Sudar Blogs: My Certification Experiences

Good Bye Blogger, Hello Wordpress

2005-11-26T00:48:00.000-08:00

Note: This blog has been moved to www.SudarMuthu.com/blog/

At last, I have finished shifting my blog from Blogger to my own domain which is running wordpress. It has been in my to-do list for quite a few months, may be from the day Fred shifted his blog to his own domain ;)

You can find the new blog at http://www.SudarMuthu.com/blog/ and if you have subscribed to the RSS feed the feed url (http://feeds.feedburner.com/SudarBlogs) remains the same.

Shifting all the posts with comments from Blogger has been a little pain since Blogger doesn’t provide a direct export option. But thanks to the import script written by Andy Skelton and the explanation given by catsutorials. It really saved a lot of time for me. If I find time I will write a small explanation with screenshots to help people who want to use this script.

Wordpress has been really excellent so far and has satisfied all my requirements. You get tons of themes and plug-ins. And the credit goes to the community. Right now I am playing with lot of themes and may be even this theme may change in a few days.

So guys welcome to the new version of my blog and do let me know your comments and suggestions.

Another spam email

2005-11-16T07:56:00.000-08:00

Here is another interesting funny spam which has escaped Gmail's spam filters and found it's way to my inbox. This one claims to be from eBay and is structured in the same way as an legitimate email. Even I was about to click the Respond button. But then something striked me. All the emails that I have received were only from eBay.co.in and not from eBay.com. And so I hovered my mouse over the link and found that it is getting redirected to some other server and not eBay. So as usual I clicked 'Report Spam' So the lesson learned. If you need some laugh and have some time to spend, then go to your spam/bulk folder and read those emails. But one word of caution don't reply to them or click any of those links, they may track you and may find that your email is active. Happy Spaming....;-)

A funny spam mail

2005-11-02T09:35:00.000-08:00

Some days ago Jeremy was talking about a funny spam email that has escaped Gmail's spam filter. And today even I got one such funny spam mail. Just look at the screen shot. The funny part is that the email shows my email address in the senders address and also in the subject line. This one was delivered to my inbox ( not in spam). And added to that when I clicked more options, Gmail doesn't show that it was mailed from some other domain (which means that it was indeed sent from a Gmail address itself) I am not sure whether I should report this as spam to Gmail. My reason for my fear is that I am not sure whether Gmail will consider my email address itself as spam or not when I report this mail. More over I am not sure yet whether some one else has received this mail with my email address in the from email address.

My right hand has less work now

2005-10-13T09:45:00.000-07:00

GMail has spoiled my mouse usage to a great extend. The recently introduced Google Reader was also having keyboard shortcuts. So I thought of changing to Google Reader from Bloglines. So I logged into Bloglines and I was about to export my subscription list as a OPML file but to my surprise I saw a bunch of hotkeys on its footer. Viola! Bloglines too have keyboard shortcuts and I dropped the idea of switching.You could see them in the footer. Here is the list

j - next article
k - previous article
s - next sub
f - next folder
A - read all
r - refresh left pane

I wonder how things change suddenly when there is a competition. As I always used to say it’s the users who are going to get benefited when there is a competition. Now I just can’t wait to see Bloglines redesign its interface and Google Reader introducing more cool features. So because of Keyboard shortcuts Bloglines is still my feed reader.

Happy Birthday Google

2005-09-27T10:06:00.000-07:00

Happy Birth Day Google.

Google has turned 7 this month. And the birth day gift is that Google is expanding it’s web search index by 1000 times.

Learn J2EE programming with passion

2005-09-26T09:34:00.000-07:00

Found this from SitePoint

Ready to get serious about learning Java Web application and enterprise application development? I can’t say I blame you—those skills will net a pretty penny in the current job market. That’s why J2EE Programming (with Passion!), a free online class offered by Sun Microsystems employee Sang Shin in his spare time, is such an amazing opportunity.

Offered by means of a Yahoo! Groups discussion list, the class runs for about the length of a university semester. Once you subscribe, you’re responsible for reviewing the weekly pre-class reading material, reading the classroom slides with accompanying notes, and completing the assigned coursework and final project by the assigned dates. It’s just like taking a university class only you don’t have to show up at lectures… oh, and did I mention it’s free?

If you’ve been awaiting an opportunity to learn J2EE in a structured way without shelling out a bunch of money on books and classes, this might just be the ticket. Sang Shin also offers a few other online classes, an advanced J2EE class among them.

The next session is starting today (26-Sep-2005) and I have registered for it. How about you? Thanks Sang Shin for the course

Update: Forgot to link to sitepoint when I posted it for the first time. Thanks Kevin for reminding.

Apple vs Microsoft

2005-09-18T06:35:00.000-07:00

I was going through CNET’s editor’s top 10 list and found some wired pattern.

Apple has two products listed in the ‘Top 10 products of the decade’ – iPod (2001) and Apple iMac (1998) and Microsoft has two products listed in the ‘Top 10 worst products of the decade’ – Microsoft Bob and Windows ME

Does it infer anything?

Incidentally Google and Firefox also find a place in the ‘Top 10 Best products of the decade’.

Two companies change hands

2005-09-12T10:17:00.000-07:00

I was reading Robert Scoble and he reports that two companies are changing hands. First Skype is sold to eBay and Oracle buys Siebel.

He also discuss about the advantages that eBay may get by using Skype.

Some people have come up to me and asked me "does this deal make any sense to you?" It does. eBay is a marketplace. It's about putting buyers and sellers together. Now, how can you make that marketplace more efficient? Voice and video.

Selling things is easier when you can tell and show. Skype is all about that.

Can't wait to see how this is going to change the way people buy things online.

Hopefully at least this is true, not like the Technorati rumor

My First Podcast

2005-09-10T22:00:00.000-07:00

Just now finished my interview with Kamla. The feeling that my voice is getting recorded made me little restless in the beginning but once I got started the restlessness vanished. I just cannot wait to hear my voice back. She said that she will probably post it later today. So guys be ready to read err… listen my first podcast. I will post the link as soon as it is uploaded.

Thanks Kamla for making my view reach the public and also for your great tips.

Update: Here is the link for the podcast http://talknewsindia.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=20763

Technorati Tags: Podcast

Interview with Kamla

2005-09-10T20:23:00.000-07:00

I am still not able to believe this. I am going to be interviewed by Kamla for a podcast to be featured in the techtalk section of her podcast/blog. If you are wondering who is Kamla, she is the first Indian podcaster. She maintains two podcast sites at www.newsaboutindia.blogspot.com and www.talknewsindia.libsyn.com

I just had a chat with her over phone and she seems to be a very knowledgeable person. We had a quick discussion about KingPing and GoogleMyWay (my two pets). We also chatted about life in India and particularly in Chennai, about work, about the outsource world and also about the collaboration between India and US in the IT field.

Hear about all these in the podcast which is scheduled to be recorded this afternoon and also I have a surprise for you in that podcast ;-)

As you know I start my day by reading Jeremy and Robert Scoble. May be from tomorrow I have to add Kamla to the list.

Major Security Threat in IE

2005-09-09T22:13:00.000-07:00

Recently I came to know about a major security threat in Internet Explorer from Lifehacker tips. Any website can read the text present in your clipboard with out your knowledge and can even replace the text present in your clipboard. I went to the article present in the tip and they mentioned that you can use ASP, PHP or Perl together with Javascript to retrieve the text.

This interested me much and I tried to figure out how to do it and to my surprise I was able to retrieve the clipboard text with just two lines of javascript code alone without even using any server side script like ASP or PHP. I have written more about it and you can find it out in this url (www.clipboard.googlemyway.com).

After retrieving the text I was thinking what a website can do by knowing your clipboard text and then an idea struck me what if it is combined with AJAX. The website can get the contents of the user’s clipboard even if the user is not submitting a form or clicking a link. I have put up a practical demonstration of it here. Once you enter your email I take you clipboard text and email it to you even if you don’t click a link or submit a form. This sounds to be a very serious threat for me.

I have also put up a page, where you can find out how you can prevent it by changing your Internet Explorer settings. Luckily this seems to occur only in Internet Explorer. Firefox doesn’t seem to have this vulnerably. So one more reason for me to use Firefox. Asa, are you reading this?

Gmail Outage ScreenShot

2005-09-02T10:10:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe this. Gmail is down. Here is the screenshot which I took on 2-Sep-05 at 10.15 pm (IST Indian Standard time) (GMT + 5.5hrs) Did any one else noticed it? PS: If the screenshot is not clear, here is a big one http://www.flickr.com/photos/sudarmuthu/sets/870900/ Update: 11:00 PM Gmail is back again.

My Own Google Page

2005-08-28T23:01:00.000-07:00

Hi,

Due to my enormous presence in the online world, Google has decided to dedicate a separate home page for me. You can check it out in the following url http://www.GoogleMyWay.com/

With Regards, Sudar

PS: If the geek with in you is still wondering, ask him to check out the url

Google Talk released

2005-08-24T00:16:00.000-07:00

I opened my aggregator (Bloglines) today and found out from Mark Jen that Google is going to release their IM Google Talk today.

I am one of those who have been waiting for this day. I went to the Google Talk site and downloaded it and installed it. The interface looks very thin and sleek and it supports both text and voice. (But yet to test it as none of friends have downloaded it yet)

And when I was looking around the interface I clicked the about box and it had the usual copy right notice and below that I found this text Play 23 21 13 16 21 19 . 7 1 12 5 and I was breaking my head to find out what they mean by it. Then only I found that I was the only one do so.

Asa has a nice guess for this and gives an explanation in his blog. If any one else has a better guess do leave a comment and also let me know about your experience with Google Talk.

Free ASP.NET training from Microsoft eLearning

2005-08-21T18:57:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for some ASP.NET training or course, then there is some good news for you. Microsoft eLearning is offering 17 hours of hands-on ASP.NET training for free. (yes)

Here is the quote from the website Are you looking to learn to create ASP.NET Web applications with Visual Studio.NET? If so now is your chance to get 17 hours of hands-on ASP.NET training for free from Microsoft Learning. For a limited time only, Microsoft Learning is offering Developing Microsoft ASP.NET Web Applications with Visual Studio.NET, a 17-hour self-paced online training course, for free ($349.00 value).

I think the offer is valid for a short time only. So if you are interested then hurry up. To Yuvi: Are you reading this..?

Features that I want in Blogger

2005-08-18T03:20:00.000-07:00

Improbulus wrote in her blog that Google is conducting a survey for users of Blogger. And I went to my dashboard and followed the link to give up my feedback. There were some questions like how long have been using blogger, how frequently you have been using it etc.

After that they asked for the features that I want to be implemented in Blogger. I thought posting my answer here so that we can discuss about the different features.

So here is my list of features that I want in Blogger (in no particular order)

Reduce Spam
Better support for editing posts.
Support for classifying posts into different Categories.
Trackback support.
RSS Feed for comments.
‘Blogger tags’ for displaying the total number of comments and trackbacks.
Ability to keep track of the comments that I have posted in other Blogger blogs (you can list the comments that I have made in my dashboard).
Email notification of other peoples comments on blogs in which I have commented.
Ability to add an ‘about me’ page.
Custom Index page (the first page that comes up when we type the blog url).

So guys what you say? If you feel that I have missed out some, leave me a comment I will add it up here.

It seems that one of my feature requests is answered. Google has released a Blogger for Word toolbar. I have just downloaded it and it works great. This post is posted from my Microsoft Word itself ;)

College Get together

2005-08-15T05:14:00.000-07:00

This weekend, we had a college get together and it was really nice to meet all my friends after about 18 months. Each one had an interesting story to share. It was a great feeling to find out that all my college friends are really doing well. Thanks KK and Arun for making it a great success. I have uploaded some photos in Flickr. You can check them out at http://flickr.com/photos/sudarmuthu/sets/756559/

Happy Independence Day

2005-08-15T00:59:00.000-07:00

Wishing all a Happy Independence Day. Read about the Indian independence movement on Wikipedia.

Technorati to be sold

2005-08-13T03:05:00.000-07:00

BL Ochman is reporting a rumor, that Technorati is available for sale. Any one who is watching blogsphere for some time would have easily guessed as the long standing question 'What is Technorati's bussiness model?' is still unanswered. So eventually it is expected to be brought by some big company. Robert Scoble the-talkative-but-silent-recently-microsoft blogger also reports it and says that if he would have had access to cash then he would have brought it. BL Ochman's guess is that it would be brought by Yahoo. But I feel that Google would be more interested in buying Technorati rather than Yahoo. Recently there have been lot of speculation about Google's SandBox effect which prevents new sites from showing up in Google's search result and lot of people were discussing about the non-real-time-result of Google and near-real-time-result of Technorati. So my guess is that it Technorati would be brought by Google. What do u say guys..? Update: This appears to be just a gulp of Google Juice. Technorati is still owned by David Sifry

New MCP exam 70-089 for MCSE

2005-08-10T00:09:00.000-07:00

Microsoft is releasing a new MCP exam for Systems Management Server 2003. The exam name is Planning, Deploying, and Managing Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 and the exam no is (70-089). The objective guide for this exam shows that Microsoft has designed two courses for this exam. They are

2596: Managing Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003
2597: Planning and Deploying Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003

70-089 will fulfill an elective requirement for the MCSE on Windows 2003 title. It will also count toward Technology Specialist fulfillment under the "new-generation" MCP program. Currently the exam is in beta and the beta ends on Aug - 22. Exam 70-089 is an update to the older 70-086, Systems Management Server 2.0. Those who passed that exam do not need to recertify, as certifications never retire. Since I am not into the MCSE track, I am not going to take it and so can guys into MCSE throw some light about this exam and also about Systems Management Server?

Got on the Broad BANDWagon! Finally

2005-08-02T23:31:00.000-07:00

Recently I have had some very bad experience in buying peripherals for my computer.

First it was my USB-IR port (BAFO 120b), which I brought to connect my mobile (Sony Ericsson T630) to my computer using IR. I bought it from a local shop for Rs 550 and when I connected it to my computer it was not recognized by my Window XP operating system. I tried all I could do but it didn’t work. I searched about it in Google and posted about it in various forums but no luck. Finally I gave up and packed it and placed it in my shelf.

Next, I decided to take up broad band connection (Believe me till now I was using only Dial-up Connection). And I selected BSNL Dataone 500, as the plan suited my needs. And regarding the modem, BSNL gave me two options either I can opt for their modem (Huawei SmartAX MT880) or I can buy my own modem. I gave a thought for some time and then decide to get my own modem and I bought a DLink DSL – 502T router / modem for RS 2450.

I was waiting with excitement to use my broadband connection. After about two weeks BSNL approved my request and enabled ADSL for my telephone line. Then came the real problem, I was trying to connect using my modem and it was not able to do that and was getting an error. I called up BSNL and they said that the problem is with my modem and not with their connection and went to the shop (yes still I am buying from a brick-mortar shop and not an e-Shop) from where I brought the modem and asked them to replace it, since I had warranty. They accepted it and gave me a new modem and even that one was giving the same problem for me.

I searched about it in Google and posted about it in various forums and almost every one gave me the same answer, connect the modem, run the wizard and you are through. I have changed almost all the configuration parameters and even then I just couldn’t do it. People from BSNL started saying that I shouldn’t have opted for my own modem and virtually all people with whom I discussed about it started pointing their fingers on me saying that it was my fault (expect my parents). I was in real frustration for about a month and finally decide to get the modem from BSNL itself and I listed my modem in ebay for Rs 2000, but I got a response from only one person who wanted it for just s 1500.

I was at my peak in frustration and something inside me asked me to give just one more try. So I just connected it (thinking that it would be my last time doing this) and the LED’s started to blink and I was staring at the screen and my hand was trying to point my mouse pointer to the shortcut (for my connection) which I have placed in the desktop.

Suddenly my yahoo messenger popped up and was trying to connect and I was trying to close it and to my surprise it got connected, I was not able to believe this because I haven’t clicked on the connection which I have created in my network connection yet. Then I opened firefox and typed Google and WOW! Google’s home page flashed.

Finally I realized that my modem has an in-built PPPoE dialer and there is no need for me to create a connection in network connection. And all these days whenever I switched on my modem it was connected to internet but I didn’t realize it. (How bad!)

My sprits went high after finding out that I have actually made a right decision while buying my modem and now I can prove to all those people who pointed their fingers at me that I did took the right decision.

And after making sure that I am connected the first website which I opened was www.Vinuthomas.com , the forum in which I was posting my query and I found that a person named Ashok who was helping me all these days and suggesting me all the possible combinations for configuring my modem has posted a reply to my post saying that my modem doesn’t need a connection to be created in Control Panel. Thanks Ashok.

And then I cancelled my ebay listing for my modem and told my parents about it. Even they shared my excitement and finally even I got on the Broad BANDWagon!

This has some how given me the confidence and energy to start fiddling with my USB-IR port and I will post my experience if I succeed in that too..

King Ping has a new logo

2005-07-28T23:16:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Wes (Trafic Transit) King Ping now has a new logo now. The new logo looks cool and fits the design very much. Check out the logo at KPing.com.

Here is Fred’s comment about this.

Got a suggestion / Feedback / Comment / Feature Request, let us know we would be glad to hear that from you.

King Ping has started to ping

2005-07-26T04:14:00.000-07:00

Last week I asked you people to suggest some good AJAX libraries and I also gave you a hint, saying that I am currently working on a pet project. Ok now its time to reveal that pet project. It’s actually an AJAX version of a ping service hosted by Fred.

People at Diva Marketing helped us to get a good name for our service and it was christened as King Ping. Currently it is pinging around 18 ping services and has its own domain at KPing.com. More features to come. You could find more info about it, in the about page.

So guys have a look at the King Ping and do let me know your suggestions / comments / feedbacks or feature requests. You can either leave them here or at Fred’s Blog or drop me an email.

Happing Pinging…

PS: If you blog about King Ping then tag them with ‘KingPing’

MCP Program takes new path

2005-07-22T02:31:00.000-07:00

Microsoft is changing its certification pattern with the release of the next version of Visual Studio. NET and SQL Server. They are introducing a new framework for certification that will pair up a credential with a skill-identifying certification based on a tiered approach consisting of three credentials:

Tier 1: Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist
Tier 2: Microsoft Certified IT Professional or Professional Developer
Tier 3: Microsoft Certified Architect

Out of which the last exam Microsoft Certified Architect is supposed to be very rigorous, board-level certification. Microsoft released information about this exam somewhere in last April.

The following is the update path for the current exams

MCDBA + 2 exams – Microsoft Certified IT Professional

MCSD + 2 exams – Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (Enterprise Application Developer)

MCAD + 1 exam – Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (either Windows or Web Developer)

Microsoft is yet to give information regarding MCSE and MCSA. But those people who have already taken the current titles (MCP/MCSE/MCSA/MCDBA/MCAD/MCSD) will still have their certifications intact.

My current plan is to take that one exam for Web Developer and upgrade my MCAD title to Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (Web Developer). But who knows there is lot of time to decide though ;)

So guys share with me how your upgrade path is going to be.

Arfa - Youngest MCAD

2005-07-18T05:05:00.000-07:00

Till now I was quite proud that I got MCAD and even posted my certificate. But I felt very bad about it when I found that a girl named Arfa Karim Randhawa in Pakisthan has finished her MCAD at the age of 9. Ya even I didn’t believe it at first (I read it twice before believing). Here is the link.

To recognize her talents and encourage her Microsoft has invited her to its Redmond campus and also arranged for an interview with Bill Gates.

What impressed me most was how she was described.

She made an impression through a combination of charm, flattery and boldness uncommon for someone her age. For example, during Arfa's meeting with Gates, she presented him with a poem she wrote that celebrated his life story. But she also questioned him about what she perceived to be the relatively small proportion of women on the campus."It should be balanced -- an equal amount of men and an equal amount of women," she explained afterward.

Here are some more excerpts

Later in the afternoon, she sat outside with S. "Soma" Somasegar, a Microsoft corporate vice president, and described her vision for a self-navigating car. He listened to her ideas and told her about some of Microsoft's existing software for cars.

To be sure, despite her question to Gates about employing people her age, Microsoft wasn't about to offer a job to someone so young. But Somasegar talked about the possibility of an internship in a few years.

"The thing that's exciting to me is her passion for technology at this age," said Somasegar, who decided to invite Arfa to Redmond after reading a story about her in MicroNews, an internal company newsletter.

I think it is a big success for Microsoft and also a real booster for both Microsoft and also the developers who use Microsoft technologies.

It looks strange how Robert Scoble missed it. Come on Scoble stop comparing Technorati and Bloglines and blog about this too. She promises to be a better evangelist than you for Microsoft ;)

Update: Some one in the comments said that this is news is a fraud. Here is the official news from Microsoft site itself.

BTW Scoble I am still waiting for your answer. Take some time to comment on this apart from comparing different blog searching engines. ;)

Technorati Tags: Certification | MCAD | Scoble | WorldRecord

Infinite Universe

2005-07-18T00:22:00.000-07:00

The Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida has put up a very Interesting Java applet on their site. It begins as a view of the Milky Way Galaxy viewed from a distance of 10 million light years and then zooms into towards Earth in powers of ten of distance. 10 million, to one million, to 100,000 light years and so on and then when it finally reaches a large Oak tree leaf. But that is not all it zooms into the leaf until it reaches to the level of the quarks viewed at 100 attometers. (wow) Here is the complete URL

http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/powersof10/index

This is a fantastic representation of how magnificent the Universe is and how vastly infinite it is both in the macroscopic and the microscopic level ;) Thanks Srikanth for pointing this out to me PS: Seeing a web site using Java Applet after a very looong time ;)

My Certificates

2005-07-14T04:57:00.000-07:00

At last I have scanned and uploaded my Microsoft Certificates as promised. I have also created a photo set in Flickr.

Sorry for the delay guys.

Oops, I have forgotten my MCAD Certificate :(

AJAX Library

2005-07-13T23:41:00.000-07:00

Regular readers of my blog would have noticed that off late, I am not updating the blog much. The reason for that is, first work is taking most of my time, second I am working on a small pet project, more on it later ;-) so as to get my hands dirty with AJAX. I was googling around to find out a good library for AJAX, so that I can start with it. And I came across Backbase. It looked very promising, so I downloaded the community edition and started working with it. But I felt it is very complex and I am not sure whether it is worth the effort and moreover I am worried about the lincening too. So people I need some help from you. Can you suggest/recommend or point me to some good library for implementing AJAX into web applications. I am particularly interested in libraries which work (at least decently) across platforms. So guys I am waiting for your replies. PS: I have already written a small wrapper function for XMLHttp object, which works in the latest version of both IE and Firefox. I will post it once I finish testing it. Meanwhile if any of you want to have a look at it, just leave a comment or mail me.

Bought Sun Exam Voucher

2005-07-05T05:44:00.000-07:00

Work has become hectic again and believe it or not I came to office even last Sunday too. So no time to update the blog :(

Sorry people for keeping you waiting.

Last week I brought the voucher from Sun Microsystem at 25% discount for my SCJP. It’s valid till July 2006. But I have put my preparation on hold due to the work pressure.

Oops my boss is calling me, will get back to you soon.

Is FireFox 1.4.0 unstable?

2005-06-23T04:18:00.000-07:00

Update: I have messed up with the title. It is actually Firefox 1.0.4 and not 1.4.0. (I am not changing the title because it is changing the permanent link) Sorry for that.

Towards the end of last year I came to know about Firefox and soon it became my default browser. I use IE only for Microsoft site and my company’s intranet sites. I updated it to 1.0.4 about a month ago.

Recently I saw Swaroop saying that Firefox 1.0.4 is frequently crashing in his system. It was only after reading his blog and the comments I began to notice that even I have a similar problem, particularly when I keep it open for long time without using it. (I have the habit of not shutting down my system for weeks together).

The problem that I am facing is that Firefox freezes whenever I try to open it after keeping it idle for some time (say 30 minutes). It takes about 5 minutes for it to come back to life and sometimes it doesn’t. I am having this behavior only in 1.0.4.

But I cannot blame Firefox completely for this because I have installed the famous (?) Window XP Service Pack 2 around the same time I updated Firefox and also I have recently installed some extensions.

I was googling for around 2 days to find out the reason for this problem or at least someone with a similar problem. And I came across some good articles by Joel Webber. He talks about a serious flaw in IE by which memory leak occurs when the JavaScript in the webpage contains closures. He also claims that even other browses apart from IE have this flaw.

Asa can you throw some light on this issue. (Probably after you are back from your vacation)

I would be really happy if this is not the problem with Firefox. Does any one else face the same issue? Please leave a comment or an email

While searching I found this page which contains pics of earlier versions of IE. What was more interesting than the pictures was the title - History of Err… Internet Explorer ;-)

Here is my System Configuration

Pentium 4 (2.8 GHz)

512 MB Ram

Window XP SP 2 with all latest updates and patches

Firefox 1.0.4 with the following extensions

Tabbrowser Preferrences 1.2.6

Web Developer 0.9.3

Greasemonkey 0.3.3

All-in-One Gestures 0.15.2

Inspect Element 0.3

SCJP Next

2005-06-20T23:56:00.000-07:00

I have taken a really looong break after my last exam. So its time that I start studying again for exams and after much thought I have finally decided my next exam. It’s going to be SCJP (CX-310-035).

The reason for choosing SCJP is that, for the next year or two I have to work mostly in java and will not be able to use much of .NET (at least at work).

Currently Sun is giving a discount of 25% for the exam till 30^th of June. But I don’t think I can take up the exam with 9 days. I have kept the third week of July as my target for this exam. Hope I meet it.

BTW I am planning to use the book Sun Certified Programmer and Developer for Java 2 Study Guide (Exams 310-035 and 310-027) by OSBORNE. Does any one have a better suggestion..?

PS: Probably my friend Ram could help me, as he has already completed SCJP ;-)

Received my MCAD Welcome Kit

2005-06-20T05:33:00.000-07:00

I just received my MCAD Welcome Kit from Microsoft. It was nice to see my name printed in it as it was signed by Bill Gates.

But this time there only the usual contents (like tie pin, MCP card etc..) were there and no discount or special offer coupons as with my MCDBA Welcome kit ;-)

Yahoo 360 Invites available

2005-06-11T01:57:00.000-07:00

Oops forgot to mention this, I have lot of Yahoo 360 invites left. So, if any of you need it just leave a comment here or send me an email. If you are leaving a comment don’t forget to leave your email address.

Comments about Yahoo 360

2005-06-08T17:43:00.000-07:00

After much struggle I managed to get an invite for yahoo 360. Tyler West was kind enough to send me an invite. Thanks Tyler.

Right from the day, I heard about Yahoo 360 from Jeremy (ofcourse) I was eager to try it out and even thought of shifting my blog from Blogger to Yahoo 360. That eagerness made me to hunt for Yahoo 360 invites and after much struggle I found that Tyler has some invites left, from his blog.

I don’t know why, but my initial enthusiasm for yahoo 360 dropped a bit after seeing the home page itself. But the Yahoo 360 team has really put in a lot of effort and they have integrated lot of features which Yahoo is providing. The problem with me is that I don’t use most of those features now ;-). And I found that I have very limited options for my blog. For instance I cannot even change the template for my blog. I played with the different features available and even created a blog out there. You can check it out here.

But we should’nt forget that it is still in beta so probably these features could be shipped with the final release. Over all I found that Yahoo 360 team has put in lot of effort, but the product has to evolve and lot of things (at least for the blog) need to be incorporated. And it is really useful for people who use Yahoo’s features extensively and is tightly integrated with messenger. You can even compose and post your blog without stepping out of your messenger. That’s really very cool.

Regarding my decision to move my blog from Blogger to Yahoo 360, I have dropped that idea (atleast for now), since it does not have trackback or category for posts and also I cannot have my own templates. And also the permanent link for the blog articles are not human readable. For instance this is the permanent link for my first article (http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-kSayz_4ibqJseoaTYa_GjkjSzJzcqg--?p=1)

Hoping that things will change once the final release comes out. BTW some one let me know whether I am totally out of track. Till then I have to be happy with Blogger.

Sun Microsystem's Offer for Java Certification Exams

2005-06-07T04:27:00.000-07:00

Sun Microsystems is celebrating Java Technologies 10^th Birthday by giving a 25% discount on Java Technology Certification Exams. This offer is for a limited period from May 23, 2005 to June 30, 2005 and is available worldwide. More information about the offer can be found here.

That’s a very good news for guys like me who want to take these exams as they are costly when compared with Microsoft Certification exams.

Also Sun is introducing a new beta exam named SCJA (Sun Certified Java Associate). This exam targets Entry level java programmers with at least 6 months of experience. Even this exam is offered worldwide. For more details check out this page.

In my previous post I mentioned that Microsoft’s offer is favoring my decision towards MCSD, but after seeing this offer will it shift to SCJP ?

Microsoft Second-Shot offer extended

2005-06-02T21:19:00.000-07:00

Microsoft’s Second-Shot exam offer, which was supposed to end by May 31st has been extended for another 3 months. The new deadline is August 31st. Exam retakes must be completed by September 30, 2005. The offer is available worldwide, but it can't be combined with any other exam offer that requires a promotional code, including the MCP 2-for-1 exam offer or special offers in India. More details can be found at the details page.

This offer is surely going to have a huge impact on my decision – whether it is MCSD or SCJP, next

Blogger Enhancements

2005-06-01T01:50:00.001-07:00

Most of you would have noticed that there are many changes in my blog. Yesterday I got some free time and I used it to make some changes to my blog, which was in my TODO list for long time.

First I changed my Blogger template to ‘Thisaway Blue’ by Dan Rubin to make it look more colorful.Thanks Dan.

Then I have stated to add Technorati tags to my posts. I am using a greasemonkey userscript for this and is quite handy.

The most important of all, I have added Trackback support to my blog through Haloscan. Improbulus has an excellent article, which explains how to do this.

Again you people could have noticed some new links in my blog, like ‘Bookmark in Del.icio.us or Furl’ link and ‘Subscribe via email’ from Bloglet. Again Improbulus has an article which tells you how to add this in you blog.

If you have a blog in Blogger and want to enhance it, then I strongly recommend you to visit Improbulus blog. She really has lot of hacks for Blogger including multi-lingual support.

The feature which I still miss out in Blogger is the ability to group my blog entries according to their post category. I searched for it but could’nt get any solution. So let’s hope Blogger implements it soon.

Cleared 70-320 – Became MCAD

2005-05-29T21:51:00.000-07:00

Hmm, Cleared my 70-320 exam also and attained my MCAD certification. As I told (in my blog) 70-320 was little difficult for me to prepare. But the exam wasn’t that difficult as I expected. But I had lot of questions from ADO.NET, which really helped me ;-) and I got 968 this time. As usual Microsoft Self-paced kit was very useful for this exam. So, now the big question, what is next? And the immediate answer is break ;-) I have been continuously writing exams for nearly 4 months now. So planning to take a break for about a week or two and then start with my next exam. And in the mean time I should decide my next exam. I have two options. • First one is to go for MCSD (I have only two more to go) or • Go for SCJP (Sun Certified Java Professional) Right now I am not able to decide which one to go for. So people give me your suggestions.

Taking up 70-320 tomorrow

2005-05-26T21:44:00.000-07:00

After postponing for more than two times, I have finally decided to take up my 70-320 exam tomorrow (27-May-05). Long time readers of my blog will know that if I clear this exam then I would become MCAD.

Preparing for 70-320 was a little difficult for me when compared with other exams as it covers not only Web Services, SOAP, UDDI but also .NET Remoting and also tricky things like storing and retrieving data as XML etc. Though these concepts are very interesting for me, I have very little practical experience. So I have been putting in a lot of effort and gained some practical experience by getting my hands dirty by writing a couple of toy webservices. I found the videos from LearnVisualStudio.NET very helpful, especially the 4000 series. It was lying in my hard disk for sometime, but now only found how useful they are. Thanks Bob Tabor.

And if every thing goes fine, I would be a MCAD by the same time tomorrow.

Received My MCDBA Welcome Kit

2005-05-25T23:02:00.000-07:00

I just received my MCDBA Welcome Kit. It was quite thrilling to see my name in the certificate which is signed by Bill Gates. I thought of uploading the scanned copy of my certificate. But then the thought of connecting my scanner, dusting it off and switching it on delayed that (ya it’s been a while since I used it last). Probably I will upload it this weekend. But I am not sure whether this violates Microsoft’s Certification Agreement. Can any one more throw light on it?

In addition to the usual contents (like tie pin, MCP card etc..) the welcome kit also contained gift and discount coupons. As an MCDBA I get 1 year free subscription for SQL Server Magazine and discounts for MSDN and TechNet subscriptions. I have filled and posted the coupon for my SQL Server Magazine.

I am now seriously thinking whether to take up MSDN and TechNet subscriptions or not. The reason is that they are costly and I am not sure whether I will be able to use them effectively, as I am mostly working in J2EE nowadays at my work. Anyways I have around 3 months to decide. (The offer holds good for three months from the date of certification)

PS: BTW can anyone of you who have already subscribed, tell me whether it is worth to subscribe for MSDN or TechNet or both.

Welcome to blogging Yuva

2005-05-19T04:25:00.000-07:00

It’s nice to know that I have inspired my Cousin Yuva to blogging. He has just started his blog. He is just 14 years old but a way ahead of the kids of his age. (His blog will prove that) He just told me that he is into a new project called BaBIE (Build a Better Internet Explorer). A browser combined with the best features of IE and Firefox. He has more details about this at his blog. Welcome to blogging Yuva and best wishes for your BaBIE

Preparation for 70-320

2005-05-09T23:50:00.000-07:00

Even thought work is taking most of my time, I have learned a lot of new things about web services, remote scripting, SOAP etc in the last two weeks. Thanks to my preparation for 70-320. I am currently using Microsoft Self-Paced Kit for my preparation towards 70-320. I am also reading lot of articles from MSDN Webservice Home and from Tim’s Site. My work pressure is forcing me to make this entry a short one. I will post more links once I find time.

Finally MCDBA - Cleared 70-315

2005-04-24T01:49:00.000-07:00

Upaaa….Finally became MCDBA. Cleared my 70-315 exam this Saturday. Any guess for the score, ya it is 1000. I was slightly thrilled after seeing the score. May be I found the answer to the long lasting question – “What is the maximum score for a Microsoft exam? “. I am certain that I got the maximum and the maximum score is 1000 (at least for my exam) The reason being that in the report card, there are bar graphs which show the percentage for each section of the exam that you have scored and for me all the five bar graphs were showing 100 % (which means that I have scored 100% in the exam) correct? Speaking about the exam, it wasn’t that difficult as I expected. There were lot of questions from ADO.NET and Web Services. I expected them only in my 70-320 exam ;-). Microsoft self-paced training kit was really helpful. It took me only 1 minute per question to answer. The total time allocated was 150 minutes. So, what’s next? Have one more exam to become MCAD and 3 more exams to become MCSD. So I am planning to take up 70-320 next and then 70-316 and then 70-300 Self-note - I have allocated 2 weeks time 70-320 and hopefully should complete it with in that time. Planning to used Microsoft Self-paced Kit for this one too.

Taking up 70-315 tomorrow

2005-04-22T01:48:00.000-07:00

I am planning to write my 70-315 exam this Saturday (23 April). It’s been a long preparation for me. I was preparing for more than 3 weeks. I have mainly used Microsoft Self-Paced training kit and ASP.NET Quick Start and also a couple of articles from MSDN. If every thing goes fine, I would be a MCDBA by the same time tomorrow. Hmm.. that gives me a thrill feeling. Hey 70-315, I am coming to crack you up.. be waiting for me….

BrainBench Games – My Status

2005-04-06T01:05:00.000-07:00

Work had become hectic and added to that is my preparation for 70-315. I found time only to clear the following three exams in BrainBench during the free offer period.

MS SQL Server 2000 Administration
MS SQL Server 2000 Programming
XML Concepts

If you are interested you can view my Brainbench online transcript here.

Some useful Certification Groups

2005-04-05T23:17:00.000-07:00

Some Certification Resource Links

2005-03-28T03:02:00.000-08:00

It’s been a long weekend and I was using most of the time to learn ASP.NET for my 70-315 exam. I am currently using Microsoft’s MCAD/MCSD Self-paced training kit. It was quite useful. Off late I have been receiving mails from readers of this blog, asking me to post some links for MCAD preparation. So here are some of the links which I am using for my preparation. Exam Simulation/Practice Questions http://www.autodumper.com (Easy to use simulator with a huge question bank) http://www.disnetinc.com http://www.microsoft.com/learning/assessment/default.asp http://www.measureup.com Articles/Materials http://www.codeclinic.com http://www.appdev.com Wilson's Code Notes ASP.NET QuickStart Tutorial Forums http://www.dbforums.com http://www.mcse.ms http://www.sadikhov.com News http://www.certmag.com http://www.mcpmag.com Hope these sites are useful to others who are also preparing like me. And one last line of disclaimer I am not associated with any of these sites expect that I am also one of their satisfied user.

A New Programming Language from SUN

2005-03-23T02:16:00.000-08:00

Just a bit of technical news Guy Steele, coauthor of the Java Language Specification, is working on a new programming language called Fortress. Although the article claims the new language is intended to be better than Java the real objective seems to be a new domain specific language, this domain being science oriented programming on large super computers. Quoting from the article: ---- Fortress focuses on the needs of programmers who work in mathematical disciplines and disciplines such as physics and chemistry that rely extensively on mathematics. For starters, the code looks like math -- math the way it's written on a chalkboard, with square root signs and exponents placed above the line. ---- It was not clear from reading the article if the runtime would be based on a JVM or a completely new technology. Can anybody throw light on this...

BrainBench Offer

2005-03-21T20:41:00.000-08:00

I just received a mail from BrainBench. As part of their promotional campaign, they are giving all their 450 + certifications for free of cost for a limited period of time. The offer starts from today (21-March) and ends on (4-April). Apart from making these certifications free, they have also introduced a new concept called Bench games. So the citizens of the country which certifies the most citizens will get a Bench Games Team Certificate. More info about the offer can be got from this link (http://www.brainbench.com/xml/bb/landing/offer/promotion.xml?contentId=2310) For those who don’t know what is BrainBench, it is an online certification site, which conducts online exams in various subjects and issues certificates on successful completion of the test. Most of the companies give emphasis for candidates with BrainBench certificates. These certificates also give a facelift to your resumes. More info can be got from www.BrainBench.com. So come lets start playing the game…. :)

Exam 70-270 Offer

2005-03-21T04:27:00.000-08:00

Microsoft has come up with an offer for exam 70-270 (Installing, Configuring, and Administering Microsoft Windows XP Professional) The offer is like this. Two people can take up the exam for the price of one. This is available only for 70-270 exam. The last date for this offer is May 31st. The official page for this offer is here. The conditions for this offer can be found here. So if anybody is interested in sharing this exam with me and if you are in India (Particularly from Chennai) then do let me know.

Passed exam 70-290

2005-03-20T22:15:00.000-08:00

After preparing for just two weeks, I took my Windows 2003 (70-290) exam this Saturday. Oh my god, What a tough exam ! I JUST cleared it. I got a score of 700 (as you know 700 is the minimum score to pass). I thanked my stars after seeing the score for two reasons.

First, I don’t want to prepare for an administration exam one more time
Second, Microsoft is changing the exam pattern next week by introducing simulation into the exam.

So, one more exam to go before I become MCDBA (this feeling really thrills me) and I am planning to take up exam Developing and Implementing Web Applications with Microsoft Visual C# .NET and Microsoft Visual Studio .NET (70-315) . Though I am relatively new to .NET and C#, I hope my experience in Web Programming and Java should help me.

My MCDBA Track

2005-03-15T01:54:00.000-08:00

When I was in college, I used to think that getting a Microsoft certification or a sun Certification is a mammoth task which can be done only by people with thick glasses (My idea of an expert) Then one of my friends introduced me to www.BrainBench.com. I took a couple of exams and got some decent scores. I took them just to show off to my friends that I am some one above them and that I add something that they don’t have. Some kind of a child ego. Soon when I landed up in a job doing some web development using PHP, my company expected me to do a certification (any certification for that matter, as their client needed it). So I started to search for the correct one. After some weeks of research I settled down to MCDBA (Microsoft Certified Database Administrator) in SQL Server, as I had some interest in Databases and also I had some exposure to SQL Server in college (I used it in my college project). A local prometric center also offered me an offer. So I went and registered. Then came the preparation phase. I settled down to do a self- learn rather than going for some training for two reasons. First I didn’t had the time second all through my life I hated attending lectures. I installed the trial version of SQL Server 2000 in my system and started playing with it. I really found it difficult. Even though I have registered I postponed my exam date for more than 4 times, since I was not that confident. It took me more than 3 months to write my first exam (70-229) and at last I got a score of 875. After seeing the score I got a lot of confidence in me. I believed that I could do it. You know it was really a great feeling to put MCP next to your name and add the MCP logo in your resume, homepage, email etc…….. Before that confidence could fade away, I got an offer from a big software development company. Thanks for my confidence which made me get through the interview process. Although I have to work in J2EE in my new job I thought of finishing my remaining 3 exams for my MCBDA Track. Then I took my 2nd exam (70-228). This time I took it with in 3 weeks of preparation. I jumped off my seat when I got a score of 946 in that exam. And now as I am writing this I am preparing for my 3rd exam (70-290). This time I am going to write it with in 2 weeks of preparation. During the process I have found out a couple of new things First - getting a certification is not such a mammoth task. (Even though I wear thick glasses now, (when I am not hiding behind contact lens) Second – Having a certification does’nt tag you as an expert. Third – But a certification is really a tag for an expert. I found even carrol (http://weblogs.asp.net/bkcarroll/archive/2004/01/22/61838.aspx) talking about the same thing.

Update : Thanks Satya for finding out those typos, which I have overlooked in my original article. Now I have corrected them.

YouSendIt | Email large files quickly, securely, and easily!

2004-11-16T04:26:00.000-08:00

YouSendIt | Email large files quickly, securely, and easily!

Open Learning

2004-11-14T08:26:00.000-08:00

Open LearningeLearning for PHP

www.yxScripts.com

2004-11-08T22:51:00.000-08:00

www.yxScripts.com Excellent ready to use java script components like Menu, calendar etc.. Really damn good

JAlbum - free web photo album software

2004-11-06T03:37:00.000-08:00

JAlbum : "is a Free web photo album software. It is damn good and works on virtually any platform. Try this one u will really like it "

A better client-side DateAdd function.

2004-11-04T03:52:00.000-08:00

A better client-side DateAdd function.: "A better client-side DateAdd function"

JavaScript Toolbox - Reusable Libraries And Objects

2004-11-04T03:51:00.000-08:00

JavaScript Toolbox - Reusable Libraries And Objects: "JavaScript Toolbox This is a collection of Javascript source files, examples, and concepts. Use these instead of always re-inventing JavaScript solutions"

The Hindu : Open Page : Work code for IT companies

2004-11-02T21:02:00.000-08:00

The Hindu : Open Page : Work code for IT companies: "NO DOUBT, the Information Technology companies mushrooming these days in India are creating job opportunities for qualified men and women, which is a welcome measure � but at what and whose cost? "

BBspot - Which File Extension Are You?

2004-10-27T03:12:00.000-07:00

BBspot - Which File Extension Are You?: "Take this quiz to find out which file extension most closely matches your personality. You need to answer all the questions to get an accurate result"

The rec.puzzles Archive

2004-10-16T04:57:00.000-07:00

The rec.puzzles Archive A lot of puzzles, which u can try at ur free time

php.MVC The Model View Controller (MVC) Framework for PHP Web Applications

2004-10-16T02:26:00.000-07:00

php.MVC The Model View Controller (MVC) Framework for PHP Web Applications Framework similar to Jakarta Struts, which helps u to write well designed web apps

Cool Illusions

2004-10-13T03:20:00.000-07:00

Cool Illusions Really damn good. All the pictures r amazing..

Introduction to RSS - WebReference.com

2004-05-25T03:05:00.000-07:00

Introduction to RSS - WebReference.com

Sudar Blogs: My Certification Experiences

Good Bye Blogger, Hello Wordpress

Another spam email

A funny spam mail

My right hand has less work now

Happy Birthday Google

Learn J2EE programming with passion

Apple vs Microsoft

Two companies change hands

My First Podcast

Interview with Kamla

Major Security Threat in IE

Gmail Outage ScreenShot

My Own Google Page

Google Talk released

Free ASP.NET training from Microsoft eLearning

Features that I want in Blogger

College Get together

Happy Independence Day

Technorati to be sold

New MCP exam 70-089 for MCSE

Got on the Broad BANDWagon! Finally

King Ping has a new logo

King Ping has started to ping

MCP Program takes new path

Arfa - Youngest MCAD

Infinite Universe

My Certificates

AJAX Library

Bought Sun Exam Voucher

Is FireFox 1.4.0 unstable?

SCJP Next

Received my MCAD Welcome Kit

TagCloud – Replacement for Categories

Yahoo 360 Invites available

Comments about Yahoo 360

Sun Microsystem's Offer for Java Certification Exams

Microsoft Second-Shot offer extended

Blogger Enhancements

Cleared 70-320 – Became MCAD

Taking up 70-320 tomorrow

Received My MCDBA Welcome Kit

Welcome to blogging Yuva

Preparation for 70-320

Finally MCDBA - Cleared 70-315

Taking up 70-315 tomorrow

BrainBench Games – My Status

Some useful Certification Groups

Some Certification Resource Links

A New Programming Language from SUN

BrainBench Offer

Exam 70-270 Offer

Passed exam 70-290

My MCDBA Track

YouSendIt | Email large files quickly, securely, and easily!

Open Learning

www.yxScripts.com

JAlbum - free web photo album software

A better client-side DateAdd function.

JavaScript Toolbox - Reusable Libraries And Objects

The Hindu : Open Page : Work code for IT companies

BBspot - Which File Extension Are You?

The rec.puzzles Archive

php.MVC The Model View Controller (MVC) Framework for PHP Web Applications

Cool Illusions

Introduction to RSS - WebReference.com