In a clear move to undercut one of Google’s most noteworthy revenue sources outside of advertising, Microsoft today launched its “search server” strategy by releasing both a free and a commercial version of software that performs many of the same functions as a dedicated search appliance.

In classic Microsoft fashion, the company has released a free edition of the product as its way of crashing the gate.

“Our aim for Search Server Express is to give you a free and powerful enterprise search product that’s incredibly easy for you to deploy,” reads a message from Enterprise Search General Manager Jonathan Kauffmann to his team’s blog this morning. “After you download it, you’ll find it takes just a few minutes to get it up and running. It’s going to be the fastest way you can bring an enterprise search experience into your business.”

Also in classic fashion, the Express edition will be shipped as part of Office SharePoint Server 2007, giving Microsoft’s search strategy a foot in the door of many organizations automatically.

Microsoft Search Server 2008 generates network-wide indexes on a company’s existing server equipment, rather than on new server appliances such as Google’s or Thunderstone’s. These indexes can be used as an infrastructure for internal query pages, giving employees a tool for natural-language searches deep into the matrix of their internal documents.

But while Microsoft repeatedly used the phrase “out of the box” to describe many of the features of the free Express edition, some careful parsing of that phrase may point you to a different box than you might have expected. While a search tool or appliance is capable of accessing data within individual documents, typically out of the ordinary box, for it to access the information within databases and repositories, it needs a kind of software driver called a connector. Among Microsoft’s “sample connectors” are drivers that enable indexing of Exchange public folders and SharePoint sites.

Enterprises use content management systems like EMC Documented and business document services such as Lotus Notes and IBM File Net repositories. Getting access to those is what generally distinguishes an “enterprise class” product from one that merely indexes document files. And here is where Microsoft’s product starts evolving out of “Express” territory, and toward the commercial side.

“We believe Microsoft and its partners can offer you the one-stop search experience you’ve been looking for,” Kauffmann’s message continued, “and today, companies like EMC, Cognos, HP, Business Objects, SAS, and Open Text have already announced their intent to support federation with Search Server and Search Server Express. We expect many of them to release federated search connectors to coincide with the release of these products in the first half of 2008.”

Other distinguishing factors between the Express and commercial editions include that the commercial Search Server 2008 is not limited to a single server per seating, and can be adapted to a larger server cluster. Availability, load balancing, and failover policies are added to the administration tool of the commercial edition.

By comparison, Google’s search appliance does appear to maintain, shall we say, a “barrier to entry.” Its entry-level Mini search appliance currently sells for $1,995, though even then, it uses individual “enterprise connector” software add-ons to access repositories such as Documented. Google’s appliances are also sold on an indexing scale, on which its Mini tool is limited to 50,000 documents, while its $9,000 edition is set up to index 300,000 documents.

Neither the Express nor commercial editions of Search Server 2008 have set document limits, boldly sticking it to Google’s entire business model for hardware. If all goes according to Microsoft’s plan, IT departments could find themselves asking some familiar questions: Is Microsoft’s alternative qualitatively better than the industry leader? And if it isn’t…will it matter?

News source: BETANEWS

For more detail about Microsoft Search Server 2008
http://www.microsoft.com/enterprisesearch/serverproducts/searchserver/default.aspx

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People laugh because I am different.
And i laugh because they are all the same…….
That’s called ATTITUDE….

                        Swami Vivekananda.

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IBM’s Customer Information Control System (CICS) is an on-line teleprocessing system developed by IBM. By providing a sophisticated control and service database/data communication system, the application developer can concentrate on fulfilling specific business needs rather than on communication and internal system details. CICS allows data to be transmitted from the terminal to the host computer, have the data processed, access files/databases, and then has data to be transmitted from the terminal to the host computer, have the data processed, access files/databases, and then have data transmitted back to the terminal. To accomplish that, CICS uses a telecommunication package such as VTAM or TCAM and various file access methods: VSAM, DL/1, DB2, etc.

Functionality

• Data Communications: An interface between the terminal and printers with CICS
  via a telecommunication access method (TCAM or VTAM).
• Multi Region Operation(MRO), through which more than one CICS
  region of a system can communicate Intersystem Communication (ISC), through which one CICS region of a system can communicate with other CICS regions in other systems
• Application Programming:Interfaces with programming languages such as COBOL and Assembler
  Command level translator
• An Execution Diagnostic Facility (EDF)
• A Command Interpreter
• Data Handling: An interface with database access methods such as DB2, DL/1, and VSAM
  An interface with error checking and reporting facilities

Terminology

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1) IBM - Right now this is the most firing company for IT professionals. In the last 6 months, this company has fired nearly 20% of their employees because of BG check and performance issues. This is the most insecure company from an IT professionals point of view. They don’t have any strategic plans at HR policies regarding employee security. No appraisals (maximum 10%).

2) Accenture - This is second top most firing company. The firing rate is around 5%. This depends upon outsourced projects; they have a unique system where Accenture development centers around the world bid for a project coming into the company. Currently Philippines centre is taking the cake and the Indian centers are in a firing mode.

3) WIPRO - Firing people with very frequent back ground checks and firing them with out even experience letters and relieving letters (will mention as terminated from services)but will promise the employees that they will retain them. After the project is over they will fire away. Will threaten of criminal cases against such employees if they oppose the move and has also filed against some.

4) Intel - Recently joined the league. Running in heavy losses, hence firing 3000 employees in the Banglore center in a phased out manner.

5) CTS - Has a steady firing policy (checking the Educational background and previous employment and also employee performance in work). In a Recent HCL walk-in, around 50% attendees were from this company. Sadly the I-pods have not helped them.

6) CSC - Excellent package but fires folks in Background check and those on bench regularly. Recently fired 400+ employees from its subsidiary Covansys.

7) Satyam - Currently stopped firing. The Attrition rate is very high. No firing from 2005 until now when 1000 employees were fired in Hyderabad.

8. Patni – They fired so many employees that currently they are facing understaffing and deficiency with number of employees. Very high attrition rate.

9) Keane India – This USA based company is always involved in firing employees. Although they proudly say that they don’t have hire and fire policy. Recently they fired java and as400 professionals after which most of the employees have started to pack their bags. Employees change this company within 1 year.

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Portability is part and parcel of any good notebook. Manufacturers had tried over the years to reduce the weight, thickness and size of notebooks just to make it more portable. Intel has come up with their latest wonder and it promises the thinnest notebook the world has ever seen. It is just 0.7 inches thick and weighs 2.25 pounds. It is much thinner than some of the mobiles and PDAs in the market. Although this is just a prototype, there are speculations going on that it might enter the production stage soon this year. Once it is marketed, this notebook will pose a serious threat to other notebook manufacturers like Dell and HP.

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Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!
Rule 2: The world won’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won’t be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.
Rule 6: If you mess up, it’s not your parents’ fault, so don’t whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren’t as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent’s generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they’ll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn’t bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don’t get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.

Cheers!!!

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It doesn’t matter that u r a mainframe Professional or not, but the facts are amazing ……. and fact no. 16 is the most amazing!!!!! !!!!!

1. The mainframes hold approximately “70 % “of the entire data stored in this planet.
2. The latest ones can support over 25,000 users
3. They can support devices spread over 26 miles using fiber optics
4. The size of the “basic” OS is about 14 GB
5. This OS comes in about 57 magnetic tapes, But latest with 4 tapes
6. It takes ATLEAST a month to install and customize a basic mainframe OS configuration.
7. It takes around 3 full days for a mainframe to get up and running
8. Basic configuration for development environment costs 8 crores (hardware + Software)
9. A full team of qualified system operators are always required to be on stand by to ensure successful operation
10. Earlier mainframes were provided with cooling pipes through which cold water was passed to cool the system(TCS have one in Chennai facility)
11. Recent mainframes have variable speed fans in the cabinet to keep it cool.
12. Have u ever heard of a mainframe system being hacked??? Mainframes are one of the most secure data installations ever
13. You cannot buy the mainframe OS, but u’ll have to pay a license to use it. The cost?? cool …1.5 crores a year.
14. Finally, mainframes today r the most preferred data servers for even the most hi-fi of the organizations!
15. So far no virus has attacked Mainframes

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16. Most of the people working on Mainframe had never seen the mainframe!!!

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1. Coca-Cola was originally green.
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —-
2.  The most common name in the world is  Mohammed.
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —-
3.  The name of all the continents ends with the same letter that  they start  with.
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —-
4.  The strongest muscle in the body is the  tongue.
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —-
5.  There are two credit cards for every person in the United  States .
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —-
6.  TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the  letters
only on one row of the  keyboard.
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —-
7.  Women blink nearly twice as much as  men!
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —
8.  You can’t kill yourself by holding your  breath..
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —-
9.  It is impossible to lick your  elbow.
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —
10.  People say “Bless you” when you sneeze because when you
Sneeze, your  heart stops for a  millisecond.
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —
11.  It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the  sky.
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —
12.  The “sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick” is said to be the
toughest  tongue twister in the English  language.
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —
13.  If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try  to

Suppress a sneeze; you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or  neck
and  die.
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —
14.  Each king in a deck of playing cards represents great king from
History.  “Spades” - King David; “Clubs” - Alexander the Great;
” Hearts” - Charlemagne; “Diamonds” -  Julius  Caesar.
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —
15.  111,111,111 x 111,111,111 =  12,345,678,987, 654,321
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —
16.  If a statue of a warrior on a horse has both front  legs
in the air, the person died in battle. If the
horse has one front  leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in  battle.
If the horse has a all four legs on the  ground, the person died of  natural
causes.
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —
17  What do bullet proof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers and
laser printers all have in  common?
Ans. - All invented by  women.
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —
18.  Honey - This is the only food that doesn’t spoil.
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —
19.  A crocodile cannot stick its tongue  out.
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —
20.  A snail can sleep for three  years.
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —-
21.  All polar bears are left  handed.
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —
22.  American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive
from  each salad served in  first-class.
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —
23.  Butterflies taste with their  feet.
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —
24.  Elephants are the only animals that can’t  jump.
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —-
25.  In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been  domesticated.
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —
26.  On average, people fear spiders more than they do  death.
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —-
27.  Shakespeare invented the word ‘assassination’ and  ‘bump’.
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —-
28.  Stewardesses is the longest word typed with only the left  hand.
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —
29.  The ant always falls over on its right side when  intoxicated.
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —
30.  The electric chair was invented by a  dentist.
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —-
31.  The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to  the
body to squirt blood 30  feet.
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —
32.  Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have  over
million  descendants.
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —
33.  Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in
your ear  by 700  times.
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —
34.  The cigarette lighter was invented before the  match.
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —
35.  Most lipstick contains fish  scales.
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —-
36.  Like fingerprints, everyone’s tongue print is  different
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —
37.  And finally 99% of people who read this will try to lick their  elbow.

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There was a one hour interview on CNBC with Warren Buffet, the second richest man who has donated $31 billion to charity. Here are some very interesting aspects of his life:

•  He bought his first share at age 11 and he now regrets that he started too late!
• He bought a small farm at age 14 with savings from delivering newspapers.
• He still lives in the same small 3-bedroom house in mid-town Omaha that he bought after he got married 50 years ago. He says that he has everything he needs in that house. His house does not have a wall or a fence.
• He drives his own car everywhere and does not have a driver or security people around him.
• He never travels by private jet, although he owns the world’s largest private jet company.
• His company, Berkshire Hathaway, owns 63 companies. He writes only one letter each year to the CEOs of these companies, giving them goals for the year. He never holds meetings or calls them on a regular basis.  He has given his CEO’s only two rules.
  • Rule number 1: do not lose any of your share holder’s money.
  • Rule number 2: Do not forget rule number 1.

• He does not socialize with the high society crowd. His past time after he gets home is to make himself some popcorn and watch Television.
• Bill Gates, the world’s richest man met him for the first time only 5 years ago. Bill Gates did not think he had anything in common with Warren Buffet. So he had scheduled his meeting only for half hour. But when Gates met him, the meeting lasted for ten hours and Bill Gates became a devotee of Warren Buffet.
• Warren Buffet does not carry a cell phone, nor has a computer on his desk. His advice to young people:

Remember:

1. Money doesn’t create man but it is the man who created money.
2. Live your life as simple as you is.
3. Don’t do what others say, just listen to them, but do what you feel good.
4. Don’t go on brand names; just wear those things in which u feel comfortable.
5. Don’t waste your money on unnecessary things; just spend them on who are really in need, rather.
6. After all it’s your life then “why do we give a chance to others to rule our lives”

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• Shadowgrounds Survivor
• Speedball 2 - Tournament
• History Channel: Battle for the Pacific
• Disney Princess: Enchanted Journey
• The Tuttles Madcap Misadventures: Starlight Starbright Charity Challenge
• My Little Pony: Pinkie Pie’s Party Parade
• Carrier Strike Force
• Legends of Norrath: Forsworn
• The Lost Crown: A Ghost-hunting Adventure
• Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor
• The Golden Compass
• Universe at War: Earth Assault
• Manga Fighter
• Band of Bugs
• Alvin and the Chipmunks

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