The fatal CAT, and the attack of Prometric

Well, if you reached this place through a search engine, it is clear you understand the Title of this article and you have a slight idea of what this is about.
To those, who do not know what I am talking about, let me clear the mist. CAT(Common Admission Test) is one of the biggest exam in India for admissions to Top B-Schools. It is considered as one of the toughest exams. Originally being a paper-pencil test, it went online(Computer Based) this year. And the company which was awarded the contract to conduct the exam is Prometric.
The exam turned out to be a disaster this year and attracted a lot of controversy and wrath of the aspirants. There were cases of computer shut-downs, technical glitches, mass-cheating, people getting unfair advantage and leaking of questions(Well, that's not a big deal.. is it :p) The convenors of this exam refused to hold a retest, setting up an example of dictatorship in a democratic country.
The results which were scheduled to be out by 22 January 2010 are still not out by 15 February 2010. But the test left many heart-broken, many undeserving might get into top B-Schools.

Another consequence, Prometric is labeled as a big dud. This company attracted so much of negative publicity that it has become synonymous with failing things. Check out this real life joke which came out of two guys' conversation:

Guy1: Hey, I don't know what is wrong with my watch. It isn't working... Guy2: Why ? Did you get it made from Prometric ? HA HA HEE HEE HA HA... Guy1: I said it is not working. I didn't say it NEVER worked... HA HA HA HA

Well, the 'HA HA HEE HEE...' part was a bit exaggerated. But, this is a common joke among those people who think that CAT 2009 made a joke of them.

I am not an academician. Nor am I a CAT aspirant. But I keep my eyes and ears open. I usually talk about technology, internet and related stuff. But I keep an eye on what is happening around. But since this was about an online test, I got into more of it.
I know people who were confident of getting in IIMs(Top B-Schools in India), but now don't even expect a single call. I also know people who managed to attempt the whole paper by cheating or other unfair means, and are now sitting confident of landing up in a good B-School.
But that's how life is, and one has to go through these hard times sometime in life. But the one who remains unmoved is the one who is really successful.

I need Windows 7 asap. Vista sucks !

I know many people might be sharing the same opinion with me here- Windows Vista Sucks !!
When I upgraded from Windows XP to Vista, I liked the new glossy, cool feel of the new OS. It was easy, the animations were smooth and I almost took my 'hats off' for microsoft, yet again.
Just then did Vista start revealing its true colors(i know it sounds dramatic, but whatever).

Vista eats up your RAM like dog eats up a piece of meat...(well, the analogy didn't quite fit here :p, but you know what I mean..)
And then appeared the legendary 'Windows Explorer will have to shutdown' problem !! Damn, it is one of the most irritating things I have seen(after Lil Wayne's last music video :p).. The system keeps crashing. The startup applications keep crashing. You cant do a thing. I tried all the remedies offered on the internet. I even removed my antivirus. But no ! Vista is a tough act !

So, I finally decided to switch to Windows 7. It is cooler, uses less resources, and is more stable.
Now, i was confused, which one to get.. X86 or X64. Then I found out that X86 was for 32 bit processors and X64 was for 64 bit processors(who came up with these misnomers :D)
I needed X86. So, ordered it yesterday. Cant wait to upgrade and get rid of this Vista shit :|

Well, that's all for now.

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Google's way to take over facebook- Google Buzz

There was a lot of hype surrounding Google Buzz even before it was launched.
Things were heating up at Silicon Valley. Google has been seeing a decline in number of gmail users. Reason ? Facebook. People are getting addicted to facebook and are spending more and more time there. They prefer to contact their friends directly, reducing email usage.

In an attempt to resurrect, Google launched its latest product- Google Buzz.

I open gmail today and I find this 'test google buzz' banner. I check it out, and I find the most, visually unappealing social utility in the world. It looks like an amalgamation of facebook, twitter and flicker... you can follow others' activity stream, update status, share media. And not to forget *LIKE* others' stuff :D

Google seems to have performed an incomplete market check. They forget that the prime reason of facebook's shooting popularity is the third party applications.
To challenge that, Google really has to come up with something out of the box.

My verdict: After Google Wave, Buzz is another dud. But if it strikes a chord with people, it can pose a serious threat to Facebook's current monopoly.