Sunday, November 30, 2008

Gearing Up Windows (to make it usable)

At my workplace I am using Windows Box. I have been using windows since Windows 3.1.x when we use to boot with DOS and then run it to get the GUI. Windows was never this difficult to adjust :( for me.

I have never use windows for my work, I mean I start my career on a Linux box and I just loved it. Customize it the way you like, you always have alternatives for every thing, the community is absolutely wonderful and all of it is open source, Linux is just great specially when you really like to play with software ohh forgot this blog is not about Linux ;).

Due to some environmental constraint I have to use windows, (I have FC 8 as the other booting OS and CentOS in a VM) I was having real hard time on adjusting to windows so I start gearing it up.

I am just listing tools I have install to make windows usable (For me of course):

yod'm 3d: Just can't work without multiple desktop, unfortunately its no longer free-ware, 1.4 is the last free version and its hosted by KLT. My personal experience with Yod'm have been very good, it's a portable application i.e. you don't need to install it and it works straight away.


TrayIt!: Yeah I don't like many application at my Taskbar, I have seen people using 3 even 4 rows taskbar :-0, come on guys use multiple desktop with Tray IT! .
Application which are likely to be accessed from multiple desktops (Your development IDE for instance) should be in system tray, application which just runs in the background (Like real player) should never appear in the taskbar. Tray IT! can do all this (and much more) for you and It is absolutely free.


clipX: Clipboard, yes that's it I just need a good clipboard application and clipX is just great, just press the hotkey and select what to pate.

MoRUN.net Sticker Lite: Instead of using notepad and multiple files to log or temporarily hold things I use sticky notes, again they don't take your taskbar space, you can access them with hotkeys and you don't save as they get saved automatically, MoRUN.net Sticker Lite will do all this fro free.

launchy: Do I really need to say anything? What people still click on start button, click on there desktop icons and use default file manager, with Launchy you just use Hotkeys.

ExplorerXP: I need a tabbed interface File Manager, Its absolutely mandatory I just can't work without a Multi Tab file manager. ExplorerXP Is one such good freeware (for non - commercial use) file manger.

QTTabBar: Multi Tab file manager is so mandatory for me that I have installed two of them, Even if by chance the default file manager is open I can get tabs with QTTabBar. Its an Add-In that gives Tab Browsing Feature to your Explorer. Folder grouping, histories, etc and I love it :). There is just one prerequisite for windowsXP which is Net Framework 2.0 or later should be installed on your system.
My email client is Thunderbird with quite a few addons (reminderfox, Provider for Google Calendar, Lightning, MinimizeToTray, Minimize To Tray Enhancer, Display Mail User Agent to name a few ).

If you are wondering why don't I have screen shoots and all that, I am writing this on Ubuntu 8.10 and I am @ home.

Monday, November 10, 2008

P@SHA ICT 2008 Awards: I am so happy

We just had P@SHA ICT Awards 2008, I am extremely happy with the outcomes. That was a one cool event, The event was covered by CIO Pakistan, @DrAwab And @Selfexile were twitting the event as it happens and a Live Blog was hosted at Ideas Hut website (futher details ). I am so happy with the event :-).

Why I am this }---||---{ Happy?


Well there are two reasons
1. The company which I have just started working for, got the award for "Best of Digital Media & Entertainment Applications" (WINNER - Converged Media Solutions – PixSense ). But this ain't the primary reason of my happiness (They are an excellent company and were bound to win this :) ), so the the primary reason is reason no 2. which is:
2. The award for Best of Startup Applications. I am a software Testing professional and award was won by "Kraysis" which is to the best of my knowledge the only company in Pakistan, specialized in all kind of Software Testing solution and yes they are the partner of Zephyr in Pakistan.

I posted a Blog about Testing market in Pakistan on 14th august 2007 . As a software tester I know this is what we really miss in Pakistan, companies providing Testing Solutions.

There are bazillion companies around the globe which provide software testing solutions but there aren't many in Pakistan. I am extremely happy atleast there is a company now (actually I am following them for more then a year see my blink ) providing software testing solutions and they are doing great.

They were
named in the STARTUP Watch-List by UK based Technomics International, they have partnership with Coverity Inc and Zephyr and yes they have won the award of Best Startup (source: http://www.kraysis.com/Deatilednews%20.php ). As a Software Tester from Pakistan I am so happy to see them grow.

But.. They still miss one thing the really need to mobilize the local Software Testing community. I mean they should arrange workshops, conferences, meetups and all those cool things. I would love to see conferences like GTAC or AST Conferences happing in Pakistan and I would love to play my role in them.

With startup like Kraysis and there growth over the year or so, I am very hopeful about the Software Testing community of Pakistan.

Update: Even more happier :-), both of the above mentioned have won awards at APICTA in Jakarta. PixSense has won the Asia Pacific ICT Award and Kraysis has won the APICTA Award for the Best Startup in the Asia/Pacific region.
Further details.