Role Model & Objective

On Mentor & Role Model:

I feel that we would have the needed mentor or role model, when we become earnest seeker and ready for the instructions.

For your information, I had a miserable childhood.

No one understood my quest for knowledge.

I was always ridiculed and my life went in sadness and aloofness for the period 1985 to 1995.

Then, I meditated on what I want to achieve and framed this Learning Model.

Objectives:

As I framed an objective for my learning life; I felt I am learning from all the people I am meeting & interacting. 

The interest, involvement and sincerity made me to frame a simple, clear, concise and straight objective in an independent, integral and objective manner. The objective I framed on August 1996 was as below

"I felt I need to have 4 Nodes.

These 4 Nodes would be interacting with each other continuously

They form my basic paradigm.

The Nodes I named as "Simplicity"; "Sincerity"; "Straight" and "Strength".

The connecting cords is the knowledge of Finance & Systems.

The platform on which these are operating is practice of CA"

With this dream I started walking in my academic and professional life.

Beyond Books

I always went beyond books.

I always asked myself why this subject is there in first place.

Then what is there in the books are sufficient and appropriate for the real application

I also investigated as to the missing links...

I always searched for the root and minded about small small aspects.

For instance I tried to learn "what is meaning of debit & credit" apart from the concepts and principles of accounting

This made me to learn more and set my own standards....

I can tell boldly I have no role model for I wanted to become an original role model with nobody's copy

This is not due to arrogance or extra ordinary talents ...

It is due to my earnest hunger for being original and building myself brick by brick

Thanks and Regards
Ever Yours
V. Narayanan

Comments on Science of Learning

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Venkataraman Sivakumar <vsivakumar988@gmail.com>
To: V NARAYANAN <nrd80v@yahoo.com>
Sent: Tuesday, 24 July 2012 7:45 PM
Subject: Re: How to Learn

Dear Mr. Narayanan,

Life is, of course, like accounts.

Passing CA is not possible unless you wedded to it through a proper
prism. A bird's eyeview is a macro vision. When you are faced with
reality, it is a microscopic concept and also as called micro
approach.

Here again, viewing is different from objective viewing.

Those days, when computer was unheard of, we used to burn mid night
oil. Until you get the trial balance reconcile, you have a mental
warfare trying for the cause. It does't end up with a reconciled trial
balance, the external auditor those days, used their visionary lense
to assess the accuracy of your accounts employing broad techniques
including those we learn in management accounting. That is why, they
were mentors for their strong skills and abstract knowledge in their
finger tips.

A missing link in your version is that mentor, I mean someone
responsible for the rise of the objective in you. Every one follows a
role model based on some strong ideology. That role model one will try
to emulate. Otherwise, one should be an extra ordinary birth for extra
ordinary achievements are always associated with them.

Regards,
Sivakumar

Science of Learning

How to Learn

1) Objective

Unless you have an objective, you would not be able to process the facts which you come across.

Therefore frame an Objective for Learning.

The objective should hit your hobby and passion also if you have to be successful in learning.

2) Relevance

What are the relevant facts & skills parameters you have to possess to full-fill the objective you have frozen

The relevance of this has 3 dimensions ...

a) Level of Knowledge - Intensity & Depth Required

b) The Area of Knowledge - The breadth & width of the subject area

c) The time with-in which it has to be obtained

3) Break-up
The knowledge levels are as below:
a) Fact Collection & memorizing
b) Comprehension & understanding
c) Applying & using the concepts
d) Analysing & Resonating the existence of the concept
e) Evaluating the concept's utility and identifying the grey areas
f) Making plan for the missing links
g) Experimenting & Experiencing the concepts

These are the 7 levels of knowledge.
You have break-up your study point from these angle and ensure that you cross all the 7 levels

4) Integrate
You identify how the new concepts and facts can get integrated with the existing knowledge base

Example:
I wanted to be a Mechanical or Meta-Physical Engineer. Physics & Matths was my field.
However due to certain political reasons I could not join Science Group.

Accounts for very much difficult for me. I integrated my Physics with it and started studying it..

Law 1: No Object Moves unless and otherwise external force is applied (Physics)
        
            No Transaction is recorded in the books unless & otherwise an external entity is involved (Accounts)

Law 2: For every action there is an equal and corresponding opposite reaction (Physics)            For every debit there is an equal and corresponding credit (Accounts)

Law 3: Energy never gets destroyed, it changes form (Physics)            Money/Funds never gets destroyed it only changes hands. (Accounts)

Like this I integrated Physics with Accounts and learned it easily.

5) Synergise
Try to join with like minded people and charge your Brain Battery and get more synergy

6) Internalise
Then after some time, try to make the knowledge a part of your self.
Try to develop the attitude which is needed to become an expert of the field
Visualise that you have become an expert and start exhibiting it in the behaviour.

7) Spirtualise
This is the last stage, you see life through the domain you have chosen to live.

Rishi Athreya has given an upanishad telling the truth of life through his professional lense.
So, you may also spirtualise the learning by making it a lense through which you see life

Example:
Nothing is permanent in life, hence you have depreciation & impairment and contingencies to be provided for not just in the books but also in your life

Unless the resources are optimally consumed, you would not make profit,  so if you do not use every bit of your self, you may not reach your "profit of living"

Time is pretty long and no one can measure it, however, we have to live in the present to live a life like we prepare a Final Accounts for the year/period at hand.

These are some of my efforts to spirtualise my learning of accounts...

If we follow these 7 steps, in my faith & belief we would be the masters of the subject.

I have begun the journey yet, could not measure how far I have travelled or how much further I have to go...
Probably your comment may help me to find it.

Thanks and Regards
Ever Yours
V. Narayanan

Open Advice

Open Advice is a knowledge collection from a wide variety of Free Software projects. 

It answers the question what 42 prominent contributors would have liked to know when they started so you can get a head-start no matter how and where you contribute.

Free Software projects are changing the software landscape in impressive ways with dedicated users and innovative management. Each person contributes something to the movement in their own way and to their abilities and knowledge. This personal commitment and the power of collaboration over the internet is what makes Free Software great and what brought the authors of this book together.

This book is the answer to "What would you have liked to know when you started contributing?". The authors give insights into the many different talents it takes to make a successful software project, coding of course but also design, translation, marketing and other skills. We are here to give you a head start if you are new. And if you have been contributing for a while already, we are here to give you some insight into other areas and projects.

Open Advice is available as a free download under the CC-BY-SA license. You are encouraged to share it with anyone. (get source or report bugs) mobile versions: epub mobi

Links:

open-advice.org/#rmobox

e-Book - Open Advise

My Journey into Office Suites

Office Suite

Now, the journey of OS is almost over, as I have frozen on Fedora and the only job left for me is to create a Fedora Remix. Hence the next journey is to explore Office Suites. The Below Office Suites are tried by me so far.

1) MS Office:

I have been using MS Office 1997, MS Office XP, MS Office 2000, MS Office 2003, MS Office Professional 2007 and MS Office Professional 2010. We all know about and with MS-Excel all our accounting and reporting functions are being done. This is the world class product and I feel any other office suite can just near it and can't excel it. I am 100% satisfied and given an option will not move from it. However, I have to search for an alternative because -

a) When I am purchasing systems, I am not able to afford to the cost of MS Office.

b) I am on Linux - Fedora, MS Office can’t be installed and even if installed, it is not looking nice.

While trying alternatives, I found MS Word & MS Projects are well replaced.

However the Excel, Powerpoint, Access & Publisher are not well replaced.

2) Star Office:

The interface is similar to MS Office XP. However Excel & Powerpoint do not perform like MS Office. Like MS Office it is also a proprietary one and is not given for free. This was first produced by Sun and then procured by Oracle. This available mainly for Windows and Linux Versions are also available

3) IBM's Lotus 123

The interface is similar to MS Office 2000. It can perfectly replace MS Office. However Templates are very limited and is not as good as MS does. This is also a proprietary one and is not given for free.

4) Open Office:

I used Open Office and Open Projects to some extent. I am happy with its performance. This is also available for both Windows and Linux OS. The issues are -

a) I am not able to read certain MS Power-Point Files clearly. Many times the animations are not working

b) I am not able to use Pivoting Function as I used to do as I did in MS Excel

c) Printing Excel Sheets is a nightmare. It is very tough

4) Gnome Office Suite:

This is actually a misleading word. Actually Gnome do not have an office suite, but certain individual applications which if combinedly used can makes an office suite. The details of the applications are given below:

S. No	Name	Function
1	Abhi-Words	A word processor with the ability to import Microsoft Word documents. This is much more than MS Office “Word”
2	Gnumeric	A spreadsheet program, though it can read MS Excel, we would not be able to create an Excel File out of it. I am happy with the accuracy aspect of Statistical Calculations. Mant Carlo Simulaton can be better done in Gnumeric than in Excel
3	Ease	The most simplest and easy to use presentation program. This has no MS Office Compatibility. That is reading MS Office PPTs are not possible through this
4	Evince	A Document viewer - replaces MS Picture & Image Viewer and also acts like PDF Reader.
5	Evolution	A Groupware and Email application - similar to MS Outlook and does much more than that.
6	Karbon	A vector graphics editor, formerly known as Karbon
7	Inkscape	A Vector Graphics and Presentation Creations - MS Equation Editor’s replacement.
8	Planner	A project management application that can create Gantt charts.
9	Gnucash	Personal Accounting Software, replaces MS Money in a very much better way.

5) Koffice & Calligra:

Similar to Gnome, KDE Guys have developed their own office suite. Unlike Gnome Guys, they have bundled it and offered it as a suite than as individual applications. However these guys have some problem in 2010 and hence Calligra was created as a result of the split between KDE Guys.

KOffice is available for Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, and Mac OS X. It contains a word processor (KWord), a spreadsheet application (KCells), a vector graphics-based drawing tool KOffice Artwork, a presentation program (KOffice Showcase), a database - Kexi, a project planner called Kplato and a personal accounting software called Kmoney.

Calligra has the below app set

S. No	Name	Function
1	Words	A word processor with the ability to import Microsoft Word documents.
2	Sheets	A spreadsheet program, formerly known as KSpread and Calligra Tables.
3	Stage	A presentation program, formerly known as Kpresenter. This reads all MS PPT files wonderfully unlike Open-Office or Libre-Office.
4	Kexi	A database management program, similar to Microsoft Access. A Report Designer to replace Kugar is included. It has limited compatibility with the Access file format.
5	Flow	A programmable flowchart drawing program with dynamically loadable stencils. Formerly known as Kivio.
6	Karbon	A vector graphics editor, formerly known as Karbon
7	Krita	A digital painting program with some image editing features. Formerly known as Krayon and KImageshop.
8	Plan	A project management application that can create Gantt charts. Formerly known as KPlato.
9	Braindump	A notetaking and mindmapping application

The interface is superb, they are pretty fast compared to Open Office. The level of reading MS Office Documents is amazing and 100% it looks & feels like MS Office. However we can't save files in the MS Office Format.

6) Libre-Office:

Open Office was re-engineered to provide a better graphical look and interface compared with Open Office. The look & feel are like MS Office Professional 2000. The same issues of Open Office are present in Libre Office.

7) Google Docs:

This is better than all office suites, but it require internet connection. However the issue is editing a file created by others. This almost 90% replaces MS Office.

8) Soft-Maker:

This is an open source as well as proprietary package. I could not fully use it and test it. However the interface is like MS Office XP which I did not liked. Hence, I could not apply my mind on it.

9) Kingsoft's suite

This is both free and for money. Free is similar to MS Office Student Edition. It is for windows mainly. It is almost similar to MS Office in interface and function. I used it very long back, I am not clear as to its performance. You may try the free version by clicking of the below link:

http://www.kingsoftstore.com/kingsoft-office-freeware.html

10) Other Office Suites:

I planned to try Zoho Office Suite in 2005 when it was launched, however did not do due to my pre-occupation. This is like Google Docs, an on-line office suite. I feel it may be the first web-based office suite.Today Zoho is offering lot of apps for Google Domain free of cost.

Same way in 2007 when I was in Freudenberg, I heard about ZCubes & Feng Office online office suites. But never attempted to know about it much. If you guys can see for it and tell me some comments it would be good.

Recently towards the end of 2010, some one told me about Team-Lab by Ascensio Systems which is also an on-line office suite.

Decision Parameter:
The first & foremost decision parameter would be whether it is better to use a Platform Based Office Suite or Go for On-Line Office Suite.

I feel the answer would be difficult as without internet no computer is available and we do not have internet all the time. Hence, we have to analyze how we use the system and also our on-line presence to comment on this.

I feel as of now Calligra is the best MS Office Replacement, however it can create only Open-Office Format. Then the same has to be opened by Libre-Office and converted for MS Office Format. Thus we may need two free apps – Calligra & Libre Office to replace MS office as on date.

Yours

V. Narayanan

My LINUX Journey

My LINUX Journey

About Operating Systems

Since 1969, the computing world is being revolutionised by the advent of various operating systems. UNIX (Uniplexed Information and Computing System) was found by AT&T Employees at Bell lab and kick-started the OS revolution.

Then Xerox invented a PC and an ideal Desktop OS but was shy to market it. On a friendly visit to Xerox, Mr. Jobs of Apple saw the project and wondered as to the GUI. He set the Mac Project on. It was a big hit in 1985 and revolutionized the Computer world.

Since Mac is a closed project in the sense is not available for all hardware, IBM tried to find an OS-2 to compete with OS-X of Mac and failed miserably in 1987.

Hence MS was called to develop a OS for all systems having OS-X features to the extent possible by all Computer Manufacturers. The reason is two :

a) MS have been working with Apple for 10 years at that time and

b) Excel & DOS designed by MS was incredible.

Thus windows was born and it was a Very Big Hit and Windows 1987 to 1995 became the standard for all OS Development.

People wanted to give OS Free, this is an idea borrowed from Hackers and Wazinok of Apple. Therefore two separate Open Source Project was born from Unix – BSD and Linux.

As I referred in my earlier email, BSD stands for “Berkeley Software Distribution”. It is the name of distributions of source code from the University of California, Berkeley, which were originally extensions to AT&T's Research UNIX operating system. The BSD is being academic focused and is always used by closed group of persons, it is not known and I too despite a fact used it for a month, find it difficult to trace it back and use it.

Linus Torwalds of Finland invented the Linux Kernel and the platform on which all Linux Distros works. The word Linux stands for Linu's Unix. However again the Bell Lab guys put a case and the Linux no more represents Unix.

Then in 1991-4 Red Hat made a Binary Based Linux called Red-hat Enterprise Linux. They used Restricted Binary Package Manager – the concept found by themselves and as every one used the same concept and is made available free, they changed it to Red-Hat Package Management Concept to make it a proprietary one.

The Red-hat was forced to give some thing free to public as they are using GNU & Linux which are essentially open source. Hence they created two Projects – CENT-OS and Mandrakes Red-hat.Later on Mandrakes was spun off and it went to join a debian based linux company called Connectivia. The space was given to Fedora.

Debian came for academic purpose and then went on for Home and Office use.

From Red-hat and BSD some engineers moved and started a Gentoo Linux which have no per-compilers. Finally recently Arch Linux and few arch-based distributions have also come.

Debian Distribution

My sister gave me Ubuntu 10.04 LTS in April 2010. I was fascinated by the Live Boot, Gnome Tool Bar, Colour and Pink Splash Screen. I used it and customised it to the core that I was able to run my Company's ERP on it. The ERP is just windows based and would not support.

I found that it had the below problems:

a) The File Manager did not handled more than 4.5 GB.

b) If customise Grub, the OS becomes un-stable

c) Printing was not effective

d) I do not feel, I am more secured than Windows

e) I have to spend at least 4 hours to customise it my requirements

I tried then Ubuntu 10.10, 11.04, 11.10 & 12.04 LTS all had the same issues, however 12.04 LTS is better secured and stable than older versions.

Therefore I wanted to try some thing different.

M. Harish introduced me the below linux distributions:

a) Mandriva 2010

b) Puppy Linux 5.2.28

c) Linux Mint 11

d) PC-Linux 12

I tried all of them and my feed-back is the same for all.

Mandriva is worse than Ubuntu in stability. I tried 2011 edition also and found the same

Puppy Linux is a RAM based one, it was fascinating to use, however not fit to be a Desktop Distribution.

Linux Mint 11 was not stable, I tried 12, it was better and the Version 13 is more stable than 11 & 12. However, I still feel we need some thing more on default.

PC Linux is like Mandriva.

I also surfed internet and found the following Linux based on Debian

a) MEPIS

b) YLMF

c) G-OS

d) BOSS

e) eduBOSS

f) PIN-GUY-OS

g) Bodhi Linux

h) Dragora Linux

i) Dream Linux

Except the last 3 I tried all and found MEPIS, BOSS & eduBOSS are like Mandriva, YLMF is like Windows XP but not very effective. G-OS is bad and unsupported. Pin-Guy-OS was more promising but slower than Mint.

My Conclusion on Debian Distribution is that they are imitating windows and then trying to out-smart it. Similar to Japense Car Makers.

Therefore they are for those who wants a free window replacement and not for those who wants a perfect OS.

Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, Linux Mint 13 and Pin-Guy-OS 12.04 LTS are better for newbies and can replace windows.

RPM Based Linux Distributions:

I tested Fedora 15 based on my friend's suggestion. He is a Red-Hat Guy and hence I felt he is boasting Fedora more than required. I was shocked that Fedora 15 Live Boot did not had office or media applications like Ubuntu. Hence, I dropped it at first sight.

I went for CENT-OS another RHD, it was very stable but very difficult to use and I did not liked the Open-Office.

Then the only left out company is by Novel – I tried Open-Suse 11.4. I was thrilled by the GUI, Networking Ability and User Friendly Behaviour. I installed and was cheated altogether. The live boot performance was totally missing.

Then I went back and tried Fedora. Wow! Yum commands like groupinstall, groupremove, grouperase were doing wonders and I was able to build Fedora in 3 Hours. I was able to move 320 GB data in 3 Hours. Zero Crash in File Management. The hardware worked extremely well and it was much stable and secure and it is clearly visible from a normal system usage. I became a fan of Fedora. However two things irritated me:

a) No good default application list

b) No direct media support – we have to go around and out of box for it.

Hence I ventured for Fedora Remixes with the help of M. Harish. He introduced me two remixes – Fuduntu and Kororaa. I on my own found Fusion Linux.

Fuduntu is like g-OS and not fit to be a proper Desktop OS in my opinion. Fusion tried to mimic Linux Mint but failed miserably in terms of speed and stability. Kororaa was a hit.

The only problem with Kororaa is support. The guy who made Kororaa is not as stable as Kororaa is. He was first with Gentoo Linux Platform. Then disappeared altogether for some years. Finally in 2009-10 reappeared with Fedora. Hence, I am afraid of continuity and support. I wanted to test Gentoo Linux.

Gentoo Linux Distributions:

I found that among many distributions two which I can test – Google Chromium – OS and Sabayon 6.

Though I am a fan of Google, I did not like their Chromium OS and Androix X86 Laptop OS. They were a crap. I surrendered the free license and went for Sabayon in a week's time.

Sabayon 6 – it is amazing. It had all default applications and played media seamlessly. It was so secured and stable, that I felt none could come near it. It was slower to Fedora, yet for me manageable. Suddenly an issue cropped, I wanted to install some new applications and alas!the package manager was the worst in the world. I could not update, configure further applications or edit it. I was cheated once again. I tried version 7, the same problem existed, however it was better than V.6 – if I have updated through terminal and left the computer in night to download and install patches, it worked well in the morning. It is for me not an effective idea and hence, I felt the only left over is to try Arch-based Distributions.

Arch-based Distributions:

M Harish introduced me Kahel OS and I found Chakra-OS.

Kahel OS was like Mint and Chakra resembled Mandriva.

Both suffered from the same problem of Sabayon and hence I moved out of them in 2 days.

Over-all Conclusion

I felt Fedora is the best. Hence I wanted to Go for Fedora. But for a better version. Hence I went for the DVD Image. It was better for me as the installation time is 45 Minutes and Customisation time is 35 Minutes. Thus in less than 2 hours I have a perfect desktop.

The issues this time I faced are two:

a) Shorter Shell life – in 1 year it is replaced. Ubuntu, Mint, etc., have LTS but Fedora is not having such one. Even CENT-OS has 7 years support, which is also by RH Guys. This part is irritating me a lot

b) Too many kernel upgrades spoiling applications like Virtual Box, virt-manager, revisor and certain post-sql based applications.

Currently I am using Fedora 17. I have customised it for all the needs of my home and office. I can e-file, digitally sign and do all that I can do with a window PC but with more efficiency, effectiveness and power.

I realised, let us re-engineer ourselves based on Functional Requirements than Graphical Requirements. This made me to have the best Desktop Experience.

Now, I feel I can't find a Fedora Replacement in the open-source world. Hence, I need to make a Re-Mix out of it which would be for me & my friends and should be devoid of Fedora's core problems. But I can't do it alone. Need some friends support. Hope you all can help.

Yours

V. Narayanan