Share, if you care

Recently, the Twitter account of India’s PM got hacked by someone who might be a Keanu Reeves fan (who isn’t?!). And, obviously, that’s not the only high profile account which has got compromised in recent history but it keeps happening once in a while. If even the most powerful person in the country is insecure online, think about yourself. Your password would be even easier to break down. It is just Password@123. Right?

Normally, Passwords are somethings we hold very dear. We can share the most personal things with others but not passwords. Some people do share passwords at work for common systems which is highly risky in itself but they will never share passwords of their bank accounts for sure.

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There’s never a free lunch

While the Internet and Tech World is an allegedly-free-buffet of delicacies, the number of choices we have, revolves around only a handful of flavors.

We are so much accustomed to fighting over Android and iOS, we haven’t realized that these are the only 2 choices we have today. We do have other choices, but they are so poorly marketed, that even trying them deliberately is like making all the effort to go to Antarctica and then getting disappointed to see no Gol-Gappa stall.

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Apple and Open Source Issues

Apple is going to have its coveted event on 9.9.14 and will probably bring another revolutionary device, as people assume. It has been 30 years since Mac arrived. It was a revolutionary product back then in 1984 when personal computing was still a far-fetched joke for the geeks and nerds. However, soon Windows arrived and whatever Microsoft did, by hook or crook, changed Apple. The same is happening again.

In 2007, iPhone arrived and changed the course of how the mobile phones will be made in future. This is 2014 and we have already forgotten 2007. While Samsung has been the real competition, several other small players using Android OS has actually shaken Apple heavily.

Before I start my rant, let me tell I don’t own any Apple product except iTunes. Wait, let me confirm. Yes, all my vital organs are intact, so yes, I don’t own any Apple product. And before 2013, I had never used any Apple product myself. But then I was an Apple fanboy. (See!) Then by chance, I got to work on Apple machines for office work and I started hating them because of their closed and rigid design and the non-stop crashing of Microsoft and Oracle applications made for Mac. I had no problems with the native Apple applications ever however. Also, the hardware design is so brilliant that no other machine comes close to it.

So after using a Mac for 1 year and developing a good bit of hatred because its hype and non-flawlessness (and because I was officially working on it) I just started using Windows again and felt the difference. One kind of misses the Mac and its solid hardware software integration because Windows seems so fragile and made of low quality plywood over which if you stand, it might break. So while writing this, I like Mac better but since it is SO COSTLY STILL and non-flawlessness, I don’t know whether I am an Apple fanboy anymore or not. My stance towards Windows is still same, that is, its just okay. Now let me come to the main motive of this post.

I think there are a few things which once created, don’t belong to the creator. For instance, Language and few forms of arts. Urdu for instance cannot belong to Muslims, as it is treated in India. Similarly, more importantly infact, Sanskrit is linked to Hindus but I think Languages cannot be held married to a certain religion. Same goes with Programming languages. C language was invented in early 70s and still being used all over the world for several purposes. Because it was Open Source (as in anyone can write a program in C, just with a compiler), it has flourished. Similarly, the art like dance. Michael Jackson might have patented the Anti-Gravity move but how can you stop anyone from doing it? The concept of patent itself is honest but used ferociously because people misuse and abuse them. I mean, patent was created so that the person who invented gets royalty and respect and while the other person uses it, gives the creator due credit for the labor one invested in creating the thing. Take the example of Elon Musk. His company Tesla Motors recently announced that anyone is allowed to use their technology to create better things. Such a nice gesture and totally Anti-Apple where using rounded corners by other companies had become such a huge issue. Now when it comes to music, if one creates a tune/song, in today’s world, it would take seconds to bootleg/rip it and be put online somewhere for free download. Being snobby while being an artist cannot work. Indian Ocean band stopped selling their stuffs and now rely only on their stage performance where they charge an entry fee because they thought that there art suffered because of snobbery of record publishing music companies. Lucky Ali’s last album Rastaman, was uploaded for free download.

Now when it comes to graphic design, one visual form can be adapted by anyone and can use it anywhere. Respect comes when you acknowledge from where you got the inspiration. Everyone cannot do that.