Is Apple going the Microsoft way?

I got this software update pop-up on my Mac today which is pasted below. Seriously why do I need to restart the whole OS to update an already installed browser?

Copy/Move = Yes/No?

I dragged and dropped a folder from the server on the network to my desktop and I got this Dialog box. A typical widows dialog box. Speaks volumes about the time Microsoft spends on Usability Engineering.

Escaping invalid XML characters in C#

I was looking for a simple method by which I could escape invalid XML characters in a string. I searched hi and lo and then I found this blog. It pointed me in the right direction. You can use SecurityElement.Escape(string) to do this.

Where do the Dell XPS machines go?

At VendAsta we have had big time problems with Dell XPS machines that we had bought. Gradually, we replaced all of them with Mac Book Pro’s. Somebody, by accident, put the Dell XPS machines at their rightful place.

VendAsta raises $3 million

Great news! It’s an exciting time here.

Since inception we have been working on some really good technologies (to name a few WCF, WPF, MSMQ, Spring framework and many more). This funding enables us to do more COOL STUFF and hire some super smart people who are excited about technology and are great team players. If all these things excite you then check out our careers page here.

I got a Mac!

So, here I am working on my unit tests and suddenly Jason comes to my desk with a Mac Book Pro . Thanks Jason and thank you VendAsta! I am glad to be moving to a mac after a very frustrating time with Vista.

Vista a work in progress

How many people in this room have had big time problems with Vista? I am pretty sure the number is HUGE. Problems are all over the board. Network discovery issues, installation issues, service pack installation issues and the list goes on.

I came across an issue where, when I clicked “Turn Windows features on or off” I would just get a blank popup. Initially I thought it might be a permission issue. But after some research I found out that there were some registry changes suggested which would help solve those problems in some cases. In my case it did not work and the only solution was to reinstall Vista again.

So, I decided to reinstall Vista and there was more “fun” in store for me there. My vista installation was fine but then when it started installing the updates things started going awry again. Everytime it would install some updates and restart and then try to repair something. This went on for more than four hours. After that I decided to install the service pack 1 directly and then things started to stabilize. Later I had network discovery issues all over again which after couple of hours solved by itself.

All in all I spent about one day just installing vista. For a product that had been in development since years I expected more out of it. My initial experience with Vista has made me believe that it is still a work in progress and it will take some more patches for the OS to stabilize. Quite disappointing to say the least.

First month at VendAsta

Another Friday is here and I need to blog to earn my beer . At VendAsta all the employees meet every Friday over a round of beer to exchange what they have done over the week. This week, I finished my first month at VendAsta. I must say I have enjoyed it thoroughly from building my own chair on the first day to finishing our first sprint. Also, I have had the privilege of working with super smart people.

Today was the last day of our sprint. At VendAsta we are using the Scrum process for development. From my perspective, the process keeps you on your toes and inculcates some really good development habits. The most satisfying thing at the end of every sprint is you have a functioning integrated product.

Since, the day I started I dove right into thick of things. I have been working on some really cool technology and constantly innovating new stuff.  I just can’t believe the amount of new stuff I have learnt in last one month. It has been a great learning experience. I look forward for more exciting times to come.

By the way if you are looking for a job then we are always looking for super smart people. If you would like to join our team then look at the careers section on our website.

Our first radio show

My wife and I did our first radio show last Saturday. It was a great experience. The show’s name is “Sangeetmala” which broadcasta every Saturday from 11 am to 12 pm on CFCR 90.5 FM. In the show the hosts play Hindi songs. In the last few years that I have heard the show there was never a theme for the show. Each host played his or her favorite songs. My wife and I actually selected the theme and created a script around and selected the songs based on that script. It was a great learning experience.

Initially it was my wife who was going to do the show. When we started preparing the script and selecting songs there was some stuff which I really wanted to say and play. So, I ended up being in the show. I think we had a pretty successful show judging from the comments we got after the show. People liked it a lot.

All in all a great experience. I am looking forward for my next show!

My first blog

Alright! So, I have finally taken the plunge in the world of blogging. I couldn’t resist it with everyone around me blogging. I am going to try and post as often as possible.