Jacques Kallis cricketer par excellence

Jacques Kallis cricketer par excellence

It is dream come true to Jacques and tears (of joy) to commentators and joy to cricket lovers, all over.

I was waiting for this moment from yesterday.

He made it in his characteristic calm composure.

The strokes all round the park was like a rainbow.

The “Rainbow Coalition” of South Africa has made it.

It is pity Nelson Mandela could not see it.

I am pretty sure he is seeing it from heaven.

While English were getting a drubbing and Sri-Lankan we becoming sitting ducks in cricket, we see joy in all South Africans of all colors.

They should go ahead and win the next "World Cup in 2015" and I want Jacques to lift it.

While all these happening BBC Cricket was fast asleep.

I have beaten them by a mile or more.

Linux's Contribution in 2013 and beyond

I have reproduced in entirety an article from ZDNet-Tech here.
I was asked by a young guy who asked, are you still writing about Linux?
I said I need not.

This is an example.
There is ample literature, even though the penetration of Linux is just above 1% (using computers) but almost 90% are using Linux without knowing it.
I promote ipods now since Apple has new link with China.
90% of Chinese won't be able use ipad since their English is poor.

It is boon for Asia, except Sri-Lanka in which English language skills have gone even below Bangladesh.

If you are confident in English, go for the Chinese Apple, if you know how to smuggle a few ipods.

Smuggling is our major (Black Money is over 50% NOW) industry. including heroin where politicians are directly involved.

With this black money, I have no chance of promoting Linux.
It is a DEAD END for me.

Please note with STEAM in action, Linux has taken over Gaming Industry, too.
THANK YOU, STEAM Guys and Girls.
Happy New Year and Christmas.

I have removed all the Hyperlinks except for the authors Hyperlink (connection).
By Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols for Linux and Open Source

1. Open source software methodology goes everywhere

It's rare for developers these days not to use or create open source software. Even Microsoft is putting more energy into its open source efforts, such as Node.js, a tool/framework that uses JavaScript as its scripting engine. After all, Microsoft even helps build Linux these days.
But also what surprises me is how major companies of all sorts have united under the leadership of The Linux Foundation to create open source projects to unify their efforts
In 2013 alone, The Linux Foundation brought together the AllSeen Alliance for the Internet of things; OpenBEL for open source biological research; OpenDaylight, for almost all the Software-Defined Networking (SDN) companies; and Open Virtualization Alliance, and Xen Project for KVM and Xen virtualization.
And it's not just The Linux Foundation. Facebook's Open Compute Project has brought open source methodology to the data center. Juniper with Contrail has its own open source SDN take. And, Apache continues to make advantages projects such as Hadoop for Big Data and Lucene and Solr for search.
What all these projects have in common is that they're bringing together old enemies to work together. These companies are doing this not because there's anything magical or politically correct about open source. They're using open source because it enables them to create the best software at affordable rates. Pragmatically speaking, companies have decided it makes better business sense to share unified, open software than to create fragmented, proprietary programs.

2. The rise of the Chromebook

You can argue how popular Google's Linux-powered Chromebooks really are, but here are a few more facts showing that Chromebooks are quickly gaining users.
Dell, the last major OEM to not have a Chromebook, is releasing its first Chromebook in early 2014. Consumer electronics giant LG will also be releasing a new form factor for Chrome OS: the Chromebase. This is an all-in-one (AIO) PC that combines Chrome with a 21.5-inch display with 1,920 x 1,080 full HD resolution.
It also appears that Android is making more of a move to the desktop. According to reports, "PC Plus" machines are on their way. These laptops will include both Windows 8.1 and Android. These first of these will be unveiled at the CES expo in Las Vegas in January.
With Windows 8.x's uphill struggle to gain market-share as quickly as previous versions, and Microsoft with its Surface devices now competing directly with its PC partners, it's no surprise that Linux-based desktop competition beyond hard-core Linux users has finally started to emerge.

3. SteamOS: Mainstream Linux gaming arrives

Nothing underlines this shift in desktops more than Valve, a major PC gaming company, releasing SteamOS. This is a Debian-based Linux that's expressively designed for Linux PC gaming.
Like those other companies that have invested in Linux and open source software, Valve isn't doing this because they have warm, fuzzy feeling about Linux. No, Valve has released its own desktop Linux, and Steam Machines, dedicated Linux gaming consoles, because, "Windows 8 is a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space," according to Valve's billionaire chief executive Gabe Newell earlier this year.
As far as Valve is concerned, Linux is the future of computing.

4. Clouds: Linux everywhere

You can argue over the rise of Linux on the desktop, but no one can argue about how influential Linux is in clouds. With the exception of Microsoft's Azure, all major cloud software platforms — including Amazon's EC2 cloud, Google Compute Engine, and the various OpenStack implementations — are all based on Linux and open source software. For that matter, due to popular demand, you can also run Ubuntu, CentOS, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES), and openSUSE on Azure.
If you're going to be using the cloud for IT soon — and chances are you will be — you're going to be using Linux. It's just that simple.

5. Android rules mobile

What's Hot on ZDNet

Away from the desktop, Linux, in the form of Android, already rules end-user computing. Android has a comfortable lead on smart phones over Apple iOS. And by the middle of this year, share in Android tablets blew past Apple's iPad line. The number one mobile operating system is now Android. The only real question is who will be in third place behind Android and iOS.
Indeed, with the continued decline of PCs, it seems possible that Android may yet become the single most popular end-user operating system on all platforms.
So, there you have it. In a year where there were no "big" Linux stories, Linux and open source continued to grow in every aspect of computing. The coming year will only see more of the same. The Linux Foundation's executive director Jim Zemlin recently declared that 2013 was the year of "Linux on Everything."
He was right, and we're only going to see more of Linux running everything in the years to come.

Nelson Mandela, what it means to be free?

Nelson Mandela, what it means to be free?

It is fitting to end my book with a real story.

It was as usual a dull Sunday and I finished day's quota of work and decided to have an early supper by seven p.m. and retire early. It was not the usual practice since, I go to bed very late specially on a Sunday. As usual our dog also realized the early break and sneaked under my bed, not yet ready for sleep.

I quickly glanced through the web and news and there was nothing except those world leaders who were clamoring to be at the funeral of our real hero, the freedom fighter, Nelson Mandela. It was all strange only after over 48 hours or so, our local papers woke up to the task of posting articles, in his name.

I in fact, made a comment under an editorial, querying whether our journalists were actually sleeping on this news item, 24 hours before.

I for some reason went down to the pantry and on my first step saw a little paddy bird stranded on the steps and trying to flee.

I quickly close the door of my bed room and made sure the dog is enclosed.

He would pounce on the intruder and even a little beetle is his play mate, knowing he will catch in a flash, not to kill but it's the natural instinct, would be deadly. Without much a do I caught the bird and quickly put it in a safety pen to be released in the morning. It was raining and the bird was wet and my guess was it was just out of the nest and was too little to be released in the night.

I showed it to all at home and covered the pen with a piece of cloths and switched off all the lights except the diode night light in my bed room and opened a book to read.

The pen was kept at a safe place close by so that I could hear any signs of panic. Surely it did not want to sleep but wanted to get out and was hitting his head on the sides and on the top. After half an hour I decided to take the pen to my bed room and took the covering cloth off so that it would not bash its head on the sides or on the top.

I watched it for a while it was relatively dry with all the attempts to escape from the prison it was in.

My gut feeling was fellow will be hypoglycemic by the next morning and won't be strong enough to fly to safety.

I decided to release it.

I took the pen to the balcony and opened the window on top to see whether it was smart enough to escape.

If it could not escape on 10 goes, I decided to call off the release till morning.

I had put lights on the balcony and nowhere else, so that the bird could orientate itself to the escape window.

In the fifth attempt, he found the exit window and in a flash disappeared into the darkness.

He was not a tiny tot.

My original guess was wrong.

We are admiring our hero, Nelson Mandela, right at this moment.

I wonder how many “thought moments” he had of thinking of his freedom for over 30 years.

My guess it is more than the current human population.

10 billion or more,I guess.

So it is imperative that all the human race should realize it and salute to him this week.

This message is especially for those tyrants in the making or those aspiring to be.