Opera Software should consider switching to third-party layout and JavaScript engines

After over 8 years of using the Opera browser, I'm in a position to say that Opera Software should consider switching the innards of its Web browser to an Open Source, third-party engine (preferably WebKit). I say so because based on my years of usage of this great Internet suite, as well as extensive reading of the business and technical aspects of Web browsers, I feel that Opera's key attractions are its:

1. User interface
2. Security and reliability/stability
3. Speed
4. Features
5. Low resource usage (less valid with Opera 10.x)
6. Standards-compliance

These attractions continue to hold true if Opera switches to third-party layout and JavaScript engines. Why then is Opera continuing to invest a significant amount of cash in the development of proprietary engines? Would it make more sense to redirect this money to increase the abysmally-low penetration of Opera's desktop browser? Or to speedup the development and refinement of new/existing features?

Has the quality of McDonald's McAloo Tikki burger gone down in the last few months?

I remember clearly (CLEARLY) that the quantity of the characteristic orange-colored sauce inside a McAloo Tikki burger (also called just Aloo Tikki burger) used to be quite higher than what McDonald's gives these days. Although the orange sauce would nearly overflow as one ate the burger, it made the burger softer and more easily chewable, even without ketchup. The burger they give today is dry. Sad.

(This one was bought from Sector-18, Noida)

Web counter replaced to StatCounter

I've replaced the hit counter on this blog, from Tiny Counter to StatCounter - the former's counter didn't show up quite often. I've started the count of StatCounter's counter at 21,115 - the latest count displayed by Tiny Counter's counter for this blog.

Why I bought Swift petrol, and not diesel

When I bought Swift in Oct'08, I had a choice between buying the petrol and diesel variants. The diesel variant was priced ~1 lakh INR above the petrol variant. Following factors made me go for petrol:

• 1 lakh rupees translate into ~2,000 liters of petrol, which translate into ~24,000 km worth of driving (a reasonable estimate). I estimated that I'm going to drive ~20 km per weekday, and I shall need a total of ~600 km per month. Which means that by going for the petrol variant, I shall be driving for "free" for the first three years, by not paying 1 lakh rupees for the diesel variant. Notably, this calculation includes only the premium needed for purchasing the diesel variant, and excludes the additional cost of buying fuel.
• Lower maintenance.
• Lower NVH.
• Low external noise (but not too low to not alert others).
• Lower pollution.
• Higher acceleration/pickup.

(My Swift looks almost like this; Image source)

My Swift's odometer currently reads ~9,000 km. Excluding my 6-month stay in South Africa, I've used the car for ~1 year now, and 24,000 km is still far away - which means that my car is still running for "free". And I'm a happy owner of this beautiful, modern automobile.

Pay-by-usage software pricing? Yes please!

This post (and its title) is inspired by:

• A thought I had a few weeks back
• A blog post by Duncan Jones of Forrester (Pay-per-use Software Pricing? No Thanks!)

Consider two individuals:

1. User A: Needs certain features available only in Photoshop CS5, but uses them infrequently
2. User B: Uses many features of Photoshop CS5 heavily

Should A pay as much as B to buy a Photoshop CS5 license? No, in my opinion. It's neither fair, nor value-based, to quote Duncan Jones.

(However, I'm against the "limited duration" and "limited number of times" models sometimes used to implement pay-for-usage. From my observation, these models act as a constant "concern/distraction layer" in the minds of users trying to complete a task, forcing them to also focus on their usage, hurting productivity/quality and killing the fun of using software. Examples include limited minutes on phones and data-transfer limits in Internet connections. You may give less features, but don't limit their usage.)

What solution do I propose? None as yet. I'll think about this some other day when I have more time.

Air India offers South African Airways' codeshared flight tickets at a price lower than SAA's price

I just came across this odd-looking pricing. Air India flight AI 7625 from Bombay/Mumbai (BOM) to Johannesburg (JNB) is operated by South African Airways (flight SA 285), and the ticket price for Air India is lower than the price for SAA. I don't find this normal. How can Air India offer a price which is lower than SAA's price, unless Air India is either making a loss, or is making no profit. Shouldn't ticket-booking websites detect such anomalies, and alert users (especially those who're buying tickets for SA 285) that tickets for SA 285 can be had for less, if instead they book on AI 7625? I think they should.

Update (23-Feb-2012): Once again, Air India offers Ethiopian's flights at a lower price. Cleartrip.com should flag this to users who try to buy the Ethiopian flight.

Update [29-Aug-15]: Air India has massively overpriced the Air Astana flights that it's offering under its name, as can be seen clearly in the two screenshots below. Cleartrip.com should clearly alert its users to such points in order to help them save money.

Every flight is a mission...

I love watching flying planes. For years now, I've been looking at planes passing above in the sky. I feel good when I see the bright blinking lights moving through the night sky. I wonder if decades back, anyone had ever imagined that in the 21st century, civilian aircraft will carry millions of individuals across continents and oceans at near-supersonic speeds. I wonder if they had ever thought that colorful blinking lights flying through the night sky will be commonplace in the 21st century...

Screenshots from 'A Tribute to Ethiopian Airlines'

I sometimes think: Even though air-travel has become routine in current times - with thousands of planes flying daily - it (probably) doesn't mean that the complexity and risks associated with it have decreased. Drinks, delicious food, warm hospitality and a multitude of entertainment options might make us forget it, but the truth is that we fly tens of thousands of feet above the earth's surface, where outside air and temperature are unsuitable for human survival, roaring and piercing through the sky at nearly the speed of sound.

Image 1 source; Image 2 source

And so I believe that every flight is a mission. A mission as crucial as a military mission, with safely transporting the set of passengers from destination A to destination B as the objective.

Update (15-May-10 and 1-Jun-10): I watched a few aviation-related videos on YouTube today. The following videos have strengthened my belief that every flight is a mission

1. 747 very late take-off
2. Ilyushin Il-86 late takeoff
3. Amazing take offs at JFK airport
4. Concorde captain changes his mind
5. Crazy dangerous takeoff 767 in severe storm!!
6. Spectacular Take Off CLOSE to the mountains (Juneau, Alaska)
7. Cabin Crew announcement approaching thunderstorm flying at 40,000 feet

Sad that The New York Times copies sentences from its own, previously published stories

"Nearly four years behind schedule, several tons overweight and as much as 7 billion euros ($10.6 billion) over budget, the A400M has become a financial albatross for Airbus and its parent company, European Aeronautic Defense and Space. The company has already written off 2.4 billion euros in costs for a project that continues to expend cash at a rate of around 100 million euros each month." - (Source: Hopes for Costly Plane Are Riding on a Test Flight, The New York Times, 3-Dec-09)


"The A400M has become a financial albatross for Airbus and EADS: nearly four years behind schedule, several tons overweight and as much as €7 billion, or $10.6 billion, over budget. EADS has already written off €2.4 billion in costs for a project that continues to expend cash at a rate of around €100 million each month." - (Source: Airbus Issues Warning on Military Plane Project, The New York Times, 12-Jan-10)


"EADS has already written off 2.4 billion euros in costs for a project that continues to expend cash at a rate of about 100 million euros each month." - (Source: No Progress in Talks for Financing of European Military Plane, The New York Times, 22-Jan-10)


Since when did The New York Times start lengthening its stories by copying stuff from previous stories? Does NYT believe that its readers don't read with enough concentration and interest to be able to remember previously read words, phrases and sentences? What is sad is that the author(s) have chosen to use classic methods to avoid accusations of plagiarism - changing the order of phrases and sentences, replacing € with euro and euro with €, and so on, something that I did not expect from NYT.

Really sad. Because I enjoy reading NYT and trust it.

The benefits and perils of Google Chrome browser (in context of multitasking and productivity)

Without doubt, Chrome has made me more productive - its UI responds nearly-immediately to my actions, making my own speed - and not the software's - the primary barrier/deciding-factor to how fast I can work (which is a good thing). I freely and quickly group and rearrange tabs, and overall, the UI is very responsive.

This was the good part. The bad part is that I've started multitasking much more now. I open many more tabs in Chrome (and Opera), compared to when I'm in other browsers. I can even hypothesize that Chrome/Opera users open more tabs (on average) than Firefox users, who open more tabs than IE users. And all these open tabs give a kind-of restlessness to the mind - they give the feeling of many pending tasks, reducing my mind's concentration.

An example of my typical Chrome window

Guess I'll have to adopt some self-controlling policies to prevent myself from drowning in these tabs.

Moving to Johannesburg (SA), shortly

I'm moving to Johannesburg, South Africa, within a couple of days. So many things need to be done still... Visa, packing, other formalities, learning cooking (!), etc.

Let's see how things pan out.