kailash.balnac.com

It is with great pride, and I must admit with a little envy, that I note that University of Maurtius (UoM) is increasingly going open source.

Over the last few years there has been an impetus towards the adoption of free and open source software (FOSS) at the University. Previously there has been the Radio Telescope of Mauritius, that has been one of few examples of use of FOSS at UoM that I know of, but now the examples are many. I believe credit goes primarily to the lecturers for putting FOSS ahead. I have heard that lecturers come in class with Ubuntu or Kubuntu linux installed laptops and they encourage students to make use of OpenOffice.org. They are even teaching Python to students. A few minutes ago my younger cousin, an information systems student at UoM, was inquiring about the best IDE to use for Python development.

Insider information reveals that there are some initiatives for the funding of open source projects from the government. Few days ago, a UoM faculty was even inquiring about RedHat enterprise support licensing on the local LUG. Would that mean what I think it means? Can we dream of day where outdated proprietary OS would be wiped out of computer labs?

Well mentality for one is certainly changing. The cousin of mine is an example, a one time MS die heart now has GNU/Linux installed. Imagine entire generations of FOSS enthusiasts coming out of the University.

Tags: Uncategorized // Add Comment »

Ena ene programme ki mo habituer ecouter malgres moi , kan mo ale travail, lor radioplus tou les gramatin: Cam et Leon. Mo pas conner couman pou decrire sa programme la. Li siposer humoristique ek satirique, mais ena fois mo demane moi esceki zots p rod passe bannes messages discretement avec l’humour.

L’histoire tourne autour deux characteres, Leon ek Cam, bolom bolefam a priori. Tous les gramatin zots fer bannes especes sketches  lor radio ki siposer amuse bannes dimounes. Cam ene bolfam ki relativement plis gopiah ki Leon mais ki essaye passe pou plis instruite ki li ete. Leon mo pou dire li plis instruit ek li passe letemps corrige bannes erreurs Cam.

Trois quart du temps zottes passe le temps coz kk. Enfin mo pena nanrien contre bannes la coz kk. Li siposer humoristique ek mo bisin avouer des fois mo em mo habituer coz kk. Mais saki mo trouve assez grave, c ki bannes la exprime bannes opinions lor bannes differents sujets d’actualite. Et zottes paret couman dire bannes donneurs de lecons pou pas dire bannes pseudo experts dans sa bannes sujets la.  Mais quand nou pense bien nu trouver ki bannes la p coz “nonsense” la plupart des fois. Des fois mo revolte kan mo pense a la consequences zottes bannes “nonsenses” lor bannes dimounes pas avertis.

Esceki bannes la p rod insulte intelligence de l’auditeur? Zots penser ki nou pou gobe sa bannes nonsenses la? Si nou ale plis loin escequi bannes la p rod influence l’opinion publique?

Zordi gramatin bannes la ti p demander kifer gouvernment bisin investi dans l’energie renouvelabe. Kifer bisin asterla pense a faire le consomateur produire so propre electricite? Mo demane moi sipa ena “hidden agenda” et mo ti envi conner kisanla finance sa programme la?

Capave mo p vinne parano ou peut etre mo pas p reussi comprend niveau satirique sa programme la. Mais kan mem ine arrive l’ere pou demane nou sipa bannes la p prend nu pou plis gopiahs de saki nou ete..

Tags: Uncategorized // 3 Comments »

Si nu guet bien, nu ena boucou chance pou vivre dans ene pays couman moris. Nu vivre dans ene vrai paradi. Presque tou les zours gramatin mo leve mo la tete, mo guet sa le ciel la, li bleu claire. Ene zoli bleu encor. Ek mo apprecier bannes premiers rayons soleil ki caresse mo la peau. Nu lor ene ti l’ile cocasse net ek so la plage emplas.

Nu pays p progresser. Ale foodcourt trianon ene zour dans ene samedi ek check ene coute. La plupar moricien ena cash, ek zots pas hesiter depense boucou pou manz gonaz. Nu gagne boucou facilite dans la main. Plis important, nu ena l’espoir parceki moris p monter.

Ena boucou pays pas cav mem reve ena sa l’espoir la.. Sorti dehors pas fouti.. maladie, la guerre, la famine p attane zots.

Mem sa boucou plaigner, ena mem ki kitte pays aller.  Kifer?

Li trop irrealiste pou croire dans ene moris ki cav realise nu bannes reves?

Tags: Uncategorized // 2 Comments »

I have noticed a pattern in my level of productivity. Ever since high school, I have had projects to submit, and of course, with the dreaded deadlines. I would say 80% of the work to be completed gets done when I am under pressure, that is when the deadline is near. The other 20% gets done as and when I find something really interesting to look into. The problem is that I always want perfection, I am never satisfied and I recurrently keep on polishing my work. But thats until I get bored and start to procrastinate again.

This ad hoc style of “project management” interestingly has worked so far but I wonder, till when?  Such methods have inherent downsides like, you may never anticipate lurking disasters; or the work submitted is always substandard. I need discipline.

Tags: Uncategorized // Add Comment »

I lack focus. I has been kind of very hard for me to keep focus lately.  I seem to have divergent ambitions. Its like am running several races simultaneously and I am bound not to come first in any of them. There is simply no time to reach for perfection. Thats where I make concessions and lower my ambitions.

I try to content myself with what I have and move along my pace.  Sounds like lazybones. Yeah?

Tags: Uncategorized // Add Comment »

Now that I am thinking of it, the experts were right. Fifteen or ten years back, I would simply shrug at the different early warnings coming from the experts about the environment. They would talk about the ozone layer, pollution, over population, disruptions in energy supply and what not. They anticipated different scenarios and problems ahead. At that time, these were only talk. The earth’s temperature would rise by a fraction of a degree celcius. Who cares? The icebergs are melting. So what?

But right now, all these talks are becoming a reality. Its here, we can feel it and its a pain. Climate change is here for real, its started. Climate change is causing major disruptions in our food supply. Our major suppliers of food are facing droughts.

Worst still, demand for food is increasing. Giants like China and India are experiencing unprecedented growth. People are getting money, they become more sophisticated and consume more. They want more food; they want more energy.

I doubt that our planet can sustain such growth. Maybe its time to contain our consumption patterns. We should rethink about the way we want to develop.

Mauritius is in a development frenzy right now, money is pouring in. Buildings mushrooming everywhere is an indicator. Maybe thats where sustainable development comes into play.

It is reassuring to see things taking shape however. Last week I heard our national utility company, CEB, is pondering about how to allow consumers produce their electricity and how they might be allowed to sell the same to the power grid. There are different renewables projects underway also. Lets wait and see the impact these might have on our energy mix.

Tags: energy // 1 Comment »

Looks like we have a new game design contest for mobile devices. Makes me recall all the fun I had when we were asked to design a J2ME game during my undergrad years at the UTM.

I came about with a series of MCQ quizzes for O-Level Physics. Hmm I must have the sources lying somewhere..

<Quote>

BPO Company Optimum Outsourcing Ltd (www.optimum-outsourcing.com) and the University of Technology Mauritius (UTM) are jointly organizing a Mobile Games Design Competition.

The number of mobile owners in Mauritius is actually twice as much as the number of PC owners. Moreover, a similar trend is being observed in the region, especially in Africa. Thus, Mobile Computing has a far better chance at bridging the digital divide than the desktop computer ever had. Optimum Outsourcing Ltd. believes that Mauritius has the potential and competence to become a reference in Mobile Application Development and as a matter of fact, is putting in place all the necessary facilities and support to encourage Research and Development in this field. The competition has been designed to foster interest in Mobile Application Development and to encourage creativity in software design for portable devices.

The competition is open to all individual designers or programmers as well as to group (s) of designers or programmers. It is important to note that participants should design mobile application software that would incorporate innovative ideas and technologies. Last but not least, candidates are encouraged (but not mandated) to consider the following challenges in implementing their software:

- Possibility of having multi-user gaming sessions.
- Incorporating local culture as part of the game.
- Platform independence.
- Game usability.

</Quote>

Read more

Tags: Uncategorized // 2 Comments »

The year started off sweetly. I had joined Accenture Mauritius on December 2006 and I could not help from enjoying my new job as a Software Engineer. It was fun, just plain and simple java programming. No fancy “obscure” stuff. Had a great team, little or no overtime. The true fun I guess was the challenge of creating stuffs, devising simple logic and translate the lot to code. That was cool, I could even miss lunch once or twice just for the sake of programming. Loved that! This said I also enjoyed lunch time with friends when I had little or nothing truly challenging to do at work.One cool milestone would be the buying of my first car. A toyota Platz. Half of my monthly pay went into repaying the loan but I was happy. I had gained mobility, I could go wherever I wanted and at any time.

Then came in May 2007, my letter of offer for a scholarship to do mphil/phd at the University for 4 years. Had applied for the same before joining Accenture and there it was. It was a difficult decision to take, I always liked to study, learn stuffs, it was long haul nevertheless. I was settled at work. Then with the encouragement of some of my family members I took the leap. It was a complete shift in the beginning less friends, most of the time spent alone, lack of focus and nowhere to go for lunch. But things started to settled slowly and I could get a grasp of things. But the fun was missing. Sigh!

Careerwise the end of year was hectic, with different commitments taken.

Another major but sad event was the passing away of my grandma in May. It was a hard time for the whole family. I personally cannot help from missing her. She was always kind to me and always helped/protected me. Sometimes I regret all the times I was not closer to her.

The family was barely starting to appease their griefs when my uncle suffered a heart stroke. It was as if the nightmare would start off again. He had bypass surgery and which thank god was successful.

Lets hope for the better in 2008.

–

I think that 2007 was a good year for Mauritius.

The economy is doing better even if there is an increase in inflation and public debt. For the first time since a long time unemployment is decreasing. The inflation is attributed mainly to exogenous factors, the price of oil and droughts in our food suppling countries. The textile industry has overcome the challenges and tourism is set to expand further.

Without  taking sides really, I would say our finance minister is doing a great job. Keep it up!

Tags: Uncategorized // 1 Comment »

Tags: Uncategorized // Add Comment »

Bought myself a new router today.

I was fed up carrying wires around and trying to find power points for the nomad and my laptop. Messy it was.

Then I made up my mind this morning, I need a wireless router. Zaheer to the the rescue. My pal from CompuSource was quick to find a cheap but efficient router for me. A Netgear Wireless ADSL Firewall Router DG834G. Cool to find a copy of General Public License Version 2 in the docs.

Spent quite some time trying to configure it, mainly related to internet connectivity.

By default the Router assumes a standard ADSL connection from the telephone line. My nomad has an ethernet connection. Had to tweak a bit the default config but succeeded finally.

Here I am, in my bed with my laptop in front of me and no wires around writing the blog! I am happy!

Tags: Uncategorized // Add Comment »