Delivering the Crunch in Pakistan Technology
Umair Khan Jadoon
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Posts by Umair Khan Jadoon
No-Piracy time for Pakistan
Apr 26th
Yesterday, I went to Galaxy Computers (that’s my trusted computer shopping spot) to buy USB headphones. I took my notebook with me to make sure that they work with it. While talking to the Galaxy guy, I told him I want to check those, he said “yes you can”. I pulled out my notebook out of the bag and that guy got scared! As it was a bomb or something. He lifted it up to see the Windows serial number sticker at the bottom of my notebook. As it had come with Linpus Linux, there was no such sticker. He said “Sorry Sir you cant use pirated software here! we have been warned”. He assumed that I have a pirated copy of Windows installed in my notebook as 99% of home users in Pakistan never buy genuine Windows. I can’t afford all software installed on my PCs but as I am member of Bizspark, MSDN and MSDNAA, I get licensed software from Microsoft for free. I told him that I have original and licensed software in my notebook. I turned it on and he turned it off with a scared face and said “Sir please don’t turn it on here, we don’t know if it is pirated or not, you have no sticker on your notebook” I asked “Why are you behaving like this?” he replied “Yesterday, a guy came and warned us to get rid of pirated windows installed on our systems or else we can be sentenced to jail”. I asked “Are you sure he was an official?” and he said ”Yes! I am sure, even Viper ( a computer hardware company who loaded pirated software) is screwed up”. I still tried to turn on my notebook and he said “Sir please don’t turn it on our shop, buy the headphones, if they don’t work we will replace them”.
Fishy things to know if you are a PTCL broadband customer
Apr 12th
I have been using PTCL Broadband from past 3 month, and had several strange experiences like non-transaction of paid bills, holding phone for about 56 minutes to talk to senior technical support, feeling stupid when internet isn’t working, imaginarily beating the beast who is responsible for my internet downtime and dreaming about tooth fairies when have nothing to do.
If you don’t know anyone of some authority in PTCL or Government of Pakistan or your home doesn’t reside with any of the ministers of the Government, then here are some handy tips that can save your day:
Why Pakistan Needs Cloud Computing
Mar 15th
Cloud computing is one of the most heard buzz word nowadays in Web 2.0. Many people believe that it is just marketing and nothing technical. It’s not true; Cloud Computing is actually ‘Marketing’ + ‘Big Technical changes’. To understand what actually is cloud computing, watch this video:
Suppose that you have an idea for a startup that you think can compete with the likes of Flickr, Facebook, Twitter etc and you have all the skills to do it. But it is nearly impossible in Pakistan, not because we don’t have skills to compete with them but it’s a fact that launching and running a startup that can scale up to millions of users and has more than 97% of uptime is very difficult for developing countries like Pakistan. You need powerful servers, uninterrupted supply of electricity, more than 100 Mbps of internet connection with unlimited bandwidth, hire network engineers, scalability experts, server architecture experts, security experts and more. Can you estimate what will be the costs? Is it really possible to get all these facilities in Pakistan?
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