I have shifted to Firefox beta builds and I must admit that after a long time, there has been a credible worthwhile option in the Open Source. I have always aligned with open source; though I have been using Opera as my default browser. The annoyances come in when one can’t customize the software to one’s taste.

For example, Thunderbird allows one to set up multiple email identities. Opera mail refuses to listen to it’s customers (be it on their news servers or their forums). Although I have to admit that it terms of GUI or innovations, nothing beats it; even though their software sucks.

In any case, Chromium was too overbearing for me in the past few builds; it was refusing to open up, sucking up on the experience. And I have no qualms in admitting the fact that Firefox is indeed the next Chrome; the browser battles have been drawn up clearly and it remains to be see how it finishes off.

Opera would remain at it’s pathetic best unless they open up the API‘s and make it more extensible. At present, because of its poor market share AND lack of “open source”, desktop is sucking up. The problem is that it extends to their entire ecosystem (on mobile phones and other platforms) that is impossible for them to open up the code. Well, thats part of the reason.

I have my annoyances with BSNL broadband off and on… and I am looking at the computational databases with interest. Broadband has a lot of potential; it remains to be seen how we extend our imagination.

Related articles

• Browser War: My Background (martintjandra.wordpress.com)
• Firefox 4′s last beta? (download.cnet.com)
• Using a Bookmark Manager: Firefox, Opera Options (brighthub.com)
• Open Source Wake Up (arnoldit.com)
• Why Firefox Could Still Be the Browser Story of the Year (ostatic.com)
• Firefox 4′s last beta? (download.cnet.com)
• Mozilla CEO Gary Kovacs Talks Firefox 4, Competition With Google’s Chrome and More! (Video) (kara.allthingsd.com)
• Choosing an Alternative to Internet Explorer (devicemag.com)
• How to Restart Firefox in Offline Mode (brighthub.com)
• Open Source, my aaS ? (cloudave.com)

Tags: API, Broadband, Browser wars, BSNL, BSNL Broadband, CEO, Chromium, DTH, Free software, Google, Google Chrome, GUI, Internet, Internet Explorer, Mobile, mobile phones, Mozilla, Mozilla FirefoxMozilla Firefox, Open Source, Opera, Opera Options, software sucks, Technology_Internet, Telecommunications India

On the main page, I have set up a Twitter Widget; I was finding it difficult to load one from the official site. However, WP has tonnes of plug ins which helped me set it up in a jiffy.

Although I experimented with a different theme, but I stuck on the present option. It is much more “feature rich” in my opinion and generally works.

What I have done around this time is to integrate the tags and the posts in a more fundamental manner. It took some tweaking of Simple Tags plug in and Open Calais integration (via their API key), which is the first step towards “semantic web”. The idea is to have a better search (from the tag clouds AND the database) as well as be relevant for the searches. I was keen to get a RSS aggregation enabled on the site but it wasn’t possible to do it effectively. Further, it would have just polluted the pages and the different posts so I gave up the idea.

What I love about the tags (and being able to apply it automatically) is the ability for “deep search” and relevance. Although taxonomy is being deprecated in many blog posts, still it is far better than the keyword searches that search engines rely on. The obvious evolution is semantics and identification of contextual linkages for identification of content (instead of merely categorizing them) and this is first step towards that.

On the sidelines, I have emailed to Business Standard regarding the BSNL update on the RTI application and hoping that there would be some traction on that count. I also hope that they would keep me in the loop and do the needful of bringing about at least some accountability in the sector.

Tags: 1Mbps, API, Broadband in India, Broadband Updates, BSNL, BSNL Broadband, Business Standard, deep search, Human Interest, Kick ass stuff, Mobile, search engine, semantic web, Telecommunications India, theme, Twitter, World Wide Web

This is response to one of the readers who has very kindly consented to write about it. Building and owning community networks is a fascinating idea but the major reason why they work or fail is the participation of the people around in the project.

There have been some attempts in the past (this post beautifully highlights what has been covered in India) However, practical suggestions apart, barring a mention in the media for the same, I have no clue about their present status.

One of the biggest obstacle in community funding is the funds. It’s impossible to get people excited about a shiny new broadband because of huge capital expenditure. One easy way out of this mess is to involve the Government to invest after negotiating long term rates with suppliers. This would make it easier and technically, BSNL and MTNL are public owned entities in their own right. It is a separate matter that their decision making is isolated from what is required to what is actually provided.

Hence, I don’t remain convinced about the community networks. There are ownership issues; we know in Indian model of “board membership” means a permanent way to swindle funds. Indians unfortunately, have lost touch with community participation and has remained in the hands of few well meaning NGO’s; some of them might get a mention in main stream media but no one talks about their failures.

However, running an Internet cafe on community lines is different from owning the actual line. Barring a nominal amount of capital expenditure (one needs funds for everything!), there is no other way any such model could sustain itself.

Tags: API, Broadband, BSNL, India, Indians, Internet, main stream media, Media, MTNL, Telecommunications India