A luxury today becomes a necessity tomorrow. But, are the necessities of today becoming luxuries of tomorrow?

Lets roll our minds back:

• About a decade or so back, having a phone at home was considered a luxury
• About 5 years ago, having a car at home was considered a luxury
• A couple of years ago, having a mobile phone was considered a luxury
• Just an year ago, affording a ipod was considered a luxury

It is so surprising that all these that were considered luxuries of yester years have become almost a necessity of today. But, why? Is it because of the tendency of human beings to always crave for more? Or is it because of the continuous improvements in the qualiy of living? human advancements??

The luxuries of today are becoming necessities of tomorrow, which is good. But consider this, the necessities of yesterday, like proper food, good fresh air and clean environment, good times with family and friends are becoming a bit of luxuries today. There are so many people living in underdeveloped countried who do not have acccess to proper food, sanitary facilities and a roof under their head. There are so many people who live in the developed nations who do not have time to spend with their loved ones and friends.

Giving it a thought, is it worth sating "A luxury today becomes a necessity tomorrow. But, are the necessities of today becoming luxuries of tomorrow?"

How to succeed

Got this from one of my friends...

1. Don't talk negatively about people on their back
2. Try to work with someone who will challenge you. That way, you'll learn more in 1 year than you will in 4 years
3. Dress for the job you want and not for the one you have. Let your dressing reflect your professionalism
4. Work out to get in good physical shape. Unless exceptionally skilled, unhealthy are at a comparative disadvantage
5. Personal integrity is crucial. Tell nothing but truth
6. Strive for your best at a job in hand. But, in spite of your best, you were not able to pull something off, at least you know you tried your best and your best is just not enough
7. Spend some time alone once in a while reflecting on things that have happened and what should happen. Thoughts are powerful and always think good about you and others

Incredible Nature

I had the pleasure of going to Coffs harbour with my wife over the weekend. Coffs harbour is a beach facing town, very small and right Sydney and Brisbane. The specialty of Coffs is its beautiful beaches.

I stayed in a beach resort dead facing the waters. One fine morning, we got ready for a stroll along the beach. It was just wonderful, sunny day, a lovely beach amongst big rocks with wonderful little creeks with water seeping thru.

The morning and afternoon just passed by and we were back again to the same beach in the evening. And to my surprise, the places where we walked in the morning were literally never there. It was consumed by the violent and gushing waves from the rough sea. The sea has just been transformed from a lovely lagoon to murderous one in just about 6 hours. Just having a look at the 6 or so feet high waves hitting the rocks with vicious force gave me creeps.

Just made me look at the same sea with fear and awe. And it also made me realize again, that the nature can be a beauty and a beast.

Dynamic portlets - A shot in the arm

For some strange reason, JSR 168 does not mention a standard way to hide / unhide portlets. But, one of the critical features if the users are to use a portal application in real time is this precise benefit: hide / unhide the portlets based on a condition.

Picture this:
You are trying to build a banking web site using portal. Here is a possible scenario:
1. A user calls in to a bank branch and tells his customer number
2. The bank operator types in the customer number (possible a portlet) and hits search
3. Till now, the Search detail page(again, a portlet) has t0 be hidden. But, the moment the bank operator hits the "Search" button, the Details page(portlet) has to be displayed showing the search details.

I'm sure there could be a lot of applications (built on portal) that might have a requirement similar to above,aka hide / display portlets based on condition.

As of now, every portal app goes on a custom solution built for the project and that generally is not reusable, although there are some smart cookies around who build the solution in a way it can be reused across applications (but, not across portal servers. Its honestly very difficult as different portal servers build themes / skins in a different way).

This is where I believe SUN or IBM or some of the heavy weights determining the standard of portals have to take the lead. Consider a scenario where things like sharing data across portlets / pages, showing / hiding portlets are made part of JSR 168? When that day arrives, portal application could be the norm.

My note; JSR 168 does have a standard way of passing data across portlets / pages, but it has to be done using web services and broker which is not practical.

SPRING framework - What a beauty!!

What a gem is SPRING for those java architects who wish to unleash the power of java for the applications they are architechting.

Consider this,
1. assume the application is made up of 3 layers
2. UI layer, business service layer and the back end layer

Now let is have a premise that the business service layer have to be real smart that if need be, the business service layer can be exposed as RMI services, and then in just a snap of a finger, the same business services can also be exposed as web services so that the application can immediately be SOA oriented when the enterprise decides to go the SOA way.

If the premise stated above is stated very early even before the project is going onto the drawing boards, then as an architect, you can design in such a way that the business service can be exposed as a web service as well as an EJB.

Its easier done than said actually ( I really MEANT easier done than said). As an architect, all you need to do is build a set of interfaces that will be exposed to the client and have different implementations for these interfaces.

One set of implementation will be for RMI based call and the other set of implementation is for web service based call.

But, the biggest question is what will happen to the UI layer if an when a decision is made to switch from RMI based services to web service based services. Here is where SPRING raised its beautiful head. Here is what you do:

1. have the UI layer work only on the interfaces.
2. Inject EJB implementations if the UI has to make a call to EJB
3. Inject web service implementations if the UI has to make a call to web services
4. THATS IT (I really mean it. Thats it)

Everything is behind the scenes, a bit of SPRING magic. What happens behind the scene actually is that SPRING actually handles all the remove exceptions, soap faults etc etc. So, is SPRING not a beauty?

As an architect, if given a choice to choose SPRING, I'd jump and grab it with both hands.

What will India be?

One things that strike me most is the way governments in the other countries(primarily developed) work.

The government and the members who make up the government operate as if its just like another private company. What I mean by that is the government tries to impress the citizens of the country as much as a private company does in order to satisfy their customers.

When I say impress, the government (and people who make it up) really tries to do things out of way for the citizens to ensure the safety, well being and comfortableness.

How I wish my country will be had the Indian government been as efficient as their counterparts!!

Highly adaptable human mind....

When in India, the week ends used to be:
1. roam around with my wife
2. definetly a dinner out
3. hang around in some shopping mall
4. once in a while, meet friends
5. sms almost everyone around

When away from home, the week ends are:
1. sleep, sleep and sleep
2. eat, eat and eat :)

Although the activities are totally different, I dont get that bored at all. I realize that life will be like this for me until my wife joins me here.

Its amazing how the human mind gets adapted to different ways of life when the necessity arises.

New Year's eve in Sydney 2007 - Followup of Anticipation

I happened to be in Sydney on New year's eve 2007. And there was a lot of hype and hysteria about the new year and the fireworks show on nw year's eve. You could see my previous article titled "Anticipation" on the build up to the new year. So, as 2006 bid goodbye and 2007 was on its way, the anticipation was about to be realised.

Before the fireworks
We were assembled at a place called Milson's point to see the fireworks. Milson's point is dead opposite to the Opera house and there were some crazy boats going. But the one that caught the site is attached as a pic.

Kids fireworks from 9:00 PM to 9:15 PM
At 9:00 PM, the first fireworks began and it went for 15 mins. Its called the kid's fireworks and especially for kid's. As it started, the people there started the count down. 10, 9, 8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 and boom. The fireworks began and started of very well, but as it laned through, it got a little bored. But, towards the end, the fireworks caught on and it was a pretty good sight. But, it was not up to my expectation and people were buzzing..wait for the main fireworks at 12:00

New Year's eve fireworks from 12:00 PM to 12:15 PM
As 12:00 PM neared, all the people around became crazy and started yelling and partying around. The whole area was like a massive party ground with loads and loads of people laying on the ground and relaxing and having beer after beer.

Then, the moment came and people were counting down again. And 12:00 PM came and began the fireworks. The fireworks started first at the harbour bridge, on top of the harbour bridge (see the snaps). Then, the fireworks went to the sydney city and then from various other places like Darling Harbour etc. It was a good experience and was enjoyable.

Did the fireworks meet the anticipation?? Kind of. Fell short of it though. The hype was very high and my expectation was sky high. But, all said and done, the way the whole event was organised was commendable and made me see Sydney in much higher respect!!

My life's best moment - New Year wishes 2007

This was the message from my wife on the new year's eve. And this is one of the best feeling I could ever experience throughout my life. My life was made that day!!

When I look back at 2006….I think this is the best year of my life…..As in the beginning of the year itself I united with you…& became your other half…
& you became my better half…It has been so wonderful to live with you….& you have given me abundance of happiness…in my life..

I am really fortunate that you are mine.

Now…as 2007 unfolds,,,,,,,I am really eager and enthusiastic to know what mystery is in store for us…

But I am very confident that amongst all odds and evens …we would stand by sooooo strong together ……that we could face any event,,,or eventuality….with greater strength…

My wish is that as each year passes by …the love and bonding with each other….would grow deeper and deeper…& feel more enthusiasm in living with each other each day…

At all times,,,,if GOD asks me what you want….I would ask for your company….& nothing seems more precious in the world than that….

Wish you a very Happy new year….& may all your dreams and hopes come true!!

Anticipation

I have the pleasure of being in Sydney, Australia for the new year. I heard everyone say that the new year eve's fireworks near the harbour bridge is one heck of a show.

And as usual, human nature always has a sense of excitement when everyone says "watch out for the event mate..its great".

I'm looking forward with anticipation for the fireworks and hope it lives to its expectations. But, there is a bit of irony to it as well because I would have loved to have my wife and parents be there to see the fireworks.

Anyway, all said and done, hope the anticipation turns into a reality and the fireworks is wonderful sight to watch.

Technology - Lets bow our heads

One of the things that has been revolutionizing the way we live over a period of time is the way distances have been crushed by technology.

Let's see what we have at our disposal today
1. Telephone
2. Internet
3. Email
4. Free web sites to upload photos (snapfish)
5. Talk over internet just by click of button (google talk) and for FREE
6. See people on the other side of the globe (Webcam and yahoo messenger)

Today, virtually there is no such thing called distance. Could we have ever imagined somethings like these a mere 15 years back?

And what do these mean to a normal human being? He can chat, talk, see his loved ones when he wants. And what these mean to parents back home? They get to see there children ever so often that they feel so comformtable that all are staying together.

Crushing distances, thats what technology has done. Bravo!!

Or should I say bravo to the mankind who invented these modern day wonders??

An ode to my wife

Was wondering what things I like about my wife. Well, I cannot summarize all, but here are a few,

1. the way u take responsibilities
2. ur smile
3. ur wonderful voice
4. ur patience level
5. calmness
6. forgetfullness :)
7. ur behaviour towards my parents
8. not complaining abt anybody / not speaking badly abt anyone / not speaking at anyone's back
9. and above all, ur ability to get along with one .....me :)