Hi all,

Due to various reasons this site is moving to its new home. All the posts here with comments are being imported will be available here from now on:

http://www.worldofexception.co.cc/

There won’t be any further updates in this site and in short time the original posts may be deleted.

All further updates will happen at http://www.worldofexception.co.cc/

 Only!!!

Thank you for visiting. See you at the new home. Have a good day!!!

Regards,

Admin

Have a look at silverlight put into use for mapping technologies. This one is cool. The images loads pretty fast!!! Check it out…

http://deepzoom.soulclients.com/VE/

Finally my dream of publishing a project in codeplex has come true. The idea came from my current project where we have to manage 150+ TFS groups. These groups had to be added to subgroups and the default group management in team explorer was very difficult to work with. Choosing a group individually and adding it was a tedious work. On top of that the group window refreshed every time we added/deleted a group.

This tool makes the process of creation, deletion and grouping TFS groups a breeze. Using this we have reduced the effort up to 95%. The client wanted to know how we managed these groups easily. That’s when I decided to publish it in codeplex. This will also be recommended to Encore.

This is a basic version and will built on it to improve user experience. Feel free to have a look at the tool at:

http://www.codeplex.com/TFSGroupsTool

Hi all,

Last weekend at home I did some analysis on investment plan. In you plan well now itself, you can be a crorepati by the time you retire. Banks previously had such a plan which they discontinued due to floating interest rates. Since this is beneficial to everyone, I thought of sharing it with you. (For International readers if any: The post is in INR. Please plan according to your currency). If you feel you don’t want to save/ not interested in investment/ blah blah blah… feel free to move on. Others please read on:

 Please refer attachment at the end of the post:

The plan is very simple; every month deposit a part of your salary in a recurring  deposit account (RD). Let’s say every month you are ready to save Rs.1000. At the end of 7 years you will be Rs.1,21,567. Round it off to the bottom about and start a fixed deposit (FD) for Rs.120,000. You will be getting Rs.1000 per month (PM) from this FD. Now start another RD account (since the previous one has matured after 7 years). So from now on you will be depositing Rs.2000 in the new RD account. This way by the time you retire you will have a FD account of Rs.75,60,000 (75 lacs) and drawing a monthly interest of Rs.63,000.

Rs.1000 is a very low amount that we save. Easily we can save Rs.4000. But  make sure you start two separate account of Rs.2000 so that in case of emergency you can close one of them. If you deposit Rs.4000 you will be having an FD account of Rs.3,02,40,000 (3 Crores) and a monthly interest of Rs.2,52,000!

I have done all the possible permutation and combination to arrive at the right amount. After 7 years our salary is going to be at least twice what we are earning now. But anyway I have taken the least amount (4000) and also rounded it off to the lower value for FD. Also, the bank interest rate is 10.50% pa, but I have taken it as 10% only. Feel free to tweak it and make use of the link provided below to calculate amount at maturity. My actual plan is something different which increments Rs.2000 after the 7^th year and it comes to 5 Crores (You can tweak this plan easily, see the second sheet of attachment).

Misc Information:

• Bank interest rate may change in future. It may increase/decrease. To be on the safer side, start an account for a longer term with higher interest rate.
• ICICI bank interest rates are low (as usual). Its just 9.50% wheras other bank gives 10-11%
• If your parents are bank employees, you get higher interest rates if it’s a joint account
• The sooner you start, the better. If you keep postponing, the lesser benefits you will reap in the end.

You may think that what the use of having 3 crore by 60 years? Well, you will have rich children, you don’t have to be dependant, buy a BMW , or do anything you want. After all its your money.

Finally, thanks to my father coz if not for him, I could have never known of such ways for a safe future!(of course you would have already guessed that I could have never come with such a thing ). I will be putting up the same in my blog also. In case of any doubts regarding the attachment, feel free to comment

Tools:

Federal bank RD calculator here http://www.federalbank.co.in/Calculators/RecuringDepositPlanCalc.aspx

Attachment:

Note: Rename .doc to .xls to open

Rd-Fd Investment Plan

I was casually browsing though Indian School of Business (ISB) site to checkout its admission procedures and other stuff. Out of curiosity, I wanted to see its position compared to other B-Schools. I had heard that ISB is one of the best in world. And it was there, at Rank 20 in Financial times top 100 global MBA schools.

Some of the data out there caught my attention. University of Pennsylvania: Wharton is at Rank 1, Stanford University GSB at Rank 4 and Harvard Business School is at Rank 5. The weighted salary of the three schools in dollars were 165,859, 167,225 and 162,316 respectively. Wheras the weighted salary of ISB is 169,355; the highest in top 100 MBA schools. The employment % is at 93,94 and 94 respectively whereas in ISB its 100%. Interesting I should say.

Well as you all know, Google Chrome is the new browser from Google that’s once again again heating up the internet browser space. The opensource browser is launching tomorrow in over 100 countries. I am not here to explain about the features of the browser since you can read about it in official google blog here. What I am here to tell you is about how Google still loves messing with Microsoft.

So whats the secret of the name I was talking about? The name “Chrome” is no coincidence. Chrome apparently was a highly anticipated multimedia technology project from Microsoft which was killed days before shipping. The project became a victim of reorganisation at Microsoft. You can read more about its demise here. 

Is this a message to Microsoft? “If you cant do it, we will”.

Infosys Technologies LTD has offered to buy UK based SAP consulting company Axon Global for £407.1m ($750 million or INR 33.1 billion). This was a special news for all the Infosys employees including me that the deal is almost at the verge of being success. If you are not aware, nearly 1/4th of Infosys revenue comes form its unit called Enterprise Solutions which specializes in enterprise tools like SAP, Siebel, Oracle, Tibco etc.

Infosys has always been trying to spread its operations in UK and this would definitely a major breakthrough. Today morning I proudly watched our CEO, Mr. Kris Gopalakrishnan talk about the details of the deal on CNBC today morning 10:10am. Infosys stocks were trading 10 points down as soon as the markets opened (overall BSE sensex is down) because the investors were not confident about the deal. Infosys profit margins are 30-31% whereas Axon’s profit margin is just about 14-15%.

As soon as Kris clarified certain details of the deal, market sentiments turned the other way and by 10:20 Infosys stock was trading 20 points up. The confidence with which he talks is simply amazing. I could see the same confidence in him with which the company was started 27 years ago with just 7 employees and INR 10000.

Here are some interesting things to note about the deal:

• Infy buy is largest outbound acquisition by Indian IT company
• Infosys targets to touch $5 billion mark in profit this year. Axon’s revenue is $ 1.6 billion and considering this, we need to wait for a new guidance from Infosys once the deal is trough. (And don’t be alarmed if the new guidance is $6 billion )
• According to Economic Times Mr.Nandan and Mr.Murthy played a significant role in this deal. Whether they are involved or not, good work Infy team!!!
• Axon’s share rose a whopping 20% in London stock exchange as soon as the acquisition news was released.
• 20% increase is the highest for Axon ever since year 2000.
• Axon’s revenue also increased considerably this quarter due to increase in sales from speculation of a take over from Infy.
• The entire amount of the deal is paid entirely in CASH!!!

Axon board has asked its share holders to vote in favor of the deal. The only reason why this deal wouldn’t happen as of now is a counter offer from other companies like TCS, Wipro etc to Axon. Considering the current market situation and the decline in revenue of other IT majors, I doubt whether any other IT company would be able to beat Infy’s offer of $750 million.

There are much more details that floats inside the Infosys network. But those details cannot be published here. So just wait until the deal goes through. Proud to be an Infosion!!!

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
=+ Another story from me. Please post in your comments if you liked it. Read on… =+
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

I looked at my watch once again. It’s been 25 minutes and she’s late again… as usual. The best friend whom I had known for over 15 years now. We played together as kids, went to the same school and even the same college. I never had to search for a new friend my whole lifetime. Human heart is so weak for I don’t remember when I started having feeling for her. But she never saw me that way and I didn’t have the courage to speak my heart out. If there is anything that I have hidden from her, then it is the fact that I have fallen in love with her. This is the last time I would be seeing her for atleast the next few years. Tomorrow she’s going to US for MS and I would be doing my MBA here. I am adamant of not going to see her off at the airport tomorrow because I am afraid that I could breakdown in front of her. That’s why we fixed a meeting at the railway station. I am still confused whether I should tell her that I love her before she leaves the country. Will that bring an end to our friendship?
Another local train has arrived. I got up from the bench and did a quick scan for her in the crowd. “Looking for someone?” a soft voice said from behind. I turned around and it was her; I just smiled. We sat down at the bench and looked into each other’s eyes. She was looking more beautiful than usual. When someone is always with you, you never realise the importance of that person. You only realise it only when he/she goes away from your life. “Why are you so quiet?” she said slowly touching my shoulders. “Don’t go” I said. She kept quiet. I know that even she doesn’t want me to leave me and go. If it hurts for me, it would hurt for her too. But the difference is it hurts for her because I am her best friend, not because she loves me. “I am sorry” I continued “That was a stupid thing to say. I know you have to leave tomorrow”. “You have anything to say to me?” she asked lifting her head looking straight into my eye. Sometimes that soft voice and the innocent look makes me blurt out the truth. But I need to restrain myself from any such step for I could lose her forever. All I could reply was “Come back soon”. “Anything else?” she asked again. “No” I replied still half minded to tell her how much I love her. She left out a deep sigh and fell silent again. Did she want me to say anything else?
I didn’t realise it then, but its been 5 minutes and we hadn’t uttered another word. Another local train arrived at the station; its horn cutting though the silence. “I should be going now, there is lot left to pack” she got up suddenly and hurriedly walked towards the train. It took me a few seconds the regain composure. As she rushed to catch the train, hundreds of thoughts flickered through my mind. 15 years of friendship and this is how you depart?  Leave alone a hug, not even a good bye? Has she completely forgotten my feeling in the dreams of US life? Not even a single tear? When did she become so stone cold? All she is worried about is her bloody packing.
The train blew another horn as a signal to depart as she entered the train. She slowly turned and looked at where I was sitting as the train started moving. That’s when I saw her eyes; it was as red as coal, wet from the tears streaming down her smooth cheeks. From her eyes I could read it; she loves me. Damn you idiot, why didn’t you propose her? I don’t know much about reflex action, but before I knew I was running hard to get into the train which was now picking up speed. To this day I don’t know why I ran behind the train; after all I could have called her on her mobile. Maybe I wanted to be physically present during the most romantic moment of my life. A policeman blew his whistle seeing me trying to get into the speeding train. But I could hear or see nothing. All I could see was her looking at me in amazement from the footboard of the train.
The last bogie of the train would pass me any moment and so would my last chance to get into the train. I have jumped into speeding train during all my four years of college, but into a train moving this pace was something never attempted before. But this was no time to equate speed and velocity as I jumped and grabbed the handle bar… or so I thought. I had seen in Discovery channel how you don’t remember some event because your brain fails to register something that happened so quickly. I got up from where I had fell, unhurt and wondering how the hell I got here. But then I noticed the train was slowing down and then came to a complete stop at a distance. Maybe it didn’t have the signal. Tears of happiness streaked down as I was sure she would get down the train. I climbed on the platform and ran hurriedly towards the train. This is very romantic I thought; typical bollywood movie where the Shahrukh khan and Kajol running towards each other at the railway station in the climax. Coming back to reality, all I could say was “What the hell?”. It wasn’t her alone who was running towards me, there was a whole crowd of passengers rushing to where I stood and between them I spotted her; completely pale like she is in some kind of shock. That’s when I looked behind and noticed a crowd at the platform gathered a few meters behind and looking down at the tracks. Oh my god… the train has hit someone and that’s why the train has stopped; so the whistle of policeman was not for me after all. I didn’t dare to look at the tracks coz the sight of blood makes me puke. I ran towards her panting and said “I love you”. But she didn’t respond and kept walking with the crowd. “You idiot!” I said to myself. I was so ashamed; some guy has just died and she is definitely terrified by the whole thing. Since she was watching me when I was running with the train, probably she had also seen the guy get hit. You have ruined the best moment of your life, a voice told me from inside. If only I had told her this after she had recovered from the shock. The way she reacted when I proposed, I felt she was too disturbed that she even heard it.
Anyway I jogged back and walked silently near her as she walked to the spot of accident. I was thinking whether to put an arm around her but decided to leave her alone. Just in case she did hear me propose, it’s better not to say another word or touch her until she speaks first. She made her way through the crowd and I quietly followed behind. Ehw… is she really planning to see the dead body? When did she become so brave? I could smell fresh blood and I didn’t dare to lean & look down. She slowly advanced forward to the verge of the platform and held the shoulders of a lady who was also looking at the body. Well, she caught a strangers hand and not mine. This meant she did hear me propose and the answer was definitely a big NO. I bit my lips with broken heart as I watched her slowly lean over the platform. Suddenly she fell backward on her knees and started brawling like a kid. She hanged on to the saree of the stranger and the lady tried to console her. I wanted to help her back on the knees, but she was already receiving too much attention from strangers around her trying to do the same thing. They helped her on the feet and helped her on the bench. I silently went and sat beside her. A lady gave her water and kept rubbing her back. I knew she was a good girl at heart, but so much emotion was quite embarrassing. I mean it’s ok to cry so much if a family member had died, but this was uncalled for. I should have stopped her from having a look at the accident, after all what did she except to see; a circus? She was still crying in the arms of the lady and still in a state of shock. People were still gathered around him and I could hear murmurs of how stupid it was for him to try and catch a running train. I then realised that it could have easily been me. I thanked god for keeping me alive, but felt bad for the guy who wasn’t as lucky as me. Should I go and see it for myself? Maybe I should, otherwise I would never know how she feels at this time. I got up from the bench and slowly walked forward mentally preparing myself for the gross sight. I blinked my eyes, clenched my fist hard and let out a heavy sigh as I prepared for the first look. Slowly I leaned forward and looked down. My world was turned upside down as I saw the motionless body. There I saw the face of the guy, there I saw myself…dead!

Ok, here comes a post from me thats completely out of topic. Check out http://teach.timesofindia.com/ and if possible spread a word. I know what I am doing is only a drop in the ocean, but my current schedule and location prevents me from doing anything more. So looking forward to some of you readers to take it forward.

I am here at IISC, Bangalore for the Great Indian Developer Summit at Bangalore. I will be attending .net tracks on 19th-20th and Web track on 21st May. But alas, I have missed 19th track due to a project meeting. WIll have to go thourgh the DVD given out at the end of 3rd day to see the sessions that happened yesterday.

Anyway, currently I am in the main hall attending the track- “Increasing Developer Prodcutivity” by Erik Doernenburg. For more details log on to http://www.developersummit.com.