Our Company celebrates its 10th Anniversary

Mindfire Solutions celebrates its 10th Anniversary. A fun filled evening with all the employees riding on a great sense of nostalgia and success, brimming with confidence, took on the stage. The stage was on rock and roll and there was a sense of joy in the atmosphere. More to come up in our upcoming newsletter.

Origo – Distributed Software Development

Origo is an open, modular and extensible software development, management and distribution platform. Aimed at software developers, Origo provides a set of services for combining, integrating and facilitating the development process over a network. Origo provides services like source control management, issue tracking, statistics, release hosting, wiki, blog and features for communicating and networking with other developers. An extensive API can be used to integrate Origo into other applications and development processes.

Origo was conceived as a research project of the Software Engineering chair at ETH Zürich, and has resulted in several theses. Recently ownership was transferred into an ETH spinoff, Oriact.

Released in August 2007, the platform as of August 2009 hosts 3,000 projects with over 6,500 developers worldwide.

Origo’s Features

Origo provides all the common features of a source control platform:

• Source Control Management & hosting using Subversion
• Release Hosting
• Both open- and closed source projects
• A wiki for presentation and documentation
• Blogs and Forums
• Bugtracker (“Issue Tracker”)
• Community wiki pages
• Jabber server
• Networking by befriending other users
• Process tracking through workitems

A user can own or be a member of any number of projects. While all projects are separate, the user can conveniently track the progress of the projects centrally, as all actions (source commits, wiki-edits, etc.) are tracked by Origo as “workitems”. Email notification for each project and each action can be configured. The concept of “simultaneous separation while centrally tracked” projects posed the biggest challenge for this site.

Chrome OS Partners: Acer, Adobe, ASUS, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments

Google is starting to respond to questions about the just announced Chrome operating system. In a short FAQ today they talked about cost and initial partners.

First of all, the software will be free, which was an easy assumption to make since it will be open source. Like Android, Google will not charge users or device manufacturers to use the Chrome OS.

Yesterday Google said they were already working with device manufacturers to roll out Chrome OS devices late next year. Today they announced at least some of those partners: Acer, Adobe, ASUS, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments.

Acer and ASUS are the no. 1 and no. 2 netbook manufacturers worldwide. HP and Lenovo are also large netbook manufacturers. Freescale, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments are chip companies that Google is likely working with to ensure a good user experience. What I’d really like to know is if Google is working with these or any other partners to release products off the ARM or Atom processors. A desktop or even dual core laptop running Chrome OS would be a compelling device too.

Google is clearly aiming Chrome at Windows, and focusing less on battery management (Android’s strength) to focus on robust driver support. Users will not be happy unless they can plug any printer, camera, or other peripheral device into these computers and have them work properly.

The other focus is on speed, which is why Google is working so closely with the chip guys. This isn’t going to just be Linux with a browser bolted on. It will be (or should be) a compelling user experience with super fast boot and web surfing times.

Google’s Chrome OS: what it means, why it matters

Well, that didn’t take long. Last night, we reported that sources inside and outside Google were su

ggesting that the company would announce a Chrome-centered OS within a matter of days. It turned out to be a matter of hours. Late Tuesday night, the Google Blog officially announced that the Google Chrome OS was a reality and would appear on netbooks some time later next year.

The announcement contained a thesis statement that is a bit more significant than it might appear at first: “It’s our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be.” That statement has both strategic and practical implications, which we’ll consider in turn.

From a strategic perspective, “what operating systems should be” clearly involves a heavy dose of Google-driven Web apps, from e-mail to spreadsheets. The entire OS will be focused on getting users into a Web browser as quickly as possible; any other applications will be secondary and probably not provided by Google. Instead, once the browser launches, users can do their computing via online applications, saving their data in the cloud (think of all those “gDrive” rumors from the last few years).

Google views this as computing nirvana for users, saying, “[Users] want their data to be accessible to them wherever they are and not have to worry about losing their computer or forgetting to back up files.”

But there are still a variety of applications that simply can’t be replicated within a browser, and consumers have had a mixed reaction to Google’s own apps, embracing Gmail but finding its presentation software to be severely limited compared to its desktop app counterparts. But the Chrome OS will be appearing first on netbooks, which can’t handle some of the more heavyweight desktop applications in the first place. And the new offering has the potential to drive users to rely on Google’s online offerings, which certainly would further the company’s goals.

Of course, the cloud is only useful if it’s accessible, and staying online isn’t always convenient or cheap at this stage. The new offline storage capabilities in the latest Web standards certainly limit the impact of temporary disconnection and, by controlling the whole software stack, Google has the opportunity to make sure its applications play nicely when the computer happens to be offline.

From a technological perspective, there appear to be some interesting aspects to rethinking the operating system. For one, by having an extremely narrow focus—bringing up a networking stack and browser as quickly as possible—Chrome OS has the ability to cut down on the hassles related to restarting and hibernating computers. And, aside from the browser, all of the key applications will reside online, security and other software updates won’t happen on the computer itself, which should also improve the user experience.

From a security perspective, Google claims that it will be “completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS” in a way that eliminates virus and malware worries. The sandboxing and process isolation that Google has built into the Chrome browser undoubtedly provide much of that security, so it’s unclear what will have to happen at the OS level; it’s possible that Google will be looking at ways to extend this level of security to third party apps.

More……..

Google Chrome, Next OS?

Google announced on it’s official blog that CHROME is the next OS for netbooks.

After I went through their announcement, I found that they’re more focused on speed,simplicity and security. They’re working with big names like Acer, Adobe, ASUS, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, and Toshiba. I’ve not read a single word on multimedia. Operating System, as a definitive term, is evolving or being changed by group of people. Anyone expecting to play around with fullblown content on Google OS, forget about it. Speed, simplicity and security has lots of restrictions being put up.

Google Chrome sounds good for people on the go, who need nothing more than information real quick, be able to communicate faster than ever and has nothing to do with gaming and multimedia rich stuff like that.

On top of that Google Chrome(Browser turned/termed OS) is being built on Linux kernel. So, it’ll be the one of those Linux variations. It’s just to see how Google would end up making it up hasslefree.

And, I’m one of those guys who extremely hate Linux for desktop use. Google might change that view towards Linux. Time will tell.

Granted, It’s Free and open source project, there is no harm trying it next year. You’ve no moral rights to file complain if anything went wrong while using free OS albeit there is wide array of community based support which I again think sucks. But, what this also means the affordability. You might end up paying 20%-30% less on the same computer.

For now, I’m holding on to Windows 7, waiting for it to be released on Oct 22nd, no matter what.

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Joomla Team Launches Joomla Resources Directory

Calling all Joomla (news, site) fans! Back in January of this year, a seed was planted. That is, Joomla core team member Sam Moffat posted a blog entry that spawned comments around the desire for a better way to connect the Joomla community—specifically, users and developers.

A handful of similar posts followed on the Joomla blog, and the response from the community went from seemingly mild to “overwhelming,” as their website states. The result? The brand spankin’ new Joomla Resource Directory (JRD), which was pre-launched in May and finally went live earlier this month.

Bringing their new offering to the table along with much enthusiasm, the team claims that there’s no easier way to find developers, service providers, and other valuable resources.

“We think this will be a great way to connect end-users and service providers in the Joomla Community,” said Wendy Robinson of the JRD Team.”Most small businesses can’t afford to advertise on the Joomla.org sites and this will provide them wide exposure. With close to a million visitors and 14 million page views a month, the JED has proven that there is wide interest in products related to Joomla.”

So far it looks like the majority of Joomla fans are pleased with the new directory, if only, perhaps, because they now have something to tide them over until the much anticipated release of Joomla 1.6.

Interested? Head on over to www.resources.joomla.org.

10 Things They Don’t Teach You In Design School

I had a great time in design school, I was constantly learning and surrounded by lots of like minded people. However, after five years of freelancing as a graphic designer, I’ve learned many new things. The following list is the top ten things that I had to learn the hard way.

1. Your diploma doesn’t help you to find a job

But your portfolio does! Of course it’s a good thing to get a design education and a proof of it, but when it comes to get money out of their wallet clients want to see what you are capable of, not a diploma. When looking for work, I never had to show my diploma, not even once.

Picture by ajschwegler

2. Good design takes time, don’t set too tight deadlines

When you are in design school, the teacher sets the deadlines for you and tries to give you enough time. Your boss or your client will not be like your design teacher, they will try to push you to be more productive and give you too little time to get work done. All my worst designs have been created when I agreed to work with unrealistic deadlines.

Picture by Swami Stream

3. You clients don’t think that you are an artist

They just think you should help them to sell more. This doesn’t mean you should give up on good design, it just means that you’ll have to be convincing when you want to bring a more artistic touch to a job. I’ve been very frustrated with this when I first got out of school, but I learned to deal with it by educating my clients.

Picture by Neil T

4. You must be able to handle irrelevant criticism

When you are in school, you learn a lot from getting criticized by your teachers and classmates. Obviously these people all have some design skills, sometimes more than yourself. It is much harder to handle critics about your work when they come from people with no design education. You can be sure that you’ll hear some insane things and have to deal with it.

Picture by liber

5. You should backup your data on a regular basis

Most people learn this the hard way, the day their computer crashes. Usually it happens at the worst time, before a client meeting or something similar. If you think that this isn’t design-related, you are totally wrong.

Picture by miss karen

6. Start networking, now!

Be sociable, even if you are the best designer out there, nobody will know it if people don’t get a chance to meet you. You don’t even need to attend work-related events, just join a sport team, drama group or whatever suits you, the most important thing is that you meet some like-minded people. When with people, don’t oversell and talk about your work all the time, but be sure never to miss an opportunity when you think that someone could need your skills.

Picture by chuck p

7. Make sure your client signs a contract

This is sometimes annoying, especially when you think that you can trust the client, but it can save you a lot of trouble. You should make it a habit to have you clients signing a simple and comprehensive contract before starting to work. If you have no clue of how to write a contract, take a look at this article by Andy Clark.

Picture by robertgaal

8. Learning design is an ongoing process

Getting your diploma doesn’t mean that your design education is over, far from it. As a designer you have to stay up-to-date with the latest trends, software updates and industry news, or you’ll quickly lose touch.

Picture by nickobec

9. Being a good designer is not only about talent

“I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it”. This quote by Thomas Jefferson says it all about the importance of hard work in creative fields. As a designer, you need to read, work and experiment constantly, it is the only way to let your natural talent explode.

Picture by Marcin Wichary

10. Your printer will stop working when you need it the most

Need to print your design to go meet your client? Chances are that your printer will chose that moment to die. Make sure you have some friends or working partners willing to help in these cases.

Picture by sheffnermarc

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CodeIgniter – Open source PHP web application framework

Codeigniter

CodeIgniter is a powerful PHP framework with a very small footprint, built for PHP coders who need a simple and elegant toolkit to create full-featured web applications. If you’re a developer who lives in the real world of shared hosting accounts and clients with deadlines, and if you’re tired of ponderously large and thoroughly undocumented frameworks

CodeIgniter is right for you if…

• You want a framework with a small footprint.
• You need exceptional performance.
• You need broad compatibility with standard hosting accounts that run a variety of PHP versions and configurations.
• You want a framework that requires nearly zero configuration.
• You want a framework that does not require you to use the command line.
• You want a framework that does not require you to adhere to restrictive coding rules.

• You are not interested in large-scale monolithic libraries like PEAR.
• You do not want to be forced to learn a templating language (although a template parser is optionally available if you desire one).
• You eschew complexity, favoring simple solutions.
• You need clear, thorough documentation.

DrupalCon is coming to Paris in September 2009

Great news! On Thursday evening, the Drupal Association board chose Paris to host the next European Drupalcon.

First of all we want to congratulate the teams from the other two candidate cities, Maastricht and Cologne. We know they worked hard, spent a lot of energy and did a great job. We’re looking forward to working with you all — your help and experience will be more than welcome…

Paris is a good city for open source software, a great city for Drupal and, frankly, a fantastic place to visit. The community here has become increasingly active over the past two years and is excited to host enthusiastic Drupalers from around the world.

We want the conference to be attractive to as many Drupalers as possible. This is why the conference will feature tracks for coders, designers, site builders and students as well as companies and entrepreneurs thinking about using Drupal.

Read from source

What is HTML 5

HTML was developed by the W3C until 2004, when members of the HTML working group grew disturbed with the direction the W3C was going with HTML. They felt that the W3C was not paying enough attention to the real-world development needs of the language and focusing too much on XML and XHTML. So they formed a new group called WHATWG (Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group) devoted to evolving the Web. They started by working on a new specification of HTML – HTML 5.

HTML 5 is a new version of HTML 4.01 and XHTML 1.0 focusing on the needs of Web application developers as well as evolving HTML and addressing issues found in the current specifications.

You Can Use HTML 5 Right Now

While the HTML 5 specification (also on the W3C as a Working Draft) is not finalized yet, you can use it with any browser that supports it or any part of it. For example, many Web browsers currently support the [a href='http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/the-canvas-element.html]canvas[/link] element. This element is used to draw graphics with scripting. It is currently supported by Safari, Firefox, Opera, and IE 8.

Why Should You Learn HTML 5

HTML 5 is the newest specification for HTML, and many browsers are going to start supporting it in the future. One nice thing about HTML 5 is that it attempts to stay backwards compatible. So if you don’t want to learn it just yet, you don’t need to.

If you build Web applications you will eventually want to learn HTML 5. There are a lot of new attributes and tags built just for Web applications. For instance, there are a number of new event handlers for drag and drop:

• ondrag
• ondragstart
• ondragend
• ondrop

And many more.

At this point in time, there is not a lot of support for HTML 5, but that support is growing all the time. By staying abreast of the changes you’ll be prepared when they become widely available for use.