darkmOOn

Peanuts

2011-11-19T21:01:00.005+05:00

Just saw this http://iulaan.mv/v2/?page=view&id=16192 from my twitter feed.

NCIT is looking for an OSS consultant or people with the experience. Great move, which I fully support but the pay is like 12k to 15k. What shocks me is the long list of requirements they have put up. You need to be a consultant, developer, a project manager, a trainer and a sys admin. This is a bloody joke.

Seriously how does our government expect to get good people to get things done by paying peanuts? Even the basic rent of an apartment in Male' is 15k.

This is like the initial stages where you need to build a good foundation. The key to the success of such projects is good people. Moving to open source is something that will benefit everyone and I guess should be given high priority. We need people with experience to come in and contribute to these projects. To attract that you can't just offer a 1000 USD! Its lame! F* stupid!

ICT needs to be given more priority in this Maldives; this is almost 2012 and the Maldivian government is still operating in the stone ages when it comes to technology.

A good start will be to replace the leadership of NCIT and the communication ministry! Get proper people in there! The government already got good talent and great people. Someone needs to identify these people and given them the authority to get things done!

Just cos someone carries an iPad around does not mean he is the right person to be given such a responsibility. Honestly whatever said here, I don't have much hopes that there will be any future for IT professionals in Maldives. There is great potential for a new industry too , but again this will never happen! Our leaders don't have such visions and its never possible!

printf(“Goodbye world \n”);

2011-10-13T18:39:00.002+05:00

More bad news today. Dennis Ritchie, the inventor and founder of ”C” language is reported dead. Dennis Ritchie is also part of the team who created the UNIX Operating System.

October!

Dennis Ritchie will always be remembered and thank you for your contributions to the computing world. May your soul rest in peace!

Goodbye, Steve Jobs

2011-10-06T13:01:00.002+05:00

Its a sad day. I woke up this morning and the first news I got on my iPhone was the passing away of Steve Jobs.

RIP Steve Jobs. You will be missed and always remembered. We all know that death is inevitable but what makes a difference is how we live our lives and what we contribute back to the world. That is how we will be remembered and that's what makes a difference.

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

-Steve Jobs [1955-2011]

The NEXT Level?

2010-12-12T08:16:00.002+05:00

It would really be cool if Maldives has one or two centralized data center that services the whole government. This can possibly be established under the current NCIT or it can be privatized?

We already have a good (reasonable) data network established nation wide. This is one of the biggest challenges moving to such a model in other nations. All most all ministries are located in Male' and this makes things so much easy for such an establishment. If we can improve on our administration via utilization of technology, we can provide better services to our citizens. We can cut down on spending, better transparency in governance, etc. Often we ignore all these factors, or we fear the change. Such a model sometimes is a threat to the people in power as they fear loosing control and reduction on corruption.

Often we send so much and replicate the resources. Example so much money might have been spend on establishing services like mobile banking by MMA and e-goverance by NCIT. All these can be established under one roof, instead of having individual data centers. I am sure we have enough computing power (existing) to cater to our needs in governance. We have so many trained IT guys who are just wasted. We can bring all of them under one organization and cater to the government. This is simple logic and we don't need the technical knowhow to figure this out. If we get rid of the hypocrisy and be logical a lot of these things can improve.

We don't need to spend millions to develop software from 3rd party vendors when we have spend on training people to write them. If they can't do it; I guess the government needs to rethink and stop spending anymore money on human resources. Parents need to stop spending money in educating their children in IT. If this argument that Maldivians can't handle such jobs today. I seriously feel we have a major problem. Why are are guys asking for pay raise when they don't work or just act as store keepers.

Just talking about such changes won't do us any good. Having 100's of meetings in air conditioned rooms, talking in formal languages , taking minutes of the meetings and emailing to all does not solve any of our issues. Some people need to step in and do this or take the initiative. Those people are the elected leaders and people who are getting paid with public money. I don't understand why we can't provide better services to our people when we are a population of just 300,000 people and 10% of our population is in the civil service. We seriously have issues and they won't be fixed on their own. We are almost at 2011 and just concentrating on environment and building flats is not good enough. That won't sustain us, we need better plans and people need to contribute and start acting. We need to find alternative revenue sources, we need to start facing realities of todays world. Just depending on tourism will not be enough when this wealth is only distributed and enjoyed among only a few people. Our leaders need to start thinking and planing beyond just 5 years and our oppositions need to grow up and be more responsible. Now we just fight over power and who gets to rule. This is bringing us all down and we will soon be in great disaster.

The recent political fights are so stupid and we should really consider the motives behind our politicians. I don't see any future in Maldives at this rate and I don't feel it will hold any future for my children. At this rate I feel anyone who has the capability to run away and settle down else where will do so. Its proven that mostly the politicians are just focused on staying in power or getting back to power and just making money. Maybe there are a few who are really concerned and genuine but not the majority. If this goes on like this may god help us. We are doomed.

I guess everyone is a politician today and no one is willing to do the dirty work of fixing things. Everyone wants to give speeches and host press conferences and point at each other. Shame on these people and shame on the people who hit the streets behind these people. What we need now is solutions not more problems.

Off to the cloud

2010-12-11T08:29:00.002+05:00

You don't need to own your own infrastructures to support your IT needs. You don't need to take the headache of maintaining your infrastructure. You don't need to spend on capital expenditure. You don't need to be worried about your operational costs for your data centers and IT staff. Think about power failures and backups. Its as easy as getting any other utility service. Electricity or Water. Just get it connected and pay as you use. That is the future of computing.

Today in Maldives too we spend so much on IT. Buying expensive servers, firewalls, routers, etc. Changing PC's every other year. This is a big business. The finance guy takes a cut, the IT guy takes a cut, the vendors make millions. Its good business. This applies to many nations not just Maldives. The IT managers loves to collect servers and other toys to play with. Not even 5% of the servers in Maldives will utilize even 20% of the CPU. This is all normal. This is very common in the government too. Every ministry has its own data center / server room. Its own IT people, etc. We replicate the same data in multiple ministries. We just take quotes from the hardware vendors and let them dictate our infrastructures. Its again all good business. Everyone is happy this way?. Yet we have send millions (of USD) on e-government project mainly the network. Which we use to access a Microsoft SharePoint server. Which is again good. Took us a few years to get this up and running, but it's there. We should be happy. Again 2011 we'd spend a few millions on IT hardware. A few of the MDP members are hardware vendors; need to keep them happy. Some of the DRP members too, they would shout , need to keep them happy too. This is business as usual.

If someone would propose a solution, you can always say IT guys are lazy they just talk and we move on with business as usual. Things like moving to open source is bad, cos there is no vendor behind it who will charge millions. We need someone to be accountable. Even if there is open source service providers they don't charge as much as Oracle and Microsoft. So that is important. Anyway we don't need all that, all we do is word process, facebook and maybe do some spreadsheets. We have enough civil service staff so we don't need automation. That will leave a lot of employees with no work at all. Of course we should talk BIG about plans for IT and automation from cabinet meetings to press releases. That is part of the show.

We will spend a few millions training our people in IT. They will come and install Windows and clean virus for us. That is a hard job. Research and Development is just for the west, we are Maldivians. We only worry about the environment and our beaches. So yes, we live in the cloud. We are happy people. Why should we worry about cost cutting and things like centralized data centers, etc. We have better stuff to worry about like the drama that goes in the Majlis and the "bandaru/falhu konun" projects for islands with 200 people. So many other important things. I hope that explains it all for those who complain on the topic. We can say and write a lot more but would be a waste of time; already is by posting this.

Apps Apps Apps

2010-09-07T11:36:00.003+05:00

Last few month at work we have been working really hard to get some of the projects completed. We have been able to release two small projects out so far, both of which were listed on Apple app stores "New & Noteworthy" list. The next batch of apps are almost completed now. Above screenshots are from one of them. Can't tell much about the project now, but it's a useful tool and an exciting project.

Been working on a few more ideas, which I hope to start work soon on. Working for a start up is always challenging and demanding. I don't think many people are good at handling the pressures of working for startups. It always sounds exciting (and is too) but from experience I can tell it's not easy.

From coming up with an idea, developing the concept and getting that converted into an app is no easy job. There are thousands of competitors out there and you need to ensure that yours gets the needed attention. That's a huge challenge.

I guess the success factors are a creative, hard working team and staying focused. Obviously the financial factors is one of the most important part of a startup, but that can also be the most stressful thing too. While ensuring the ROI's and keeping a team of developers happy and motivated; that again is not an easy job.

Thaana OCR Development

2010-08-28T11:08:00.012+05:00

The engine used is tesseract OCR.

After a few hours of training the engine the following image was passed to be processed.

The result is :

ށްރަވަ ލަސައްމަ އެ ންމުބުލި ންސަޓިމެ ށްނަސަމިކޮ އެ ނީބު ންނުޝްމިކޮ އެ
ދިއ .ށެވެމަކަ ވީރުދޮ ށްނަންހުލުފު ށްމަރުކު ގުއީހުތަ ލަސައްމަ އެ އިލަބަ ށްޅަނގުރަ
ށްމަކަ ނެވާއިފަދީ ންލުއ ންގެދިއެ ންހުލުފު ތުމާނޫއަމަ ރުތުއި ޅޭގު އާލަސައްމަ އެ
.ވެއެ ނެބު ންނުޝްމިކޮ އެ ސްވެ

As you can see it's not even close to be perfect. The next stage is to do a more systematic training so that the accuracy levels will improve.

The idea is to improve on the training and develop a small tool that help do Thaana OCR which will be available for FREE and as an open source project. Tesseract presently does not even support RTL languages and that is also something that needs to be handled.

Update:

I tried another OCR test and below is the results. This time it shows clear improvements (can conclude it's 40% accurate?). This was after including 2 more training files.The processed result is below:

ގެތުލަދައް ނީދުވަންގެ ންމުވަޅުދާވި ންރުބަމްމެ ޅުކޮދިއި ގެހުލީޖިމަ ކުމަކަ
ނެހޭޖު ންދަހޯ ންހުރު ގެހުލީޖިމަ ރުއި ނަގާ އްޓަންރަދަ ތަނުވަ ނެއްހޯ ށްކަޓަންފުލް
ންނޫ އްމެކަ ތްއޮ ންރަކު ންކުޓަންފުއްކު މެންކޮމެންކޮ ކީމަތުއޮ ނަންއޮ ށްމަ
.ށެވެމަކަ އްމެކަ ހޭންޖެރަކު ރުއިނަގާ ނުހޯ ށްކަމަރިފުންކު ގެތުލަދައް އީއެ ށާއިމަ

Note: Look at the text in reverse order.

If any of you want to try out here is the traineddata file.

If you are on Ubuntu try apt-get install tesseract-ocr now copy the downloaded div.traineddata to /usr/local/share/tessdata/

To test maybe you can download the images (thaana news) from this post or haveeru.com.mv (take a block of text) and do a

tesseract example.tif outputfilename -l div

once done, do a cat outputfilename.txt that should show you are processed text.

The training files used and training data is here

Thaana on Android 2.2

2010-08-17T21:28:00.007+05:00

I have not tested this on a real Android phone, so I am not sure if this will 100% work. Anyway give it a try and let me know.

First you need to root your android. (I never done it but here is a link which might help)

Next download these two font files

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10228732/DroidSans.ttf

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10228732/DroidSerif-Regular.ttf

Next you need to have Android SDK installed on your box.

Connect your phone to the box .

Push the Thaana fonts to /system/fonts using adb

adb remount

adb push {full path to DroidSans.ttf} /system/fonts

adb push {full path to DroidSerif-Regular.ttf} /system/fonts

* (in my case it's like adb push /Users/sofwathullahmohamed/Desktop/DroidSerif-Regular.ttf /system/fonts)

finally do a

adb shell reboot

I guess that should do it. If all went ok; I guess you should be able to browse thaana websites (unicode; don't think www.haveeru.com.mv will work). I've tested this on the Android simulator and works fine on Android 2.2.

Update (19, Aug 2010): Started work on a Thaana keyboard for Android

When I started off this I realized it might not be a good idea to directly convert from the QWERTY keyboard layout (conventional keyboard) to Thaana soft keyboard for mobile devices. The user experience might /will not be very good. We need to do some research into the best keyboard layout method to be used on mobile devices. This is important as soon more people will be using mobile devices (like phones and other mobile computing devices) for daily work and entertainment. This is something that needs to be debated and agreed on before any layout is implemented. HELP is NEEDED here.

iDhivehiSites for iPhone (FREE)

2010-08-12T11:00:00.004+05:00

The project is now made Open Source and can be downloaded from http://github.com/jinahadam/iDhivehiSites- and the facebook page is here

We won't get much time to improve on the features, so we hope developers who are interested will contribute. Jinah has implemented twitter share and made changes to the UI, so it looks simpler. We had a problem with the font rendering for www.haveeru.com.mv which also is fixed now (but we do hope haveeru will soon move to unicode).

The Busy Bee

2010-07-28T20:34:00.008+05:00

Busy Bee is one of the iPhone app ideas that started off simple. While working on a few other project ideas this got to be a spinn off and became an app of it's own.

What we tried to achieve was simple yet was/is not available for the iPhones. The idea was like most other phones (Nokia, etc) when you get a missed call / reject call, automatically compose a message (text/sms) to the caller from a template of messages. This becomes very useful when you are busy at a meeting or while driving, etc. This is not new and widely used.

Now one might think it must be easy. Yes it sounds simple, but when you have to work with iPhones (not jailbroken) you obviously don't get much freedom outside the boundaries set by Apple. That is one of the challenges about iPhone development.

We saw some limitations and a "gray" area where we decided to take a chance. The biggest problem we had was even thought the Core Telephony framework was introduced, it never gave you a way to get the caller ID of the incoming calls. This created a major problem as we can't automatically put the number after composing a SMS (the new SDK did allow you to compose a SMS though you can't send them out automatically). So the solution we thought of was to take a risk with an private API "UIGetScreenImage()". What we did was while the app is running in the foreground if an incoming calls comes we capture the screen and process the image and do an OCR to capture the number (MSISDN) of the caller. This included looking into the Address book if the caller is already listed. This solved the problem of call id, next we implemented a white list and a black list option for the user along with options to customize templates. This did the trick. This was not the right way to get things done, but we had no other option to solve the problem.

The risk was in late 2009, Apple announced it would begin to allow iOS apps to use the private API however it did also say "A future release of iPhone OS may provide a public API equivalent of this functionality". This proved to be the case when we submitted the application, we got rejected. This was expected. We took our chances.

Since we had done some work on the App I did not feel like giving up. It was a small project but I always enjoyed this kind of tools and it was a fun project. So we decided to take off the features and put up a basic version with a new UI. The new app will still get you a composed text message when you are on busy mode, but you had to manually fill in /select the number. You also could use the app as a SMS templates application as the iPhone does not come with any SMS templates features. This becomes useful when you want to send out standard SMS messages and if you are busy/lazy. Example "Almost reaching, come down in 5 mins", etc.

As of today it's still pending approval as Apple usually takes around a week or two to process. Below are some screenshots of the new app. This is one of those fun apps and I thought I'd share the experience with other developers.

Update:

The app is approved and in App Store.

We also were listed on "New & Noteworthy" Apps in App Store.

iDhivehiSites for iPhone

2010-07-26T07:31:00.010+05:00

Update:

New update on app store with additional fonts.

Bug:

Haveeru.com.mv is having issues of font rendering. We have already fixed this with a UI change. Update will be submitted to app store approval today.

---------

App now supports Bookmarking users favorite sites.

Link to iPad version of iDhivehiSites (itunes)

App revamping done by @jinahadam

Update: App now in app store. App store link

Will be adding more fonts and making an update.

Waaaaatz up?

2010-07-24T09:56:00.004+05:00

No posts for long, so thought I'd post something to keep the blog active.

First question. Waaaaatz up? Nothing much is the answer. Been busy with work and a bit of studies. It's been really busy few months trying to get another startup kicked off. This time it's all about mobile applications. Best part about the job is the team and the freedom to bring your ideas into a reality.

I feel there is an exciting future for mobile apps. It's an exciting field to play in and challenging too. You constantly have to work to keep up with ideas and technology. Best of all you get to be part of exciting stuff/time. Working with a team of talented developers/designers is really fun but at the same time a lot of pressure. You need to ensure the right products are delivered and you manage to get them out by the set time lines. I am struggling on that now. We started off with a few big ideas that needed research and time to develop. Things have started to come to life now and I am excited as I see them come alive.

Simple ideas that involve getting data from users and storing them on to a DB with a fancy web page does not excite me anymore. There is a lot of fun apps and exciting productivity / utility apps/tools that you can work on. Thats what we are working on now.

Developing apps for iPhone/iPad is really a challenge. There is the limitations setup by Apple vs. the ideas you have. You need to ensure that your ideas get implemented within the boundaries and developer guidelines set by Apple. However I think the iOS is the way to go considering the apps market factor (for now). We are also exploring into the Androids, which is I guess more appealing for developers cos of the freedom they get. I think for any mobile apps company like us, we need to keep up with all the environments and cater to the demands. It's not good to limit to just iOS, Android or Windows Phones.

I've always enjoyed working on localized (thaana/dhivehi) apps. Published an iPad Dhivehi News reader a month or two back. Initially the work was done for my dad while he was visiting me and he got a new iPad. Later with some minor changes I published it. It's a very simple app the idea that is to help people view Thaana on websites. So far I had around 250 + downloads of the app. I have no idea who they are, but I think not all will be Maldivians as the app is FREE. I did work on an iPhone version too but did not publish it as it needed some polishing. Together with a colleague of mine from work we plan to publish the iPhone version. This will be more an experiment, I wanna have an idea of the iPhone app usage in the Maldives. A news reader might be something that might attract most of the users so it will be easy to estimate the figures. One problem with having an app for FREE is that anyone might download it (not just Maldivians). So this time will not make it FREE.

As for the Maldivian market, it's not worth developing mobile applications targeted to Maldives. The market is too small. Example if you position your app around $ 1.99 with 500 downloads you would only make $ 995 of which you'd only make $ 696.5. This only applies if you develop applications specific to the Maldivian market, but it's always good to know the numbers and have an idea on the market. If anyone is thinking of developing an app specific to the Maldivian market I guess they won't have much choice but to price it a bit higher or just do it for FREE for the fun of it. Anyway I hope we see more apps coming out of Maldivian developers. I feel it's time we explored outside the web apps also start thinking global. Think of ideas that will appeal to the mass market and get them rolled out. My guess is when Windows Phones come out we'd see a few developers publishing apps as we have a lot of good/talented Windows developers in the Maldives.

One of the other ideas that I have is to get an open source OCR tool published for the Dhivehi Langauge. We have been working on a similar project and once we are done with it, I think it would be easy for us to publish/port a Dhivehi/Thaana OCR framework. Already I've seen some demos of Thaana OCR Windows application on the Web. I guess these will be commercial tools though. This might take us a few more months to publish, once we do I guess it can be taken up by the community and improved on.

The Mobile Phone Market

2010-02-17T15:10:00.003+05:00

Blogs have evolved. Today the new trend is micro blogging (example twitter). More people blog today than ever, but the platform have changed/evolved. Same thing has/is happening to mobile computing. We are at the dawn of a major evolution on mobile computing.

Smart phones today are no longer a luxury item (remember those days when people did anything to own an O2 XDA atom?. Though the only they did was playing solitaire ) but a necessity toady. No need to talk about the advantages of smart phones here. One can google for it and you'd find thousands of pages.

Recently the iPhones have been a huge success on the smart phone arena followed by Android based phones. Commercially speaking Apple and iPhone application developers have made millions out of this market in less than two years. Personally I like the Androids more, it's a more open and promising platform compared to the iPhones however if you are in the mobile application business I guess iPhones is the right choice (for now). The new Windows Phone 7 Series is looking very promising too. Maybe the success of WP7S will be a market place like Apples (though some may disagree with me). I am in no way talking about how good the platform is or which is superior , etc. My focus here is on the revenues which will be generated out of these platforms. Gartner, the research firm, predicts that spending on handset apps will hit $6.2 billion this year. With this kind of figures you can see a lot of developers venturing into this market.

The success of Windows OS on the desktop has always been the availability of the applications, I feel the same will apply to the mobile computing market too. It all depends on providing the best development tools / options and a good commercial model. I don't think the handset vendors will matter anymore in the near future. Just like the PC markets. If you have a DELL, HP, Acer or Lenovo it does not matter much to the functionality. We all have our own preferences though. Apple have always been “Thinking Different”. Owning an Apple MacBook and a Notebook is different, the “feel” is different. The same may apply to the mobiles. You can run Linux or Windows on your notebook/Desktop (commonly) or you can have a Apple running Mac OS X. Following the path, you might have your HTC, Samsung or Motorola or others running Android or WP7S or your Apple iPhone. This is how I see it now, I am not very sure where Nokia is heading but I would like to think if they are to keep the strong hold in this market they too soon will need to follow the trend (which already has started to happen).

In the Maldives, most people don't understand this market mainly because they have been so used to the pirated software that they fail to understand the value of software. Software is taken for granted, no one is willing to pay. This is fine by me and good. If you don't want to pay for software go with the Free software. That is more ethical, however that is just my view.

It is sad that the Maldivian investors and the government fail to see such advances and economical opportunities. For the developers I'd like to think this is a very good opportunity, I know it's hard to venture into software development without a good financial backup but this is worth a try. I don't think in Maldives the developers will find people who will support them and help them. You are on your own and it's best if you realise this now and work around it. The talks about improving ICT in the country are all are just “bull shit!”. It will never happen. The policy makers and the people with money are only interested in owning Resorts.

Last few years I've worked with really talented individuals in Maldives. I know there are many more. If someone managed them and guided them this will really benefit the country as a whole. I always feel it's high time we broke away from prostituting our beaches (as in only depending on it alone) and found an alternative source of income. It's nice to see recently individuals coming up with creative web based application, etc. Most or if not all of which are targeted to the local market. This is good for a start but I think it's high time we started to think globally and utilized the talent in Maldivians.

Tears in Heaven ?

2010-01-03T01:04:00.004+05:00

It's always confusing for me; the idea of existence of different schools in Islam. The Sunni, Shia, Shafi, Wahaabi and Hanafi, etc. All of them simply can't be right. Maybe ONE is right or ALL are wrong. That is the logic, and many will NOT want to accept this.

I also can't accept that some people do good is ONLY to end up in Heaven. They again may NOT admit to this, but this is again very real. They pray, give zakath, etc only for this reason (not cos they care about the dying and needy). What if there was NO heaven would they still do good?. I don't know.

The question about my faith have been brought up many times. I still will keep it to myself. However I would like to believe that all those NORMAL people you quote can't be right. Not all of them. There is a lot lost in history and a lot of made ups. I refuse to believe all that. Too much politics (examples like The battle of Jamal) and works of unknown forces have been involved. Killings in the name of god and illogical reasonings all of which I can't accept. So call me what ever you wish. I won't mind.

To the people who talk about god and god's ways, they sometimes forget that if god exists there must exist the devil too. If there is a devil, all the while he would not be sitting in a beach in Maldives and enjoying the sun, sea and sand. There is always the possibility that the school you follow is his creation? Maybe he took over and you are just killing for him? . I did not introduce the idea of god and devil so don't look at me. Just think about the possibilities and what you believe in. Don't point a finger at others, three more might be pointing back at you too.

... and may god bless you. :)

Happy New Year

2009-12-30T09:37:00.003+05:00

2009 is almost gone. Hardly blogged in 09 compared to the last few years. Reasons are plenty, been busy for the most part of the year. Year started off with an exciting project with a great team, by October project was completed. It was a good experience and was a pleasure working with the team I had. November I left Maldives and have moved to Malaysia with a new company.

The future looks exciting. I am happy to get back to developing software and back to studies. Leaving Male'/Maldives was not hard except for one or two factors, which I soon hope to resolve. I am not from Male', and it practically makes no difference for me living here; infect cost of living is much cheaper here. There are better opportunities and less headache/frustrations. I am not a politician or own a resort, so no future for me in Maldives. :P

This year also came with loss of close people. I will miss them always.

Anyway wish everyone a happy new year 2010.

15th November

2009-11-15T13:48:00.002+05:00

Today use to be a very special day for many years. Today still is, only difference is some things and people have moved on. So would we; someday.

I dedicate today to all the great people I've known and are no more with us. May god bless them and keep them happy where ever they are. I'd smile when ever I'd think of them.

Bye.

3G/Internet ?

2009-10-01T20:36:00.003+06:00

Mobile broadband is something that is interesting and has a good future. I wonder if the ISP/MNO's will introduce affordable internet packages ?. I don't see why they should not, there is a good business case to this, and great benefits to the public.

Speeds between 384kbps to 7.2/14.4Mbps can be given over the GSM Network. Today Wataniya and Dhiraagu should be capable of providing such speeds anywhere Male'.

Maldives has a total population of 300,000 people I don't see a reason why good service cannot be provided. We do have a good demand for such services too. What we lack is a good regulator and political will to improve services.

The present internet service providers are going a great job in providing bad services to the individuals and getting the services is costly and hard. I think it's high time we changed this. I see 3G as the best opportunity to do so. My argument is MNO's can make money too; they just need to first give up on the old ways of thinking and try to be more service oriented. Government and the regulators has a key role to play here too; so far they have also successfully failed to do so. I hope this will change too.

It is critical that we get rid of the digital divide in this nation and change our views towards internet as a luxury. Internet should be made a basic human right. Everyone should have the means and the rights to access information and share information.

"Change" ?

2009-09-25T23:03:00.004+06:00

On the menu today is Climate "Change". Saving the World, passing an important message to the rest of the world. "We are sinking". Waves? Yes! Tsunami ? Maybe.. or Honda Waves. I am not so sure.

We Maldivians don't pollute. No sir, we don't (we never do). So our great president decides to have a little event to pass a very bold message to the rest of the world. "We are sinking". "Save us"; aham! or maybe "come visit us before we sink; stay in one of the five star resorts.. spend some money" ? .. Now I fully support this idea and the cause. (yet; some of my friends tell me our tourism minister sucks and he is not creative. I don't agree)

Besides the tourism ministry, the ministry of Islamic affairs has a plan too. That is if we are sinking we need to be prepared. This one calls to build an Arc much like the one like Noah's Ark. Now we know who will be on the priority list. I am sure Mr. Gasim Ibrahim will be among the top 10, for he has 4 wives (btw that is not my reasoning, it's by the Adaalath) .

.. and so the president decides to hold an underwater cabinet meeting. " In that event he and the country's ministers will sign a resolution calling for CO2 level to be reduced to below 350 ppm. And the President himself will deliver the resolution to governments at the UN climate negotiations in Copenhagen this December."

So what is my feeling toward this? I am happy and proud. Yes I am. If our politicians can go deep down to get the numbers down this is a good sign. I only hope this won't be the last time they would go to this level to get the "numbers" down. I am happy at least CO2 levels coming down to "ayfoara fashah".. It had to start somewhere be it CO2.

Busy/Interesting days ahead

2009-06-28T13:44:00.003+06:00

Can't be at two places at the same time, don't have that upgrade installed in me yet. So always the first priority is the paying job. I've got a project to be completed and rolled out in two months. Involves around 5 different vendors working together and seamless integration between all these vendors is a must. More of my responsibilities are on the project management side, so it's not so bad. However I think I am in for a lot of long and sleepless nights for the next 2 months.

In parallel the MOSS teams are busy with FLOSS projects (advocating) which is very much focused on to the Government of Maldives at this time. Main aim is to run a pilot project which will migrate an existing government office to OSS. This would help the government to decide if they would consider deploying OSS solutions government wide. Role of MOSS is to facilitate this and provide help where needed. The actual deployment would/should be done by NCIT or a commercial company(s) appointed by NCIT; who would provide the neede support. I think yet this is to be finalized. Hopefully for some interested local IT companies this might be a good opportunity. I would still say or my personnel view is in the long run NCIT or local Ministry staff should be trained on OSS and they should take over. Having commercial support is good to where needed. This needs to be discussed at a policy level and the best method will/should be adopted. I think the people who are involved right now are in the right direction and I wish them all the best. It's too bad I can't provide much support or be involved as I have other commitments.

Hopefully MOSS registration will be formal within the next few days and they will officially be operational as a formal NGO. We started off with MLUG and officially now going under the name MOSS with fresh blood and new faces. I think I am happy with the team who will be running the show and I have my confidence in them. Though I am not officially part of it, I would always be more than happy to help where I could; if and when needed. Best part is I know they are doing good and they have a good vision of what they need to do and achieve. It's their show now and hopefully they would work for the best interest of the community as always.

A great day for freedom

2009-06-22T22:41:00.004+06:00

Yesterday registrations forms were submitted to register a NGO in the name of Maldivian Open Source Society (MOSS). This is a great step forward in the direction of promoting and advocating FLOSS in Maldives (officially).

Today we had a presentation on FLOSS and Cloud Computing at NCIT. The Minister of Civil Aviation and Communication was also present at this presentation. I think this was the first official such presentation of this nature. I am very happy with the support we got and the feedback.

I think this is a great start and a positive one. At the same time I realise this is just the start, there is a lot more to do and achieve.

Open Source

2009-06-12T00:40:00.003+06:00

It's been almost 10 years since I have been advocating Open Source Software (Mostly Linux). During this time, I've met many people who loved the idea and also people who never understood the concept or totally hated it. It took time but eventually I knew OSS is here to stay and will soon dominate the computing world.

The first time I openly expressed the idea of open source governance is back in 2007 on mvlinux.blogspot.com as one of the contributors to the blog. Since then the idea have been brought up many time and a lot recently. Today I don't think it's a "crazy" concept anymore. Even NCIT have proposed in it's proposed policy paper that they will look into OSS. This is a good step forward. However I feel not many in the government are ready for such a change/adaptation. Concepts like migrating the OS from Windows to Linux is a scary idea for some sysadmins who don't have much experience or only have exposure to Windows only. Even most of the technology vendors and IT firms don't have the knowledge for such adaptations. This does not mean we should step away from better alternatives just cos we don't have the confidence.

Advantages are many! First of all the cost factor. Even if we can use pirated copies of Windows today, this will come to an end sooner or later. IP laws are something that is expected to come soon. Paying close to USD 200 per computer with OS, Office Applications and Anti-Virus will become a BIG financial burden when this is multiplied in 1000's. This factor is expected to be the biggest driving factor for most to consider OSS in Maldives. Maybe not soon, but in the few years to come.

Other factors like the open nature of software will also be a driving factor. Examples like the current localization of Ubuntu to Dhivehi is happening due to the open nature of Linux. Alternatives like Linux are more secure, stable and flexible compared to the existing OS (Windows) in use. Slowly more people are getting to understand this and explore into alternatives. Today more and more nations and companies are migrating to such alternatives in the world, so it's just a matter of time before Maldives also will have to follow this path. Maybe the policy makers will waste money investing software in millions and give 100's of reasons NOT to migrate, but they would be proven wrong in time. This is my view.

The change should come from the policy level. Not by public pressure or media. This is the responsibility of the people who are assigned to make such choices. They need to be more open minded and responsible towards the greater good than submitting to fear and uncertainty. We may end up saving millions of USD and routing that money to our education, health care and much needed service if a right choice is made today. However I am not very hopeful for such a positive change today. The mindset needs to be changed of the policy makers, which again I don't think will happen soon. Sad part is we will again be left behind when the rest of the world steps ahead of us. We need a new generation of individuals with vision and a feeling of responsibility towards the nation and greater good of everyone for such change to happen. I don't expect this in the post 1st generation of Maumoon era... but it's a dream .. that will come true someday..

Linux has started to slowly influence the IT industry of Maldives too. Presently this is mostly or totally at the back ends. Examples like Island Aviation, Allied Insurance, Wataniya and Dhiraagu are some examples where Linux is deployed at various levels. Next level is the desktop.. I feel distributions like Ubuntu and OSS applications like OpenOffice will soon be adopted by Maldivians just like Firefox replaced IE.

Maumoon and the lust for power!

2009-05-22T11:45:00.000+06:00

1978 to 2008. 30 bloody long years we had. What is the result ? Living expenses sky high (No it did not happen after Nov 08). We slave all day and end of the month all the hard earned money is given to some people, if you won't call this slavery what else do you call this?. Who engineered this business model for the benefit of a few and survival of the elite? Any Tom Dick can tell you no one else is to be given credit for this except for Maumoon. Yes, this guy fucked us for almost 30 years and still does not want to give up.

If anyone is to blame and to be held responsible it's no one but Maumoon. A few may forget or many, I won't and will not forgive. There is no f*cking way I am accepting him back in. Only over my dead body.

They come and tell you what improved, what changed. Yeah! we today cry for the change and even fight to improve things why?. Did you guys ever wonder the reason for that?. That is today we have hope we want to fix things and have a better life. We did not shout out like this and ever had the expectations like this, when the dictator ruled over us. Today we do. Yes! we are not happy today. We are not happy cos this is not what we deserve to have, we could have a far better life and should not be suffering like this.

As humans we always have expectations, high hopes. After Mumoon this have reached to a very high level. We try to give opinions and have expectations. Which we did not from Maumoon. Which we would never have had from Maumoon. So friends when I complain and say I am not happy. I am right, but that does not mean I am telling I need Maumoon back. The day he comes in, that hope will die and I will never complain.

You show me Male' and tell me this is great. This is what Maumoon gave us. I tell you FUCK you. This is HELL!. So don't try to play your mind games on me you dick heads. Go plan how to rule over us and how to suck on the peoples blood like you have been for the past 30 years. That's all you can think of and are good at. Don't talk of democracy and a better future, does not sound good when it comes from you.

Musical Chair(s)

2009-05-14T17:46:00.006+06:00

We finally are done with the elections. This is the second Majlis elections since I started this blog. Nop! I did not vote! I have my reasons and I need not explain. Yes it's my right to vote and NOT to vote too.

Before the last presidential elections we had the elections for which type of governance system we need. That was done, so was the presidential elections. With every elections we had hopes, we here I mean the people. I feel there is a difference between the normal poor citizens and the politicians. However today everyone seems to be a politician too. The results mean different things to these two category of humans.

We voted to over throw the dictator who ruled over us for 30 years. Today it seems the people who won the majority of seats (in this Majlis elections) want to get back the dictator in the palace/office/power. So it's an endless struggle for power in this rat race.

All the recent votes is all focused on ONE MAN! Mr. Maumoon Abdul Gayoom! It was either to throw him out / to get him back in or to keep in out! Where do we come in? When will a government/vote focus on us? When this guy dies? If so I sure hope this happens soon (Sorry but I have no choice, but to wish for that for the benefit of most of us)

I don't understand a lot about politics. I admit to that. Some times I am right and often I am proved wrong. Like now I don't get why the present government says Mr. Maumoon and his cronies have ripped off our nation and are the grass root behind all the bad (namely Drugs, killings, etc). If they can claim this, I feel they should go and arrest these guys and bring them to justice without any delay. That is the responsibility of the government and such people cannot be let loose. So why are they free?. Not enough evidence? If so that mean they did not do anything bad. So it's ok even if they get elected and come back to power? Logically YES! Since they did not do anything bad, why should we oppose them?.

This whole thing again is like the musical chair which we use to play. Only difference is Maumoon and his cronies are the chairs. We run around them. We take chair by chair, still one chair remains till the end game. This whole political thing won't be complete without Maumoon now. That's what I feel. The ruling party came to power not by the great 5 promises they made but by showing this man Maumoon to the people. For the last few years all what we heard was "Golhaaboa faibaa" Not the 5 promises and the flower of hope! We actually voted to get rid of this man! That's the reality that's the truth! But did we get rid of him? NO! Will we get rid of him? I don't know!

I don't care who rules over us, as long as we get a better life and we don't have to suffer like we do today. Yes! we suffer and anyone who tell me we are ok and doing fine! FUCK YOU! in caps! We are not. I can blame Maumoon for that, cos this did not fall on us over night. This came down to us in his regime and still we are struggling. I hope the existing government is trying it's best to fix this shit and give us a better tomorrow. However I don't yet see anything materializing and I see the biggest obstacle to be this political fights over power! Someone/some people need to end this and bring a solution to this curse. Please!

Power Hungry Politicians

2009-04-26T11:09:00.003+06:00

I feel the biggest threat today to the nation is corrupted, selfish and power hungry politicians of this country. In the name of justice and the people; they just use us.

It's all a power struggle and trying to prove that "my party" or "my family and friends" are right and should rule over this country. It's again never about us the people. I repeatedly say this cos I feel this. I don't see a any future in this country and any chance of development. We'd just rot and die here the political leaches will suck on our blood till we are dry.

They don't simply care for you. They only need your "Votes". Trust me!. They don't. By they I mean everyone. From the father of fuck ups, Mr. Maumoon to Flat Kudey (Anni) and the army of Doctors (Dr. Hassan Saeed and the gang). I am sick of you guys fighting over power and giving a blind eye to the sufferings in this country. I am sorry but FUCK YOU ALL.

National Teleportation System

2009-04-24T10:49:00.002+06:00

Dear Sirs,

I am an alien living in Male', Maldives. I am a legal one as I am a "Daftharu" man in Male'. The cost of living in Male' is so high compared to the incomes we get, I some times wonder if we are sane enough. As in why we still have not committed mass suicides.

I don't need to go into details of the costings, as everyone knows even the very basic one room apartment will cost close to USD 700. I have no choice but to live in Male'. Moving to the provinces is no option for me. I am sorry as I do not AGAIN agree with force migrations. I would have if you would provide me with the same job oppertunities and basic services.

I know you have been saying that this is your long term objectives and this is not brought to us by you and your government. However sirs, I would have no choice but to complain to you. I would complain to God, but I don't think he is too much interested in me and my country men.

Please once you finish developing your National Teleportation System and make the world a greener place. Please do hear our plea.

We can wait and hope that our children will be able to Teleport from point A to point B in split seconds. The other option is while we wait please make potassium cyanide available to us for FREE for those who need. This would be a great help and will be most appriciated.

The Platform as an Open Cloud

2009-04-13T16:36:00.005+05:00

Idea is simple, cloud computing is really a culmination of many technologies such as grid computing, utility computing, SOA, Web 2.0, and other technologies. The definitions may vary but the concept remains the same.

One of the key ideas behind the model is on demand hosted services with the ability to scale and provision computing power dynamically in a cost efficient way.

This is the ideal platform for the Maldivian government today. We have invested on the infrastructure (network wise) and we (the ministries) are all connected. Why do we want to replicate the same services?, The government can easily save money in this deep economic downturn while moving to a superior technology infrastructure. This also is a way to follow what they preach. By moving towards using green technologies for the functioning of the Government helping to reduce the negative effects to environment, etc.

In plain English; this means we should not be spending on computer hardware/software, electricity, and human resources for each and every ministry in the government. This is a total waste of public money, when other better alternatives are available. This also justifies the money that the government have spend on building the network interconnecting all the ministries.

If the government can get power from Stelco and telecom services from Telecoms why not have a government controlled IT company?. This makes more sense. Even right now web sites are hosted in Dhiraagu, the very sensitive emails are hosted in Dhiraagu. Looking at that point of view we have up to some level adopted off site hosted services in governance. To move towards this model the present government needs to realize that the public expects from its government highly coordinated, timely responses to all challenges and promises made by the new government.

Government coordination depends upon consistent decision making across multiple business units, departments and projects. This cannot be done via letters, or even modern technologies like emails. To achieve this government needs to work as one unit, instead of many individual ministries. These are factors that lead to the “good governance”, this is what the people need. Service!. The main responsibility of the government is to provide better services to its people. Today they can’t hide behind political excuses and prolong this.

The solution is an enterprise-wide architecture which tries to create a framework for effective decision making across multiple business units. Otherwise, independent groups decide alone resulting in inconsistency, information islands, isolated business processes, and inefficient technologies. This mixture is a recipe for poor performance which we have been so used to.

Adaptation of an EA also enables computer systems, networks, software, and data/information systems that support government functions and services to more effectively and efficiently communicate, interoperate, and share resources. Therefore this should be decided at the policy level of the Maldivian government to implement and utilize such architecture. Such policies should focus and utilize common, secure, industry-wide, open-standards-based technologies and standards, identified by industry standards organizations, and based on documented methodologies, principles, and best practices.

One of the key focuses should be on effective utilization of technology to achieve business functions and services, increasing citizen access to those services, sharing information and resources at all levels of government, and maximizing investment in IT resources. This is the major motivating factors for the development and implementation of such a model.

The other advantage to such a model is, it leads to a proper transparent system of governance.

Today the biggest problem is we don’t have people with such visions in the decision making level in the government. We had the same problem for 30 years and still we seem to be stuck with the same problem. The other reason maybe they are too busy focusing on trying to keep their noses above the water and survive this political madness which we are going through. If the so called “Sadoom” was filled with gays, today Maldives is filled with “politicians”. This has become like a curse upon us. The religious Imams have turned out to be politicians and latest edition to the list is the medical doctors.

To conclude; I’d have to say “Hopeless”! Things will just remain as dreams.

The Friday preachers

2009-04-03T13:07:00.005+05:00

Every Friday we hear the Adaalath talk about social issues in relation to Islam and what we have become. Namely things like we follow our own man made rules (Constitution), and don't follow gods ways (Quran/Sharia), etc. This week we got to know why fishing is so bad, and why it does not rain. We were given the solution too, however the case of the captured terrorists (Maldivian Jihaadees) in Paakisthaan was not addressed. It was not addressed while every other week they talked about killings and suicides.

I have not many comments on the thinking Adaalath is trying to spread and what it's vision of our country is. However I don't think they support the moderate Islamic views that we have been following all these years. May god bless the people of the country and not make this country another Peshawar. Seems like it is slowly starting gear in that direction, or some people are motivated to take us there.

From what I see from some people, I feel they are under the impression that Mohamed (PBH) was born and raised in Pakistan or India. We ask them why dress the way they do, and they will tell you "this" is how Mohamed (PBH) lived and dressed.

P.S. I know religion is a controversial subject and opinions may differ. I fully understand that, however what I publish here is my view, just like what Adaalath preaches on Fridays their views.

Just another style of dressing. I don't see any relation to religion here. It's more a cult thing.

Parliamentarians (F you)

2009-03-27T10:16:00.003+05:00

I don't have a reason to be nice or to lobby certain people, so I'd just shoot what I feel. I feel this rat race which we know as the parliament election is just another show. Waste of time and money. I don't think electing anyone will do any good or will improve anything for the common people like me.

The election only holds benefits to the business community and the serving politicians. If you look at the list of some of the candidates you begin to wonder, why the parties will even give a ticket to ride for these individuals. They will not have anything to give back to us politically or being parliamentarians. However the parties brought this people to the front and now are asking us to vote for these people. Then you start to wonder why?.

The way I see it, this is a very simple power game. The opposition parties are looking to win this election so they might have a chance to over throw the existing government. The government is trying their best to stay in power by electing members who will back MDP. This is the game, there is no right and wrong here, or you and me. It comes down to a simple power game. Nothing to do with defending our rights or improving our lives or anything in those lines. For the candidates it's a good offer too, 65k or so a month salary. So why not?

Shame on the political parties too. Recently all they do is to blame each other. Hardly any party comes out and tries to help the public by contributing in a productive way. All they ever do is just play the same old "point" and "blame" game. Maybe this is democracy for them, or the political way. Which by no means benefits anyone in the public. I am getting totally sick of these stuff, as I had hope like many of us for a better future. The present government too is making so many mistakes and hardly have any time to even listen to the concerned people in the public. The total focus in the last few months have been securing seats. All political activists have been transformed to politicians. They sing a new song or don't care anymore.

Next fear I have is that if MDP wins this election they might try to change the system of governance to a parliamentary system. This is something that is totally unacceptable by a lot of us as this gives the business community more power. Even as of now the government is controlled by a lot of influential businessmen. We for sure don't want to see this expand.

MoIA to export content filtering technology

2009-03-17T11:00:00.005+05:00

Ministry of Islamic Affairs (MoIA) of Maldives has decided to develop and market Internet content filters for countries world wide. This initiative is taken to save the economy and cater to the growing demands by countries like China and Pakistan.

Presently the ministry is actively testing the product in Maldives and are happy with the results. The devices are also embeded with special technology to improve peoples faith (not much details of this is available as of now, as it's in the process of being submitted to the patent office in Maldives).

It is also expected that MoIA will very soon take over the local telecom authority under it's wing along with education ministry.

Dr. Majeed, Please bless my blog.

2009-03-16T21:50:00.002+05:00

More Transparency needed?

2009-03-13T10:49:00.005+05:00

Obviously we all talk about transparency in governance and we all support the idea but do we really understand what transparency all about?. Maybe the definitions may differ, however there is a major difference between outreach and transparency.

We have seen a major flood of outreach during the last presidential elections in 2008 and this continues on. Outreach means governments and other political parties telling us what it wants us to hear. Media plays a major role in this, this is one reason why politicians take so much interest in owning the media. We have seen the media being used and abused too. I don't need to go into details here.

Transparency means giving us the information that we, the citizens, want to get. An ideal government provides both outreach and transparency. Outreach lets officials share their knowledge about what is happening, and it lets them argue for particular policy choices -- both of which are good. Transparency keeps government honest and responsive by helping us know what government is doing.

We have seen a major form of outreach from the government and the opposition during the last 4 years. Technology played a major role here. This is where my interest is. We have seen forms of outreach like Minivan radio, the famous Dhivehi Observer run by Sappe', Fact Maldives, The Maldivian, moving on the YouTube videos and finally even twitter/blogs and mass SMS via GSM networks. These obviously worked and we expect to see more of this in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Obama administration named Vivek Kundra as the Chief Information Officer of the U.S. President Nasheed 2 days back appointed Mr Ahmed Shafeeq Ibrahim Moosa (DO Sappe'/Kuda Sappe') as the Envoy for Science and Technology. Maybe Sappe' is more like the Chief Technology Officer for the government (the job scope I don't know, never published). I have no clue, but I feel part of the responsibility should be facilitate more transparency in governance via technology. Today technology has become a daily part of our lives. Not everyone carries a TV with them, or a news paper but almost everyone carries a mobile. These are things that the government need to understand and utilize. We need to move away from traditional forms of governance and evolve with the life style and demands of the citizens.

The use of technologies can serve a variety of different ends: better delivery of government services to citizens, improved interactions with business and industry, citizen empowerment through access to information, or more efficient government management. The resulting benefits can be less corruption, increased transparency, greater convenience, revenue growth, and/or cost reductions. It is very important that when decisions on technology are taken, to ensure that we go with the right technologies. We need to break away from vendor driven models and shape our government to be technically competent. It's a shame that for simple things we advertise for consultations and RFP's. This for me shows that the government is not capable of supporting and developing the basic infrastructures when we have heavily invested on them.

Today the world is moving toward a Internet-enabled government transparency model. Presenting important government information to citizens is one area. This is done via simple web sites with content management systems but today we need to move beyond this. We need to evolve to models like where government needs to provide reusable data, rather than providing websites, as the core of its online publishing responsibility. The focus should be on creating a simple, reliable and publicly accessible infrastructure that exposes the underlying data. Private actors, either nonprofit or commercial, are better suited to deliver government information to citizens and can constantly create and reshape the tools individuals use to find and leverage public data. The best way to ensure that the government allows private parties to compete on equal terms in the provision of government data is to require that ministry websites themselves use the same open systems for accessing the underlying data as they make available to the public at large.

Maybe my definition of transparency is very different or more on the technical side then political. I think it's practically right to conclude that in some areas like ICT many things are inherently more difficult to do inside of government. The best approach would be for the government to open/enable a marketplace for ideas in the private sector and from individuals.

Test Post!

2009-02-27T23:48:00.004+05:00

According to CIA 5.5% of our (Maldivian) GDP is the Military expenditure. We rank 15th in the world. Yeah! Something to be proud of? Sure I am.

It's a dream job we all should be proud of, being maybe an officer in the MNDF. You get to enjoy a motorbike , a car with a driver and value adds like the best food. This is on top of all the other benefits you'd get to enjoy. Why should they not?. After all they will be the people who will be saving our asses WHEN/IF AND WHEN someone will come and bomb us or shoot at us (even in the islands).

Even though on Nov 3rd 1988, the NSS was locked inside the base; that won't be the case next time. Hell yes!. Even on that day if they were not locked in, they would have kicked the asses of those terrorists/Baagee's and we did not had to ask the Indian Army to come help us. Even on days like DEC 26th 2004, when the tsunami hit us, if the weather was good they would have left the same day to help the islanders.

No one can even beat MNDF when it comes to entertainment too. There is so much that the Maldivian movie industry can learn from MNDF (even Hollywood). They always make us happy and give us a good time. These are services that we should always admire and appreciate. So all that money that is spend is well worth it all. God yes! I am really proud of them.

My next request for them is to invest on R&D into such a system like in minority report. "Huh bul" .. "Watan"!

National Center for Information Technology

2009-02-25T22:07:00.016+05:00

Times have changed, world have changed, technology has evolved. MCST/NCC/NCIT never changed, or progressed. Many of you may not even know about NCIT (National Center for Information Technology); don't be surprised. Many of the existing government top level official also have no idea. Maybe it was one of the best kept secrets in the government of Maldives.

Prior to being called NCIT, it was called NCC (National Computer Center) which was under Ministry of Communication, Science and Technology. If I recall it was established in the mid 1990's. The e-government project has been active since early 2000 or 2002. The first major project was the establishment of the fiber network which was first awarded to CET Technologies Pte Ltd in early 2005. It was also projected that Installation and Commissioning of the network and selected applications will be completed by 2006. The project at the time was almost 100% driven by NCIT. Hardly advise of the privet sector or other government Ministries was considered, I was told that there were meetings held to get views but it was never practical. This is the feedback I have from friends who attended some of these meetings, including government employees from presidents office, other government owned originations and National registration.

The scope at the time was

(i)networking of government agencies in Male by installation of a fiber optic cable, and connecting 20 atolls by carrier service for government agencies to share their information and for the public to get access to government information electronically

(ii)enabling electronic delivery of public services including the provision of applications for national citizen identification; public health services; and registration for vessels, vehicles, and aircraft

(iii) establishment of the National Computer Center, which will centrally coordinate ICT policies, standards, and practices for government work;

(iv) building of Internet kiosks, which will provide the public with better access to government information and services; and

(v) implementation of telecommunications sector reform, which will eventually enable the public to get access to the Internet at an affordable price.

I must agree if the responsible parties did deliver this would have been great. However if you think today in 2009 how much of this was delivered. Ultimately this became the biggest among other “BIG IT Projects" in this country. Funded by ADB (It is estimated that the ADB loan is worth US $9.50 million or more). Now the way I see it NCIT is under pressure to deliver what they started a few years back. All they achieved was a big building with a nice lift, big meeting room and an expensive data center. Which services no purpose. Today they are talking on TV about a portal (kind of like web site) which will have a lot of content from all of the Ministries that say what you should do, etc. This is much like the travel web sites, where you get all the information about the resorts. Maybe a few services included. The point to note here is after almost 5 years or so, this is what we get?. Surely somethings have gone wrong, or need to be reevaluated.

There was also a committee established under the name of Information Technology Advisory Committee. I am not sure who were in this committee or if it ever existed, but according to the published documents the mandate of this committee was as follows.

1. To review policies, procedures, guidelines and strategies with respect to issues concerning information technology deployment in the Maldives and make recommendations on these issues

2. To periodically review and advise the NCC on the implementation of Information Technology policies and plans

3. To ensure that IT policies are in line with the nation's development objectives, mission and goals.

4. To review the strategic IT planning processes and to make recommendations to ensure that the Government's policies on IT are fully realized.

5. To review, assess and make recommendations on the IT programs, initiatives and projects

6. Advise on the changes including (but not necessarily limited to) process changes, innovative ways of deploying IT that will result in bringing about the full benefits of information technology to the government and citizens of Maldives.

7. To assess and advise on the mechanisms that is in place to evaluate the success of IT policies and strategies.

8. To review, assess and make recommendations on the IT standards and guidelines

9. To advise on human resource and training requirements for Information Technology

10. To advise on any legal changes that may need to be taken into consideration for the deployment and use of Information Technology in the Maldives.

I am not sure how much of this was completed. For sure I don't see any policies, standards and guidelines. Maybe we have them as top secret documents. Maybe we just don't know are are not well informed.

However I must agree that at the foundation level we had good visions or a plan. If this materialized at that stage and if the people who were given the responsibility did a good job, it must have be something to be proud of. Sadly this is not so.

I think we don't have people with the visions, the interest and the know how. Even today if you look at the NCIT web site you see them requesting for the so called “IT Experts” to help them with the e-government deployment. I don't know how many guys came with Masters and PHD's in computer science yet we are seeking outside help to implement our projects. What have we been doing?. I think they are now procurement officers. They release PO's to the vendors and sign contracts. At least if they don't wanna do the dirty jobs, least the policies and standards document could have been some contribution. Which too we don't have.

Next NCIT will tell no one is willing to help or no good staff is willing to work for NCIT. Maybe so, but if that is the case, for sure there must be something wrong about NCIT or the way they operate. You can't blame all the potential staff and other IT staff in public sector. I've been told by people who left the center that there is no room for them. None of their views are heard or will be heard. Simply the place has outdated philosophies and sticking to out dated methods or depends too much on the vendors. There is no internal developments or R&D work.

Today we need to analyze and think or rather rethink the whole model of e-government and the role of NCIT. NCIT was a hope when it came in to existence. One of the stated objectives of the NCIT was to help diversify the economic base by attracting IT companies and IT enabled service companies to be established in Maldives, and provide job opportunities for Maldivians in this sector.

Furthermore it was stated the following.

ICT Infrastructure: ICT Precinct; assist in providing key infrastructure necessary in seeding joint ventures with offshore firms.
ICT Infrastructure: Applications Development Centre; act as the catalyst required to establish necessary capabilities in application development expertise.
ICT Infrastructure: Technology Incubator; provide a vibrant environment for young people to establish IT ventures and to learn valuable business and technical skills.
ICT Usage: Project Loan Support; ready access to development funds and financing.
ICT Usage; Mobile Commerce and Payments Trial; provide a new base line of activity and facilitate a real working demonstration of the broader benefits and efficiency of electronic based commerce to the Maldives.
ICT Facilitation: Strategic Alliance Program; creating the right environment for skill, knowledge and technology transfer and promote partnerships between local enterprises and offshore companies.
ICT Facilitation: ICT Cadets; provide the opportunity for young individuals to explore career and entrepreneurial opportunities in the IT sector.
ICT Facilitation: Skills Certification; aims to raise the level of professionalism and commercial orientation of the Maldives local industry capability.

How much of this was archived?. Where is the IT industry in the Maldives. Just cos we have a few shops selling computers does not mean we have an IT industry. This is not what is called an IT industry. Today India is a leading country in this industry, Sri Lanka is catching up. Malaysia is another example. Where are we?. The government never saw this, or does see this. Economically speaking this could have been a potential industry. Which would have been highly profitable but no we were blinded and still are blinded ONLY by tourism and fishing. Selling our land and seas and making money is all we think of. Maybe again there is so much I don't know or maybe I have a different view. Then they tell me IT guys are lazy and can't depend on them. At the same time they proudly tell you we have the best telecommunications infrastructures banking facilities and hospitality solutions. Who implemented them the fishermen?, the finance guys?. There have been a lot of projected implemented by local Maldivians which we should be proud of even in the IT industry. However they come with proper funding and project management. So who ever says IT guys are lazy can fu*k off! Most of us work 7 days a week and work more then 12 hours a day just to earn for the bread and butter or rather for the peanuts that you guys pay and to meet with the sky high demands of yours. On top of that we love what we do and most of all we enjoy what we do. Very often contributions done by the guys in this industry is taken for granted. Things we have done, for no money, unlike the lawyers and the doctors in this country. Simple things like when someone's PC is broken you just call the next IT guy you know and fix it for FREE. Maybe pay the guy with a coffee. Where when you take a lawyer even for a coffee they charge you minimum Mrf 1,000 per hour.

Today NCIT it on TV talking about the e-government after almost 10 years and blaming the rest of the Ministries for no cooperation. I don't get it or understand it. I still feel the foundations are wrong, the method that we are going is not the way it should be in 2009 and we can build a better e-governance system just by looking at how others in the world are deploying e-government projects and the present trends in the industry. You don't need to listen to a few of us in the public. However I am personally totally against things like vendor-lock in the government where we go on closed technologies and pay royalties.

I think NCIT is making simple things complex and taking us all for a ride. I think what we are trying to do is since ADB paid us and will demand some results, we are just trying to meet that. Get rid of this, and say “we done it”. Not looking at how we done it.

Standardization of IT in GOM

2009-02-23T11:42:00.004+05:00

Recently the cabinet of the present government decided that they will ensure that within 3 years all government offices will use licensed software. This was a good start, maybe technology was not the main reason behind the decision but it was a good move in the right direction.

Furthermore I was told that there were discussions on “Developing standards and guidelines for system procurement based on need, OS to be installed, basic criteria for websites – to enable easy procurement and significant savings, as well as harmonization” and “Full assessment of ICT capacity, capability and competency (equipment, systems, software and liveware) of all GOM”

We must again welcome this. I feel having standards for procurement purposes is good but based on what? I feel what is lacking is some kind of government IT Interoperability Standards which very clearly defines and supports the fundamentals of e-governance and general IT standards to be deployed government wide. Such standard should be recommended in all public sector procurements and major upgrades to other legacy systems.

Some of the focus of the technical policies which are essential for such standards/policies should be Interconnectivity, Data Interoperability, and Information Access. However again considering the evolution of technology the main thrust of the specification should be to adopt Internet and World Wide Web standards for all Government systems. While we are going ahead and deploying the present “e-government” systems we should also be discussing and looking at data coherence across Government. The ministries along with NCIT need to agree upon data schemas for use throughout the public sector. Maybe as of now these are dictated by the NCIT (In reality the vendor(s) from Singapore), but I feel these should be open for discussions and views outside the vendors and NCIT should be considered. As discussed in a previous post the e-government project should not be limited to NCIT alone. Successful deployment of e-government is the responsibility of all government ministries, state owned organizations and citizens (stakeholders); should not be limited to one or few departments/Ministries. This is a complex task and an on-going process. The technical standards must not only support and enhance government’s business processes, but must also ensure that new technological advances and innovations are leveraged to their full advantage. Maybe the best approach should be to review and update such standards on an annual basis.

While formulating such standards we should also consider Interoperability, Market support, Scalability, Security and Open Standards. Key emphasis should be put on open standards. Definition of open standards may vary, however most commonly standards maintained by a non-commercial organization are considered to be open which are possible for everyone to copy, distribute and use the standard free of cost. It is also important to consider standards which have multiple implementations and are irrevocably available, without any royalties attached. Maybe the best approach is to follow standards set by standards development organizations (SDOs) like ISO, IETF, OASIS, W3C, ITU, IEC, ECMA, IEEE, ANSI, OGC, FIPS, ITU-T and ETSI.

After such standards are set then funding and purchasing of IT products and solutions should dependent on compliance to these standards. Making sure the compliance of these standards are met should be the responsibility of the Finance/IT departments in the individual Ministries/Departments and the Auditor General.

Finally standards for what and where might be the question. The answer is simple. It’s for everything from Security, Network, e-Mail , Directory , Domain Naming, FTP, Terminal Emulation, Data Interoperability, Content Delivery, Web-Services, Enterprise Architecture, Digital Signatures, Encryption algorithms, Document formats, Character sets and alphabets are a just few examples.

OpenDocument

2009-02-22T10:13:00.003+05:00

OpenDocument is a file format (ODF) created by Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) consortium based on the XML format originally created and implemented by the OpenOffice.org office suite by Sun Microsystems.

ODF is a file format for electronic office documents such as spreadsheets, charts, presentations and word processing documents.

Might not sound big, but if you look at the adoption of ODF in governments and other organizations around the world it's become huge. These are some of the "small things" that governments like Maldives chooses to ignore but will have a major impact financially and technically.

Among the governments who have adopted ODF include India.

Chandershekhar, India's secretary of Ministry of Information and Technology, said, "We are glad to note that with formation of a National ODF alliance, India too would be playing a pivotal role in spearheading the ODF revolution. Further, considering the huge potential of eGovernance in the nation as well as the need to adopt open standards to make our data systems more inter-operable and independent of any limiting proprietary tools, we feel that ODF is a great technological leap and a big boon to further propel IT right to India's grass root levels. I congratulate this initiative of leading private & public organisations and wish them all the best in this endeavor."
The Allahabad High Court of India has decided, as policy, to use OpenDocument format for its documents.

- from Wikipedia

Other countries in Asia include Japan and Malaysia who have made the use of ODF mandatory within the public sector from April 2008.

In Europe countries like Belgium, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Sweden and United Kingdom.

NATO with its 26 members (Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, the UK, and the USA) uses ODF as a mandatory standard for all members.

Other nations include Australia, Argentina and Brazil.

Why ODF?

One objective of open formats like OpenDocument is to guarantee long-term access to data without legal or technical barriers, and some governments have come to view open formats as a public policy issue. OpenDocument is intended to be an alternative to proprietary formats, including the commonly used DOC, XLS, and PPT formats used by Microsoft Office and other applications. Up until Feb 15th 2008, the specification for the Microsoft Office binary formats were only obtainable by writing directly to Microsoft Corporation signing a license to use the formats. As of Feb 15th 2008, the specifications for the Microsoft Office binary documents are available for download. Microsoft will support the use of OpenDocument in Microsoft Office 2007 starting with Service Pack 2. Several plugins allow use of Opendocument in earlier Microsoft Office versions. - From Wikipedia

Another Male' Road Project ?

2009-02-10T13:13:00.003+05:00

I am not sure how many of you remember the Male' Road Project (cement roads) which paved the roads with concrete then destroyed and replaced with bricks. I am not sure how much money we did spend on this project. Maybe Millions?

Did we not learn from those experiences?. I don't know we are still doing things the same old way. That road project was a big joke, paving the roads was nothing new to the world. We did not have to reinvent the wheel, but we did.

I think the same concept is being applied for the existing e-government project. Where it's obvious that we know that this is not the best approach or the right way. Still we have to do it, the way it's documented 10 years back, since we have invested and have committed.

The sad part is there is no concerns over this. We don't have any proper standards or policies, rather now it's a massive IT project. In my view this is not the ideal approach. It should be more about establishing common standards across government, delivering services more effectively, and providing ways for Ministries to work together using technology.

It is obvious that the public money need to be spent efficiently to improve the service continuously, and e-government is the key. The government should give more priority to this project which I feel is lacking right now. The actual delivery of e-government should be the responsibility of all government Ministries. NCIT should work with government Ministries to achieve the Government's vision for e-government. The NCIT should lead, facilitate and coordinate e-government activities. However I don't know how many individuals know what is this vision or if we really have any; or is it just an idea?.

To transform Maldives towards e-governance there needs to be goals set for the government. These goals should reflect judgments about the key things that need to change at a system-wide level if we are to advance to the overall goal of establishing an e-government in the Maldives. Some of the key dependencies include : Content, Confidence and Connection. These needs to be addressed before we can move on technically. I feel before we move on with the technical implementations of the existing e-government model, we need to revise our visions and objectives of e-governance. Better understand and plan the so called "e-government project". To do so we need to start with the basic fundamentals, like setting up government wide IT standards, etc.

E-government should not be a fashion item; it should be a major step forward in communications that has been accepted internationally. It's not an option. It's important the government helps minimize the time the public and business community spend on transactions with government.

Work in progress

2009-02-02T18:52:00.002+05:00

It's been a long time since I have been trying to establish a company based on the open source software business model. I guess there is no better time to do it then now, so along with a close friend of mine we started it off.

Our philosophy is to follow open standards and open architecture and be open minded. We feel the success of such a start up is based on a few key factors. I see good potential if we can keep up with the demands. At some areas we have to create demand and confidence. I know it's a challenge but I am confident that we can make it.

Obviously financing such a start up is one of the hardest things. Presently we are trying to keep our expenses to a minimum. A work space, a motivated team and some level of funding is what we have now. I am sure this is more then enough, though it's tight we can see a good future.

Personally for me I can't quit my day job as of now, but I am really looking forward to being full time involved with the teams on the projects. I feel exciting times are ahead.

A cyber law?

2009-01-25T20:35:00.002+05:00

I was watching news on the local TV and came to know that the communication minister thinks that a cyber law is the most needed for the IT industry. I can understand this coming out of a lawyer. This kind of gave me the impression that we are all criminals. Is this the most important thing? What about the crimes committed by the government. Why does he not address that?

Yes CRIMES. Using pirated software and no respect to intellectual property rights in this nation. Who will address them or are they covered in this so called 'cyber law'?. What are we doing to contribute to this industry, who is taking responsibility in building this?

Selling computers, mouse, and couple of servers does not create an IT industry in the Maldives. Keep aside the job of building a proper IT industry which is creative, responsible and most importantly profitable we don't even have the basics covered. Simple IT policies and procedures in the government. Over spending on "Big IT projects" is famous in Maldives. Hardly anyone gives a rats ass on these issues and here we are talking about a cyber law. This was frustrating to me, specially this coming out of the communication minister. I feel the cyber laws and all is important but it should not be the priority right now. If the law enforcement sector like the police and AG took this up I can understand. Now I don't, specially having an idea on where we are on the IT sector.

I feel the ministry of economical development, ministry of finance along with the communication ministry should give more importance to building a better IT industry. Maybe they do not have a clue on the potential of this industry. Maybe people think fixing the computers, setting up a printer, etc is the only IT. They are dead wrong. IT/technology industry can be made a real profitable industry if planned well and supported. We could be exporting technology and making good fortune out of this, which can compete with the tourism industry and the fishing industry. Yes! I believe this can be achieved. Sri Lanka is already doing it, India is a big player, why can't we. We don't need oil wells, and diamond mines to achieve this. So why is no one bothered. Why don't our leaders have this vision and the faith in our people.

Presently we have no respect for technology. None of the audit reports shows that the government is steeling from software vendors. We don't budget for software and we take them for granted. This leads to a lot of problem and people take technology for granted, they don't see the potential in it. On top of all it's ethically wrong. Good governance means we should also respect things like this, and a proper IT infrastructure which is well planed is important for good governance. Which is totally ignored now!

Happy New Year?

2008-12-31T16:32:00.002+05:00

I would like to think it will be a good year 2009. Definitely 2008 has been a great year, we ended 30 years of dictatorship in the Maldives and welcomed a new government. Even though things so far don't look so good, there might be hope for the future. One thing for sure is Dr. Majeed will work really hard to make our way of life really hard one , like banning the new year parties in Maldives stating they are against Muslim ways. No politician will be able to stand up against this, for the fear of being labeled as anti Muslim. I am sure this guy must be enjoying all this. Blocking Internet, banning disco's, maybe allowing sick vahhaabee guys to marry 9 year old girls?. Come on who knows.

The new government is too busy with the elections for the parliament of 2009, we the people are still waiting in"hope" for a better future. Cost of living in Male' is going high, rich seem to get richer while the youth still don't have much hopes for a better tomorrow. The struggle for power seem to be endless, while NOTHING practically is being improved. "Time" maybe the keyword, but with that I guess a lot of us are loosing confidence in our leaders and "the system" we all thought would change our lives. News don't seem to be good in the media, while the world is heading for the "great depression II", I guess we already have a clue on what holds for 2009. However 2009 is a critical year for Maldives, as it will be the year when we get to lay down a new foundation for the political change that we accomplished in 2008. The political choices that will be made in 2009 will reflect into the future. Our future.

I don't know if Dr. Majeed will approve of me saying "Happy New Year 2009 to everyone", or if he will order TAM to block a few more sites soon. Like the blogs and maybe "Google". Well you again never know. This guy seem to be crazy and radical enough to do it.

A bank account in MMA

2008-12-30T17:51:00.005+05:00

May sound funny to have a bank account of yours in MMA. Maybe it does not make sense. If so why does it make sense for MMA to be involved actively in the Mobile Banking project. All the while I thought they were the regulators. For me it's the same as TAM providing telecom services.

I have been told the project is about $7.7 million. MMA is going to invest on the infrastructure and run this operation. I assume that is the case. In my point of view this should be the responsibility of the Banks and the Mobile Network Operators. Now we maybe replicating the same infrastructures that is already existing on the both sides. I feel it's a waste of money for MMA to do this and going beyond what they really should be doing.

Maybe MMA has a good justification for this, but at this point I don't understand. Maybe someone would want to enlighten me on this.

"As part of the project, CGAP will offer a parallel funding of $1.5 million to establish a regulatory framework for mobile banking." - tmcnet

Read more on the Maldives Interoperable Payments System (MIPS)

The project has good objective, however I don't fully agree with the deployment method where MMA controls the infrastructures for this. MMA should be the regulator not the implementer or the investor.

The NCIT of Maldives is outdated and wasting our money.

2008-12-25T16:06:00.003+05:00

The National Centre for Information Technology (NCIT) is about to start a project which will install and setup (suppose to) Internet Service Kiosks in 24 islands across Maldives. I see this as a waste of money and a stupid idea at this stage in time. Maybe the Internet kiosks were a "cool" idea 5 years back, but not today. I feel there are better things we can do with that money and take better approaches (future proof). This whole thing about Internet kiosks needs to be re evaluated.

Firstly we don't have the basic infrastructure or the applications to cater to these kiosks (or maybe MS Share Point is what they call e-government) . We need to first look into the basics before we start to roll out services like these kiosks. NCIT does not have a proper plan for the e-government and the studies on which they are basing these projects are out dated and costly.

The politicians and the current government lacks the interest or the know how to make sound judgements on these kinds of projects. They seriously need to reconsider these type of projects and open them up for comments and re evaluation. The so called "Big IT Projects" are common in Maldives and never produce the results. We spend (WASTE is the word) money on these kinds of projects and never achieve anything productive.

We always bring down a few consultants who have worked in some African countries and copy some ideas from maybe Singapore and base our projects on them. Most of these projects are never practical. I feel the present leadership in NCIT needs to be changed and we need to think more broadly into this e-government projects.

Nation for Sale! Sold?

2008-12-23T20:05:00.004+05:00

I just was reading haveeru. What I realize was for 30% share of the nation (Maldives) the cost is 5 million 400,000 MRf. Maybe my interpretation was wrong.

Gasim seems to be demanding for his share and Zaki said they (Gasim and Jumhooree party) did not make the full payment as per agreement.

Welcome to Maldives Pvt. Ltd.

Weak Opposition

2008-12-20T21:14:00.003+05:00

One of the biggest disadvantage I see today in the Maldives is a weak opposition. The so called "Wataneydhey goteh" alliance composes of all the previous major oppositions. It is true that this alliance was the key to over throw of the previous dictatorship. However almost all of the key members of these opposition parties are in the current government (they are the government). I think this is a major disadvantage for the people. True democracy is not complete without a proper opposition.

DRP who was practically the previous ruling party is almost unheard of now. I think I do understand why too. I guess the answer is Law number 42 of "The 48 Laws of Power", book by Robert Greene

Law 42 Strike the Shepherd and the Sheep will Scatter

The shepherd was ex president Maumoon. Now the sheep's are no where to be seen. This was very much expected too, as DRP was revolving around him only.

I still think it's too early to make a sound judgment of the new government. Having said that, at the same time I am not very happy with how things are moving too. We all have different expectations and demands. I know all will not be entertained too. I do understand that, but I feel things like the present housing crisis we have in Male' is a must to be addressed. We need to know about the plans and when we would have an affordable life. The promised "އަތް ފޯރާފަތް" stuff. Other issues like Ministry of Islamic affairs trying to take basic rights away from us in the name of religion concerns me.

The way I see it still the election is not over. I feel MDP and others concentration is totally on the up coming parliamentary elections. I thought we got over the issue of what kind of governance, we the people decided on a presidential system. I don't think many people get this or have come to accept this including the present government.

What ever it is I feel there is a strong need for a good opposition. This needs to come now, before it's too late. If there are responsible political leaders they need to act now not when the 5 year term is about to end. At the same time the opposition needs to be serious and responsible too, not just talking about useless stuff and fighting against meaningless things.

'Will Kutti Nasheed take over DRP or form another party?' This is one question that is often asked at coffee tables but never 'will Maumoon come back'. I think I am happy with that, I for one don't want to see Maumoon back. I need to see a New Maldives with fresh ideas and fresh blood in politics. I don't even like the idea of people like Zaki in the present government. They can be as advisers but I feel they had their chance and blew it.

Maybe some may see an opposition to be damaging to the present government, I see it the other way. A good opposition is who will save this government from making major mistakes and will act as a watch dog. That's very logical and I don't think need to be explained.

Recommendations to Dr. Majeed of Min. of Islamic Affairs.

2008-12-19T15:50:00.005+05:00

Dear Hon. Dr. Majeed,

Please consider the following actions to be submitted to the Parliament of the Maldives and to be brought to immediate action.

1. Block all Internet use.

If anyone want to browse they have to submit a form indicating the URL and the reason to visit the web site. After this (form) is submitted with a MRf 500 Revenue stamp this will be evaluated within 60 days.

After the approval (if approved) (s)he will be granted access to that specified URL (strictly only that URL ONLY! again ONLY).

No direct emails from outside the country without screening of the emails from the Ministry. No web mail will be granted access. Mail usage should be pre approved by the Ministry too.

All other protocols to be block! only HTTP via firewall/proxy will be allowed. This will be monitored 24/7. Access only will be granted to approved URL's.

Anyone found not following this policy will be shot dead! Before that he will be taken off his rights for being a citizen of Maldives.

... These are some of my initial recommendations. Further to this I also propose the following which need to be more detailed.

2. Block all Cable TV access. Only Arabic speaking and Ministry approved Channels will be allowed. Please note that for the approval Arabic channels is a MUST!

3. Hold all passports of all Maldivians. People needing to travel should state where they are traveling and the purpose of travel. A faith test needs to be conducted before they depart / approved for traveling. The score needs to be above 98%. On return they will again have to take a test and if results are below 98% they will be shot dead.

Thank you and I fully support your ideas and remain loyal to you and your party.

عزيزي هون. الدكتور مجيد ،

يرجى النظر في الإجراءات التالية لتقديمه إلى البرلمان للوجزر المالديف والتي ستعرض على اتخاذ إجراءات فورية.

1. منع كل استعمال الإنترنت.

وإذا كان أي شخص يريد تصفح لديهم لتقديم شكل يدل على عنوان الموقع وسبب لزيارة موقع على شبكة الإنترنت. بعد هذا (شكل) ويقدم مع MRf 500 الإيرادات الطوابع وسيتم تقييم هذا في غضون 60 يوما.

بعد الموافقة على (إذا وافقت) (ق) انه سيكون من الوصول إلى أن العنوان المحدد (بدقة إلا أن العنوان فقط! مرة أخرى فقط).

لا رسائل البريد الإلكتروني مباشرة من خارج البلاد من دون فحص رسائل البريد الإلكتروني من وزارة. لا البريد الإلكتروني وسيتم منح الوصول. وينبغي استخدام البريد قبل وافقت عليه وزارة للغاية.

جميع بروتوكولات أخرى لعرقلة! HTTP فقط عن طريق الجدار الناري / بالوكالة لن يسمح. هذا وسيتم رصد 24 / 7. وصول فقط سيكون لمنح الموافقة على عنوان 's.

العثور على أي شخص ليس بعد هذه السياسة سيكون بالرصاص! قبل انه سيتم اتخاذ قبالة حقوقه لكونه مواطن من جزر المالديف.

هذه هي بعض التوصيات الأولية بلدي. وبالإضافة إلى ذلك أقترح أيضا التالية التي ينبغي أن تكون أكثر تفصيلا.

2. عرقلة وصول جميع المحطات التلفزيونية. فقط تكلم العربية وافقت وزارة القنوات سوف يسمح. يرجى ملاحظة أن للموافقة على القنوات العربية أمر لا بد منه!

3. عقد جميع جوازات السفر للجميع الملديفيين. الناس يحتاجون إلى السفر إلى حيث ينبغي أن الدولة هي السفر والغرض من السفر. وهناك نية لاختبار احتياجات تجرى قبل سفرهن / وافقت لسفره. النتيجة تحتاج إلى فوق 98 ٪. على العودة مرة أخرى أنها سوف تتخذ لاختبار النتائج وإذا كان أقل من 98 ٪ أنها ستكون بالرصاص.

شكرا لكم وأؤيد تأييدا كاملا أفكاركم وتبقى موالية لديك ولدى الطرف.

Alternative OS's in Maldives

2008-12-17T00:13:00.001+05:00

10 years back people joked when you talked about Linux. 98% of the IT guys in Maldives and alike would not have thought of a world with out Microsoft Windows. Today things have changed.

Linux is no longer an alien OS in Maldives. It's run on many of the major companies in Maldives as application servers, DB servers, web servers and network servers (relating networking operations like firewalls, etc). While Windows is still dominant at most office environments that may change too. Examples like Resorts / Hotels might be moving to Linux too. There is many advantages to it, which I don't need to state here. The government is still reluctant to move to Linux, one major reason being lack of expertise and fear factors. I am certain that this will change soon too, once fresh blood comes in to places like NCIT.

On the desktop slowly people have started to use Linux as well. Application like Open Office can be credited for the adaptations. While the adaptation of Linux is slow Mac OS have gained a big popularity. While we still have some people who still run Windows on Mac's many use Mac OS X as the primary OS on their Mac's. I think more people are switching to Mac's these days.

While we still have those people who want to try each and every application designed for Windows in the world, who always have the excuse of CorelDRAW not running on other OS's (latest versions), etc. I guess a lot of us are looking into alternatives and sticking with them. Like we now know the sun will still rise without Maumoon, we know we can do without Windows too.

The application development methods have changed too. Mostly today we are moving to web based appliactions. Most of these applications are build on open standards and do not restrict to certain web browsers too. This is also a factor which has contributed to the change. Not everyone is a graphics designer, music composer or a gamer. For those people it's easy to switch on the desktop level. I still agree if you are a gamer Windows is the best choice.

People do often select alternatives not the defaults. One good example is firefox. If anyone has access to web server logs, or alike do look into the version of browses who hit your web space. I guess 90% and more is firefox. Which really proves a point.

Breaking News!

2008-12-09T21:26:00.001+05:00

Min. of Islamic Affairs proposes to block www.youtube.com and www.google.com

.... I mean why not?

It's funny them instructing to block certain web site(s); cos they are in Dhivehi. Do they think we can only read Dhivehi?. What about all the web sites in English?.

Anyway I think it's plan stupid to think that today in Dec 2008 people can be stopped from access to information. For me blocking web sites is just stupid. I think Islamic extremism is more a threat then fearing Maldivians will convert to Christianity (just by reading a web site written in Dhivehi). Maybe the people who made those decisions can only read Dhivehi?. If anyone wants to convert I don't think the choice will be just only based on a stupid web site. Come on. Is this is kind of thinking we voted for?

The next funny part is the people whom we expect to raise this (the so called politicans) won't talk about these things in public. Reason being they fear to be labled as pro christian. It's not about religion here; it's about basic human rights and standing up against plan stupid things in this political areana.

Software Piracy a Crime ??

2008-12-05T19:54:00.000+05:00

It's no big deal in Maldives, everyone uses pirated software. Starting from the games that the kids play to the OS and software's used in the government. It is not considered to be "THEFT". There is no respect for Intellectual Property rights here in Maldives. Simply this does not exist and no one is concerned. It's a damn shame ; ethically this is totally wrong. I know 98% of the people in this country either would not give a jacks ass about it or would be against this idea of intellectual property rights. However my thoughts are very different on this subject to most.

Among the disadvantages we face today include that some technology providers simply refuse to come into Maldives. I have had cases where the legal department of such companies has raised concerns over lack of adequate Intellectual Property, copyright and patent protection laws in the Maldives.

Here we are talking about the financial problems we face today. We can't provide proper housing and other development due to the lack of funds, etc. We fully depend our economy on tourism and fishing. There is no thoughts on other means like technology. Look at India, they export technology and generate high revenues which we all know. Today some of the leading companies in the world are technology companies, like Microsoft, Oracle, Google and so many others. This is enough to conclude that investing on technology has major returns financially. I am in no way saying here in Maldives we can create another Google. I've seen and worked with companies in Sri Lanka who are exporting technology, and I always ask myself why not we?. Why is that our investors don't see such things or our governments encourage this. We don't need oil wells, or other natural resources to generate revenues. All it takes is dedicated and creative people, and investing on these people with a broader vision for the future. The starting point is the education system. Today it's a shame. Our parents are happy to know they teach computers in the school. What do they know? Teaching kids to use MS Paint and MS Word is not the type of education that we should be looking at. What are all the knowing and great minds of our nation thinking. Someone needs to kick them in the ass and tell them they are f**king us up?.

To start off; I feel it's important to make the people realize that software has a value, it's just like any other goods that you buy from any other shop. People should respect that and stop being thieves. That realization helps the people to understand and accept the importance of this industry. It can't be achieved by a few "keyna bahlha" like me or just one person. We have such potential kids in this nation, who really could make things a lot better for the future of this small country. People just need to help these kids and provide them with opportunities. They need to be managed and marketed. Most of all they need to be trusted and valued.

e-voting in present Maldives

2008-12-01T23:02:00.000+05:00

I've seen some news on www.haveeru.com.mv indicating that the elections commission is considering e-voting. My view is this will be a very stupid move at this stage in time and holds too many unknown risks. To start off we all know there is obvious problems with national registration, while these issues still exist moving to e-voting simply makes things worse. From the last round of presidential elections I am not very confident with the IT capabilities and the reliability of the databases hosted by elections commission. They still remain to be addressed.

I am also against any voting (electronic voting) system which does not have a paper trail. Meaning if anything goes wrong, or any disputes come up; there should be a paper trail to verify the votes. Just only depending on an electronic vote is not good enough at this stage, especially when that is done over the Internet.

Also there was indication about users having a user id and a password. If so would the commission hold any records on who I voted for?. In other words will those id's be linked to the votes they caste in anyway like stored in a database, etc. If so such a system cannot be accepted.

Lastly, any such system should be fully open source. The full source code of such a system should be published to the public. This is to make the system fully transparent.

Before even considering all of the above, we need to verify that the identity information of the Maldivians are accurate and have no flows. I have seen many repeated records of same individual during the last round. This is totally not acceptable, no excuses to this. If the elections commission so much looking to automate and have an e-voting system, they should move step by step. Trying to take the people for a rise using technology as a means is not the right way. Just cos most people are not aware of technology, using it for such sensitive tasks is purely taking advantage of them. That's my view. Now views may differ.

Personal Departure (for real)

2008-11-28T22:33:00.001+05:00

It's never easy to say good bye to somethings. Things that you have worked hard for and some environments. However there comes a time when you should always move on and say bye. I guess that time is here for me too.

I want to get back to working in Male' and involve myself with some personal projects. Working in Hulhumale' for almost 4 years never been easy. Staying away from Male' puts you in a lot of disadvantage. I've managed to live with them and have got used to it too but I think I sacrifice a lot of things as well. Got some few projects lined up and I think it's time to take them up.

I think I need to start planing to get things sorted in a month or two. Kinda feeling all excited and geared up.

Sayonara....

Whats Next?

2008-11-14T10:49:00.001+05:00

The past few months everyday it's was about politics. I think it's time for me to put the focus back to work and other responsibilities. I guess we need to give the new incoming government time for them to prove themselves. I won't be expecting for things to change overnight. There is firstly a lot of cleanup's to be done.

Best thing for someone like me would be to get focus back to my work and contribute where I can. If I face any difficulties in my field or area of interest raise it. The government involvements in some key areas of my interest is essential and I plan to seek to fix them to the best of my abilities. A lot of help an attention is needed, but so is for a lot of areas. This is the challenge. First to get attention, then to get them involved. We also might need to create some pressure/focus groups who agrees on certain common things before anything. My view is that the involvement of individuals from the private sectors is really important. One good example is the IT areas, I believe and it's proven that the government lacks enough expertise and experience in these areas. Contributions from the experience of the private sectors will definitely make a difference. Until today this was never done. As a result we saw that the very basic things like our national registration data was in a big mess. We would have easily automated the whole process of voting, etc. My fear is if the incoming government would ignore these factors and would only try to bring in consultants from outside the country. This is something I support, however I feel local involvements along with these consultants will only be the key to success of such projects.

In the political arena as I posted previously the tables have turned. I guess we should leave DRP and the other opposition to criticize/joke, write songs, make web sites, etc. Let them focus on individuals and us on a system. I think only a few of them will really want to contribute (hope that changes). But that is good, we really need an opposition to have a proper democracy, they are as important as the ruling party. Our focus should be on improving things and to reach to that common dream we have. We have the advantage of the bitter experiences from the past and the willingness to improve and help.

Though the change is here we must not forget what we stood up for. We should never try to be like "them". We should always stand up against things like cronyism, nepotism this leads to corruption and division. The "aneh Dhivehi raaje" is not here yet, even though a lot of us say "Welcome to aneh Dhivehi raaje". My view is it is still a dream that we need to work for and archive.

Le Roi est mort, vive le Roi!

2008-11-11T16:09:00.001+05:00

"The King is dead. Long live the King!" .... ? I hope not!, with that hope we voted. With that hope we stood up against the impossible. Today we made it, we made it because some people never gave up. Some people always believed in democracy and freedom. Most of all there were people who wanted a better life, and thought "enough is enough". I hope this dream lives on, nothing ended with winning the election. The journey to full fill those dreams just started. The delivery of those promises still remain.

It's time we individuals started to contribute where we can. It's time to move on from just criticizing to acting. Things don't change in a day or two, or even months. It will take us years to clean up and rebuild. If we expect that responsibility only to be taken up by a few individuals this is never gonna happen. As a nation we have to take that responsibility and each and every individual needs to understand this.

I feel the role of a responsible opposition party will play an major role. However that opposition party has to have good intentions, rather then just claiming power. It has to work for the people not a "few" individual interests. Presently some of us back different parties due to family ties or other reasons; it's never about the "people". This is the kind of thinking that we need to erase but it's never really going to get eliminated totally. We need to understand those facts too as we move on.

I wish the new government all the best and would like to remind them that things just got started. I am sure they understand this more then anyone of us. Personally like many people I hope we get a solution to the current housing issues. I feel this is one of the key factors. The previous government failed badly on us on this issue. Today some of us slave all day and the hard earned money is totally spend on accommodation while the others still have to share with the families. I don't think the previous government really cared for this; or maybe they took advantage of this point to earn money. Which ever way it was today I expect a "Change" to this. If not again we have to hit the streets shouting "Golhaaboa". I promise this will happen, at the same time I do not expect the solution to come to us overnight too.

To conclude for those who still think Anni "does not have the presidential looks or manners" I suggest that they also move the focus on his promises rather then his looks and what he eats and drinks. If still you feel how he looks like is an issue to you; you need help. Seriously I mean it, here we are struggling to survive: feed our kids and find shelter and there you are talking about some guys looks. Kind of odd don't you think?.

Maruhabaa

2008-10-29T07:14:00.000+06:00

It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life...for me...and i'm feeling good.

Same words ; "Vote for Change"

2008-10-27T13:01:00.000+06:00

If expressing how you feel is being political, then most of today have become political. However that's not how I see it today. Most of us are standing up for our future and against the injustice and corruption. There are also others who try to compare people and maybe judging the judgment that we are making. Again I believe if there is anything to compare it comes down to two things. Not two people.

1. A 30 years old Dictatorship
2. A Change

I'd go with the last option. It's in no way a vote given to Anni. It's a vote given for "Change" and saying "NO" to the injustice and corruption. In my view if I vote for Maumoon I would be endorsing the brutal 30 years and the corruption that has happened over the 30 years. If I say yes to him, I would be ripping off the future of so many of us, and part of those who have lost it. Those friends of mine who have lost their lives, those who have suffered in jail and by the injustice of the present system. I would not do that, and I hope none of us would.

Voting for Maumoon, or not standing up against him means that you approve of him. Approve of all the wrong and sufferings that we have gone through. Approve of the present situation that we live in. It cannot get any more logical than that. I don't see it any other way. I've seen tears in peoples eyes, I've seen people suffer, I've heard of the sorrowful tales of torture. I've seen how a others live, and have an idea where we could have been.

This fight will go on. It won't stop today or tomorrow. Vote for Change!

Vote for "Hope"

2008-10-22T12:34:00.000+06:00

Here we stand united for a change. Here we stand wondering about our future. Here we stand confused about some of our brothers and sisters. Hope is all we have, and I am willing move ahead with that hope. Not standing up against anyone; just standing up for myself, my family and my friends. It's about me, my future. Like it is for the "others". I respect that, but lets put up a fair fight for what we believe in.

It's hard to change some people; like the "woman in the houses". I tried to understand them and the conclusion I came to was very simple. They know, but they don't want to admit. They don't want to admit that someone played with their lives for years an years. Worst of all destroyed the future of their children. End of the day who is to be blamed?, it's them. they who voted for him. It's hard to admit that they destroyed their own future. They simply cannot take this fact and are in denial. So I guess I won't even try, it will only give them more pain in their old age. It's not an easy guilt to carry around. Rather they'd watch "Kasotee" and the alike. Go with that flow and live in that box. A few will only give up and face the reality. It's sad but that's the truth.

The other type of "others" are who don't have much of a choice. They have lived off the system, and are living off the system. All they have; the power, the fame and the security is provided by the system. By "the one"; they don't have a choice. They have to back him up. It's a choice between loose it all or stand-up for what is right. Not many will choose the last option. It's easy to find an excuse to justify our stand and support the system. We all love our family, and won't want to see a future where they are taken to trial, etc. We must accept this too. It's a few of us, but they too are our friends and people we know, we should not alienate them or judge them. Maybe they too wish for the good of us; and understand what we are crying for. However if they have to choose; it's not an easy choice as well. At times it takes a lot of balls to accept or reject. Some of us did, some of us won't.

I don't want to debate on nifty details on the choices we have. It's very clear to me; I need a change and I had had enough. I don't see a bright future with the existing system that we have and I want to give the opposition a chance for hope. I fully support the idea of change. Why the change?. The answer is simple; I am not happy with the present system and have lost faith in the leadership. I believe we could do better, I believe we need fresh way of thinking. It's not about religion, or power to me. It's about a better life and more secure future. Maybe for different people they may see it in different ways. Today I don't know my future, what will happen to me when I get old. I don't know if I will be capable to take care of my parents when they grow old and are sick in bed. For me my choice is clear; I'd invest on a cyanide tablet and save it for future. When I grow old and loose hope, just pop the pill. That's the kind of future I see today here in "This Maldives"; "Mi raahjeyga".

They say this is the "sunny side of life", I say this is the "funny side of life". It is funny, and I mean it. We boast about GDP, and the development and yet we struggle so hard everyday. Our people don't have any hope; we just live for today. After we save 15,000 MRf, we invest on an iPhone and rest of the month don't even fill our patrol tanks. We have developed a culture where we simply don't care for our future. Why? Maybe simply because we don't have any "hope". Look around you; ask your friends and family. It is really depressing but we try to ignore that over a coffe' and a few smoke. Think about it. We have so much problems at homes, at work everywhere. Most we just choose to ignore.

Some may challenge our intelligence and try to label us as fools, but we are just standing up for what we believe is right. Not what our parents and others influence us to. Maybe they want us to be the zombies and just clap to their speeches. This won't happen anymore those days are over, no matter who wins this election. They may still have the power to play with our lives, but we won't go down easily. The same mistake that our parents and uncles did we won't make today.

Maybe again; this is just my view and I may not be aware of the "real good life" that our system has got to offer. The new heights that we can climb on to, but as of today "I just wonder". On 28th I'd act. I'd again vote for hope; cos I won't give up on that hope that things will someday improve for the better.

Maldivians have a short term memory

2008-10-07T21:59:00.000+06:00

Like the football mania ; vote mania is here. Like always every Maldivian has transformed to be a political analyst and a freedom fighter. Which is good, it's our right and our future. I think this is the way to go. However at the same time; many of those who said "we don't give a fuck about politics", also are in the race now. Most of these people including some educated fools seem to have forgotten the past. Not just few years back history, but even things that happened few months back. This is really impressive, either we are so "forgive and forget" type or we are just plan stupid.

30 years back our parents and grand parents fell for a few points. Same points are raised today with different names and faces.

It does not matter who you vote for; as long as you know the choice you make is the right one. At the same time be responsible. Maybe the vote you give is for your relative, friend or neighbor. Or maybe your father-in-laws friend. Are these the reasons we should base our votes on?. I feel it should be for the right reason and cause, for the country not for our own benefit or good . It's not the "presidential" looks that we should be looking for, or a list of promises. It's time to base our votes on "trust" factor, to someone whom you know will fix things and you can depends on. For me this is important; I don't want someone who will wake up one day and would tell us "from today we are communists". Anyone can come on the stage and can run power point slides and make promises. Coming up with figures and documents is no big deal; we all can do that. "Talks" we had, had enough of. Is that what still we should be looking for?.

As for me I will not vote for anyone whom I feel I can't trust. They have to prove it to us with time, and history does matter here. If you say what was in the past is in the past; I openly say to those people go vote for Mr. Maumoon. He is the best choice if you are looking for experience and looks, etc. Why even consider anyone else; if that's what you are looking for. If you don't feel that way; then you should take a look at the list of the candidates and decide. Maybe in time we will trust some of the candidates, but now for me I simply can't trust most of the people on the list. Not at this stage, not unless they really prove beyond just words. I am sorry, but that's how it works for me.

Dr. Hassan is someone I've known from his time in Malaysia, so is Jameel. I never liked Dr. Shaheed and I never knew him personally. However is associations with the existing governments gave me real bad impression of him. I know from a few friends his parts in the web sites like factmaldives.com and others alike. I am not sure I true they are, but we all know he was one of the key figures of the system they oppose so strongly now. For me to trust them will take time. I hope they understand this. Maybe some of his supports; that includes many of my friends have forgotten those days or just don't know. Maybe they are good people and forgiven or justified those doings. That's ok; I respect them. I feel Dr. Hassan has got good plans and have some good people backing him. For me not this time, maybe next time (if he decided to stay in Maldives and survive the nation) I will vote for him.

For me it comes down to Anni and Ibra. I trust these two people. They have always said the same thing and worked for the same objective. If I vote for Anni; I will be voting for MDP; for the movement for the cause. If I vote for Ibra I will be voting for a good character; who says the right thing and has a vision and a proven track record. So my vote will go for one of them.

As for Maumoon; the simple reason why I won't vote for him very simple. He was the president for 30 years and yet I feel we the people suffer. I don't need to talk about the rest of the people, I just have to look at my own self. I have a decent job and a family. However I cannot afford to rent a two room apartment in Male', or save for the future of my kids or my retirement. Cost of living is rocket high, whole of youth is gone into hard drugs, level of education in the country is so bad, not much opportunities for youth here and basically there is no real life for us. We just live, work , drink coffee , ride a bike and die. I need a better life; or at least I wish for a better one. Maybe Maumoon is capable and will give us that day, but I guess he had his time. Asking for more is not fair in my point of view. Plus I belive "LOGICALLY" in a democratic system individuals are not given more then 2 terms of service. There is a reason why this law is implemented ; there is a logic behind this. Maybe the smart law makers and the well educated people of our country do not feel so, but I do. I feel why this is implemented in many countries is for a reason, and we totally ignored that "logic". Maybe by the book he can stand up as a candidate; which is right. Maybe.. but my logic does not say thats following democratic ways. Anyway nothing we can do about it, no one was good enough to come and fight for that point or bring it up. So let it be.. bottom line is I won't vote for Maumoon cos I wish to give others a chance and hope for a better future. He have contributed where he can; so lets thank him and say bye too. Some of my friends will vote for him; I respect them too and I understand the reasons as well.

Gasim; I don't think he really cares for the people the way he claims. I will not trust a business men to be our leader. That's as simple as that. That once again I say for the Laura. I don't know any of my friends who will vote for Gasim and I would not even understand why..

The results; I don't know. Maybe Maumoon and Anni will lead this things. One of them will win it too. Lets hope for the best.

Vote Market

2008-09-23T03:14:00.000+06:00

No matter how many statements or interviews are given, we cannot disagree to the fact that presently there exists a vote market in Maldives. Trading have started and I am not sure about the current market value. I have been told by many that "Business is good". Many are involved in the trade, many making investments too.

No matter how clean you would want to make it; it simply won't. The reality is politics is dirty and money is part of it. Who wins at the end of the day is totally a different story.

Should we stand up against this? if so against who?. The buyer or the seller?. There is no way to stop this. There can be many methods involved, direct money is one of them. Asking for returns on what people did for others is another (by financial means and others), etc.

There is nothing wrong with it; logically you are selling your votes anyway. To whom ever you feel will give you the best deal. Maybe someone who would give you and your kids a better future, security, etc. As a candidate you need to "buy"/win the trust of the people. Maybe this is the right approach but how many Maldivians will consider those factors?. I am not sure, I have no answer.

Only thing I know is that the biggest benefit out of such a democratic system goes to the business community. To narrow it down; to the Maldivian business companies and individuals who are backing the candidates. Some may want to strongly come out and justify this; but I don't care. My view is simple. We don't have many candidates out there who can "fix" even 20% of the wrong and suffering here. Everyone (most) have some "hope(s)" alone.

I too like many, would also have to conclude with the common and general statement which is "Insha Allah, Insha Allah"...

Change we need?

2008-09-22T11:03:00.000+06:00

This might very possibly be the kind of "change" we might be getting if we decide on the wrong person.

Source: digg.com

DO

2008-09-21T02:51:00.001+06:00

I can't think of any other title. Back in 2005 I posted this (website of the year 2004) . Since then we come a long way. A lot have changed and so much that most of us even have forgot the recent history. Basic ideologies, theories and ethics have been redefined. All in the name of "Change".

Today officially the website which have played a major role in the "Change" process is also changed. Maybe it's not a change for some; for others it is. I don't know where to place my view. I would say it does not matter. Sappe' always was close to Mr. Gasim and it's no surprise to me. For people who are against the idea; I would say why are you so disappointed?. Anyway today some people refuse to believe that Internet played a major role in this reform process but I strongly stand against that statement. I like to believe that all this started off from the Internet. Sappe' of DO had his contribution too. That needs to be acknowledged. His choice is his freedom, we should respect that regardless of our own belief and views. Maybe I never fully agreed with the method of name calling and all the cartoons but guess that did work for the people of Maldives. There was some entertainment, jokes, news, etc. I know a few people who only went on the Internet just to read DO. Many other web sites followed DO to counter attack DO, which proved that DO did have an impact. Anyway I guess we are almost at the end of that stage of media. Things have evolved a bit, more blogs are up. People expressing the individual views, etc. I guess this is a better direction then with anonymous names.

Sappe' has officially published a press release endorsing Gasim Ibrahim.

Another movement has started off in the name of New Dhivehi Observer. (the yellow color bar at the top says to me it's backed by MDP supporters)

Now it's more like the kids have grown and the business is split.

However I like to believe that popularity of these kind of web sites will fade in a few months and new media will take over. Introduction of new TV, Radio and Newspapers have certainly started to change things. I guess it's time to thank the people on all sides (gov and opposition) for the time, entertainment and wish them luck. Though this is not the end of political news on the Internet I guess the days of DO and alike are over. Thank you.

iPhone or Android?

2008-09-20T13:53:00.000+06:00

I guess this will be a choice we have to make soon. With Google leading the Android platform, Google has teamed up with 34 companies (including Motorola, HTC, T-Mobile and chipmaker Qualcomm) under what’s been dubbed the Open Handset Alliance to manufacture a number of different phones that will run the Android operating system.

Maybe the Apple iPhone still lacks a lot of "normal mobile phone" features but that did not stop the iPhone. The user interface is one of the plus points of the iPhone, with the new iPhone 3G it's one of the best hand held internet devices. These are somethings that the Android would need to be good at. I guess the biggest advantage for the Android based phones is the openness. The Android software stack is expected to provide handset makers and wireless operators an open platform they can use to develop innovative applications. One other factor will be the looks. Presently the iPhone has just one look, however the Android based phones are expected to have different looks from different vendors.

I personally don't feel that Google will be able to hype the Android platform has much as Apple did with the iPhones. The Android based phones will take time to be accepted in the market and it will speak for itself.

The way I see it end of the day, it's more a competition to the Windows mobiles then the iPhones. So lets see ...

Mr. Experience ?

2008-09-19T03:25:00.002+06:00

Lately I have been hearing talks by some people about "experience" on the presidential campaign topic. They say one candidate has got experience which is the key. I say screw them. Now why do I say so? Here is why.

Like many others I think experience is not the keyword here. It's good judgment. What good is experience if you can't make the right choices. Let me be very basic and simple here, lets go way back a few years when the the roads of Male' where being constructed. First they (whoever they/he is) use cement and coral , then that did not work, then the bricks, now back to the tar. So we finally decided that for the new developments like Hulhumale', the tar roads are the best. They (whoever they/he is) finally learned from experience. Good very good. But my question here is did we not have those tar roads in Gan, did we not know of them?. Did we have to waste so much money to come to this point, waste so much resources and time and in the process destroy our environment too?. Was this the right choice? or the right judgment? This is a simple example. (anyway the argument here is not about roads..)

I don't need to debate on this, it's a stupid argument. Furthermore we also don't need someone who takes 30 years to learn and understand us. That's half of one mans life time. That's too long a time to give for a leader for leadership training. We already done that, and the results are obviously not good. We need fresh blood, fresh ideas. We had enough bad experience to know what is right and what is wrong. The experience which these people talk about each and everyone of us had our shares in it for the past 30 years. It's not just "that one man" who got the experience, we the people had the better share of that experience. So "old farts in their late 40's and above" don't talk to us about the experience factor. You guys brought this down on us, and from you we have got enough experience. For 30 years you guys have failed us with your votes and support, now we need a change. We don't need a change from you, we need to change you.

iPhone 3G speed tests

2008-09-17T21:52:00.001+06:00

Below are the average speed test results for a few countries using iPhone 3G (source is http://www.testmyiphone.com)

Finland (355.54 kbps)
France (480.51 kbps)
Great Britain (1072.3 kbps)
Hong Kong (653.97 kbps)
Italy (723.71 kbps)
India (343.25 kbps)
Spain (612.02 kbps)
United States (795.77 kbps)

I tested here in Male' and got the following result..

According to which our current speed is at 704 kbps. Which is in comparison very good.

Presidential Q & A : My views.

2008-09-04T03:10:00.004+06:00

This was good. A few years back we would not have thought that we will witness such a day. It was not long back; even if you state the name "Maumoon" (even behind closed doors) you should fear for your life. Days have changed now. Tonight we saw 6 presidential candidates live on TV expressing freely and openly. This is major achievement; however this is result of a lot of sacrifice and hard work of a lot of Maldivians.

Everyone heard the candidates; it's up to us to judge now. It's our own freedom and right to choose. As for me, two of them are already out of my vote. The pick is still not easy. I would short list Ibra, Hassan and Anni. Umar had good policies, however I am not very sure about this and if he can execute. I saw Hassan showed good qualities tonight and proved he can talk and lead. Ibra was strong, as for Anni he was being too poetic and could have done better. I did notice that Anni did not bring himself to display him as the president; but more the image he tried to show was if the MDP candidate got to lead kind of an image. He was very much representing the party; rather them himself. Which I think was good and I appreciated that. Lately people were accusing him of being power hungry, but in his talks he displays that he only represents MDP and working for MDP. I don't know if many will appreciate that.

Gasim was nothing close to anyone. I think if ranked he would win the 6th place but then again his words does not matter to people who have decided to vote for him.

Hassan tried to prove the allegations against him regarding Islam was wrong, by reciting from the holy Quran and quoting from Mohamed (PBH). I guess that worked.

Maumoon tried to bring the point not to point and talk about the last 30 years and think ahead. At the same time he talked about 30 years before stuff. Maumoon's point was when he took office Maldives did not have a proper education, health system, etc. Which will work with some stupid Maldivians. I guess my view on it is, 30 years back what was the population, what was the income we get. Then see what we were provided with. If he was referring to president Nasir, I guess he does not have much to say in that regard. Nasir; laid the foundation for today's economical developments like the airport, tourism, etc. I guess back then Maumoon was not very much in favour of Tourism, but takes credit for the tourism we have today. What we really need to think about is compared to what we get today what benefits did the general population get?. It's nothing close to where we should have been, and where we could be. True there are developments. With time that would have come anyway; but then again the real question should be is this the best we could have had?.

Anyway I guess it was very obvious that difference we saw tonight between Gasim, Maumoon and the rest of the guys. We need to get rid of these old guys and bring new blood and fresh thinking into this nation. If I have a say I would look for Anni and Hassan to team up, this would make them both strong. It's not about who can be the president; it's about 'us' the people and the 'change' we need. They need to stop fighting and set aside the differences and team up. I don't think Ibra would agree for such an alliance, but if he would that would make more sense too. Between the three of them if two of them team up that would sure change things a lot. Now is the time to fight for the people, for a better Maldives, it's not about who gets the title. They need to understand that.

The best part of the Q & A was the 'Bridge' by Maumoon. That was shocking. I did not really get pissed by that same old trick; but more it was really entertaining. We already have one Bridge between Villigili and Male', tonight I enjoyed the 2nd one. The view was excellent when I was in sea house having a coffee'.

Emperor of the Galaxy.

2008-09-01T06:33:00.004+06:00

Vader continues over looking into the space then wonders again. "This is one thing my master and I have always shared: a common penchant for a scenic view". Only difference is the throne and the name "Emperor". The view is Impressive. Most impressive. The day is here; Darth Vader has broken away to fulfill his destiny. No longer serves his master, but always impressed and inspired by him.

He was interrupted by the lieutenant who came in to report the terrorist fleet; which does not hold much meaning to Darth Vader. His mission now is to conquer the Death Star, not to worry about the rebels and the low men...... The Jedi's are no longer a threat; Master Qui-Gon Jinn and Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi no longer fight as one.

"Your service will be remembered, and rewarded," spoke Darth Vader . The Lieutenant bowed his head and walks out. As Lord Vader continued his lunch with leek soup and toss salad. He usually takes his meals alone in his chambers, as he enjoyed the view.

Past reference from my previous post from May 2007..

Barack Obama; Democratic Convention Speech

2008-08-29T13:28:00.002+06:00

I know so many of you already head it, seen it and read it... however here it is again just for the record (post for historical reasons)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/28/barack-obama-democratic-c_n_122224.html

For those of you who did not check it out. This is inspiring and makes you wonder why we don't have people like Obama in nation(s) like ours.

Some of the key things which we should also think about from his speech (for me) are..

Tonight, I say to the American people, to Democrats and Republicans and Independents across this great land - enough! This moment - this election - is our chance to keep, in the 21st century, the American promise alive. Because next week, in Minnesota, the same party that brought you two terms of George Bush and Dick Cheney will ask this country for a third. And we are here because we love this country too much to let the next four years look like the last eight. On November 4th, we must stand up and say: "Eight is enough."

For me I'd change the numbers and names and apply for my vote in my country.

For over two decades, he's subscribed to that old, discredited Republican philosophy - give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society, but what it really means is - you're on your own. Out of work? Tough luck. No health care? The market will fix it. Born into poverty? Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps - even if you don't have boots. You're on your own.

Well it's time for them to own their failure. It's time for us to change America.

You see, we Democrats have a very different measure of what constitutes progress in this country.

We measure progress by how many people can find a job that pays the mortgage; whether you can put a little extra money away at the end of each month so you can someday watch your child receive her college diploma. We measure progress in the 23 million new jobs that were created when Bill Clinton was President - when the average American family saw its income go up $7,500 instead of down $2,000 like it has under George Bush.

We measure the strength of our economy not by the number of billionaires we have or the profits of the Fortune 500, but by whether someone with a good idea can take a risk and start a new business, or whether the waitress who lives on tips can take a day off to look after a sick kid without losing her job - an economy that honors the dignity of work.

Those are the kind of words I long to hear from my leaders. However unfortunately I know we don't have such kind of people (or rather leaders). Sad but true.

To conclude I'd like to note this one which was in his speech that, "the change we need doesn't come from Washington. Change comes to Washington.". Interpret it which ever way you want; for me it's very simple. "Change" means "CHANGE", total change of ideas and faces.

Money, Politics

2008-08-23T16:06:00.000+06:00

Politics and Money go along very well. This is true to all nations, ours is no exception. Skinned by nationalistic talks or 'Huhbul vatan' speeches; a lot of times there is a shades of green.

I wonder how much money will be dumped to buy votes this time. Some will switch sides to please the bosses, some will switch sides in hope that they will get some benefit by standing by a group, etc. This is a nice show to watch. 'Change' is the keyword today. Change for what? better or worse; I have no clue nor does many.

One thing I will be sure is no matter whom I vote for nothing much will change for the good. At least not in the next 10 years. I think we are in for a major crisis. It's already bad and it's not improving. They say 30 years back there was no electricity, 30 years back few people were educated. I say 30 years back their hair was not gray or white too. Some things are bound to happen; does not mean some people can take all the credit for those things. Furthermore it's not a favour that they have done on us; it's a must. It's the responsibility and job of the leadership. Who ever it maybe. The question should be how well that job was carried out? next question will be how well it will be maintained/sustained and improved?. Today we are at a point where there is so much social issues, like basic health care and housing issues, etc. How well were they addressed. Could we have done a better job; was this the best we could have had? These should be the questions that should be asked. Next question will be; will it get worse in the future. Will the so called "Change" that we seek make things better?. I sure hope so, but I want to know before I decide my vote. I want to see a clear roadmap, I don't want to gamble. If not I won't vote. I don't want to vote based on face or name. No matter who he/they are.

The sad thing I know is; even if I have those idea's it does not matter. Votes will be sold and bought. The people who will be willing to spend the most stand the higest chance. It's sad, but thats how it will be. I hope there will be a few who will at least think before they will vote. It's not a choice you make for your ownself. It's a choice you make for the future of a lot of people. We have to be responsible when this choice is made.

progress and prosperity

2008-08-19T03:27:00.001+06:00

Tonight I took a walk and decided to rest and have a smoke near the 'Masvaringe park'. While I was sitting near a 'Dhoni' an old man approached. He sounded really polite and asked me if I worked for the Dhoni behind me. He wanted to know if he can sleep in it; since it was kinda of rainy. When I told him it had nothing to do with me and would be best if he asked the people who were sleeping in it. Then he requested if I would ask those guys for him; he was shy requesting that from me. I could tell that from his tone. I did all I can, but unfortunately poor man was not allowed on it. Finally he thanked me and told me he'd sleep on a bench and if it rained he'd find some way. I walked back home to my bed. Here I am blogging about it knowing I could not help and worst of all the rest of the country is happy about the progress we made in the last few decades.

I guess I should thank those people for that. The whole generation of people who are in their 40's /50's and 60's who made this happen. I won't blame one individual for all the bad things which is here and all the good things which could have happened to this nation. The responsibility should be taken collectively by the whole generation of 'bodu kaafu' people. Thank you once again. Good night.

Mobile social networking

2008-08-16T03:23:00.001+06:00

Much like web based social networking, mobile social networking occurs in "Virtual communities". Basically this can be implemented in two ways. We all are very familiar with the existing web based social networks like facebook or twitter. The same portals are extended to the mobiles, via WAP, MMS, SMS and other means such as Java, BREW, etc. The advantage is you don't need to be always online near a PC to be connected to social networking portals. You can tweet about something while you are walking, post a video or a picture as it happens to facebook, all are examples of advantages on mobile social networking. Fortunately today we have this here with us, with some services you don't need to be depended on the operator for others you do. Example you can tweet via SMS with all operators in Maldives (until recently twitter decided to make tweeting one way... still you can send your tweets to twitters UK number via SMS). Other examples include take a picture/video and MMS to mobile@facebook.com which gets updated into your facebook account, or send notes to notes@facebook.com again via MMS.

Other method include social networks limited within the operators. These are limited to the operator you are using and the methods vary. Maybe over SMS/MMS, WAP or simply via Java based applications, etc. It's been exciting to watch such communities grow and watching people adopt these technologies in Maldives.

Digg and Politics

2008-07-28T01:45:00.000+06:00

Recently www.digg.com the popular source of news for geeks has been taken over by John McCain and Barack Obama. Its understood as many of the diggers are from the states and the presidential election is of high concern.

This election is different in many ways compaired to the rest; in a sense that the internet has played a major role in influensing hot tops. www.digg.com is no excuse. For the rest of us I guess it's important too. As 'who wins' does matter and will influense our lives too. Maybe this is one reason why the topic is hot and so many follow these news.

Talking of election our own local election is due soon too. It's not so compatitive as I assumed it would be which is/was a bit of a disappointment. My only request to who ever wins is "don't f*ck us up"! It's short but that's all I have to say on the topic.

Mobile Banking

2008-07-12T21:18:00.001+06:00

The World Bank has approved a US$7.7 million credit to Government of Maldives designed to improve access to financial services by allowing users to access any bank account using their mobile phone.

I sometimes wonder if this is worth it. However I am sure people who know better have approved these funding and project has started off.

My personal view is when it comes to mobile banking , I see two parts in it

1. Mobile Network Operator(s)
2. Bank(s)

Those are the ingredients needed. The investment can be made by the two (MNO and the Bank) on agreeable terms and it can be easily implemented. Bringing in a middle party does not serve a practical purpose (looking at present trends).

BML has successfully launched internet banking and present mobile operators have other infrastructures (or invest a bit on it) which easily should be able to implement a mobile banking platform. Its true maybe trying to involve ALL the banks needs a regulator or a clearing house; but question is how practical is it. We don't pay using SBI , BOC and Habeeb Bank Cards, etc to Point of Sales terminals at shops and other EFT points. However we are dreaming of getting that done with mobiles, its good (in a way). Maybe its being fair (on all Banks) but is the US$7.7 million justifiable?. Maybe it is, or I am missing somethings here. However this is my view on it. I still feel it would be more practical if BML and the local mobile operators got along to implement mobile banking / mobile commerce.

Mobile 2.0

2008-06-28T14:23:00.000+06:00

We all have been living through the web 2.0 for a while (even though different people define web 2.0 in different ways). Now the focus is on the mobiles. Web 2.0 for me has brought about a major change; which for me is the ability to develop applications to the web very much like the conventional applications. Its not just one technology which have enabled the change; but a convergence of many.

At a time when the dot com boom has ended and still many companies seek to become the next youtube and google; the focus is slowly changing. For every internet connection in the world; there is ten or more mobile phones. Obviously there are more mobile users and we are already starting to realize this and trying to bring the same technology on the web to the mobile. Mobile 2.0 is more then accessing internet with broadband speeds and better browsers. For me mobile 2.0 is much more then that.

Furthermore at a time when operators are looking into more ways of increasing the ARPU and mobile value added service providers are coming up with more services there is an increasing competition in this arena. Obviously the charges on basic voice is dropping and might even become totally free; the focus is on data. with the introduction of services like HSDPA access to high speed data will soon become a reality to a lot people world wide.

Past year or so I have been very much involved in mobile VAS arena, and I have met a lot of service providers and from what I can tell; there is going to be a lot of new exciting things which is on the way. Soon we are about to experience a convergence and offering multimedia specialties on the mobile in a way which we never would have thought of. The introduction of devices such as apple iPhones is strong indication to the road ahead.

Vote for Nobody

2008-06-11T11:12:00.000+06:00

I found this pic while browsing through reddit and thought its a good one....

Steve has taken the stage

2008-06-09T23:31:00.002+06:00

I never expected this, but my guess is the iPhone hype did not end.. it just started. As I blog I am listening to the live audio feed of WWDC.

Seems Apple iPhone just become the next best thing. So far I did not want to own one. But now I do. Its come a long way "Starting with enterprise. Exchange support out of the box -- push email / contacts / calendars, auto-discovery, global address book, remote wipe."; thats just a few I guess... "Core Services includes everything from a complete database layer to core location, for easily building location-based functionality into applications. Also a very fast implementation of OpenGL." .. those are few comments from live bloggers.

Seems Apple is providing with a damn good STK for developers of iPhone, enabling or facilitating easy and great application development platform. This will result in loads of cools app's. Which will really matter with such a cool device like iPhone.

So guys I say the iPhone mania just started.

Update

1) 3G network support 2) Enterprise support 3) Third party application support 4) More countries (joking about unlocked iPhones in countries not officially supported) 5) More affordable 6) GPS

Now now the best part...

Started at $599 for an 8GB iPhone, now $399. The iPhone 3G 8GB will sell for... $199.

Naviyani

2008-06-07T05:17:00.006+06:00

I remember the comments 'Bulhaa vakiahlhaa fa' (ބުޅާ ވަކިއަޅާފަ) when referring to my hand writing in dhivehi/thaana. Back then I just thought well what the hack, I just can't improve on it and I never even tried.

Well; what the hack. The script we see today is not original anyway. It was a form of script which has been adopted by us to become more 'Abaric' like. I don't know for what reason. Thaana as we all know came after Gabulhi Thaana and before that we had Dhives Akuru. Dhives Akuru looked something very close to Sinhala or Indic letters. Or maybe the origins were Tamil.

Anyway Thaana was another one of the moves; where we the Maldivians wanted to become more holy and related to Arabia. Well, that's just my view. So I wonder if the transformation is complete now?.

The missing links are being forgotten and no one dares to find out or take alternative thinking. Scared to become outcasts of this society maybe. The truth about who we are and where we come from is lost like the letter 'Naviyani'.

Ok, Soadhube (ސޯދުބެ) now you can shoot me! :)

tweets

2008-06-03T21:48:00.001+06:00

We had had geocities, hotmail, yahoo, google , blogger, flickr and facebook. These are some of the outstanding stuff which came along on the internet. Now its twitter!

Some of us are already on it; and if you are not... its highly recommended to check it out and join in. Its a simple concept and its amazing and addictive.

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send "updates" (or "tweets"; text-based posts, up to 140 characters long) to the Twitter website, via the Twitter website, short message service (SMS), instant messaging, or a third-party application such as Twitterrific or Facebook. - from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter

Amazing Muslims

2008-05-03T10:00:00.000+05:00

Firstly this does not apply to all Muslims, however the growing number of this group amazes me. I am not a religious person and I have to confess to that but I guess I can always comment on what I see and hear.

The story goes like this; One fine morning a guy wakes up and finds himself enlightened by the light of God; and he follows his brothers in Islam and grows his beard. Then his dress code changes to some Pakistani "Kuruthaa" kind of style, when asked why his answer is simple and straightforward. "Mohamed (PBOH) use to dress this way"; for me that becomes news and information, and I question my Islam teachers from School, cos all these years I was told that Mohamed (PBOH) was born and raised in Arabia NOT Pakistan; as far as I know the Arab dress code was not some odd "Kuruthaa". Anyway that's not a major issue; I can't comment on peoples fashion plus they have the freedom to choose the dress codes. However the whole thing gives /creates some interesting questions for me.

Then he moves on to the next stage; disconnects from his friends and chooses to be with his brothers in Islam and considers the rest of the people "Musriks". Amazing again. Slowly he learns the real meaning of life and decides to go on Gods way. Now this is the most amazing part, whats the choice; "To go JIHAAD in the name of God", simply what this means is to go kill in the name of God. I don't know from where or who creates these ideas. When there is so much suffering in the world; instead of going and helping the poor and sick; this guy chooses to go "kill in the name of god". That was his first choice; he leaves the helping part to his fellow Christian enemies (let them make the red cross, etc and go help the poor and the suffering; why should he do that. He is a worrier; his destiny is to go kill and be killed?). Amazing I say. I am sure the poor guy is missing a lot of chapters. His religion started and ended in only the "Badr" war. Maybe he did not look before that event or after.

I simply do not believe religion should be chosen due to the "fear factor" for god. Rather it should be the other way around. You can flood me with thousands of Arabic verses against my theory; but I'd stick to what I feel is logical.

Adobe opens up Flash on mobiles

2008-05-02T21:13:00.000+05:00

For those who read tech news will know that Adobe has open up Flash on mobiles. So what does this mean?. For me this means more content for mobiles. Best way to visualize this to imagine something like youtube on your mobile. Already there are some mobile TV and streaming applications; but this sure does bring a major improvement. Presently RealPlayer is the most commonly used player on most mobiles.

Even right now the technology is their but now the difference is that Adobe has opened up the technology and will stop charging for the license for using the player on mobiles; this will result in more mobiles with built in flash players. This should be a good news to content providers and media companies alike.

Dream

2008-04-25T15:49:00.001+05:00

Should I say more?

Check out some more inspirations @ usersetup.com

Windows, Mac OS X and Linux

2008-04-12T08:59:00.000+05:00

Anyone who says M$ Vista is good, must be kidding. It was one of the most anticipated OS's recently, however it did not make it. Still most people prefer to use XP over Vista, for what ever reasons.

Apple did a good job with leopard, even the M$ Vista was very much influenced by it; no matter how much M$ tries to deny that. Thats on the desktop end. As for the servers, *nix and others are rapidly gaining over this market too. Most of the very high end markets are still dominated by *nix like the HP Superdome servers. This is one area where M$ has been struggling and will continue to loose.

The case with desktops is changing as well, where better and stable OS's have come into play. Most importantly at a time when corporate and enterprise applications are moving to web based solutions, dependency on a specific OS for desktop is slowly fading away. Adding to that with the recent developments into the desktops on *nix based OS's like Linux has given it a good exposure and acceptance into the home users as well. With benefits like having a more secure, stable and customizable platform.

With applications contributions by the open source community, no longer one is limited to one OS anymore. There is FREE applications today that can cater to almost all areas. In the recent 2 years or so the acceptance of OS's like the Mac OS X and Linux has had a good uptake even in Maldives and I assume will continue to do so more. I like to believe this is a new start of an end of one dominant OS ruling over our desktops and the future is good. Still a lot of people don't understand what FREE software means , it does not mean its only FREE but it means FREEDOM too. Furthermore I guess this same concept is started to spread all around the world, and slowly we might see a huge decline of Windows users in a near future. This is very possible.

Friend and Foe

2008-04-11T11:13:00.001+05:00

First there is trouble, no one is happy. Looks bad on Mutt; obviously then comes Jeff to the rescue. Jeff always saves the day. No, Jeff will save the day?; when the time comes (which is soon, very soon).

Mutt could have done the same that Jeff did. No big deal, but why not? That you have to figure out.

So my understanding is the poor Mutt is left to be hated and Jeff to be loved. There is a lot of advantages to this, if one would give it deep thoughts.

A for Apple (part 2)

2008-04-09T20:54:00.002+05:00

The very first Apple's logo.

Now don't get me wrong, this whole process of trying to get things going and keeping myself busy I have come to a funny point. A point where I am visualizing myself to really take a break, its not being overloaded or that I am not happy. Its about just simply taking a break. So I made a list of things I can do

1. Music, maybe try and learn how to play piano
2. Cooking; yeah I love that, but been long since I've really cooked anything
3. Meditation , never ever tried this but so many of my friends have suggested I should try.
4. Dancing - Wow now i would really like to imagine me doing that. Jeez!
5. Art - Paint a wall or something; well anyone can do it ey?
6. Travel ; I have been planning that for long.
7. Reading , guess i do that often even now, but no books. I need to start with a book and finish it.
8. Redoing this blog. hmmm, maybe not
9. Volunteering; for what? maybe I'd think more on it.

I am not sure if any of the above is possible, but making a list is no harm.

Mobile BroadBand to replce xDSL and Cables?

2008-04-04T14:25:00.001+05:00

It's already started to happen in most developed and developing nations. The concept of mobile office has been adopted and in use. No longer fixed, but more freedom is provided to the users by these technologies. Not only freedom but it makes the internet more personnel.

Just plug-in your USB Broadband modem and you are online, anywhere. No question about this, this is the future. Some of the operators provide speeds ranging from 3.6 Mbps, 7.2 Mbps to 14.4 Mbps on these terminals.

facebook on mobiles

2008-03-21T12:20:00.000+05:00

No question, facebook is the most popular social networking portal for most Maldivians. Most of us do have facebook accounts; all most all of us carry a mobile. This is where a relationship can be started. A good one.

Already facebook provides a WAP portal; but just browsing facebook via WAP might not give the full mobile user experience. Example; what if you can sign up and identify yourself via your mobile number instead of your email address, send a MMS and change your profile picture, or even change your status via a SMS and even poke directly to the mobile.

One of the advantages of facebook is its open API's. You can build applications using the the facebook developer platforms, so developers can take advantage of these functions. There is a lot of possibilities using these advantages. We all know the number of applications that stormed us during the last few months on facebook, very creative stuff indeed. Imagine if you can bring it all to the mobile as well. Then you don't need to go to your computer every time to interact with these applications, etc.

Already there are applications you can install on your handset and do some of the above, but not everyone likes installing additional applications on the handsets. The best approach I feel will be good old SMS,MMS and WAP with some kind of connectivity with the local MNO's. That sure will make a difference on the user experience.

"Flickr Turns 4"

2008-03-15T15:24:00.000+05:00

"Nice Shot", "Wonderful colors", "Amazing", I would have to admit too. Inspiring ...

Congrats guys and keep on posting those pictures.

オーバーロード

2008-03-02T17:52:00.001+05:00

行くときは、あなたの心の中で最良のループやるべきことは、野生の残りと逃げ込む。最良のときにやるべきことを実行することはできませんが、ガラスを破ると消防隊を呼ぶ。最良のオーバーロードする場合は、やるべきことはただ行くだけでたばこに火を付けると、あなたの意見を取るに乗っています。ファックの人には、物事が始まったばかりのキック与えています。人生はいいが、何も問題をもっと自分自身を証明してください。

...джазовых ритмов и страниц и страниц текста с линиями и ящики из концепций. слишком много дайджест и развертывания. Как нет ничего, и пользоваться потом работает под нагрузкой. это не идеальный способ жить, и убить время, однако жизнь дает мало выбора. когда вы вниз ниже 6 футов, вы знаете, достижение этого не возможно. да уверен, кто-то будет делать это рано или поздно, но затем вновь сделать этот выбор, что вы будете уверены, что человек делает разницу.

happy new year

2008-01-01T12:46:00.000+05:00

Hopefully a year of changes and revolutions (daaa, naa; no way?)

anyone?

2007-12-23T21:48:00.000+05:00

Anyone remembers this one?

OLPC

2007-12-14T12:14:00.000+05:00

I know many won't care about such a project. But still it's a good idea. Our aim is to give it a try early 2008 to raise funds for the project. The project is aimed in providing One Laptop Per Child between 6 and 14 in one atoll (for a start). Here is a previous post on the same topic.

It might sound crazy and unrealistic, but we don't see a harm in trying. Aim of this post is to get anyone who is interested on-board the project.

Maldives Slip dress

2007-12-05T23:16:00.000+05:00

Thats the name they gave that dress. What more to say?

from www.whatcelebswear.com

Great graphics don't make great games

2007-11-24T16:54:00.000+05:00

I recently got the Wii Sports for the Nintendo Wii. I never thought the experience will be this good, it an amazing game.

Wii Sports offers five distinct sports experiences, each using the Wii Remote controller to provide a natural, intuitive and realistic feel. To play a Wii Sports game, all you need to do is pick up a controller and get ready for the pitch, serve or that right hook.

There is a collection of sports games includes golf, boxing, tennis, baseball and bowling. Best part is its physical activity. I enjoy tennis and boxing the most. I think its kinda exercise as well :) and its a fun game to play with the family, my youngest sister is my biggest competition.

The little guys on the screen don't even have arms. But it's hilarious, and it shows off the power of the motion-sensitive Wii controller to put you right in the game, sweating and yelling and trying crazy spins and lunges and angles.

One thing I realized was for console games graphics is not the key, its the playability and the gamer experience that counts. At least that applies for me. Its no surprise that Wii Sports has won a lot of attention and has been considered one of the best games of the year.

Maybe I like Wii better cos I am not really good with pressing buttons as fast as you could to win a game. Wii really provides the gamer a totally different user experience.

Future of interconnectivity?

2007-11-15T17:03:00.000+05:00

We all take it for granted that we are all connected. We don't care how, but when things go wrong we really get frustrated. Example if our internet gets slow, the voice quality drops, etc. I guess the magic word here is interconnectivity. Till now we have different ways for different services for interconnectivity. Example your internet goes through something else, your voice on different channels and maybe stuff like MMS/GPRS (GRX interconnect which lets you interchange MMS and enable GPRS roaming, maybe even IM) on others. So its really not really the ideal way if you look at the whole things. On top of all this some connectivities are just exclusive to Mobile Network Operators, etc thus restricting openness into these networks.

If we look at the whole thing and apply the case to todays world, its obvious IP is the solution. Why not over conventional IP via the internet? Well I guess the problem here is quality of service. Initially the internet was not designed to be commercial; it was just designed to be used by US defense department and a few universities. This resulted in not so ideal design. Some might disagree with me on this, but thats the reality. Some times the quality of the internet we experience is really not what we are promised by the ISP's and what we pay for. This has been kinda accepted by almost everyone, without complains.

IP based services on the mobiles is the future. No question about it. It can deliver voice, images , rich content to innovative messaging solutions. To enable all this while ensuring quality of service and which is commercially feasible and manageable IP Interconnectivity the the proposed solution. IPI is the new proposed solution by worlds GSM association. This is presently at a development and a trial level. A few carriers and operators are active in making this a reality. Few trial runs have already been conducted since OCT 2007. Mostly its just voice which is being currently being trailed on and from what I was presented today, its really promising. The IPI will carry everything and anything. The beauty of it is IPI will ensure that the needed quality of service is maintained between each IPX, meaning it will enable end to end QoS for all IP Services enabling consistent and predictable service delivery between end customers. IPI is designed to maintain different levels of QoS for different services. Example services like SMS, emails, etc can be at a different QoS level and other more demanding services like Voice, Video and other content can be maintained at other higher levels. This promised the end customers the expected quality of service ensuring a rich user experience.

On top of the user experience, there are other many advantages to the operators. Such as a more secure network, a sustainable commercial model, universal interoperability (not just limiting the network to MNO's, but even ISP's and ASP's can connect in) and other advantages like being highly efficient and scalable. Its just at the infant stage as of today but what I can tell you is this is the future, this is what will enable us to go for the real "eat all you can" model. And yeah it was also interesting for me to find out that on IPI I guess voice is delivered via SIP-I (after all its IP based anyway). So again, its almost clear that IPI will replace GRX, or rather its gonna enhance the current GRX over IPI. The other biggest advantage I see is that if I am not mistaken, it makes things so simpler for interconnectivity where once you are connected to one IPX you are connected to the all the rest of the operators who are connected to that IPX.

Even though I am not into switching, its kinda interesting to follow up on this which gives you a better idea on where the industry is heading and forecast somethings.

Club Penguin

2007-11-09T18:57:00.000+05:00

A few months back my son asked me if I can buy him membership for a game portal called club penguin, I was kinda shocked cos; he was just 7 and here here is asking me to purchase an online membership. I mean when we were seven what were we doing? Anyway after about 3 months; I find him and my youngest sister and their cousin gang really into this game.

What I knew or kinda figured out that it was flash based and little penguin's are in the game. Its like a small virtual world; where they can have their own pets; own igloo and even earn money by playing games (score points) and buy stuff for the igloo and bla bla. Was a cool thing for the kids. To my surprise I find that this company now has even been bought over by Disney for $700 Million. Amazing. Seems they have have 700,000 paid subscribers (I paid $29.95 for six months for my son as well, and I am sure I'd have to renew that too).

That Apple

2007-11-04T00:43:00.000+05:00

Ok, here is a controversial story of Adam and Eve. I am not interested in the religious aspect of it at this moment. What I would like to point out is that, we are talking of heaven here; I mean if we refer to the time before they ate that apple. So there was it; "Heaven", what more can I tell you. Everything you needed was there; or at least it should be.... but Eve; she had to greed for this "apple" (or the forbidden fruit). I don't understand it. Just this apple. Again we are talking about heaven and the human population of just 2; meaning they had the whole place for themselves as well. :) However Eve was not happy, she somehow had to convince Adam to bring her this fruit and eat it. Thats it. The rest is up to you to conclude and apply.

Now don't plan to kill me, I am just thinking out loud. One thing, which comes to my mind is they were in heaven and yet they did break rules or they wanted more? So for all the people who work so hard to go to paradise, I hope the same won't happen to them. ooops. After all, still we are talking about humans here.

How to add a facebook badge to your blog

2007-11-03T02:07:00.000+05:00

Simple thingy but thought I'd make a post on it. Firstly this assumes you have a facebook account and have a blog .

A badge is a customizable clip of your Facebook profile that you can share on other web sites like blogs, personal web pages, or forums. You can choose what information to show on your badge. The badge will be automatically updated and visible to anyone you want, even non-Facebook users.

So moving on; easiest way is log in to your facebook account and go to your profile scroll down and just click on the "Create a Profile Badge". On this page, select the "Create Badge" option or just visit http://www.facebook.com/editbadge.php . Next Create a VERTICAL, JAVASCRIPT format badge and click SAVE.

Once you get to the next page copy the outputted HTML code and go to your blogger template. Just append the code into your template. Thats all.

Leopard

2007-10-26T07:41:00.000+05:00

The new Mac OS X, Leopard is almost here. Just a few more hours to go. Already the current OS X version is amazing, with the new OS I am sure it will give generate more hype for Mac's.

Its good for Microsoft too, since they have another OS to copy the features and feel from. So its a good news for everyone, even the windows users.

Dialog Introduces MMS Morphing

2007-10-25T05:20:00.000+05:00

MMS is boring, people hardly use it. However it can be used as a very good tool for value added services. Examples like mobile emails, etc. Recently Dialog GSM of SriLanka has introduced another value added service called MMS Morphing in partnership with ORG Telecom.

Dialog also introduced Color SMS along with the new service.

Jazz the Bulbul

2007-10-22T00:45:00.000+05:00

I usually don't comment on music; but when I hear something good I appreciate it. I don't find the Maldivian singers good (least not most of them), but this song by Fathimath Lubaina Rasheed is too good to be ignored. The tribute to the song "Bulbul ehee dheynuhey" sung in a jazz feel is a good start to Maldivian Jazz. I love jazz and always wondered when Maldivians will come up with good jazz, this song did make me happy.

Wii want to play!

2007-10-17T01:28:00.000+05:00

Its almost 22 years after (1985) I had my very first Nintendo game console. It was a Nintendo NES, I loved the games Super Mario and contra. They were my favorites back then. Geee! and today; again I've got down another Nintendo, the difference is last Nintendo I had was given to me by my dad, this I got it for my son.

When I heard about the new Nintendo Wii, I got really excited from the day one. Unlike most I am not a very big fan of Play Stations. Most would say and did say, why not a PS3? Well I think a Wii is much better; thats my view. Its more creative and innovative; the games are much exciting and its value for money. Sure PS3 may have better graphics and superior hardware; but come on, I personally don't care much about Blu-Ray so Why should I spend THREE TIMES AS MUCH on the PS3?. I want something completely different and fun to play. Sure Sony has implemented the idea of the new Nintendo controller but I guess the experience we have with Wii can't just be copied. But thats yet to be seen for me. I might give it a try too. Its been really long since I've tried console games; but I guess as time allows I'd give it another shot (damn! I was never good with games).

GSM Mobile Watch Phone

2007-10-15T10:55:00.000+05:00

The concept of Mobile Watch Phone was around for long and even recently we have seen a few as well. Like the M300 and M500. They were really impressive products but this new one is amazing.

The M600 or the IMOBILE's Flying C1000 is a tiny phone with a touchscreen, Bluetooth support, 60MB of RAM, a video / audio player, a mini USB jack.

Here is the specs a supplier sent me

Modes: GSM 900/1800/1900
Net weight: 35 g
Dimensions: 2.3"*1.80"*0.65"(61mm*43mm*17.1mm)
Battery: Li-ion battery 450mAh
Standby : 100--130 H (Depends on local network)
Talk: 2-3 H (Depends on local network)
Phone Type: Watch mobile phone
Display: 1.3" Touch screen
Support :Bluetooth,mp3,midi,wav,wma
Languages: English, Chinese
Ringtone: MP3, 64 Polyphonic tone MIDI
Support: SMS/MMS
Main function: WAP, GPRS, MP3/MP4/Multimedia
Other Applications: Alarm,Stop Watch,Calendar and Games
Color: White and black

You can use the bluetooth headset so it won't be odd for others when u talk to your watch. Holy geekiness; I need this. Best part is its cheap too. Only about USD 300 to Male'

ok, thats not it. If that was cool. Check this one out.

I have not got details much and the price, but here is the specs.

Brand Name : Hyundai
Model No : W100
Network : Tri Band (GSM850/1800/1900) or 900/1800/1900GSM/GPRS
Weight : 50g
Colours : White, Black with Silicon Strap
Talk Time : 3.5 hours
Standby Time : 80 hours
Display Type : TFT, 1.33" color touch-screen
Display Size : 128 x 160 pixels
Camera : 2.0 Megapixels, VGA Camera
Ringtones : MP3/AAC
Messaging : SMS/EMS/MMS/WAP
Others : Support MP4, Video Play and Recording Memory: up to 1GB Micro-SD Card Slot Bluetooth 1.2.1 (A2DP) Web Cam Function USB: Data Transfer and Recharging Micro SD Card Reader

hmmmmm!

my music, my taste!

2007-10-15T05:39:00.000+05:00

nop, not CRBT. Presently its last.fm for me. Its the source of music for me now.

Using a unique music recommendation system known as "Audioscrobbler", Last.fm builds a detailed profile of each user's musical taste by recording details of all the songs the user listens to, either on the streamed radio stations or on the user's computer or portable music device. This information is transferred to Last.fm's database ("Scrobbled") via a plugin installed into the user's music player. The profile data is displayed on a personal web page. The site offers numerous social networking features and can recommend and play artists similar to the user's favourites.

A History making IDD rate

2007-10-13T18:42:00.000+05:00

1.99 MRf, for any country; any time. This is the cheapest IDD rates ever promoted in the Maldives. Point being that compatition has really made things better for the people. Fair compatition will still make things even much better, not just in the telecoms field but any.