Got rid of practical examinations.

It feels great to know that I have finally given the last lab exam that I have to. (I am not interested in studying further and i really dont think there is a chance of a change in our last semester syllabus now.) So finally i dont have to look at programs just for the sake of an exam and learn something practical for the same reason. Only i know the pain of having to managed a totally MS .net lab. It was like a totally foreign land in which i made myself feel at home by designing console applications in Notepad insted of making ASP.net pages or web services in the dreaded MS VS.net thingy. God! good riddance. Well so now i just have to write 5 more university exams (practically making it 15 more hours). As i think i can manage Distributed Comp. Sys. and Web Services it boils down to 3 really boring crappy ones. Data Warehousing, Cryptography and Linux Kernel Internals are subjects that would surely interest me practically but asking me to write an exam in them is a ttally different thing. Personally i dint really dig writing exams (i guess there r ppl out there who do dig it actually and thus the system exists.) Well this education system really needs a change.

Form what i was able to make out at a recent posting in the Chennai Linux Users Group it seems the British corrupted our rich educational system in order to detiriorate our culture as a whole. And from what i can make of it they were really successful.

Gosh something really needs to be done for this system. Right now all that our exams are able to test are memory retention of a person. (besides possibly story building skills for some examiners.)

Ankit Malhotra
(The BATFAN)

On what I preach: Rediscover the web (& lots more)

Ok,

Time now to tell a little bit more about myself.(After all as I had already mentioned I aint popular yet). As the big banner at the top will tell you I use a different browser. If you want to get the browser I use you can just click the banner at the top. But then if you cant download it and you have ways and means of getting in contact with me(right now this applies to anybody who is willing to come and meet me personally in Vellore) then I can provide you with a copy of the browser (and lots more of OSS for both Linux and Windoze). Getting back to the topic, I am an ardent believer in OSS (Open Source Software) or Free Software. As of now I have not been able to notice any differences between the two except for the names. (Well if u r not an ardent Linux user and u just cant get what I am talking about this may come in handy.) Well getting over the argument, I sincerely believe in it being "GNU/Linux" but bcos of the complacency involved I simply call it "Linux". Personally I would have called it "lin". But well that aint possible. As that is highly incomprehensive for many ppl, so Linux is fine as of now.

Many people (well not exactly that many, its been basically some college friends) have asked me what made me become so crazy about Linux. Well the fact is that I am not crazy about Linux. I am just crazy about the philosophy I preach (And I feel that is the philosophy of knowledge). I simply dig OSS bcos it offers me the freedom to what I do. And that is what any tech is meant for. It is meant too wrok the way you want it. It always has the functionality for that built in. But sadly when software becomes closed source its just that control that you lose. Many will say that we dont need that functionality. Well it is not about the functionality alone (though it forms a big part of it), it is more about the freedom in using something that I know is working as it is supposed to work bcos there are many others around this world doing the same. It gives me the trust which is so important. I dont know about any body else but I have read a lot on the net about Microsoft being able to leak private user information through its software and many others also doing the same. Well for all that its worth it does seem possible bcos if you use Windows u use Windows. The system knows about everything you tell it. Well and this is no clever AI or anything. It can anyway keep track of what you use it for and what you use it with. The software that you have and the various details about it (well if these products are microsoft again it becomes all the more easier for them to track.) Personally anybody cconnecting to the net using Windows sitting at home is really in for trouble. Bcos as to what I have been taught in engg (or let us say what i have got from it) has really exemplified the world of computing for me. It has made everything look so simple and self explanatory. (Well maybe that is what engg is supposed to do hmm :) ). And when without this knowledge I could make a trojan to attack Win systems upto ME trust me the engg at Microsoft are capable of much more.

So as ever it is in your hands(or should i say mind) on what you use (And its in mine to use what I want). I have made my choice and I have given the reasons (at least 1) for it above. Will keep giving more as I can. But i think there are better people(or groups of people) who have already done this on the web. Want to know more about OSS & Free Software. Hop on to.

Free software Foundation
Open Source Initiative
Bangalore Linux Users Group
Chennai Linux Users Group

And if you want to know about one Indian whom every Indian knows(and whom I regard as an ideal man, a man of principles and values and above all a man of knowledge) and his opinions on OSS then you must check this.

Post terminated.

Ankit Malhotra
(The BATFAN)

The nomenclature that I keep for myself

Many people (well not exactly many as i aint so popular, not yet at least ;-) ) have asked me about the names that I for myself when I use a computer or the internet.

Lets begin with my self kept nick The BATFAN itself. Well as most of you would have (i am not saying should have) guessed it is a take off from my favourite comic book superhero The BATMAN. Well so what is so different about the BATMAN. The first thing is that he comes out only in the nights like any other bat. Uhhhmmm, I guess we all knew that. Ok serious ly whats so different about the BATMAN. It is the fact that he is probably(i dont know for sure, aint a diehard fan of stats until I am the one who makes them) the first comic book hero who was completely human. So he is basically just like one of us. Hey wait you got to be kidding me here. Right. Mean a normal person being BATMAN. (Ha...lol...cough cough....choking...) This guy is really nuts. Well what i just mean to say is there are some qualities that like The BATMAN we all have(or at least should have, that kinda makes us a hero if we want to be that is). Well will keep updating on this one.

Coming to the next nomencalture i have now used on the net for myself. XFM stands for Xplosiv Free Mind. The X in Xplosiv is emphasised to recollect on the 2 personal passions, Linux and The Matrix. Xplosiv also symbolizes my nature literally when i tend to lose my temper due to unknown(or lets say incomprehensible) reasons. Free Mind is the state that i want to achieve. Free can also signify the freedom as in GNU/Linux and OSS in general. I really think that for every proprietary closed source app there is a viable open source tool already available which most of us(sadly including myself at times) are not really bothered to look out for.

End of Post. To be updated.

Ankit Malhotra
(The BATFAN)

Me on the WWW.

Well so got the hang of this thing and finally got it up and running. Well it feels gr8 to b a part of the WWW.

Will be posting frequently now hopefully as i can always type everything offline and simply post them here when I get the time.

Well might as well go on with this one I guess. Talking about how the world has suddenly become such a small space to live in. With all the hi fi jets around us now going from one part to another has become so easy (and fast, at least for those who have the moolah). But well then of course you just cant see everything at any time. Can you?

Means, Well each time I see some postcard or just some nice photo of a place where I even might have been. There is that feeling of nostalgia and that surge of being there right at that moment but then suddenly..... Wake up..... Wake Up...... this is the real world. Gotta get a move on. Gotta give an exam tomorrow. Gotta study. Gotta do this project. Gotta do that. Gotta do so many things..........

dont know this is how everybody feels but this is how at least I feel? Even in this hi fi world of tech for even those who can afford it (at least monetarily) we simply dont have the time to experience life in so many enriching ways. (Well that is what vacations r for u will say.) Well but even in a vacation u go to a place and stay there for some time. What do you get? Point blank. We get a change. Yeah but do we get to know that place. Do we get to really enjoy it in its entirety, Do we become a part of that place. Nope. We are just tourists That is what I mean. There is always a path not taken in this life.

The world is always gonna be too big no matter how hi-tech we get. And there is (sigh) always going to be so many places I wish I could be. But well that is Life. You win some. You lose some.

Been vary hazy with this post I guess. Most would take me to be a wanderer. I guess I am 1.

Ankit Malhotra
(The BATFAN)

The ceremonial official whatever first post :

To anybody out there,

I am out here.

Ankit Malhotra
(The BATFAN)