Cold Flame

After releasing Live.com, Microsoft is now working on its new homepage. Everyone knows that Microsoft.com is one of the top web destination around the globe. As Microsoft is suffering from AJAX fever, it was expected that they will soon plug more AJAX code in their home page also.

Look at the page here. The normal size of images have been greatly reduced from current homepage. The navigation menu has been changed from normal menu to a javascript or AJAX menu.When you click on the main menu, a new menu opens. One good thing is that, click on the main menu doesn't lead to a new page, a new small page opens in home page only. There you will find a LEFT NAVIGATION MENU which will open SUB CATEGORIES MENU.

Overall there is not much change is site. I like current homepage design more than this new one. But, I think functionality wise this new design will help. I did not like they reduce the image size.

Let me know your view.

In the world of programmers and web site developers, the term AJAX is creating a lot of buzz. Actually, its a technology which lets users interect with web site without reloading the web page. And this technology is a key part in this new WEB 2.0 bubble.

I found some good sites related teaching AJAX. You can check them out. I will continue posting new sites when I come across them. And if some reader of my blog wants to know more about AJAX, I can write a seperate article on it. Till than, check out...

http://www.codedcode.com/ajax/

http://www.web20developers.com/

Can you believe Indian parliamentarian committee tells any of our ministers, prime minister or president to go on leave, if they have been accused of some wrong doing? We can't even think that any one would ask even our simple MLAs to step down temporarily.

But, look what Israel has done. Israeli President Moshe Katsav has been advised to go on leave of absence for three months in view of charges of sexual abuse, including rape against him. However, he has to give final answer to this suggestion. But, main point is that, they can tell their president to GO AWAY FOR A WHILE AND DON'T INTERRUPT THE INQUIRY.

Now, I cannot imagine this thing in India. Our leaders do not have word MORAL in their dictionary. Ok. I can understand that. Even if their party suggests them to step down, they wont (Natwar Singh, our former foreign minister). You can name many more BAHUBALIs like RJD's MLA Shahbuddin. Many politicians will step down only if court orders something against them like Lalu Prasad Yadav did when he was chief minister of Bihar, and that too, he installed his wife on his post. Oh, how can we forget the current fighting between MLAs themselves on taking charge of many posts. Mrs. Jaya Bachchan was forced to resign. She resigned because of court. Sonia Gandhi resigned because of her HYPOCRACY and POLITICS. Sonia Gandhi resigned and claimed indirectly that she was not interested in big posts. Point is, if it is so, why did she choose that post? And if she was trying to be proven as a devi of sacrifice, why did she stand up in election again? And why did she advise her fellow congressmen not to resign like her?

Anyways, the reason these politicians can play games are us. We Indian citizens are dumb, ignorant and not at all interested in development of our country. That's why we re-elect these politicians again and again. We elect Shahbuddins, Mayawatis and Phoolan Devis.

Because we have so much faith in god that we believe we do not need any leaders as GOD himself is controlling this country. We just have to gift the god by putting 1-2 rupee coin in the box in temple. And yes, I believe if these are the politicians who are running our country on paper, in reality its the job done by GOD. Else just imagine, can we progress this much if alone these politicians were to run this country?

Last but not the least, We deserve this politicians. Because we elect them.

The Global Information Technology Report's Readiness Index ranked India 40 among 115 countries. To know more about this story, click here.


Well, yes we are ahead of China (Rank 50) and Russia (Rank 72), so what? As we are famous for our Information Technology and Software development skills all over the world, I think this ranking is shame on us.

We have large number of engineers and still our people are not ready to accept technology. Do you have any idea/view how can we increase technology penetration in our nation? I think private business firms should take initiative by implementing technology solutions in their business first. Sectors like transportation, construction etc. can have much more investment in IT sector. So we should bring those sector first. This will bring more revenues and encouragement among people who make software and implement IT as well as people who use it. Gradually, we can invest more in schools and colleges.

See, the reason for my view is, younger generation is going to use technology anyway. But we have to take people above 30 years of age with us in this technology marathon. Because these are the people who are going to provide revenues for investing in technology more.

Bottom line, think out of the box. Get those people in the game who are afraid of migrating to technology. They also form huge market. Invest in those areas and create a new market.

What you say?

Remember when Bush was caught talking with Blair openly at g-8 summit as the microphone was on? If not, go through this article. I was reading Yahoo! India news columns and I found this interesting column by M.J Akabar. He is one of my favourite journalists/authors.

Have a look on this piece about George Bush's friendliness..

This year has been proved a very good year for music. Specially, music directors like Himesh Reshmiya and Pritam are coming with block buster hits, one after another. I know many people say they hate Himesh Reshmiya singing, the fact is they listen and sometimes murmur his songs. You cannot escape Himesh. He rocks.

Why do people hate Himesh?
People don't like his voice. They found his voice NASAL. Technically, you can say it Adenoidal meaning sounding as if the nose were pinched; "a whining nasal voice". But the thing is, why anyone should have problem if someone is giving nice songs. May be this type of voice irritates them like the thin and high frequency voice of Lata Mangeshkar irritates me! No problem. You can hate him but can't escape from his music.

Pritam who became famous after DHOOM title track, is also giving wonderful music albums one after another.The competition between the two directors is giving delight to my ears and mind.

Himesh's own album Tera Suroor is a maga hit with ultimate tracks like Samjho Na/ Naam hai tera/ I love you etc. Aditya Dutt's movie Dil Diya Hai is also good album by Himesh. Don't forget, it was Ashique banaya apne of Aditya Dutt's which made Himesh a super composer/ singer. Yaada teri yaad / Afsana banake/ title track are my favourites from Dil Diya Hai.

I like Himesh because most of his music is original, different from others. His voice is also different. And he is innovative also. Can't find his innovation? Listen to Ashiqui me Teri of 36 China Town. How many songs have you heard before like this one? Listen carefully, he sings "aaa aaa ashiqui me teri...jjja jjja jayegi jaan meri". Now here, this "aaa aaa.....jjja jjja" is new thing for me. Typical singers and composers don't take risk like this.

However, I think this year's best album is GANGSTER by Pritam. Pritam's other album with Mahesh Bhatt "WOH LAMHE" is going to be other highest selling album for the Bhatts. I already liked Kya Muhjhe pyar he of WOH LAMHE. Pritam also gave mast album like Ankahee. Here, both directors are giving chance to nice singers like Kunal Ganjawala and KK equally. Pritam's new album is BAS EK PAL. He has given chance to Atif, former JAL band member. I don't like Pyar Ke Side Effects album by Pritam however.

On the other side, Himesh is coming with Rocky which has good tracks including my favourite 'Junoon Junoon'. AAPKI KHATIR is another block buster album with good song like I Love You. "Ahista Ahista" is popular in market but I don't like it too much. Anothany Kaun Hai? was good but not super hit.

Lets see who wins best music director of the year award this time!

Have a look at this story from BBC NEWS. Trissur, a city in state Kerala has a guy, named Rappai, who can eat more than 75 idli at a time. However, I came to these story by BBC. I wonder why was I not able to find this story on our channels. Anyways, BBC called him MOSTER EATER OF INDIA. I find this tag correct. What else can you call a person who can eat three bucketfuls of rice, one bucket of fish curry and 10 kgs of cooked meat at a time??? But, now he is retiring from eating this much...We could have present him in international compititions and he could have won some of them...

Anyways, Rappai can come to Ahmedabad. Here a restaurant US Pizza offers unlimited lunch in just Rs. 89/- including unlimited soup, unlimited pizzas, unlimited garlic bread and unlimited salad with one dish of desert. I would love to see him make US Pizza manager cry for his scheme!

Ya, this story was among the top 5 most read stories on BBC NEWS site.

How much idli can you eat at once? Any say?

Generally, I am a supporter of American President George W Bush. Take the issues like War on Iraq and Afghanistan or moon mission or his economic agenda of giving tax refunds. And how can I neglect the point that Mr Bush is the key architect of Indo-USA Nuke deal to be signed or at least, moving ahead quickly. Whatever Bush is doing for his country, he is a good partner for India.

But, I also believe that his thinking is of 18th century. I did not like the move of opening Alaska borders for petroleum research. See Shell reported they have leakages in their pipeline and crude oil has devastated sea there.

Bush did get my support on Iraq war, but as he vetoed a bill on Stem cell research, he lost my support. See, I am Indian but I believe firmly that USA can do more research on any scientific or technological stuff. They have money, resources, policies, environment, education system and importantly, genius people from around the globe. So a slap on scientific research in USA can be felt every where in the world sooner or later. Can you believe Bush used first veto on this matter? And that only due to keeping his religious view in mind? The President of the most powerful country of this world, is not secular! Bush has signed more than 1100 bills till now. But he rejected the bill on stem cell research. However, this report says general American public support Stem Cell Research.

And now Germany is supporting George Bush! Oh, now Germans love Bush. Germany also told European Union to reduce spending on Stem Cell Research. Britain is strong supporter of Stem Cell Research.

Well, now I see an opportunity for India. If India can invest in this research, we can gain much in the Biotech industry. Some country is going to do the research, that for sure as the fundamental idea of using stem cells in curbing big diseases is too good. So why not we take the lead now as both America and Germany are out of the race now? (or will soon be out!)


But what is Stem cell Research?

Click here and read.

I find this "Blog Ban" like "Big Bang". I hear it like BlogBan..sounds like Baghban??!! oh forget that crap! silly me..

Well as we all are waiting for this ban to be lifted, there are many ways for you to see your favourite blogspot blog. You will be able to see/ read your blog even if this blog ban on blogspot or typepad continues.

First download a RSS/Atom Reader. Enter your favourite blog's ATOM feed's URL in it. Oh, you cannot open that blog, so how will you check its ATOM URL??

Lel me explain. Like your favourite blog link on Blogspot is
http://indiauncut.blogpost.com/

Its ATOM URL is than, http://indiauncut.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Lets clear it with other example:
Say you like http://youthcurry.blogspot.com

Now tell me what will be its ATOM URL?
It must be http://youthcurry.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Similary, my blog ATOM feed URL is http://blog.talkncafe.com/atom.xml

Got it? Now add your favourite ATOM URLs in your favourite RSS Reader. Online RSS Readers are MyYahoo, Bloglines, MyMSN, Live.com etc. You can also download. Google "DOWNLOAD RSS READER"

Ok this was one way.

But you can Google ONLINE PROXY SERVER or PROXY WEBSITE
You can go here also http://www.proxyblind.org and http://www.publicproxyservers.com
In some cases, it will not work but in general, it works.


A Note for Bloggers:
Did you know all these? Than why don't you keep updating your blog?

Please change your feed settings in your Dashboard on http://www.blogger.com
If you have selected Short discription for your blogs ATOM feed, Select FULL discription.

And why are you not blogging? Cmmon! Idiot Government has banned blogspot.com domain, not the blogger.com!! Cheers and continue blogging...

Indian government market India as the biggest democratic country of the world. The big achievement is not the democracy we have got, its about maintaining it. But now we have Congress and Left parties in power who do not believe in full democracy. Indira Gandhi implemented imergency and commited political suicide. Oh! now its time for Dr. Manmohan Singh. What does he do?

Not he, but his minister has BANNED some websites in India! Are you kidding? What are you talking about ? India or China?? Oh I am serious, Its in India. China should take inspiration from Indian democracy but here the case is different. We are following China!

Do we have some policy on this??

I agree some sites are offensivee and they should be banned. But is there any mechanism within the government to decide which site is offensive and which are not? and if yes, what are they? Like USA made websites or softwares clearly mention some criterias. Even Blogger.com also mentions that your blog should not contain any offensive material. Do we have such policy??

And here in this case, they have banned whole blogspot.com domain. They claim they have banned only 12-14 sites. But dear, blogspot.com domain contains millions of websites as a subdomain. They all are banned too! So in a democratic country they have banned millions of Indian bloggers, most of them were helping victims of Mumbai blasts.

What they want to do?

I still cant understand what they want to do by banning blogspot.com domain? Do they want to ban perticular blog or site? Ban that site. But by banning whole domain, they have made a mistake.

Or they are clear about blogspot.com domain and they want to ban all blogs. But why? And above all there are many other bloging service providers including wordpress.com, Rediff etc.

I think this move will provide a new fighting masala for bloggers around the globe.

And it will also make big and popular bloggers shift their blogs out of the blogspot.com domain.

According to a study by King George’s Medical College, Lucknow, India is probably the only country where such indigenous use of condoms takes place. Consider a few of the uses condoms have been put to:

Disposable water containers:

For many villagers, carrying the humble lota while going to relieve themselves, is passé. A condom will do just as well, thank you.

Making roads smooth:

For road building contractors, condoms act like the secret ingredient of their magic potion. When condoms are added to an asphalt concrete mixture, the latex acts as a binder and prevents road cracks.

Water-proofing:

A bed of condoms has a lot of utility value. Ask any village mason and he will tell you that a bed of condoms, placed beneath the plaster on roofs, prevents water seepage.

Polishing Banarasi sarees:

Condoms are used by weavers in Banaras to polish the gold and silver threads used to embroider sarees. The weaver community alone uses over six lakh condoms a day.

Carrying drugs:

There are numerous instances of condoms packed with drugs being ingested by mules or drug swallowers, who use it to smuggle them across borders.

Nozzle for guns:

Finally, somebody is also using the condom as a nozzle. Soldiers use it to prevent dust from entering their guns.

Souce: Times of India

It seems Mumbai needs some astrologer. Though I do not believe in Astrology, let me say that Mumbai's kundli is not in good condition. Stars seems to be angry with Mumbai as initially it was rain which made the city paralysed. Now, today, they are blasts on local commuter trains.

Astrology apart, the blasts of July 11, 2006 i.e today has conveyed serious message to people however I strongly believe it would be forgotten from today only and nothing would be learned. The national media and news channels will hold EXPERT DISCUSSIONS on this topic till one month atleast or till the new blast happens. Media will ask 99% silly questions to same old and jobless panelists who are always free to come to channel studios on any topic. and I, once again will try to throw something to my television screen! I don't want to comment or provide information on how these 7 explosions happen and at what intervals and on which stations. Search google for that. I am looking into the root of the problem each time our country faces.

Would you believe that an economic powerful city of India, has been witnessing serial bomb blast almost every 2-3 years? I can understand that there can be a blast in a city with more than 2 crore people. But serial blasts?? and that too, again and again! What a crap! I think our security agency is sleeping. Or may be they are not given enough powers and resources to function. NDA government made POTA which was supposed to be a good law with a strong support from security agencies. But Congress and UPA not only opposed it but removed it, saying its against Human Rights. Why? They believe Muslims are against this law so they will loose thier vote bank if they also support this law.

This step raises certain questions. Why Muslims belive that this law is against their community? This law is against terrorists. If Muslims fear this law, and politicians support this oppose, we can say that they are considering themselves criminals. I strongly believe security of the nation has higher priority than HUMAN RIGHTS. If the HUMAN LIVES are taken due to poor laws, who needs HUMAN RIGHTS? What do you want first : LIFE or RIGHT to LIVE first? Our security agency needs good law and support to keep our nation safe.

Look at the United States of America. After 9/11 attacks, they improve their security so well that in 5 years they have not seen such attacks, even low magnitute attack on thier soil. Its because they consider national security over human rights. And everyone knows, human right activists are more powerful in USA than in India. They also improved their Immigration system and we still are storing illegal Bangladeshi citizens. We are so coward that we do not have enough power to throw them out of our country.

We say terrorists are coward as they attack from backside. But they have attacked successfully so many times, I doubt to call them coward. I think we are coward who cannot answer to these non-sense. We are born to tolerate all non-sense stuff. Oh! GOD. When will Indians rise?

Ya, one funny thing. Our media is too quick. They copied American 9/11 style proudly. Hey, you Americans, you have 9/11 ? See we have now 7/11! Indian news channels are pathetic too. Its time to encash for both politicians and news channels.

Here are some interesting questions and answers which are pure fun to read. I got this again in email. Not only our technical knowledge helps, but also the presence of mind and the right answer at right time. Even if u don't know the answer for a question just confuse the questioner.
Questions and the Answers given by Candidates oh sorry they are IAS Officers now.

Q.How can you drop a raw egg onto a concrete floor without crackingit?
A. Concrete floors are very hard to crack! (UPSC Topper)

Q.If it took eight men ten hours to build a wall, how long would ittake four men to build it?
A. No time at all it is already built. (UPSC 23 Rank Opted for IFS)

Q.If you had three apples and four oranges in one hand and fourapples and three oranges in the other hand, what would you have?
A. Very large hands.(Good one) (UPSC 11 Rank Opted for IPS)

Q. How can you lift an elephant with one hand?
A. It is not a problem, since you will never find an elephant withone hand. (UPSC Rank 14 Opted for IES)

Q. How can a man go eight days without sleep?
A. No Probs , He sleeps at night. (UPSC IAS Rank 98)

Q. If you throw a red stone into the blue sea what it will become?
A. It will Wet or Sink as simple as that. (UPSC IAS Rank 2)

Q. What looks like half apple ?
A : The other half. (UPSC - IAS Topper)

Q. What can you never eat for breakfast ?
A : Dinner.

Q. What happened when wheel was invented ?
A : It caused a revolution.

Q. Bay of Bengal is in which state?
A : Liquid (UPSC 33Rank )-

Interviewer said "I shall either ask you ten easy questions or onereally difficult question.Think well before you make up your mind!"

The boy thought for awhile and said, "my choice is one really difficult question."
"Well, good luck to you, you have made your own choice!

Now tell me this,
"What comes first, Day or Night?"The boy was jolted into reality as his admission depends on the correctness of his answer, but he thought for a while andsaid, "It's the DAY sir!"
"How" the interviewer asked, "Sorry sir, you promised me that you will not ask me a SECOND difficult question!"
He was selected for IIM!

"Technical Skill is the mastery of complexity, while Creativity isthe master of simplicity."

I got this wonderful email about LION. However, here you have to assume you are lion and this lion is working in different Indian I.T and software companies. See what happens with LION in diffrent software companies.

Hexaware method:

Hire many varities of animal, keep them alltogether,give the smartestanimals the most mentally redundant work, give thedumb animals the most mentally challenging work,so after 6 months,allof them seem thesame animals ASSES. they dont die, but their braincells do..

TCS method:

Hire a lion, give him hell a lot of work and pay him government salary,lion dies of hunger and frustration

Infosys method:

Hire a lion and ask him to meow like a cat ..he willdie eventually offrustration...

IBM's method:

Hire a lion, give him a pink slip in an hour ... hedies ofunemployment...

Syntel Method:

Hire a Cat ... assure him that he will eventuallybecome a Lion once hereaches onsite and make sure that he never reachesonsite. Cat dies inhope of becoming a Lion....

MBT method:

hire the lion, make him take 14 tests and tell himthat if he doesn'tscore 60% he will lose the job. lion dies of thestrain?

i-Flex method:

Hire a lion???.oops cow, tell him he is a lion, send him in African safari for implementing FLEXCUBE in god forbidden territories, tell him if hecomes alive he will get band movement (promotion),holy cow dies in fear of the real lion

Bosch India Method:

Hire a lion ..offer him huge ! gross with benefits buffet and allow him to work for 1 month. when he sees his first pay slip dies with this shock of googlies.

COSL Method:

Hire a lion.Tell him to merge with Goats (POLARIS) and reduce his allowance...lion dies from fear that tommorrow hemight become a goat....

Polaris Method :

Hire ..sorry....purchase a lion(COSL).Change his timings...(instead of9 AM...change it to 8:30 AM) cut down his allowance(coupons etc) lion dies from fear of becoming CAT.....

Silverline Method:

Hire a lion, declare a scandal and dont pay him...he dies of hunger...

Quinnox method:

Hire the lion. either give him no work or ask for apremature delivery.Lion either dies of boredom or intense physical & mental activity...

Patni method:

Hire a lion, give him a salary of a cat. The lion dies before joining....

Nucsoft method:

hire a lion,give him job of grass eating (IBBSSupport)..the lion dies from lack of eating meat...

Satyam method:

hire a lion, give him net access..no work..and deport him to Chennai centre...no water..no electricity..no hindi speaking ppl...lion dies in oblivion......

Aztec method:

Hire a lion... and a cat...pay lion little and cat more give lion lots of work.......and cat little....... lion dies in illness

Wipro method:

hire a lion...give him lots of work...transfer him to Wipro Lights division..lion dies due to Lightness...

Mastek method:

hire a lion...ask him to align himself with any thing and everything...ask him to fill complicated competency forms... differ increments and pay him salary of a cat... lion dies due to fear of getting mis-aligned or starvation...

Rolta method:

hire a lion for 4 years in a cage(by taking his certficates).....promise him for videshi meal and make him wait till summer when the preys are all over........



What do you say about your company??

Two weeks ago, I went to attend a seminar in Nirma Institute of Technology given by Microsoft guys. It was related to VC++.Net. However, as the auditorium was full and so I was unable to attend the seminar. But they gave all of us a EXTREME CDs kit. I was surprised when I looked at the CDs. I was given a set of three CDs. And voilla! One CD was the licensed version of Windows XP - SP2. Other CDs were for VC++ express edition Visual Studio BETA and PSDK.

Well in India, many users have pirated copies of software installed on their machine. I was also part of that group. I always wish people use original software developed by me. But I my self was using pirated copies. The main reason is money. Other reason is you cannot buy original software easily in India. There are many vendors who claims to sell original software's but all of them quote differently. Like if some vendor will tell you price of Windows XP Pro SP-2 as
Rs. 5200/- per license , other will quote that to Rs.4,000/-. Now I never understand this price difference. I wonder why Microsoft is not selling their software through some retail chain like CROSSWORD. I heard that now they are planning to set up a new retail chain to sell their software. Late move. But, at last, a good move.

However if I were pressured to buy original software to use or develop software at this level, I would surely leave MS products or even ADOBE products and instead use Linux and JAVA. In database, MySQL is there.

But now Microsoft is understanding this point. Now they are giving Visual Studio Express Editions for free, for one year however. They are giving Windows XP also free for students. I HAVE NOT READ FULL LICENSE YET. Sun Microsystems is also giving many software for free (Sun Java Studio) or giving their source codes like SOLARIS . This is a good change. At least, for students like me!

I surely believe Indians have bad luck this time, that's why they have left parties like CPI and CPM leading their country, however indirectly. God knows what would had happened if Manmohan Singh have not been 'selected' as Prime minister of our country.

Why left parties irritate me? No, they don't irritate me only this time, but all the time! Look at the world, the communism is gone even from Russia and this fools are still holding Red flag. Actually, they are confused like BJP. This is a funny and sad situation for India, as the big political parties cannot choose a proper direction. The CPI and CPM are always confused on the foreign direct investment issue. West Bengal chief minister is acting differently in his state dismissing the policies of CPI and CPM at national level. So directly he is supporting the policies of Manmohan Singh. Well , I am not a fan of our PM but that's other issue.

Here what matters me most is the stand taken by Left parties on Iran nuclear issue. The Government of India have taken its side against Iran in this issue. However , as the world knows, USA has raised this issue, so going against Iran is going with USA. Is it really?? Why the dumb left parties and Samajvadi party don't understand that going against IRAN is in our favour to. Who wants a nuclear neighbour? Whatever IRAN government may say right now about their purpose of using Nuclear power, but we cannot trust them. What if tomorrow a different government come into power and uses this facility to make bombs?

Do not forget that Afghanistan has been our good friend too since many years. But TALIBAN came into power and the Afghan fighters were attacking Indian Kashmir. What if similar stuff happens with IRAN tomorrow with nuclear facility available to that country??

But, the fools in political parties say that we support IRAN because it is our old friend and most importantly USA is harassing it unnecessarily. Well PM will have to explain them that our stand is not related to the deal with USA for nuclear technology transfer. Even if USA is not giving us anything, we will have to stop IRAN entering this nuclear age because we do not want another country with nuclear capability.

Now it depends on the smartness of our government how they can stop IRAN for building nuclear power plant. They have to convince IRAN and if IRAN does not agree, we should support any draft which would take IRAN to Security Council of United Nations (UN). We will have to ensure that this step will not stop our GAS PIPELINE project. Because we need the GAS from IRAN desperately.

Well I am not able to understand IRAN's need to build nuclear power station as it has reserves of GAS and OIL. So I strongly believe that we cannot trust IRAN.

My demands are clear:
1. Stop IRAN to develop nuclear technology for any purpose. Or as per Russia's proposal, make them this nuclear plant on the soil of Russia.

2. We should do this evenif USA is moving away from proposed nuclear technology transfer deal between India and USA.

3. Do whatever it takes to keep the GAS PIPELINE DEAL going even if USA opposes.

Moral
"Hell with USA and IRAN. See benefits of INDIA. We have power. We have to just use it. No one can afford to loose relations with us."

Read my story on World politics in Hindi

You might have heard about Windows Vista which is currently under testing as BETA. Windows Vista is successor of current Windows version : Windows XP. However, the release dates of Windows Vista is not clear but Microsoft has even started to play name game for successor OS of Windows Vista. BLACK COMB which was the name previously chosen for successor of Windows Vista, now has a new name : Windows Vienna. When will it come in market? Ask Mr. Gates. Or may be even he doesn't know it. Lets wait for Vista first!

Bouncer
"Vienna is the name of the city which came into lime light when it chose Linux operating system over Microsoft Windows. So may be MS want us to remember that and learn something from that event"

Look at the above picture of a building in Los Angeles, it is what the Live Local team call "BIRD VIEW". Bird view thats the new type of photos you can see in Live local. After being beaten in the satellite picture game by Google product GOOGLE EARTH, now Microsoft has relaunched its satellite images related program Virtual Earth. Both companies aim to enable developers to develop web services that let users find thier current location and details about any place. Like if I want to go to Chicago and I dont know the places to eat or to live, I can find out them using these products. And also I will be able to see the roads also.
Live Local is only available for USA. So for us in India, Google is the best!!