100th post and it took a long time coming after the 99th one! Busy busy goin' with all the stuff that goes along when one decides to change path from a professional one to an academic one.. Austin's just a couple of weeks away now!
In the meanwhile, according to CNet News, Microsoft has announced its new version of Windows, even when before the hoopla surrounding Vista is yet to settle down. The new version called Windows 7 sounds simplistic compared to Vienna, which was the supposed codename for the same. Apparently, the delivery time is set to 3 yrs, though we all know how they struggled with the Vista release. Perhaps Bill Gates, Ballmer and team got to this new codename inspired by David Fincher's tagline of the 1995 blockbuster which goes by the same name - Long is the way, and hard, that out of hell leads up to light!. ;). The way's been exceedingly long and hellish for the folks from Redmond and all they can hope is to get some 'light' with their new launch. Catch the details here..
Monday, July 23, 2007
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Federer Wins a Jaffa @Wimbledon
The stage was set after the innumerable rain delays and the vagaries of the British Summer for the match of the tournament. The top 2 seeds in a face-off similar to the one last year, except that this one emerged out to be an absolute cracker of a contest. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.. take a bow to both of 'em!
Great players spawn great rivalries - Muhammed Ali and Smoking Joe Frazier, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson - these greats have time and again taken sport to an entirely different level, and now we have Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal who have decided to join the envious legacy.
Federer hasn't been seen in too many 5 setters as there haven't been enough players who have challenged him to that extent. Rafael Nadal has never come close to winning on grass barring the last time at All England's where he was beaten by Federer after 4 sets. Critics still considered him as a clay-only specialist who didn't stand a chance against the Swiss on this surface. But how quickly do things change..
A blinder of a match where the Spaniard matched his opponent shot for shot and point for point, or rather should we say that he did a bit better than that. The Swiss Champion had taken a leaf out of Sampras' book of tennis, belting aces at will which probably was one of the deciding factors in his favor.
Two tie-breakers went in Federer's kitty and Nadal broke him in the other 2 sets to take the enthralling encounter to the final set. It was power tennis at its best, with both the players having answers to almost every question raised by each other. There were shades of Sampras in Federer and Agassi in Nadal, and tennis fans know very well that the same class of tennis hasn't really been reproduced since the formers retired. But then, as I said before, things do change, isn't it?
Would it be appropriate to say that Federer did get a little lucky in the final set or did Nadal lose his nerves just a wee bit? In two Federer service games, the scoreline read 15-40, but Federer managed to scrap through both times. And we know that this is being too generous against the Champion who then broke Nadal to claim his fifth consecutive Wimbledon Final to give Bjorn Borg some much needed company.
A terrific match which would augur well for the future of tennis since now Federer has to watch his back not only on clay but on the greener version as well. As for Rafael Nadal, he'll definitely get another chance in the future to accompany Manuel Martinez Santana as the only Spaniard who's won in Wimbledon till now.
As Rafael Nadal sat on his chair after the match wondering what went wrong in the final set, we can all applaud his effort which made the final such a pleasure to watch. His ripping forehands from the back of the court hit with phenomenal precision often left Federer bewildered, such was the level of his game and he still ended on the losing side. For the purists, the final scores read 7-6(9-7),4-6,7-6(7-3),2-6,6-2
Great players spawn great rivalries - Muhammed Ali and Smoking Joe Frazier, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson - these greats have time and again taken sport to an entirely different level, and now we have Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal who have decided to join the envious legacy.
Federer hasn't been seen in too many 5 setters as there haven't been enough players who have challenged him to that extent. Rafael Nadal has never come close to winning on grass barring the last time at All England's where he was beaten by Federer after 4 sets. Critics still considered him as a clay-only specialist who didn't stand a chance against the Swiss on this surface. But how quickly do things change..
A blinder of a match where the Spaniard matched his opponent shot for shot and point for point, or rather should we say that he did a bit better than that. The Swiss Champion had taken a leaf out of Sampras' book of tennis, belting aces at will which probably was one of the deciding factors in his favor.
The number of aces could have been much bigger but for Nadal who extended every bone and muscle in his robotic body to craft some incredible returns of almost unplayable serves.
Two tie-breakers went in Federer's kitty and Nadal broke him in the other 2 sets to take the enthralling encounter to the final set. It was power tennis at its best, with both the players having answers to almost every question raised by each other. There were shades of Sampras in Federer and Agassi in Nadal, and tennis fans know very well that the same class of tennis hasn't really been reproduced since the formers retired. But then, as I said before, things do change, isn't it?
Would it be appropriate to say that Federer did get a little lucky in the final set or did Nadal lose his nerves just a wee bit? In two Federer service games, the scoreline read 15-40, but Federer managed to scrap through both times. And we know that this is being too generous against the Champion who then broke Nadal to claim his fifth consecutive Wimbledon Final to give Bjorn Borg some much needed company.
A terrific match which would augur well for the future of tennis since now Federer has to watch his back not only on clay but on the greener version as well. As for Rafael Nadal, he'll definitely get another chance in the future to accompany Manuel Martinez Santana as the only Spaniard who's won in Wimbledon till now.
As Rafael Nadal sat on his chair after the match wondering what went wrong in the final set, we can all applaud his effort which made the final such a pleasure to watch. His ripping forehands from the back of the court hit with phenomenal precision often left Federer bewildered, such was the level of his game and he still ended on the losing side. For the purists, the final scores read 7-6(9-7),4-6,7-6(7-3),2-6,6-2
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Reviving Good 'Ol Memories..
Check out the explanation for a blunder on part of umpire Mervyn Kitchen..
Was Waz' really the greatest fast bowler the game had ever seen considering the conditions that he played in?
Was Waz' really the greatest fast bowler the game had ever seen considering the conditions that he played in?
Friday, June 29, 2007
Web Services vs Distributed Objects
There's always been this one sided debate on which is better in terms of performance - Web Services or RMI (Remote Method Invocation). However, most of the purists have termed the former as being really slow compared to the latter in all scenarios. Even then Web Services have evolved which has been attributed to the fact that they provide a convenient way to work with UI and also automatic firewall protection.
However, saying that Web Services fare poorly when compared to RMI isn't always true, as suggested by the work of Prof. William R. Cook and Janel Barfield in their paper Web Services versus Distributed Objects: A Case Study of Performance and Interface Design. They conclude that Web Services can also outpeform Distributed Objects and RMI if the scenario under question is well suited for document oriented communication.
Cook and Barfield take a simple example of a File Server, where the client requests multiple files from the server. The RMI approach in such a case would require multiple requests being sent to the server and hence the total service delay would depend on the number of such requests being made, and such a delay can be huge when large number of files are being requested from the server.
According to them, Web Services on the other hand with its document oriented approach would fare much better, since the request and response cycle would be run only once and thereby not depending on the number of files being requested. The paper provides skeletal snippets of code, but maintains that the Web Services implementation is difficult to maintain. However, they do provide an alternative object oriented approach to the same. Interesting read, find the paper here..
However, saying that Web Services fare poorly when compared to RMI isn't always true, as suggested by the work of Prof. William R. Cook and Janel Barfield in their paper Web Services versus Distributed Objects: A Case Study of Performance and Interface Design. They conclude that Web Services can also outpeform Distributed Objects and RMI if the scenario under question is well suited for document oriented communication.
Cook and Barfield take a simple example of a File Server, where the client requests multiple files from the server. The RMI approach in such a case would require multiple requests being sent to the server and hence the total service delay would depend on the number of such requests being made, and such a delay can be huge when large number of files are being requested from the server.
According to them, Web Services on the other hand with its document oriented approach would fare much better, since the request and response cycle would be run only once and thereby not depending on the number of files being requested. The paper provides skeletal snippets of code, but maintains that the Web Services implementation is difficult to maintain. However, they do provide an alternative object oriented approach to the same. Interesting read, find the paper here..
Old Boys.. Old Times..
Vintage Sachin at last.. I've not been writing much with respect to this game, coz I just didn't feel like. Cricket's been losing its sheen with the retirement of giants like Lara, Warne and McGrath and also has suffered since one of its champions wasn't playing upto his name.
18 years of cricket and still going. He's not been at his exploding best, his foot movement not that positive and he's been made to jump around by novice fast bowlers. But then there are days like the one today, when everything seems to fall right in place. Sachin Tendulkar's 93 against the Proteas today had everything one can expect from one of cricket's most favorite sons. Elegant backfoot punches through point, devastating pulls and hooks, copy book cover drives and trademark flicks - you name it and he played it and it was obvious, the South Africans suffered.
15000 runs, 160 odd sixes to top over 1600 odd boundaries in an illustrating one day career, I just hope he carries on with this vigor. Forget the age, burn in the enthusiasm and let the bat do the talking. Great shot Sach..
18 years of cricket and still going. He's not been at his exploding best, his foot movement not that positive and he's been made to jump around by novice fast bowlers. But then there are days like the one today, when everything seems to fall right in place. Sachin Tendulkar's 93 against the Proteas today had everything one can expect from one of cricket's most favorite sons. Elegant backfoot punches through point, devastating pulls and hooks, copy book cover drives and trademark flicks - you name it and he played it and it was obvious, the South Africans suffered.
15000 runs, 160 odd sixes to top over 1600 odd boundaries in an illustrating one day career, I just hope he carries on with this vigor. Forget the age, burn in the enthusiasm and let the bat do the talking. Great shot Sach..
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