Halloween documents revisited

Last month I was reading a piece of news fom GrokLaw which says SCO is getting $100 million funding.It's a shocker to everybody who have been following SCO vs Linux case.These guys are badly after Linux and Lawyers seems to be running the company.I still don't understand whether they have any growth agenda other than simply being 'patent troll'.In case you don't understand what I am talking, you should read Halloween documents, solid wiki article about SCO vs Linux.Let's see what SCO is up to this time after loosing series of battles against Linux community.

How to restore xorg.conf

Few weeks back I messed up with my Ubuntu Graphics Manager and it stopped starting Gnome display manager.It stucks at command prompt with a message Xserver failed to start and I couldn't see GUI any more.Obviously, i tried 'startx' without success.Then I tried 'sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg' to configure my graphics environment from command prompt.Some how I could configure only 4bit color depth and un fortunately it didn't allow me higher bit color depth.It was horrible to see the 4bit color depth screen and i decided to try other methods.If you have backup file of xorg.conf you can restore with 'sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf.mysave /etc/X11/xorg.conf' where xorg.conf.mysave is your backup file.In my case i couldn't figure out the backup file correctly in /etc/X11 directory as there seems to be more than one.

I decided to try another method from ubuntu forums which says xorg 7.2 has a pretty useful feature.That is if you delete xorg.conf file then it will regenerate a new one with default settings.First I have checked the version of my xorg by typing 'X -version' and confirmed it is version 7.2.Then I have deleted my xorg.conf file by typing 'sudo rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf' .It worked like magic and i could see my GUI again.Thanks to ubuntu forums.

Microsoft playing Zero-Sum game

It didn't surprise me much when Microsoft launched a bid to buy Yahoo!,considering the company's woeful record in online space.It could be seen as a desperate and one last attempt to lift its online business(Forget competing with Google).Moreover, this deal is subjected to scrutinies from anti-trust watch dogs and I am sure Google will try its best to stop this deal going ahead.But Microsoft's underdog status in online ad space may help the deal to get through.

On the surface it looks like MS will take back some control with this move as MS have deep pockets to invest.But that can happen only if and if MS spins off its own online business unit to merge with Yahoo!.Then the companies can get off with integration issues and Google will get less time to cash on the transition.Otherwise Google will totally un-settle the two companies in this uncertainity period.MS also suffers branding issues in its online strategy and Yahoo! will add more injuries.MS already confusing customers with MSN/Hotmail/Windows Live.. whatever the hell is that.MS simply lacks weapons to compete online.

So far,Yahoo! itself couldn't figure out much, how to translate traffic into profit and I don't know how LAME MS will help it.Mind you,Yahoo!'s Project Panama also couldn't lift its revenues.But on the positive side,Yahoo! is one of the pioneers of the web and they have stronger presence in asian markets and Mobile search.Yahoo! search is way better than Live hell and MS at last realized that Google's online success is because of its high-quality search engine.MS was late to search market and I still don't understand why MS links Windows with its online strategy(Why Windows LIVE??Misleading and irrelevant name).I can't imagine that hot properties like Yahoo answers,Flickr,Del.icio.us,Eurosport falling in MS hands.Except hotmail(that too acquisition) tell me where MS had success in online business.They coudn't build communities and hot portals even after burning billions of dollars.MS should remember that internet communities are sensitive and it takes only seconds to switch to another site.MS playing Zero-Sum game here and now they are thinking that Yahoosoft+Google=100% of online advertising.They are totally wrong and there are no. of startups who are working towards game-changing online ad technologies.

Given its poor execution of online strategy record, I feel even after this buyout MS will be vulnerable.As long as the company under estimates the open standards it may not find recipi.Internet is all about open and nuetral standards.Imagine, I visited Flickr website through my Ubuntu-Linux notebook and a message pops to me saying you are not using Vista/XP or IE hell.Thats quite possible after this merger and thats my worry,which can force me out to look for alternatives.Now, Microsoft is embracing the disruption and I am really hoping that company will move out from its safe zone(Windows and Office) to the real future.

Where Nokia heading?

If someone asks me which is the most powerful company in the technology world,I would put Nokia on the top of my list along with Microsoft,Google and Intel.These companies have achieved truly global scale and have an enormous impact on our daily lives.

Well,what's really interesting to me is Nokia's transition from pure Hardware vendor to Application and web services company.Today 40 out of 100 mobile phones are Nokia's and the company already sold more than 1.5 billion phones over the years.That number is greater than no.of Windows PCs and automobiles in the world.Nokia selling more cameras,MP3 players than any other specialist company.They may even outsell specialist GPS companies soonly.Despite all this Nokia have to abide by devils called 'Operators'.But in the recent times the company increasingly realizing the importance of consumer experience and application development.Its recent acquisitions Navquest,Avvenu,Trolltech and the launch of music portal called 'OVI' suggests that company is well on the collision course with operators.As Nokia makes these devices PC centric they will be on collision with Microsoft,Google as well.Nokia can take leaf out of Apple's book,which went through great transition from hardware vendor to hardware+software+services company.

Nokia aspiring big and its very much clear that the company is heading towards becoming web services company.Nokia's choice of application development platform will decide whether it can attract developers or not.The company already owns vested ownership in Symbian and its S60 is the dominant development platform.Trolltech acquisition is little confusing and probably suggests that Nokia will jump on Mobile Linux band wagon.Nokia using Debian based Linux (Maemo)on its N800 internet tablets which is based on GTK+ and Trolltech brings rival development platform Qt.It remains to be seen how Nokia will justify this move.There are consortiums like LiPS,Motorola's LIMO,Google's OHA,CELF,Intel's Moblin and Montavista's Mobile Linux to standardise the Mobile Linux and to stop the fragmentation.Nokia's success depends how it will ditch operators and attract developers to its platform to redefine consumer experiences on tiny screens.

'E: Internal error opening cache (1)' what the hell is this??

Yet another Ubuntu problem but there is always helping hand in the form of community.Last week,I was installing Virtualbox and I cancelled it while it was downloading required packages.After that whatever I try to install from Synaptic Package Manager I encounter a message 'E:internal error opening cache(1)'.Obviously Googled and found an answer.I have edited my /var/lib/dpkg/status file (sudo gedit /var/lib/dpkg/status) to remove the entry of half-installed Virtualbox.Magically it worked and I could install everything again.

'dpkg was interrupted, you must manually run 'dpkg --configure -a' to correct the problem'

'dpkg was interrupted, you must manually run 'dpkg --configure -a' to correct the problem' Thats the message i got today, when i tried to run apt-get commands in terminal on my Ubuntu 7.0.4.This is second time for me and after upgrading my kernel this problem started.I was puzzled and started Googling.

Here is a magical command that saved me two times so far, which i got from ubuntu forums.It worked both times for me.

'sudo dpkg --configure -a && sudo apt-get -f install' run it in terminal without quotes.

Can Zune 2.0 make good no. 2 to Apple??

Microsoft may release revamped Zune for the holiday season,but many questions they need to answer.Right now, Zune boasts 10% market share in Hard drive based portable media players according to NPD.Once Zune family expands to new models and new markets like Europe it may take no.2 position easily.But that would be still distant no.2.Microsoft repeatedly failed in CE market and duds include IPTV,Tablet PC,Media center and i can add XBOX,Zune also to the list as they are not making money yet.

Windows was huge success 'coz the partners business model worked well.Microsoft tried to replicate that success to counter iPod juggernaut but backfired.Then they took Apple approach i.e. vertical business model.So far,the results are so-so.In-fact Microsoft tried to take different approach to Apple to bring social element to music,which is not received very well in the market 'coz of Zune's crippled WiFi.Even if now Microsoft come up with full fledged WiFi,still Apple is ahead as they again took initiative with iPhone and iPod touch.I wonder how Microsoft will add browsing functionality to Zune with Squircle UI.

But anti-apple voices also growing as the company becoming more like monopolistic in music by controlling end to end market.This can move away some switchers to Microsoft camp if Zune 2.0 is out of the box.This time around Microsoft taking control over manufacturing unlike Zune 1.0,when they had to depend on Toshiba's off the shelf not so appealing design.So,one can expect better industrial design with slick looks.Zune 1.0 UI was appreciated and may be some improvements will make it even better.As per content handling, may be better podcast support is must to win.Some social elements like playlist sharing and ad-hoc things will boost the appeal.

If Microsoft can not excite music fans this season,they may better search for exit route by next holiday season as marigins are dropping everyday in CE industry and it may not be good idea to burn more resources on duds.Even for XBOX also its make or break year,which already lost more than $4 billion.

"no volume control gstreamer plugins and or devices found"

Last week, i faced a bizarre sound problem on my Ubuntu 7.0.4 and all of a sudden my sound card seems disappeared.There was a red mute icon on volume control and if i click on it, it gives a message "no volume control gstreamer plugins and or devices found" .Obviously, i Googled.First i checked whether my user account got access to audio device and then i checked whether restricted codecs are installed properly.Generally, If your user account doesn't have access to audio device you may face this problem.But everything seemed OK in my case (System>Administration>Users and groups).I feared i had to install whole OS again.Luckily the following guide saved me.I reinstalled my ALSA drivers and rebooted my system.Magically it worked and happy ending.This is the third time, i faced sound problem in ubuntu and last time it was with micro phone and YouTube videos.I discussed 'ubuntu microphone problem' in one of my previous post.Hope this helps people who are in need.