Why Google can never beat Microsoft !!

Google seems to be in some kind of existentialist dilemma.It desperately wants to dethrone Microsoft,and yet majority of its service like the search engine,Gmail and Google Docs are mostly accessed through IE browser,running on a Windows powered system.
The only way Google can change its equation against Microsoft,is by coming up with its own OS.
But that is easier said than done.It was in 1983 that the first Windows operating system was introduced and since then Microsoft has dominated the world of computing.The idea that more than 90% of PCs run on Windows sounds to some ears like an archetypal cliche`,which might remain true forever.
Google is really good at what it does,but is it capable of coming up with an OS comparable to Windows 7?
Rumors about Google's plan for a new Operating system had been around for quite sometime,and in the middle of 2009,the company accepted that it was aiming to create an open source,lightweight operating system.
According to Google,its Operating system is a natural extension of its Google Chrome browser,and it has been named Google Chrome Operating System.

Some analysts have been predicting that net books powered by Google's OS might become available towards the end of 2010.
Google has announced,"Google Chrome OS will run on both x86 as well as ARM chips and we are working with multiple OEMs to bring a number of net books to market next year".The words to be noted in the Google's blog-post are,"users don't have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates." Is Chrome Os going to be a proverbial magic carpet that will transport the users to a paradise,which is completely cleansed of the evil programmers??

Google Docs is a seminal achievement,and yet Microsoft Office continues to be the choice of majority of the users.In India more than 90 percent of computers are run pirated versions of Microsoft Office,even though the original version of Google Docs is available for free online.
The only way the Chrome OS can make headway is by offering users a better desktop computing experience than Windows 7 does.

So,if any company dreams that net books powered with its OS will fly off the shelf just because they are cheap,then they are probably living in a fool's paradise.
In any case,it is not going to be that easy to wean people away from desktop centric systems in which Microsoft continues to be in dominant position.

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Windows 8 Screenshots Leaked !!

The latest builds of Windows 8 in the hands of developers has resulted in more leaked screenshots, this time showing off the new Advanced Task Manager of the OS. New and improved, the we have two different screenshots displaying two different types of Task Manager. Some believe one is the touch edition, and the other is the standard.
Microsoft is obviously still experimenting with different types of interface for the app, and any of the below versions, a combination of them, or something absolutely new, might be what actually releases with the full version of Windows 8 in 2012.

The first screenshot is the dashboard of the Advanced Task Manager, showing basic CPU, disk load, memory, and network information graphically. The second screenshot is another version of the Task Manager, seemingly touch-friendly, showing a list of programs, users, and start up items. Check them out below:

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Customize your Facebook Profile Page

The new layout of your Facebook profile page can accommodate six images thus giving you room to be a little bit more creative with the design.

For instance, some people “slice” a large photograph into pieces and tag them on Facebook such that one slice appears as their main profile picture while the other pieces show up in the thumbnail region.
If you would like to have something similar for your own Facebook profile page, just get a 700px (W) x 500 px (H) picture of yourself and slice it in Photoshop /GIMP as per dimensions marked in the next image.

Upload all these image slices to your Facebook photo album and then tag them in the following sequence (the order is very important).
First set the largest image (200x500) to be your main profile picture. Then choose the 100x68 thumbnail from the image gallery that will appear in the extreme right on your profile page and tag it with your name. Then tag the immediate left image and so on such that the left-most thumbnail get tagged in the end.

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Check if Someone Else is Using Your Facebook Account?

Notice some suspicious activity on your wall? Well there some simple security settings built into Facebook – some of these settings are new while others have been around for some time – that should help you quickly detect if any other person is secretly logging into and using your Facebook account.







Go to Facebook.com -> Account -> Account Settings -> Account Security. Here you’ll see a list of all computers and mobile devices that have logged into your Facebook account and when. You can also see the approximate geographic location of the device, based on the IP address, that was used to access your Facebook account.
If you come across an unknown device / location in the list, say you are Mac user and the device listed is IE on Windows, just click the corresponding “end activity” link and it should immediately log you out from that machine.
For extra safety, you may also choose to receive email and SMS alerts if someone else tries to log into your Facebook account from a previously unknown computer or mobile phone. (I wish Google could bring such a feature to Gmail as well).

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Use goo.gl to Know if your Email has been Read

How do you know if your email message has been read by the recipient(s)?
One option is that you embed a tracking image in your outgoing email messages. If that image downloads on to the recipient's computer, it is a confirmation that your email has been opened and read. Obviously, this technique will only work if the recipient has enabled automatic image downloads and that he or she is reading your email in HTML and not plain text.
There’s another option as well. If your outgoing email messages include one or more hyperlinks, you may even consider taking the help of a URL shortening service like goo.gl for email tracking.

The idea is pretty simple. Before including an hyperlink in your email, shorten it with goo.gl first. Now if the recipient opens your email and clicks on the link, his activity will be captured which you can see by simply adding a + sign to the Google short URL.
For instance, if the short URL of your link is goo.gl/abc, you can see the click stats for that short URL on goo.gl/abc+ or goo.gl/info/abc. Hover over the click points in the graph and you’ll even get to know the time when the person clicked your link in the email.

This of course is based on the assumption that your email messages have one or more hyperlinks and that the recipients are keen to click on them for you to track their activity.

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How to Enable Windows 7 GodMode

Here’s a neat Windows 7 trick that’s been doing the rounds on the Internet. It enables “GodMode,” a term devised by the Microsoft development team, which provides a single place to access all Windows settings without needing to browse options and folders in the Control Panel.

To use it:

1. Create a new folder.
2. Rename the folder toGodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
   (note that you can change the “GodMode” text, but the following period and code number are essential).
   The folder icon will change — double click it to show the GodMode window

The window shows nearly 50 sections with quick links to configuration options. Strictly speaking, it’s not a God Mode since all the options are available elsewhere. It’s more akin to an “all tasks” list — but you may find it easier than stumbling through Windows numerous screens and panels.

Big Red Warning!

The trick appears to work on both the 32 and 64-bit versions of Windows 7. Vista 32-bit and Windows Server 2008 32-bit should also work. However, it is known to crash 64-bit versions of Vista — and you may need to boot in safe mode or to the command line to delete the folder.

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