Thursday, January 14, 2010

Microsoft caught on violating open source codes


Why smart people prefer open source? Learn from double faced King of proprietory solutions Microsoft. They follow what they themselves never practice and what they really practice but never accept. Micrsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer called Linux a cancer[1] while the same Cancer is now known and proven to be flowing into the veins of Microsoft[2], now people like me are really wondering how Steve Ballmer will save Microsoft from his self claimed Cancer. The story was exposed when Microsoft was caught red handed when while packing a fast release for Window USB/DVD Tool (WUDT) by ripping off code licensed under GPL[3][4].
If you think there is only one story of Microsoft , then have a look at this story, where Microsoft was caught using Linux device drivers (network)[5][6]
Though this article of mine is written in a funny way but reality of such crime could not be explained any better at this point, for comments and feedback readers are encourged to share their views.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Learning from the Civilization of Giants: Beyond Google's Philosophy


Google's PageRank has revolutionized the world of search engines bringing new dimensions to the problem of finding web pages' importance, but over the years the research community has identified some problems in the famous PageRank algorithm: the problem of Spamming.

Spamming has been an issue of interest from much part of history and it is only Islam that managed its teachings well proven against spamming and spammers... Example: Quran(Holy book of Islam) is not my example as it is protected by Allah (no human involvement) but Ahadith(traditions of Muhammad RasulAllah SAW) and its science of preservation makes it a unique part of text that has been managed successfully over a period of thousand years. Its way of categorization and purifying best of knowledge for humans to come is an exceptional work of Muslim scholars and maintainers (the philosophy to maintain a balance is a deep, innovative and powerful science which was once successfully practiced in the history of the world). Therefore it can serve as a foundation for "modern information retrieval well protected against spammers."

If you still don't get me, here is a piece of real deal: Bible, Torah and other scripts could not manage to survive against spammers but Ahadith through its unique science managed itself in a better way....Now recall we are computer scientists, aren't we and this world of World Wide Web suffers the same old problem in search results: i.e. problem of untrusted information....

As Google Guys say, the foundation of their idea of ranking comes from voting (some overstate it to say it as democratic process while I disagree, [1]), I am shocked that researchers in the field of information retrieval are not aware of the master piece produced by civilization of Islam otherwise they would not have met the ghost of Web Spamming in 2005 like they did. Yes its still an area of active research as the problem has not been solved...but there is really no harm of pride to learn the trick from greatest civilization(Islam)[2] but if that's not the case then I am sure it will take another Islamic civilization to settle things for good.... Western adopted philosophical ideas are too out-dated to handle this research problem and can't breath a new life into it any more because they have reached a point where settling with patch work one after another is considered as a norm...... at least a powerful survey before announcing "patch is our remaining option" should be exercised. In the information retrieval research area there is only very limited literature available as it's an evolving field and it is due to this reason that I feel that the world of science should not be biased to ignore the greatest civilization of history and their contributions[2] otherwise that would lead towards "reinvention of the wheel".

Here I want to bring attention towards one person who shared something similar to my opinion:she was ex-CEO of Hewlett Packard(HP) Carly Fiorina and in her talk "TECHNOLOGY, BUSINESS AND OUR WAY OF LIFE: WHAT'S NEXT"[3] she brings out this point of learning from Islamic civilization and following is an extract from her talk:

I’ll end by telling a story.

There was once a civilization that was the greatest in the world.

It was able to create a continental super-state that stretched from ocean to ocean, and from northern climes to tropics and deserts. Within its dominion lived hundreds of millions of people, of different creeds and ethnic origins.

One of its languages became the universal language of much of the world, the bridge between the peoples of a hundred lands. Its armies were made up of people of many nationalities, and its military protection allowed a degree of peace and prosperity that had never been known. The reach of this civilization’s commerce extended from Latin America to China, and everywhere in between.

And this civilization was driven more than anything, by invention. Its architects designed buildings that defied gravity. Its mathematicians created the algebra and algorithms that would enable the building of computers, and the creation of encryption. Its doctors examined the human body, and found new cures for disease. Its astronomers looked into the heavens, named the stars, and paved the way for space travel and exploration.

Its writers created thousands of stories. Stories of courage, romance and magic. Its poets wrote of love, when others before them were too steeped in fear to think of such things.

When other nations were afraid of ideas, this civilization thrived on them, and kept them alive. When censors threatened to wipe out knowledge from past civilizations, this civilization kept the knowledge alive, and passed it on to others.

While modern Western civilization shares many of these traits, the civilization I’m talking about was the Islamic world from the year 800 to 1600, which included the Ottoman Empire and the courts of Baghdad, Damascus and Cairo, and enlightened rulers like Suleiman the Magnificent.

Although we are often unaware of our indebtedness to this other civilization, its gifts are very much a part of our heritage. The technology industry would not exist without the contributions of Arab mathematicians. Sufi poet-philosophers like Rumi challenged our notions of self and truth. Leaders like Suleiman contributed to our notions of tolerance and civic leadership.

And perhaps we can learn a lesson from his example: It was leadership based on meritocracy, not inheritance. It was leadership that harnessed the full capabilities of a very diverse population–that included Christianity, Islamic, and Jewish traditions.

This kind of enlightened leadership — leadership that nurtured culture, sustainability, diversity and courage — led to 800 years of invention and prosperity.

Muslims lost their civilization and their system of Caliphate by overlooking the fundamentals of its civilization and then finally they lost their say in this world. However this should not cause the scientists to ignore the past contributions of Islamic civilization.

In this world many civilizations have passed and so will the current civilizations perish, but language of rational is always respected amongst sensible people.


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