Chennai - Detroit of India ??

I don't want our Govt. to do excellent forecasting and attract good Industry that can survive various economic conditions (read biotech, nanotech etc etc), but they can atleast look back and stop calling Chennai, the Detroit of India considering the state in which Detroit finds itself in.

Overclocking

My current obsession is with overclocking. Overclocking simply means to run a processor at a speed greater than the prescribed one. AMD Processors (Athlon, Opteron etc) are well known for their overclocking ability. My current chip is an Opteron 165 that is rated to run at 1.8Ghz (remember its a dual core). I'm currently running it at 2.8Ghz which is about 60% Overclock.

It's great fun to assemble your computer and then mess around with the bios, tweaking the voltage to your proc, the FSB to your memory etc. But you have to be really careful with this overclocking thing. There are great many photos on the net showing fried CPUs, those that couldn't take the voltage supplied by their masters. An important part of OC-ing is to keep your processor cool. So if you up the voltage to the core of your processor the proc. temperature will go up. Therefore OC-ing through voltage raising should be the last resort.

The amount of OC-ing also depends on the MotherBoard (MoBo) you have. I have a DFI Lanparty CFX-3200-DR/G that's literally an OC's dream board. I can change a lot of parameters for the memory modules I use.

You overclock a processory by increasing the FrontSide Bus speed. This speed for my opteron was 200Mhz. Then there's the FSB multiplier which is 9. Therefore the speed for my proc was 1800Mhz (200*9). So the best way to OC is to increase the FSB. But if you increase the FSB you will face a limitation by the memory. Most DDR memory are rated at 200Mhz and will work well up to around 220Mhz. Therefore you are looking at a max OC of around 1980Mhz.

This is where the MoBo comes in. If your Mobo allows you to have steppings then you can change the FSB and set the stepping in such a way that your memory is run in it's stated speed. Now theoretically you can change the FSB and the memory stepping to achieve greater lengths of OC-ing. For the combo I have I was able to change the FSB to 300Mhz and change the stepping in such a way that my Memory ran at 225Mhz.

The FSB trick lasts only so long. Then you have to apply small increases in voltage to both your memory and proc to achieve further OC. This is where I'm stuck. My core temp goes up to 64C (core voltage,vcore, is 1.5v and FSB is 318Mhz). To keep the chip cool airflow in your case is very important. I have changed my setup so many times now. I had Coolermaster Centurion, then Antec P180B and now finally the setup is in a Thermaltake Shark. The processor is cooled by Thermaltake BigTyphoon VX. Great cooler by the way and it's huge. I mean literally huge. But one heck of a cooler. My core temps are around 39c at idle. But when at full load, running a program called Prime 95 to test the stability, the temp shoots up almost by 25c. I suspect the airflow in case is the problem.

To proceed further with my OC efforts, I have ordered a Thermaltake water cooler from newegg. Should arrive tomorrow. I have also ordered some 120MM fans to improve the airflow with in my case. I think the hot air is not removed quick enough (stock fans on the rear). I'll try with more fans and see if I can go past 320Mhz FSB. If not I have to go with Water cooling.

Microsoft - Not an innovator ?

On a daily routine I read all kinds of jokes about Microsoft such as Congress should legislate that Innovation and Microsoft should never appear in the same sentence etc. Recently some of my friends got together, an usual weekend samosa, tea chit-chat that is so common here, and started discussing stocks which later meandered in to an heated discussion about Apple and Microsoft. Now I'm not a big Microsoft fan even though every computer product I have is from the Microsoft stable (I know you all crying hypocrite). I hate the sheer size of the company, a slumbering dinosaur. I love the nimbleness of the Linux developers, their cooperative attitude and commitment to sharing of knowledge. This aside, I was surprised to find myself defending Microsoft against Apple.

Many people consider Apple to be the epitome of innovation. Far from it, Apple was the first stealer on the block. Yeah you heard it. Apple was the first to get inspired from someone else's innovation (very much like our own desi music directors...). The real innovators behind the first Apple computer were not the people of Apple but the people in PARC (Palo Alto Research Center). PARC was funded mainly by Xerox company (talk of a company that gave rise to , Computer, Ethernet, Adobe etc but still did not make a single dime out of any of these innovations). Steve Jobs was visiting PARC, saw the computer there with a seperate monitor, mouse and keyboard, came back to Apple and created his version. So why do people fault Microsoft for doing what Apple did, getting inspired ?

In my opinion Microsoft and Apple are two completely different companies. They just cannot be compared on innovation. Microsoft was the first to create an online travel company and spin it off (expedia.com). Now how many companies has Apple spun off ? Apple Ipod is to mp3 players what Windows is to the OS-es. It's not the greatest thing but has a big marketing muscle behind it. There are much better players from Creative and other companies. Let us accept the fact that Apple failed to capitalize on its head start in the computer area. Much like how IBM closely guarded OS/2 and lost out to Windows, Apple was very protective of its computer where as Microsoft openly embraced OEMs and gave away it's operating system.

Another point that was raised was the competitiveness displayed by MS. Heck that's the same type of competitiveness that Intel exhibited against AMD. This is a tough business world. You either eat or get eaten. We should be glad that a company like MS is not in Larry Ellison's hand. He is the worst of the breed. He is a kind a guy who would rather pay the fine and land his aircraft in San Jose airport after the airport is closed because it's closer to his home.

On the question of innovation, MS has innovated a lot more than any companies in question. Could it have done more ? May be. But you should consider that this company competes with everybody on this planet. It competes with Yahoo, Google, IBM, Oracle, SAP, Sony not to mention the innumerable Linux companies. Who does Apple compete with ? With Microsoft and some PC OEMs like Dell, Hewlett-Packard on the computer front and with some lesser mortals like Creative in the mp3 world. Now they have MS in this arena. Given the level of competition that Microsoft has it will be big challenge just to survive. Even with such competition it has put out some wonderful products like XBox, Visual Studio .NET and the office suite of products.

There's a wonderful field called Operations Research in this world. This field owes its existence to Microsoft Excel. I have worked in both IBM's Websphere application development (WSAD) and .NET. I'll tell you I'll never go back to WSAD. So much so that the consultant who recommended Java to our company as a standard (which we did adopt as standard) started using VS.NET after he left our company.

Comparing Microsoft and Apple is well not an Apple to Apple comparison. Let them all innovate, compete and fight against each other. Finally the consumer will win.

Gharib Rath (Chariot of the Poor)

So I watched M.Karunanidhi flag off another train from Chennai to Delhi or Hazrat Nijamuddin. Express trains like these usually have catchy names, TamilNadu Express, Rajdhani express etc. So I thought it was some kind of joke that this train is called Gharib Rath, translated to English it means Chariot of the Poor. But no that's really the name of the train. I was literally shocked. Is this a cruel play on the nation's poor. I wonder how many poor petitioned Lalu and Mu.Ka to enable them travel from Chennai to New Delhi in a AC coach for cheap.

Is there no limit to such farceness in this nation. Contrary to the perception that IT has lifted the living standards back home, I still find the nation in the grips of poverty where farmers commit suicide, states fight over among other things on water, where good infrastructure doesn't even come in dreams let alone be reality and honesty will be usually priced with your life (Manjunath). I bet the people in TamilNadu would rather have Gharib paani, Gharib hawa and a Gharib Makaan rather than a Gharib Rath.

Mera Bharath truly a Mahan (we call people mahan usually when they die which is so apt here).

P.S. How come M.Karunanidhi is now flagging a train named in Hindi. Did we not come from a lineage that revolted against Hindi imposition and opposed anything that was not Tamil. I guess he has turned a full circle in his life what with his vegetarianism, yoga practice, Sai Baba and Mata Amritandamayee friendship. Accepting Hindi is what we call parinaama valarchi, some people would like to call it andhar balti.

No alternative in Tamil ?

If Hindi can call Rose as Ghulabi why is it that tamil just calls it roja ? why do the tamil scholars not take time to coin words for such commonly used items ?

Mella tamizh ini saagum....

What are you

when you hate holidays because the stock market is closed ?

Unity in diversity, is it practical ?

One of the founding principles of Union of India is the notion of Unity in Diversity. This is one of those utopian principles of Jawaharlal Nehru. It's a different story that Morarji and Shastri debunked this principle and tried to impose Hindi in the southern states which then fueled the rise of the kazhagams in TN. But my question is this Unity in Diversity concept really workable ?

When Mayflower docked in the Eastern Board, the first thing that the immigrants to the new land did was to ditch their previous identity. Many of the last names like Johnson, Richardson etc were created on the fly because the new land required them to do so. These immigrants did not try to keep their Italian roots or German roots but rather exerted extra efforts to blend in the society. Many of the biographies of famous first generation Americans would have stories about how their parents forebade them from speaking the language of the land they came from but rather encouraged learning of English. Clearly here we have a group of people who thought the best way to build a country is to leave their roots, forget their ancestry and join the melting pot. These immigrants were mainly responsible for the development of United States and its subsequent ascendence as a super power.

This same country is now in the throes of new immigrants hopelessly clinging on to their old culture. Not only does the Govt. encourage the preservation of "culture" it also encourages a multi-linguistic scenario by making spanish and other such languages as medium of instruction in schools as well as the language of choice in governance. Will this departure from insisiting on shedding ones identity and joining the mainstream to encouraging one to keep their distinctiveness cause the slow decline of this country ? Is this another experiment in Unity in Diversity ?

My personal point of view is that it is a mistake on the part of US govt. to encourage such multiculturism. History has proven that the survival of any nation state depends on its citizens feeling culturally bound to the land as well as to its other inhabitants. Multiculturism certainly is desirable by all and that's why it is gaining popularity but it will be a drag on this country a generation or two down the road.

Judiciary under attack in Tamilnadu

Arcot Veerasamy, very famous for Re.1 per bag of rice and Re.1 per unit of current scams, has launched a frontal attack on the judiciary by claiming that judges are not superior to democratically elected Govt. What else can we expect from rowdies and hooligans who masquerade as ministers in today's TN. Government. They don't even understand that Judiciary is a seperate arm from democratically elected legislature and the officialdom known as the executive.

For him the world is just purely hierarchical where him and his fellow hooligans are at the top of the world because the mob elected them. When justices find the mob guilty of rigging the elections they start questioning the judges and their basic functions. The real reason for an Independent judiciary Mr.Veerasamy is to keep hooligans like you in check and even with all these you succeed in circumventing all rules and regulations 99.999%. Hats off to Justice Khalifulla who found the 99 corporators of having rigged the elections to win it. I would have given him another hats off if he had passed a law saying those corporators cannot stand in the re-election.

Kathiyindri Ratham indri udhdham onru nadakkudhu...

1. India vs USA
2. NRI vs RI
3. Northie vs Southie

if u know of more online wars please let me know and I'll add them to the list.

Failures of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

He is known as the Father of the Nation, he taught the masses the power of Satyagraha and enunciated the principle of Ahimsa. He inspired leaders like Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King who in turn liberated Millions of their ilk from slavery and apartheid. But what he failed to do was to leave progenies who are worth carrying his last name. It is a duty of every citizen of this world and each one of the countries to leave behind Sons and Daughters who in turn are good citizens and he failed miserably in that crucial task. All he left behind was a bunch of no-gooders who still survive, no scavenge, on his own life and still worse his death.

The latest such attempt is by his Grandson Tushar Gandhi through the book "Let's kill Gandhi". Tushar in his book is quoted as saying that the Brahmins wanted to kill Gandhi because they wanted to maintain their leadership on the hindu community. The Grandson of the Mahatma has swooped so low that the only common thread that he can see in all the killers is just that, a thread. They are all males so a similar extrapolation would result in all males wanted to kill Gandhi because he was women's rights. Or he could have as well said that Pune-ites wanted to kill Gandhi or gone a bit more and said Mahrattas wanted to kill Gandhi but all these won't cause ruckus and sell his book.

Mr.Gandhi, I am very sad to say this but the stinging truth is that while you may be a mahatma your offsprings are just plain scumbags.

Stable 1, Horses 2

Tatas are the most respected and venerable industrialists in India today and they have been that way for about a century now. JRD Tata was a pioneer in many fields and those were very varied and contributed to the overall growth of the community, country and his own wealth and that of his shareholders. It is only fit that Ratan carry forward JRD's legacy and the latest acquisition by Tata Steel of Corus Group of UK is a standing testimony of the groups resolve to be independent and be able to deliver to the shareholders.

But this post is more about comparing 2 companies from the Tata fold that are viewed so diagonally opposite way by their employees. The two in question are Tata Steel and Tata Consulting Services (TCS). While Tata Steel has been praised for it's employee friendly initiatives which includes constructing the town of Jamshedpur and running it efficiently, institution of Employee Provident fund when there was no such concept anywhere in India, instituting an 8 hour work day way before the Britishers passed law to create a 12 hour work day etc, TCS has always been accused of exploiting it's employees including paying them pittance, imposing bonds and other such semi-legal measures to prevent attrition and even getting back their tax-refunds.

How come 2 companies from the same stable, adhering to the same corporate principles of governance be so different ? I think this will make up a good topic for a PhD student in Human resources. But I've been thinking about it a while and some facts stand out between the companies and it's employees that might be the reason for such behaviour.

In case the Steel arm, it recognizes that skilled labor is very essential for its survival. Even though many will view steel workers as just manual labor, the crucial difference between a successful steel venture and an also ran is the efficiency which in turn depends on the skill of the workforce. Therefore Tata Steel's survival dictates that it keeps attrition very low and workers happy.
On the other hand for TCS even though the labor is termed highly skilled is still available in abundant quantity. There's no real reason for it to play nice with it's employees because they can be easily replenished. Infact TCS will do well to manage their operations with green people as they can be paid less than the more experienced folks.
Looking at the other part of the equation which is employees themselves, Tata Steel workers know that they are skilled but they also know that the skill they have acquired is not something they can use at another place down the road. So the plant needs their skill and their skill needs a plant. A nice and happy dovetail.
Coming to our IT guys, from what I've seen, many would just jump ship at mere Rs.10k difference in salary. I know of instances when Infosys, Wipro and CTS used to poach people from one another. The employee feels no commitment to work for the company just like how the company feels no real compulsion to retain them. So it's a perfect market economy in the IT industry. TCS wants to extract the maximum by paying the minimum whereas employees want to spend minimum time and escape as quickly as possible.

So basically the skills required and it's availability dictates the level of employee friendliness in these two companies that share the same brand name. Contrary to the belief IT Skills are not high tech at all. Infact I don't know why IT companies recruit B.E. degree holders first and then go on to other skillset. Many in US who have risen to good positions including my own former team leads and project managers never had anything more than an associate degree which is like our SSLC. Whereas a steel worker might just have some vocational training as his educational qualification but his experience is something that is invaluable. I don't think any amount of degree can compensate for the lessons these guys would have gained on the job. Hence TCS recruits B.E. degree holders but treats them like an SSLC passout while Tata Steel hires SSLC passouts and treats them better than degree holders. Samjhe....