LiveWriter test

This is my first post from "Microsoft LiveWriter" Beta. I am not sure what it is going to look like or how its gonna be. Lets just say I love surprises!

I like the idea of the LiveWriter. Previously, I used to type up my post using Notepad and keep it saved as a textfile till I get online and publish it. Yeah, sure I am on wireless internet and can connect even when I am on-the-move. But, there are times when you aren't able to or you dont want to. Anyhow, I can now type up and save the draft on my hard disk..till I want to publish it. Ofcourse, if my lethargy rules the day, some posts may still never make it online!!

So, is LiveWriter the answer to my prayers (if I prayed!) ? We'll see!!

Wild Widget World

I saw a job post quite recently that read - "Wanted : Widget Developers..". The paycheck works out to be quite a handsome amount too. You cant deny that the club will get bigger!

There is a lot of stress being laid on "getting all the information want in one place". The battles have begun and the key players are the big wigs. Apple had the widget thingies for quite a longtime now. MS brings in the Sidebar in Vista. The Google toolbar also has gained a lot of fame. Adobe is planning to start a whole new revolution with Apollo. But..is it really worth having so much information in one place - on your desktop? I lean both sides for this one actually and am unable to take a pick.

The world is rapidly changing - new technologies coming in and things are getting a lot more competitive. There is so much happening and its getting tougher to keep tab on all of them..or..atleast..some of those that interest you. I aggregate about 7 RSS feeds on my Outlook 2K7 aggregator and still have like 350 unread posts. Remember, thats only the stuff I chose to aggregate!

Its not really "video killed the TV star" anymore! Its the PC that is bringing in quite a storm..uuh..ok..a correction..its not just the PC, its a whole world of gadgets and gizmos. A mobile phone is much more than just being a device to make/receive calls. The phrase has been coined "Mobility".. but.. do we really use all that stuff when we are mobile? A lot of us would shake our heads vertically. The way we pass time has changed. We prefer plugging into our iPods or walkman phones and churn up the mobile phone to send and receive information, whether it is just checking email or even blogging. GPRS has really kicked off bigtime and is going great guns!

OK, so thats one set of people who love to stay in touch with information and all that comes and goes with it. The other set of people still need the morning coffee and newspapers. They only think of a computer as a tool (and not life! ;-)). Well, these people are cool and collected!

The third set of people are funny! They are the big wigs in companies and are equipped with the latest stuff money can buy! They prefer to show off sayin' - I have a X brand laptop/PDA. The maximum they do with it is really just use basic Word or make calls. They dunno crap, but show off.

The reason I made the classification - the first set of people are really going to be the ones using and building the widgets. Like me, they have 350 unread posts...and.. have all the widgets/toolbars/sidebars etc that one can download off the net.. inspite of it.. 349 are still left ( minus the one that is displayed by default) or they dont really have the time to look at the widgets and the info it displays coz they are running around working for the 2nd and 3rd classes of people. The widgets load up at startup and remain there as is till the end of the day.. hogging the resources and not really serving much purpose.

Ofcourse, there is the "15 day ecstasy" factor. The first 15 days that you spend with the widget.. are the most exciting. You even start developing some yourself and maybe reply to a few of those job posts.

Happy B'day Flash! (Belated!)

I have been trying to publish this post for the past 3 days. Anyhow, time and I reached an agreement just now and we are live!

"Flash" is 10 years and 8 versions old now. Its time to reflect a bit on things and check out whats cookin'!

The first SWF I saw was back during the days of Flash 3. I am not sure if it was the Spooky and Bandit site that really did it! I was really taken by the interactivity and fluidity of graphics and sound. It was an amazing experience. Remember, these were still the days of HTML and poor bandwidth on dialups. For the amount of GFX, Sound and interactivity there was, it took quite a short time to load. Following natural instincts, I wanted to get onto the bandwagon. I went into a design based chatroom and asked - "How do I save a file as an SWF?". Got a quick reply - "File > Save". Ok, they were just pulling my leg, and that didnt spoil my eagerness. About 2-3 days later I got it. The Macromedia suite trial on a magazine CD- Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Director and Flash.

I still didnt know Flash made SWFs and kinda got confused with Shockwave. Yahoo-ed (Google was unknown to me back then!) for it and found Director to be doing the Shockwave thingy. Director was kewl at first, but, became a bit boring. And then, one day, it had to happen! I said - "Wonder what Flash is.." it said animation and interactivity in the product info!!! Installed it, used it and Loved it!

So that was how I got into Flash! I have been thru every version since then and now trying out stuff with Flash 9. Flash has truly become powerful - from just typing gotoAndStop to OOPS. The people at Macromedia (and now with Adobe) are all true visionaries! "FutureSplash Animator", kinda meant for Animation is now a big thing with developers too.

Big Steps:
- Flash MX (V6) brought in the components
- Flash MX 2004 Professional brought in OOPS, V2 components with data handling mechanisms, Mobile Development. Flash-based RIA grew!
- Flash 8 was a big step in rendering engines for text, graphics, together with blending and also gave a huge thrust to mobile development and Rich Internet applications.
- Flash 9 brings in AS 3. A huuuuuuuuge step forward and mighty powerful!

Macromedia also had other ways to exploit the technology and create products that used the Flash concept. They created Flash Remoting, Flash Communication Server, Central, Flex, Flashpaper, Breeze, Flash Lite and so on. All this goes to say how big the Flash technology really is!

Flash never really had a tough competitor! Corel brought in RAVE and Adobe brought in LiveMotion, when Macromedia announced SWF as opensource! Flash won at every turn. More people want their sites to made using Flash..Hell!! applications are being made with Flash! A lot of companies wanted to make their pot of money and brought in stuff to support Flash. EXE makers, decompilers, Editors..u name it!

Adobe acquired Macromedia and continue to spread the wings. Platform independence, Device support, application development, design and interactivity still remain buzzwords and as long as all these things makes sense, Flash will continue on its path. The future remains bright and big days are ahead!

Will Microsoft play their game and destroy Flash with "Sparkle"? The rumour mill says Sparkle might support the web in future versions. Whats more.. IE now blocks active content. Get it?I've said things before about Sparkle previously and supported it to a big extent. As long as Flash is out there, I will always love it!

Happy B'day Flash! And here is to the next 100 years! :)

The Battle of the Blogs

Keeping a diary and penning your thoughts in it was the in-thing not so long ago. A diary was considered a big possession and meant to be a secret thing. Reading other people's diaries was considered a bad thing and frowned upon. Girls were more possessive about it than guys. Well, that was back..centuries ago! The days have changed and we are living in tomorrow!

"Blogs" have now become the in-thing..and..if u have a blog and get quite a lot of hits, you are considered kewl. People love reading blogs and love to aggrate the RSS of fav blogs and keep uptodate on stuff. Companies seem to use blogs in quite a nice way too. Interesting bits of news are released on blogs and build up excitement. Its now become casual talk when u say - "you know about blah.. I read about it quite a long time ago on Mr. Blah's blog". It carries a lot of importance and has become a prestigious thing to read blogs of companies.

I am sure that the reading bit is very easy, but, the writing bit is kinda tough...especially for people like me..who dont want to share personal stuff online, but still keep an identity. Back when I started blogging, I used it like a diary and didnt really want to attract much attention..just a place to put ones thoughts. Well, then things changed and wars were fought. With this blog id, I try to mix and match between techy stuff and stuff like..well..this one. I do prefer to lean a bit more on the techy side of things..especially to do with technologies I love - Flash, Fireworks and "Sparkle". I plan to do so after August. For now, it will be what it is!