MySQL is one of the most popular open source softwares – Yes, it has a dual licensing scheme and has been profitable from the beginning. I always wondered why it became so popular, especially when PostgreSQL is such a workhorse and has so many features compared to MySQL. Oreillynet has a very insightful article called "Why MySQL grew so fast" which explains why.

Here is the count of unique visitors for my book, categorized by from where they come:

#

Report:  python.g2swaroop.net

Report Name:  Countries

Date Range:  04/22/2004 - 04/28/2004

#

(no entry)  204
net (Network)   140
com (Commercial)    117
edu (Educational)   15
de (Germany)    14
it (Italy)  10
br (Brazil) 9
fr (France) 9
uk (United Kingdom) 9
ca (Canada) 6
in (India)  6
pl (Poland) 5
ru (Russian Federation) 5
jp (Japan)  4
nl (Netherlands)    4
no (Norway) 4
us (United States)  4
cn (China)  3
mil (USA Military)  3
se (Sweden) 2
cz (Czech Republic) 2
sg (Singapore)  2
au (Australia)  2
nz (New Zealand)    2
at (Austria)    2
ch (Switzerland)    2
hr (Croatia)    2
ar (Argentina)  2
ae (United Arab Emirates)   2
tw (Taiwan) 2
dk (Denmark)    1
fi (Finland)    1
org (Non-Profit Organizations)  1
tt (Trinidad and Tobago)    1
is (Iceland)    1
kr (South Korea)    1
ph (Philippines)    1
hu (Hungary)    1
lt (Lithuania)  1
huascaran   1

Nowadays, I have become so involved with my work at Yahoo! that I am hardly getting any time for other stuff. Spending time with friends has also become a problem, but the amazing thing is how Yahoo! Messenger and mobile phones help here. They truly help people keep in touch!

Last Sunday, 4 friends including myself got together and we had plans for the whole day. It was so much fun! I even made one of my instant raps/poems/whatever:

A joke, a dialogue, and a smile
I haven’t had so much fun in quite a while
I wish this day never ends
Life’s great with my best friends!

I’m reading a very interesting article on the next version of C#. It’s fascinating. I seriously wonder why Java does not make strides like this, especially with supposedly much more widespread support than C# and .NET??

What does the open community lack in making such huge innovations? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the open source community lacks innovation – it doesn’t, see the Dashboard to understand what I mean. What I am trying to say is that I feel there are no major initiatives such as new platforms like .NET by this community.

Is the widespread nature of this community the very reason for this? Or is it just that Microsoft is really good at integrating good ideas and packaging it into a neat manner like Longhorn? Why isn’t there anything to match Visual Studio .NET yet?

I am at a loss to understand the answer to this question.

Today, I voted for the first time! I am one of those large number of FTVs (First Time Voters) in India. It is such a thrill to take part in such a humongous exercise of democracy. After all, India is the largest democracy in the world!

I voted for the Congress candidate Ramalinga Reddy for the Vidhan Sabha (the Legislative Assembly of Karnataka State) and the BJP candidate Ananth Kumar for the Lok Sabha (the Parliament of India). Notice that I don’t hesitate to vote for both parties. My vote is for anyone who does a honest job. I just hope these politicians live up to atleast half their promises.

I came across this interesting blog entry on The Secret Source of Google’s Power. It talks about how Google has 100,000 servers! It also talks about how Google could become a ‘platform’ for the future. Fascinating stuff!

My book is now being translated to Spanish and Danish! That’s really cool… I know I shouldn’t be surprised but I am amazed at how people prefer to read books like this one in their own native languages. More than that, these readers are sparing their time and translating this book to help other people …. If you don’t believe in the power of the community, believe it now!

Also, I found a positive review about my book by Rabhi.

We were just cruisin’ at midnight and we want to do more. A few minutes later, we had decided to go to Nandi hills to see the sunrise! This was just so much fun. I feel this much fun should be banned!

I’ve put up a writeup as well as lots of photos on the Nandi hills page!

Waiting to see your comments…

Update: I have added Subhojit’s write-up about our escapade as well!

Shocking but true! Microsoft has released the WiX toolkit as open source. WiX stands for Windows Installer XML (WiX) developer tool. The software has been released under an IBM license.

The shocking thing is that they are releasing it as open source AND they are releasing it on SourceForge.net – the world’s largest Open Source software development website!

Is Microsoft just pretending to be the good guy or does it seriously want to test the waters ?!?!

I know this is too much, but, if an open-source Longhorn was released – I’d have a heart attack due to pure excitement .

I reluctantly got a mobile phone a few weeks ago due to the insistence of my parents. My thinking was that it would be an invasion of my privacy and something I might get addicted to. Now, I’m starting to like it (as if I had a choice . However, I still am not all hunky-dory about mobile phones.

I got a cool Nokia 3200 phone. It burnt a hole in my pocket but it was worth it. I was surprised at the ease with which I took to it. (If only all software were like this…)

It’s a great way to keep in touch with friends and especially the SMS rage is starting to get to me. It’s nice to know you can call up your friends any time you feel bored or just feel the need to talk or you just want to hang out together on an impulse!

I’ve even found a new cool use for my mobile – I listen to the radio using my mobile and the headset that comes with it when I’m on the way to the Yahoo office or the way back home – the traffic is so congested that I get so bored in between.

I’d like to hear your views on mobile phones as well. Just click on the Comments link below!