project Windows Vista in the world market it seems to have tough fight between linux vs. windows. On the one side we have a well establish Windows , and on the other hand we have Linux still fighting for it's existence but have the power of open source.

If You will ask whether I will prefer windows or linux I will have only one line to say : "I'll believe Linux is ready for the desktop as soon as you can give me a Linux distribution that even my grandmother can run."


For some time, the folks at Ubuntu have been trying their best to make Granny -- and most everyone else -- happy. They've attempted to build a Linux distribution that's easy to install, use, configure, and maintain -- one that's at least as easy as Windows, and whenever possible, even easier. As a result, Ubuntu is one of the Linux distributions that has been most directly touted as an alternative to Windows.

In this feature, I'm going to compare the newly-released Ubuntu 7.04 (codenamed "Feisty Fawn") with Microsoft Windows Vista in a number of categories. To keep the playing field as level as possible, I'm looking wherever I can at applications -- not just in the sense of "programs," but in the sense of what the average user is going to do with the OS in a workday. Sometimes the differences between the two OSes are profound, but sometimes the playing field levels itself -- OpenOffice.org, for instance, is installed by default in Ubuntu, but adding it to Vista isn't terribly difficult.

Windows Vista

I tried to stick whenever possible with preinstalled software, although this rule sometimes had to be bent a little -- for instance, to see what backup solutions were available for Ubuntu through its own software catalog.

Also, while I was tempted to compare Vista's Aero interface to the Beryl window manager (which has a similar palette of visual effects), I decided that pretty graphics, while nice, had more to do with personal preference than efficiency. In addition, Beryl isn't installed by default in Ubuntu, and Aero isn't available on all PCs.

In each case, I've tried to look at practical benefits rather than theoretical ones -- what works, what doesn't, and what you have to do to get certain things done. I should also note that, despite being a big fan of Vista, I've tried to keep my enthusiasm for it from overriding my judgment. Everyone needs something different, and not everyone needs (or wants) Vista -- or Ubuntu -- so I've done my best to keep my mind, and my eyes, wide open.

WINDOWS Vs. LINUX ----- still unclear

posted under , , , , by shanky.........
There is a vast increase in LINUX popularity in recent years . People are more talking about open source softwares etc. but still they are not ready to leave windows . Linux promoters are celebrating increasing use of linux in world of software . It's true that Linux has made great strides in becoming a standard part of the computing landscape, but it has made far more inroads into the Unix space than into the Windows desktop space.

The fight between Windows and Linux has been nearly as overhyped as a Don King venture in a monster Vegas arena, screaming fans included. In one corner, hard-core Microsoft fans avow Windows Server 2003 as the comeback kid of the new century, rising above all previous problems with Windows servers. In the other, Linux boosters claim the open-source operating system is poised to power the enterprise from stem to stern, trash-talking Microsoft's bloated code and licensing gotchas along the way.

But still average users are not having their interest in user-tested Microsoft counterparts of Linux .

Why you use Windows not Linux?
  • Ease of Installation & Use. An odd statement but true practically, reason being again same, "We are born in Windows World", where we see people around us installing and using Windows, so we just consider Windows as being the only way of using computers. But in fact, both Windows & Linux are equally easy to install & use.
  • If your computer doesn't fully support Linux. What I mean here is that there may be a chance that one of your computer hardware components may not work on Linux. The most frequent culprits are Modems & Graphic cards.
There is a reason for this:

Since Windows occupies 90 % of desktop market and most of the hardware manufacturers make drivers for their hardware only for windows because developing drivers is a tedious and money requiring task. These manufacturers don't see the need or demand for producing drivers for Linux, but the scenario is changing:

  1. More & more hardware manufacturers have begun supporting their hardware on Linux
  2. Lots of big companies are coming out in support of Linux, recent examples being Dell, Lenovo and some big ones like IBM, Intel, HP etc.
  3. Linux developers keep on working to support most of the latest hardware available as well as the older hardware. In fact Linux is the most widely implemented Operating System on various platforms other than desktops, such as Servers, Mobile Platform, Supercomputers etc. This proves the wide applicability of Linux.
  • If you are so lazy enough to bring a change in the way you use computers, and consider that learning/using/switching to [L/U/S] Linux is new & difficult than you use Windows. Let me tell you [L/U/S]Linux is no doubt different from Windows, but not a bit difficult or new. Just ask yourself, "Did you know how to use Windows when you had used computers for very first time ?"
  • If you can't use computers without the official support and help provided by Microsoft & other companies producing Windows softwares. No doubt Windows & softwares come with really good technical support & a guarantee, but even with Linux you have extensive support and help available from forums and technical support from companies who charge for this support like Novell, Red hat, Cannonical.
  • If you work with some software which is either available only on Windows or is the best on Windows. This is true, some softwares on Windows are really good. But there is always a good enough corresponding software available on Linux, though it may require you to make some compromises in functionality or require some learning. I won't give examples because it depends on different user.
  • If you don't have an Internet connection. You must be surprised by this statement. But I will explain. Linux software installation usually requires installation of various dependencies (files required for installation for a particular piece of software). Its not like windows where you simply double click an EXE file and your software is installed. So if you are not connected to Internet, it becomes a difficult task (namely compiling) to install software on Linux, though not impossible. I feel that Linux developers should work on this and in fact, there was a discussion on this aspect in some previous Linux developers meetings & summits.
  • If you consider Linux insecure, as there is not much discussion about anti-viruse and anti-spyware software being used on Linux then my friend, Windows is definitely your choice. (You must have got your laughter dose here.)
Why you should use Linux not Windows?

  • Free (Or technically speaking, Open Source) in contrast to Windows. (But paying for softwares does exists in the Linux world, in the form of getting official support and help from various companies, or their enterprise software, like Novell, Red Hat, Canonical etc.

    {This may not be an issue with people using PIRATED WINDOWS & SOFTWARES.}
  • Very fast development cycles, so you remain updated with the latest, most efficient software technologies available. This is sharply in contrast to Windows, because Windows development is done only by Microsoft, while Linux development is something,done by thousands or even million of Open Source developers and support of so many companies coming on the Linux front I mentioned previously. Consequently Linux updates come on a very regular and short period, while Windows development is undoubtedly slow. And yes in Linux, the update is for whole system rather than just operating system. So you don't have to update each of your applications. One more Linux magic, whole system update doesn't require you to reboot the system (except the kernel update) unlike windows where even an application installation or update may require you to reboot system.

  • Linux comes in various forms, so called distros, which are produced by different people/companies by combining the Linux Kernel, GNU Software and their own specific software. Each distro is good and better than others on some fronts, and less good than others. Some famous ones are:


    PCLinuxOS, Ubuntu, OpenSUSE, Mandriva, Linspire, Knoppix etc. These are just the most famous ones, there are thousands more!!! You can even produce you own distro if you know how too.
No Choice for Windows user, Poor Fella !!!

  • And finally, 3-d Desktop. (You must have been stunned hearing and seeing the too hyped "THE AERO" Interface and "LIVE THUMBNAILS " of Windows Vista. Then just wait for the lethal dose of Linux.)

    Linux has the whole 3-d desktop available for you. Called, Beryl and Compiz, (& now two merged as Compiz Fusion), you have you whole desktop working in 3-d with such stunning and awesome effects that above said GREAT Vista features are literally nothing, NOTHING, in front of these.

    Here is more. To run these GREAT Vista 3-d feature, you need 2 GB RAM, and a Separate Graphic card. Did you hear that !!! 2 GB RAM.... I mean how many people have that. And even if you have or buy, what do you get, these two kiddish effects. And Linux 3-d desktop, on my own old Laptop, with total 512 MB RAM, with 128 MB Shared Graphic Memory (Intel 915 chipset) runs like killing any vista 3d effects.....

    Just check out some videos on you-tube, by searching for Beryl, Compiz or Compiz Fusion. (Now Don't blame me, if you already bought Vista....)


Then Why Has Windows 90 % Share In Desktop Market If Linux Is So Superior ?

Good question. Well only few reasons I see:
  • Very Aggressive Marketing Strategy: Microsoft right from start, has been marketing its product on a very big scale using every medium, be it newspapers or television or Internet lately, while Linux marketing has traditionally been by means of User to User spread. Microsoft, has great earnings from its softwares right from start, whose very little fraction is enough to market any product deep down the brains of people of this world, while Linux developers were not charging for their products. They were developing these softwares, just for the spirit of humanity, the spirit of Open Source. They were not businessmen like Microsoft or Apple guys. So they didn't give attention to marketing strategies, neither they had money & resources to do that. This was one of the major stumbling block in Linux adoption. But the scene is changing now. With the entry of big companies on Linux front, Linux is gaining popularity.
  • Microsoft Agreements With Various Governments. Microsoft makes agreements with various countries governments to encourage adoption of Microsoft Windows & softwares in govt. infrastructure, thus promoting its products in the whole country. While there is no such one agency to support and make such agreements in case of Linux. There do exists Open Source developer groups and promoters, but they are scattered.
  • Microsoft uses its influence to implements its document formats as World standard. There is a very recent example of this. Microsoft is pushing hard to make its Open XML document as second standard beside Open Document format which already is there. Microsoft is influencing smaller countries to make them vote in its favor. No other company has software to deal with this format, and if this gets adopted as standard, people who use it (& they will have to use at sometime, being this standard), will have to buy Microsoft softwares.

  • Microsoft's alliance with computer manufacturers, to persuade them sell computers and pre-install Windows. This resulted in most people having their first experience with using computer on windows. And I believe, this also somehow resulted in a "chain reaction" of people telling others about Windows, and thus creation of a "Windows World", being supplemented by the fact that Linux Developers were not telling people about their operating system by marketing their products.

    This is also changing now. Dell, no. 1 Computer manufacturer in US, has decided to sell computers pre-installed with Ubuntu. Lenovo, the Chinese computer manufacturer has also joined the line. More are coming. HP already officially supports Linux developments. Acer has been selling command line versions of Linux.

So Should You Use Linux & If Yes How ?

Well definitely you should start using Linux, except if you have any one of reason i gave above in "To Use Windows & Not Use Linux". To start, i will suggest, you should install Linux along with Windows (so called dual-boot), because:

  1. It will make the process of learning/using/switching Linux gradual thus comfortable. If you completely replace Windows with Linux all of a sudden, you will have problems, which may make you dis-believe in power of Linux & Open Source.
  2. It will allow you to use Windows for some of purposes which may not be served by Linux. (depending on individual case, like Internet connectivity, any specific software or other reasons i discussed).
You may find good tutorials on Internet describing "How to Install & Use Linux" for new users.I have provide some links in my post too.

Which Linux Distro To Use & How to Get Installation Cd?

  • For a new user, i will suggest PCLinuxOS 2007 or Kubuntu. You can download it from an Internet. (Google "PCLinuxOS 2007 Download" or Kubuntu Download). Or you may find it in one of Computer magazine. If you can't do above two things, then you can use Ubuntu/Kubuntu. You will get it freely delivered at your home.(For this, search in google, "Ubuntu/Kubuntu Free CD Shipit")

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shanky.........
All characters appearing in this work are pragmatist . Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely pausible. But if it certainly matches with your identity and you are not able to resist the fact give me call @ 9999999 or leave a message . I will take care of it when i will be free
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