chandru

Pramati showcased Dekoh web desktop platform and consumer applications suite to a select group of technology journalists. The press met at The Park, in Bangalore on Monday, 5 March 2007, where an alpha version of the new desktop web platform was demoed.

Given all the hype and hoopla about web20 companies that come and go, the demo eliminated any doubts and apprehensions from the media's minds about the Dekoh promise: you can move "seamlessly" between the web and desktop -- underlined by the tag line of the product, "Hello Web, I am Desktop!".

The word about Dekoh has been flowing the popular channels of these days, TechCrunch, Technorati, ZDNet Blogs...getting bookmarked on Digg, Delicious...

Being in a controlled beta phase, the press had only had a glimpse of the product via screenshots on http://www.dekoh.com and blog notes on http://www.dekoh.com/blog.

Dekoh plays both in the consumer space and developer community.  A suite of consumer applications showcased by Dekoh shows the type of apps developers can easily build to Web 2.0 principles. Dekoh brings the best of two worlds to the desktop: Java standards that have become so familiar now to developers, and an embedded web 2.0 infrastructure that make java applications available out-of-the-box to social networks.


L-R: Professor Sadagopan (director, IIIT-B), Jay Pullur (CEO, Pramati), Bhaskar Pramanik (managing director, Sun Microsystems, India).


Dekoh Demo to the technology press in Bangalore, India.

A Web 2.0 site is "a startup that generates more RSS than revenue."

Source: engadget.com

Following up on the Web 2.0 Ramblings, see:

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jun2006/tc20060605_641388.htm

It's a 2.0 bubble. Maybe a good idea to re-release the 10th product verison as Product 2.0. Just for kicks. Abuse levels of this whole Web 2.0 thingie is going over the edge. The hype:reality fraction is inflating alarmingly. There is this attempt to categorize stuff as Web 1.0 vs. 2.0. Say, Content Management is Web 1.0. Wikis are Web 2.0. Hotmail is Web 1.0. GMail is Web 2.0. We need a break. Wikis are masquerading content management running on some engine that tracks content and delta on that content. Hmm..this is content management. Easy to get caught up in all this stuff.

But one good thing: this whole Web 2.0 stuff has elevated the status of javascript writers among software developers. Not to forget the graphic visualizers. Its not important to just work good, it should look good.

Web 2.0 is realy but is probably a correction, an attempt to bring back software development's focus to people, to user-centrism. Web 2.0 developers are solving problems with a severe focus on the user, taking advantage of their ancestors, the Web 1.0 good-for-nothings, have built. The real stuff lies beyond when enterprises reap in benefits from tech that is riding on the 2.0 wagon.

Its really about publishing functionality through some API and allowing people to collaborate, it is way much more than (and probably not about) rich user interfaces (rich internet apps). While there is more inclination among users today to use a web application over a desktop app, there are places web will probably never go -- the Photoshops and Avids. Hmmm, why was iTunes, a fairly recent app, not web-based, given all the digital music distribution and streaming? Hmmm...

Two great advantages of web applications are there is no installation as we know it, and there are no client-side patching/upgrades as we know. For example, you do not have to install Google Maps, AND you do not have to apply patches or update. It is streamed. Indeed this can apply to office apps like spreadsheets (http://spreadsheets.google.com) and presentations (http://www.thumbstacks.com).

So, will web applications eventually replace common desktop applications. The RIA Promise is of everything your desktop application does but lives in the web. See Microsoft's Windows Live and Office Live which do exactly that. In general, going offline (viewing and editing private data) with the same UI and being able to configure my desktop from the browser would be essential.

See Flex Version 2.0 and Microsoft Expression Studio. Also see http://www.softricity.com/products/availability.asp.

Disclaimer: Neither have I seen Da Vinci Code nor read the book.

Sometime back the Hindus in Britain decided to boycott/ban/ostracise M F Hussain for his nude depiction of Sita. While the paintings were dennounced in India, the motherland of Sita, M F Hussain was not ostracised.

Now, at least six Indian states have bowed to pressure from the church and banned the screening of Da Vinci Code. But back in the homelands of Catholics and the new world of Americas, the movie was dennounced but screening was allowed.

See a pattern? For the chest-thumping propogandaistic groups, stuff like Da Vinci Code (not that its a great work of influential literature), is great fodder. Especially when they are minority groups or diasporic populations like UK-settled Hindus.

Groups have the right to express their opinion and stick to their fundamentals. But this smacks of insecurity. Reminds me of the pre-election time when political parties pack their members into buses and hide them away so that opposite parties do not buy them.

Da Vinci Code was a hit in Poland despite bishops urging the public in this overwhelmingly catholic country to boycott the movie. The movie has led to a compelling new computer game in the US. (http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/marcsaltzman/2006-06-01-da-vinci-code-game_x.htm)

By the way, nobody banned the book in India. Wonder why? Hmmm, something to do with literacy? Something to do with illiterate (but not uneducated) in a movie-crazy society who would see the reels and wonder?

Guess, subjects in missionary-driven regions (as is the case in most of Asia) tend to be more fanatic. As well as, the minority always rebels as with the Hindus in Britain.

Its time they started art appreciation in schools, so that children grow up to appreciate the freedom that art, and art alone, can give the human mind. More on this later.

I want to publicly thank my friend Beatzo for having introduced me to Studio Ghibli. In fact, my 7-year old son Rahul has been greatly influenced (however momentarily) by the animated classics from Miyazaki produced by his studio. Here are my favourites:

0. Princess Mononoke (Mononoke-hime)
1. My Neighbour Totoro (Tonari no Totoro)
2. Nausicca of The Valley of the Winds (Kaze no tani no Nausicaa)
3. Laputa Castle in the Sky (Tenkû no shiro Rapyuta)
4. Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi)
5. Porco Rosso (Kurenai no buta)

Thanks, Beatzo.

Finally, a Netflix-like service has started up in Bangalore. See http://www.catchflix.com. Its in beta now. The service will soon start in Hyderabad and spread to other cities.

It simple. Step 1. Register; Step 2. Book your DVD Step; 3. Have it delivered and Picked Up in Three Days.

Will this be appetizing enough for the Lazy, Movie-Crazy, Urban Indian? Or will s/he still prefer to go to (or run an errand boy) to the nearest DVD store, such as Cinema Paradiso?

I think this is appetizing. Can Catchflix build a club of DVD revellers as well as movie aficionados? I would love Catchflix if it has:

I. A great sourcing model that
(A) puts new titles first on the circuit (how many copies will Catchflix buy of a given title?)
(B) puts collector titles to build that exclusive club

II. Has a variable subscription model that caters between normal and obtuse movie-goer tastes.

III. Intelligent enough to know what I like (finely classifying taste. See www.pandora.com), and lets me share my taste with others.

IV. Notifies, and lets me preview and book a forthcoming title in advance. Hmm, well, that queue can get pretty long. Not sure if advance booking will work.

Catchflix may not really work if its merely a substitute for the local video store.

And hey, why not use the Amazon API to dynamically fetch reviews and ratings for english and other language DVDs? That will be neat.

Also see http://filmcrowd.com/, pages that Catchflix can emulate.

I have registered with Catchflix. Try it out.

Got a page on Live Journal. Got to keep it updated now.

We just returned from a dreamy trip to Coonoor, a hilltown in Nilgiris in South India. We stayed at The Tryst (http://www.trystindia.com), a quiet farmhouse tucked away in a valley called Carolina Estate. Dr Satya Rao and Ann, who run the place, are wonderful hosts. Expect good food, drink and long nature walks. Of course, if you prefer solitude, you can have that too. WIll post pictures soon. Here some wonderful places to see around Coonoor (which itself is a dirty town):

1. The Road to Kunda Reservoir takes you through one of the best tea estates you will see, Chamaraj Tea. You can stop at their garden tea shop to shop for some special teas. Don't miss the shola forests in the valleys along the way. The reservoir itself is a very pretty sight. You will need permission from the Electricity Board (there) to access the reservoir bank. Worth it. Kunda is about 30km from Coonoor, through a village called Katteri.

2. Continuing further from Kunda, you can drive to the Avalanche Lakes and Emerald Reservoir. Aboslutely fantastic, rarely visited and pretty remote w.r.t. to Ooty and Coonoor. The Avalanche (some of the highway department signs will say Avalanchi) and Mukurthi Lakes (sanctuary) lie along the Kerala border. In fact, the famous Silent Valley is across the range in Kerala. A walk to Avalanche and Mukurthi Lakes is rated by National Geographic as one of the 400 great nature walks of the world. You can stay at Red Hills, a tea estate owned by Vijay and Bhanu (one link here at http://www.getoffurass.com/stay_red.htm). Reaching their estate during monsoon months is difficult. Thanks to Dr Satya Rao, we discovered Red Hills, great views of the Emerald Lakes from there. If you want to come back to Ooty the same day, leave early in the morning.

3. Vandi Solai, Belam Patty Village, Aalakarai Bypass, and Kodanadu are some great places to visit along the Kotagiri Road that takes you away from the main Coonoor-Ooty highway. These places are growing popular as getaways, so visit now before the crowd reaches there. The news is that the Mettupalayam-Coonoor-Ooty-Gudalur mountain road is going to be four-laned this year. That means the Kotagiri Road will be the main access from the southern plains to Ooty. Goodbye to the quiet road.

More later...