3 big decisions

I just talked with my girlfriend couple of days ago, and I came out with the idea of three big decisions that a man should take in his life. This three decisions are more than just a decisions, it is a decisions that could change a men life, well.. life is actually just a place where you make your decisions and choose the right one though. These three big decisions for men are:

• Choose the right university to continue your education.
• Choose the right job to start your career.
• Choose the right partner to spend your life with (wife).

Well, thats about it. To be honest, I havent found most of them yet and still searching, hoping that I will make the right decisions.

Open Office

Kemarin saya sempat berdikusi dengan teman di tempat kerjaan mengenai software office gratis di internet, Open Office. Open Office adalah software office multi-platform dan multi-bahasa yang dikembangkan dan diduking oleh SUN Microsystem dan tentunya dibawah bendera open source, yang memungkinkan kita dapat mendownloadnya secara gratis di internet.

Topik pembicaraan kita tidak lepas dengan pendapat teman saya bahwa open office adalah office suite yang paling bagus yang terdapat saat ini. Saya setuju2 saja dengan pendapat teman saya tersebut karena saya juga memakau Open Office sebagai Software Office pada Kotak Linux saya, namun saya masih mempunyai beberapa alasan mengapa menurut saya Open Office masih perlu pengembangan yang lebih mendalam dan serius untuk dapat menandingi Microsoft Office. Alasan tersebut sebagai berikut:

1. Open Office, mulai dikembangkan secara serius dan tersedia sekitar tahun 2000. Open Office merupakan lanjutan dari pengembangan Star Office di bawah bendera Open Source. Bandingkan dengan lama waktu yang telah Microsoft habiskan untuk mengembangkan Microsoft Officenya sejak dirilisnya Windows pertama kali.
2. Pengguna Open Office di seluruh dunia masih dalam taraf berkembang. Jadi tidak salah kalau pengguna Open Office masih kalah jauh jika dibandingkan dengan Microsoft Office. Hal ini secara tidak langsung berpengaruh langsung terhadap development atau pengembangan project itu sendiri.
3. Karena berjalan berdasarkan JAVA, terkadang untuk menangani project ber skala besar Open Office tidak berjalan secepat Microsoft Office. Dan waktu cold start yang dibutuhkan Open Office masih tergolong lambat (terutama pada Linux).

Namun, Open Office juga tidak kalah dengan Microsoft Office. Perlu kita perhatikan juga bahwa software Open Office merupakan software Open Source! Bandingkan dengan Microsoft Office 2003 Pro yang dijual dengan kisaran harga 100 dollar us. Sifat ekonomi pada manusia yang menginginkan segala sesuatunya dengan semurah-murahnya dengan hasil sebagus-bagusnya mungkin dapat mengeliminasi kekurangan kekurangan yang terdapat dalam Open Office.

You..

You dont have to be perfect to belong in this place.
You dont have to have all the answers or always know the right thing to say.
You can climb the highest mountain if you want or quitely imagine that you might someday.
You can take chances or take safety net, make miracles or make mistakes.
You dont have to be composed at all hours to be strong here.
You dont have to be bold or certain to be brave.
You dont have to have all the answers here or even know who you want to be.
My heart..

Surfnet Video Portal part 1.

For the last few days, i've been trying to install Surfnet Video Portal (Media Asset Management) on my Linux box. There are several steps that I have to do in order to install this Portal. First of all I have to install Apache Webserver then I have to install PHP Modules, proFTPD, and not forget mySQL database. Thats quite a few steps isnt it..? It probably gonna take me at least a full day at work to do it, thats why I decided not to install those bunch of stuff. Instead, I will just install XAMPP Apache Friends bundle.

XAMPP is an easy to install Apache distribution containing mySQL, PHP, PERL and also FTP Server, quite handy huh?? All you need is just to download the tar.gz package (for those of you who's using Linux) and ZIP/ .exe files (for those of you who's running on windows). With a few click.., a full operating web server and web development tools is installed on your computer. Just replace the content of the htdocs, and you ready to work.

This is a screenshot of XAMPP running on my Windows Machine.
With built in phpMyAdmin you can also maintain your database without have to go to mySQL control terminal.

Ok, now lets go back to my Video Portal Installation. The XAMPP which is called LAMPP on my Linux Box works seemlesly, it is perfect. I dont have to add any other binaries or additional modules to get it online.

Here's what I did:

1. I unpack the package that I downloaded from XAMPP website using tar xvzf command and put it on /opt/.. folder on my filesystem.
   tar xvfz xampp-linux-1.5.1.tar.gz -C /opt
2. Then, I called the apache to start it service right away from the terminal by command: /opt/lampp/lampp start
   

And the service is run!!, thats it.. I dont have to do anything else. But remember, XAMPP is designed foremost for the development only, thats why it doesnt have a security configuration yet. Here are some lists of that "flaw" in the security options:

• The mySQL administrator (root) has no passwordm
• MySQL daemon is accessible via network
• ProFTPD uses the password "lampp" for user "nobody"
• PhpMyAdmin is accessible via network
• MySQL and Apache is running under the same user (nobody).

But, dont worry.. to fix this security weaknesses, just call:

/opt/lampp/lampp security

And it will start a small security check up where you will be asked for a password for those stuff.

Blu-Ray Vs. HD-DVD

A Few weeks ago, I just had a presentation about Blu-Ray vs. HD-Dvd for the business communication class. Actually, we can choose any topic as long as it has something to do with our major which is IT, but after a few research and googling for a while, I chose this topic. I found it very interesting how a new technology (eventhough it's rather difficult to explain the terms of "new" in IT), which I believe could be a significant invention in human life after the cd itself is being supported by a two different type of vendors or should I say two different "purpose".

Lets start with the Blu-Ray Disc.
Blu-Ray disc was invented a few years after the discovery of DVD as an answer to the market for a much higher storage capacity disc. It can hold up to 27 Gb data, for a single layer and for the dual layer... you do the math. The technology behind Blu-Ray Disc is the usage of blue violet laser (well..at least we know where the name came from), instead of red laser to store the data. Blue violet laser has a shorter wavelength (around 405nm) than red laser (650nm). By using the shorter wavelength, the laser can be focused more on a disc surface thus it can store mode data than the conventional red laser.

Blu-Ray is approved and promoted by the Blu-Ray Disc Association namely BDA, which is has more than 100 members around the world, (i.e. Dell, Apple, Sony, Samsung, Electronic Arts, 20th Century Fox (yes.. they have a quite role in here), etc).


And now, the time for HD-DVD.
HD-DVD or High Definition DVD is is a digital optical media format which is being developed as one standard for high-definition DVD (wiki.org)
HD-DVD has the same technology as Blu Ray disc, they also uses a blue violet laser to store the data on a disc. But the difference is it uses the same basic format as the traditional dvd, therefore can be manufacture with the same equipment, saving on costs (which also become their advantages). The downpoint is, it cant match the storage capability of Blu-Ray disc. A single layer of HD-DVD can hold "only" up to 15 Gb of digital content, but still.. it is 3 times of the conventional DVD, i can still work on that! =). HD-DVD is promoted by the DVD Forum which currently counts 63 companies as a member, (i.e. Toshiba, Sanyo, NEC, Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, New Line Cinema and the Warner Bros Studios).

If we take a look at the supporting companies from both of these technologies, we can take a few red lines:

1. Blu-Ray appears to have more edge than the competitors because of the supports from the electronical giants like Sony, Dell, Apple etc.
2. But not forget, the key for acceptance to the society is the content. HD-DVD are being supports by more than 40 percent of the Hollywood's movies.
3. So, for now.. I think we can say that we will end up with both of them in the near future =).