Having worked on Linux intensively on servers & networking. i decided to push it into a desktop mode, where i wanted to see how far i could make it go and how practical it would become for a normal windows user to migrate to this strong OS.

Well, my conclusion on this was bad. Even though i love linux alot, but i find it not-practical at all for the desktop user. the amount of customizations, plugins, etc to make it close enough to windows is basically a lot of effort. i thought of many users when i was making this study and i find it impossible for them for to just directly start working on linux.

i will be having various parts to this article, on what issues i faced as compared to windows. Please do note, this is not a windows is better than linux battle. but rather focus on user-ability and functionality. If the linux community could focus on these points. it would be great.

A very common thing in Kuwait amongst smaller companies especially SMB, is the concept of  ‘delayed salaries’ to employees. i can understand if salaries are delayed for 2 to 4 days due to technical issues, but i dont understand, how employers can delay employee salaries for 15 days to even 3 months.

During the last 4 years, The Shoon(Legal enforcement department), has made it mandatory for companies to deposit salaries to the employee’s bank accounts. This process has helped employees ensure they have their pay . but the shoon has given a notice period of 3 months to any employer to pay any pending salary.  So i have seen many friends and families complain that they havent got salary for the last 2 months to 3 months. and on the fourth month the company decides to pay just 1 month to ward off the ’shoon’.

What i dont understand is that employers take their staff for granted and delay the salaries. I would understand recession, no business, lack of sales etc. but ensuring your employees are paid is the highest priority!. If you didnt have that in mind, why was the company formed in the first place?. Companies faithfully pay their legal fees, telephone bills, electricity.. in the fear of shutting down. but they rather loose good employees than ensure confirmed satisfaction.

Any Expat or human being in general, working in Kuwait, needs atleast his/her salary on time, as thats their confirmed benefit of working in foreign lands!. Majority of the workforce dont get any other benefits , including no medicals, tickets, etc. So why not give them their salary and let them live.

The concept of delayed salaries, is as good as not having money at all. When an employee doesnt have his salary for the month, due to any delays.  He/she cannot delay his rent, food, and other fixed expenses for that month. He/she would either take a loan from a friend, family, loan shark  or eat into his savings. They then mentally note,” when we get our salary, we will pay back the person,shark or into our savings”. and probably they must be doing so, but in this bargain, we must note,  that the process of repaying will always continue non-stop and the consequences are very bad, both mentally and physically. It keeps the person in a state of mind, that they are always ‘indebt’ to someone at all times.

Companies that do this, put their corporate image at risk. 10 years ago, an employee would faithfully join them, today employees research the web, check blogs, forums, puts the word around. Usual comments like, “they dont pay well”, “they delay salaries”, “they have deductions” is very common in today’s tea-time discussions.  They brings down the image of the company and is very bad for its growth. Employers must understand, that a satisfied employee is their Greatest Assets.

My Philosophy to company owners is that you need to ensure that your biggest confirmed costs every month is salaries, so you need to ensure that this is there at all times. Lets say for whatever reason, salaries must be delayed. it must dutifully notified to the employee’s with a confirmed expectation date. Also with a reason for this delay. Employees usually take these reasons and inform their expense sources about it. For example, “Hey Landlord, i will pay on this day as the company delayed the salary and will pay on this date”. Majority of the time the expense sources agree, if you have confirmed dates and stick to it.

So companies, pls dont delay your employee’s salary. They put in the hardwork. More than any benefit, is that they need it on time.!

I remembered this Quote from xXx the movie…where Samuel jackson, tells Vin diesel, on why he should support the US special forces for the Russian operation.

"You ever watch lions at the zoo?
You can tell which were captured in the wild by the look in their eyes.
The wild cat.
She remembers running across the plain, the thrill of the hunt.
Four hundred pounds of killing fury locked in a box.
But after a while, their eyes glaze over...
...and you can tell their soul has died.
The same thing happens to a man."

As i said in the past, 2010 will be a major change for me. Years of being out there in the wild, have slowly caught up and now im old, at a desk!. Years have gone by where the window of opportunities was endless. Now my only window is through the LCD of my laptop!.

A new environment, a new avenue is what i am in today! it might similar what everyone else is doing in Kuwait. but it was never this, for me in Kuwait.  So i need to struggle, to fight back and to ensure that the opportunities still remain though, via a single window. Those who know me well over the years will definitely understand what i mean!

The PlayStation Network is down! WORLDWIDE! People all across the planet are getting this error message when trying to log into the PlayStation Network (PSN).

“An error has occurred. You have been signed out of PlayStation Network (8001050F)”

PlayStation is apparently trying to resolve the issue, but there have been no updates other then they are aware and working on it. Speculations range from the service / server being hacked, leap year issue (even thou it’s not a leap year), the new PlayStation Forum (that was introduced hours before the crash) to plain and simple trying to boost the sales of the PS3 Slim since they are not affected.

My guess is the leap year issue. On one forum it said that the internal clock might mistakenly considered 2010 a leap year but the firmware told it differently! This might have caused the reset of the PS3 to 31/12/1999 and stopped it from connecting to the PSN.

The real bummer is not that you can’t play online anymore but that any online purchased game as well as ‘proper’ games bought in a shop that use the Trophy function will not work! The game will exit with an error reading:
“Registration of the trophy information could not be completed. The game will quit. (8001050F)”
And this happens even to PS3 that never connected to the internet before! Microsoft’s X-Box live is down sometimes too (more often in fact than the PSN) but it always allowed you to play ALL your games!

Let’s see if Sony get’s it sorted and your PS3 does not become an expensive Blue Ray Player with additional but limited functions…

Follow their efforts on their Twitter page here.

• Sales Secretary (Handle Cold Callings,Appointments,proposals etc)
• Outdoor Sales Specialist (Handle outdoor meetings, clients requirements etc). This position requires holder to have a valid Kuwaiti Driving licenses.
• Assistant Accountant(should handle day to day accounting operations under Finance Manager)

In vacancy – 1 & 2, Salary + Commission on Successful Sales.

I got this from Mathai, about a new upcoming VPN service , called VPNod.com . There is no website as yet. but if you send them an email at promotion@vpnod.com , you will get the details quite instantly as a free promotion.  i dont know how long they will keep it free. I had a chance to chat with Ahmad Al-Ibrahim <ahmad@vpnod.com>, He is pretty clear on the service and cleared all my doubts. You can mail him if you have any queries.

They plan to keep the pricing, very competitive and dont intend to cap usage (atleast for now). 

This is a good concept if you need to view channels like Hulu and others. Im also using Witopia.. but somehow witopia decreases my speed by half .  now i have been using VPNod as a backup , my download speeds are about 75% my original speed. which is good.

Please note, this basically runs as PPTP and not L2TP or others… It works on both windows and linux. Should work on mac too(though didnt try it)

It should be quite interesting to get such providers in this region.

Image Source: Gapingvoid.com

My Company had this last min decision to participate in Bits pilani Campus event called Quark 2010. We were promoting Eset Nod32 and products. These are first few pictures …

One of the offerings we had over there was a free virus scan for USB drives and Laptops.. the amount of Computer viruses cleared from the public, students , etc were approx 500 viruses !!!!!.

More Details to follow..

” I’ll spread my wings and I’ll learn how to fly
I’ll do what it takes ?til I touch the sky
And I’ll make a wish, take a chance, make a change
And breakaway…………

Out of the darkness and into the sun
But I won’t forget all the ones that I loved
I’ll take a risk, take a chance, make a change
And breakaway !!!!!! “

With a crazy & Hectic  last week. i look for new hope this week! .. lets breakaway !!!!

So there I was, very sweetly going below the speed limit along highway 30 when I saw this cloud of smoke. Now normally these clouds of smoke are more common in summer when something gets too parched in this desert heat. So I whipped out my phone and conveniently forgot to switch it on video mode and tried taking pictures of it while trying not to bump into anyone else.

Nearing it, I realized it did indeed come from a car; a van in fact near the British School of Kuwait. It didnt seem like it had met with an accident, as it was on the emergency lane, quietly blazing away with 3 people scattered around it. I assumed they were in it and managed to get out… Only when I reached to my 6th ring exit did I see an ambulance taking that U turn behind me to get to their side. Hope everyone managed to get out okay….. Wonder what caused it….

When you end up watching too many TV series over the span of 1 year… it kind of gets to you…. it makes you feel that you are born with super powers etc!… So any way

I want to be Dr. Gregory House.. Crude, Abusive and intelligent…
I want to be Chuck.. having all the secrets of the US government
I want to be Nathan Stark living in Eureka Surrounded by Scientists of the world..
I want to be the mad scientist in Fringe, to invent crazy stuff..
I want to be Sylar, steal and takeover everyone’s powers in Heroes…
I want to be Ramsy Gordon .. to cook and invent great dishes… in Hell’s kitchen
I want to be …. Sigh!

For those who didnt understand, you need to watch the following series , Heroes,Chuck,Eureka,Hell’s Kitchen, House M.D., and Fringe!

Continuing my  webreviews, i decided to choose Axisbank, after a recent review of GulfBank from kuwait, so i can compare apple to apple.  Axis bank has been my bank in india for quite some time now, but unlike kuwait banks, they have had major flaws, when it comes to international standards… but end of the day we are supposed to choose the “least worst” service from the allocated lot.

Now comparatively like GulfBank, they have similar menu layouts like breaking business from consumer, they too have loads of content and information.  we use the online banking quite abit , but its got its flaws as well.

The Good

1. They have a lot of content, and quite simplified… but in India, content is never enough, as Indians we need to know details of where our money is, how much interest?, why this? why that.  I like the way how content is broken into Summary, Eligibility, Documentation, Terms & Conditions , etc. this is a great thing.
2. The Color scheme is “ok” .. not exciting .. but quite readable.
3. Loading time is quite decent
4. Response to Online forms, is good. I have always got responses from online forms. they are delayed but atleast we get them.

The Bad

1. Well due to the amount of content, they haven’t put in time to organize it. it is so scattered, mixed up. just thrown everywhere. But once you find it, then its really good. but otherwise this is bad. i felt the designers , wanted to fill up every gap on the site and put a link there.
   • As a Suggestion, break your topics into categories and sub categories.
   • Don’t fill up every gap on the site.
   • Sitemap ?
2. Their Copyrights have expired in 2007.. thus this mean we can steal their content? you need to renew your copyrights, its really important.
3. No Layout consistency , some pages is 800 Pixels width.. some stretch as per window. the home page of the site looks really tiny on my 1440 Pixels wide .
   • Today’s standards are in 1000 Pixels, thus giving you more place for your layout(but don’t fill it up)
4. Design looks more like a newspaper site, you need to bring in some touch of a bank and corporate feel.
5. More Photos of people are needed. Unlike Gulfbank,  you’ll have few people images, which adds some life.. but i feel more people are needed. A Bank is about people, so dont miss them out.
6. The Net Banking doesnt work, i should say 25% times in 365 days in a year.. this is not good as everyone needs online banking. the amount of emails from me  requesting for “pls fix the online services” is enough to print a 100 pages book.
7. the top menus have too many clicks to reach a particular point… so to reach “Cash Management Services”  from the home page. i have to click 2-3 times on the top menu to get there. Usage of mouseover menus minimize this tasks. Consider Customer Usability studies for this.
8. Finally the design breaks in many pages. Care must be taken for this. Someone must go through each and every page on your site to ensure functionality.

Technology Used

1. It seems to be developed in ASP ( im not sure windows or chillisoft) im banking on ASP for Windows as their hosted platform is windows 2003 server.. but i feel the whole site is mostly built on includes to repeat context menus.
2. Nameservers are from Worldnic.com
3. It concerns me that the SQL usage on this site is minimal as i study the page directory patterns. but i could be wrong. But if  i’m right that sql is not much used, then maintaining this site must be HELL.

Conclusion

Well dont know what to say here.. but i have seen them improve over the last 6 years, their progress is really slow, but happening. you can visit them here : www.axisbank.com

Well its 26th Jan 2010.. and google decides to wish everyone a “Happy National Day” . Clicking on it.. takes you to search listings of  25th Feb and the importance of it. Now this is either too early and someone doesnt know their dates  or they have a glitch in their system.

This is only for the localised version of google. i.e. www.google.com.kw.

Update : Google just fixed their error and has put their normal logo back … so now we know how the doodle looks for the upcoming event .. lol.

One of the top banks in Kuwait. Gulf bank stands out for its services rendered to both the Residential and Corporate Markets. After its major financial issue where it had investors deal in derivaties, which coz’d its Stocks to fall. It had a super comeback and get its ratings back again worldwide.

I have been personally using the online website basically everyday to check on my bank ac, credit card etc and i should say, that their online banking  is amazingly user friendly and straight to the point. However for the website, its got its plus points as well as its flaws.

The Plus points :

1. What i like about gulfbank website is the amount of reading content. They try to clear maximum doubts by the amount of information on their services. Their copywriting is clear,  to the point and very self explanatory.
2. Their color scheme is pleasant, works exactly as per their brand image. but i have seen companies who have abused their color schemes to serve their own branding and left the consumer with an eye sore. The minimum usage of Red and more stress on white background with clear text, ensure readability.
3. They got great Loading time, objects like flash are kept to the minimum, pages which have flash are low weight.
4. its rare that i found their site having a downtime, which is a very good thing!

The bad :

1. In Contradiction to my first point. too much content means loads of responsibility to organise it. there are times, we need information like “ATM points” , “Opening hours of a branch” etc.. it used to be difficult to pin point. but the moment we get it, its a breeze.
   • A suggestion for this is to keep commonly viewed queries easily available.
   • A Sitemap for the website would be amazing.
2. No Printer friendly page. Sometimes we try to print some documents and the print view ends up including all the side navigations etc. Sometimes we need these documents as references. but its wastes ink, paper etc.
3. Broken links, images. This is becoz some of the pages are under HTTPS , while the css and images are under http, which causes the page to disrupt.  Here care should be taken to check every link on the site, no matter how big it is.
4. From a design perspective, the consumer section of the website. i would love to see more people photos , this would ease me in dealing with this vendor. Everything is too corporate for a new consumer, this might keep him/her on the defensive.
5. No response to online forms. i dont blame the website for this, but i have had people who write to them over the online forms, dont get a response back. Now if this is a technical issue, then i would blame the website. but if its the bank not getting back , then it they need to work on their policies.

Technology Used :

1. it seems the site is done in JSP. im not sure about the backend, but i suppose Oracle, but definitely a SQL compliant db.
2. The Websites’s name servers are shared between Kems and Fasttelco.

Overall, its a great site, with loads of opportunity to improve and serve. Visit them here : www.e-gulfbank.com

im going to be reviewing, and discussing alot of websites from Kuwait, India and Goa to be specific. i wont be criticizing any one, but look at the good and  the issues on which how it can be sorted out.

these reviews will also help me personally to come up with outstanding solutions and business processes for online stores.

Since each mall has a different variety at each store, we hit Souq Sharq yesterday in an attempt to run through Coast and Oasis, Next, Kenneth Cole and Debenhams. There were some stores that had more of a variety as compared to their stocks in Avenues, such as Coast. I picked up two dresses from there and several other things and had a full fledged sense of satisfaction.

Until this morning that is. I looked online for the stock available at Coast, UK and my jaw dropped to see that a certain dress cost 45 pounds online, while here it costs 45 KD. What the hell? its on sale online as well as in the store here. http://www.coast-stores.com/VIVIE-D/S-COLOUR-BLOCK-BANDEAU/All-Sale/coast/fcp-product/2143397298

Livid as you can imagine, I did a little research online to come across this post from another blogger in Kuwait who noticed something similar at Zara http://eyepollution.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/inspired/ Apparently same deal- shoes at Zara available for 70 pounds online, available here for 70 KD.

I do recall being annoyed at Zara here in Kuwait. It was at Avenues where I had seen blatant KD stickers stuck atop the Euro price, and a quick calculation would tell you that everything seemed marked up by 10 whole KD. Has anyone else noticed it?

I think I’m going to start going to the stores to just figure out which size I want it in, and then order everything online.

I hate paperwork when it comes to Government offices, and I try to stay as much as possible away from them. but a recent event of me, changing my Residency in Kuwait.  I’m supposed to do all the necessary procedures to ensure a smooth Residency transfer from 18 to 17. This means im supposed to get my medicals done, fingerprinting etc….

For last 2 weeks, I have been running around taking copies,  mugshots of different facial expressions etc.  So today I had to get my fingerprinting done and also request a report that im not wanted by the police for any crimes.

So I go to this place in Sharq.  The building is rather old and the last I had entered it, was about 9 years back, when I had come to kuwait and it was a messy place at that time . Today surprisingly, it was really clean … there was  no crowd! i was there at about 8.45 am. the procedure was rather simple.

1. get some documents typed down below, you need 2 photos as well. the guys in the shops below take some quick criminal looking mugshots so you could use that. or carry some good looking ones in advance. Ensure you carry your passport and civilid too.

2. go to the second floor, you see a line of tables in a single row with women behind them.  Just submit these papers and your passport. They were quite helpful and spoke english!.

3. Then you go to a corner area, where you  meet this Police cop, who takes your fingerprints.  Its a messy task.  But he was really polite. He had read my papers and is like… “Are you a hacker” …. i smiled, and  said “no… im one of the good guys! .. he went on with a couple of topics and then wished me well.

4.  You need to come back to the same place later (depends on the days mentioned to you) to take your report!!.

Overall the whole process took about 1 hour.

We will put up more info on tomorrow if we can. Do something, if you can.

UPDATE:  THERE SEEMS TO BE SOME CONFUSION ON THIS INFO.  WE JUST LEARNT THAT,  THIS IS FOR U.S AND EUROPE ONLY,
RED CRESCENT KUWAIT IS TAKING DONATIONS IN THE FORM OF MONEY.  SORRY FOR THIS MISCOMMUNICATION!.

Here is the info for Red Crescent Kuwait:-

Telephone:  (+965) 24818084 – 24818085

Fax:  (+965) 24839114

P.O.Box 1359, Safat Code No. 13014

Cable: Hilahmer

Kuwait

I’m more of an open book as Rayboy the blogger instead of being  anonymous like many others. Many of my clients, friends and even my family know the person behind ”Rayboy” and even have a number to call up. One way its bad, that clients and every one know what my background life is like, and whats going on with the so called Dark IT guy who keeps talking “mambo-jambo” about IT and its ways.  But in a good way, customers,vendors,etc are more open to discuss issues that I face and it helps to get things sorted out immediately. They dont really worry about my reviews, etc. as they know I’m straightforward, and they are aware that they can contact me and clarify something immediately.

Recently, I met a couple of new customers and vendors, who have requested that I review their stuff. I usually ask them one question.. Why me?  What always surprises me is the same response I receive to every time I ask that question.

We hate bloggers!

1. They said, “Bloggers now take advantage of companies, they write ill of a product, claiming their own experience to be the whole truth thus destroying the reputation of the product (or organization/ company/etc) in the market. Companies usually agree when things dont work right or fail in certain areas which caused a failure in front of the consumer, but there is so much of ingredients which makes a product and service. Now just because one thing went bad, it doesnt mean the company is bad, or that all the products are bad.

2. They also mentioned that bloggers try to juice out discounts, freebies etc which one could think has made them utterly biased. This also becomes totally unfair to consumers who dont have blogs and have not faced such issues.

I was bit taken back by about 5 companies saying the same thing. It does gives bloggers a bad name. So guys, if you find something bad , do get into constructive criticism which helps the product or the company grow! Try not to lash out at people unless they have really offended you, refused to admit their mistake and not taken any measures to do some damage control.

I use Dreamweaver for all my web development projects. but ever since Adobe took them over, there are loads of errors.  Those facing loading errors with dreamweaver, this is the best place to sort them out.

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/191/tn_19105.html#known_errors

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 23, 2009 (AFP) – The Kuwaiti parliament passed a new labour law on Wednesday that grants better rights and conditions for the 2.3 million foreign workers but does not scrap the controversial sponsor system.

The new law, approved unanimously by lawmakers including cabinet members, replaces a 45-year-old law that was criticised as being favourable to employers at the expense of workers.

The legislation provides more rights for workers in the private sector, including better annual leave, end of service indemnities and holidays.

It also sets tougher penalties, including jail terms, for businessmen who trade in visas or who recruit expatriate workers and then fail to provide them with jobs, or who fail to pay salaries regularly.

Kuwait is home to 2.3 million foreigners, more than two-thirds of them Asians, and 1.1 million citizens.

The bill requires the government to introduce a minimum wage for certain jobs, especially in the lower-paid categories.

During the debate, several MPs criticised the old law as being oppressive to labourers and favourable to employers.

The new law, however, fails to address the much-criticised sponsor system under which all foreign workers must be sponsored by a Kuwaiti employer, thus keeping expatriates at the mercy of their bosses.

Other oil-rich Gulf states apply similar systems.

Nevertheless, the law requires the government to set up a public authority that takes on the responsibility of recruiting workers from abroad.

Minister of Social Affairs and Labour Mohammed al-Afasi has repeatedly said that the emirate was considering a gradual end to the system to meet international labour standards, but little action has been taken so far.

It will only become operational after being endorsed by HH the Amir, following which its publication in the Kuwait Gazette will render it  effective.

But on our way back, we were heavy and unable to feel our toes due to sumptuous quantities of aforementioned delicacies, which in turn seemed to effect the decision making process of the mind on what to do next. As we past by Messila, it seemed the only option to stop  by the sea and run beneath giant pandas and an octopus in order to ward off what would otherwise be an utterly lethargic day. In order to avoid cars with arabic music blaring from speakers from the early 1900’s, we did wobble aka walk a bit, but despite that fact it turned out to be a completely languid day worshipping the television. But hey, at least I wrote this post eh?![

Once in a while, i take time out to help “eager” and “determined” friends who want to do something special for their communities. So i had “wardog” aka Blogger “grey”, who wanted help with his theme for his Indian Rock Site www.indianrockmp3.com . Personally im not all that a ROCK fan.. but working on his site, gave some good insights into the happening ROCK industry in India.

It took me a while to get the site up, “dave” one of my programmers involved in this project, got his magic working again, since i was quite busy with my own tasks. But finally after a month of testing, importing, fixing, debugging etc. the site is finally up! . Grey, was thrilled as ever. The Guy is determined to make this site the most happening thing on indian cyberspace. i love the jest the guy has for this.!

Do visit his site (www.indianrockmp3.com ) and lay down some comments there too.!

Goa Chitra Museum – Benaulim
For more details about this pic. Click Here

Saris in the window

The last few days have been a little hectic, between making resolutions, breaking them already; trying to get rid of alot of crap from 2009 to make space for crap of 2010 and also, hunting around for something to wear for a Bollywood themed get-together for New Years Eve.

I seriously underestimated the amount of Indian clothes available in Kuwait. I went to Indian heritage for the first time late November to buy something Indian for friends I was visiting in Europe. But alas, the lack of choice and the fact that Indians are generally tinier in comparison (thus only smaller sizes available) didn’t help.

The last few days I was frantically trying to fix me something appropriate, trying to keep in mind that New Years Eve night would be “slightly” cold. A dear friend offered to lend me a sari, and I thought I’d settle for that. But eventually you end up getting off work a little earlier and find yourself driving towards some place to shop at. So, I thought of stopping at Lulu’s as my secretary had recommended it for Indian stuff.

There were two sections upstairs, a sari section and a section for the dress-like-Salwar Kameez. There were simple ones and heavily embroidered garments in both sections ranging from 15 KD to 40 KD to more. The variety boggled the mind, especially mine which was just grasping the differences between tussar or tissue materials, Bandhini print and all this. I obviously couldn’t make up my mind, and called my secretary again, who told me to check out Souq Al Watya as well. What I didnt need were more options, but I ploughed along determined but completely clueless on how to get there. Souq Al Watya had 3 or 4 sari shops and I eventually stumbled upon the best one last, of course. The guy unfurled a few thousand saris that just didn’t work for me, until I stepped outside ready to give up when the sari in the display caught my eye. While he initially stated the price as 25, I finally got away with buying it for 15.

My friend draped it  in what is supposedly a Gujarati style with a twist- pleats at the back and the front, and the pallu falling over my shoulder in the front. It wasn’t as hard as I fathomed it would be handling the sari through the evening. The night was glitzy and colorful.  It was lovely that everyone made an effort to make it happen, and unmatched shoes were forgiven as finding  mojris in non Indian sizes was a feat.  

A true blue moon Bollywood night.