Vol-11 | History of Windows

Year	Event
1983	Bill Gates announces Microsoft Windows November 10, 1983.
1985	Microsoft Windows 1.0 is introduced in November 20, 1985 and is initially sold for $100.00.
1987	Microsoft Windows 2.0 was released December 9, 1987 and is initially sold for $100.00.
1987	Microsoft Windows/386 or Windows 386 is introduced December 9, 1987 and is initially sold for $100.00.
1988	Microsoft Windows/286 or Windows 286 is introduced June, 1988 and is initially sold for $100.00.
1990	Microsoft Windows 3.0 was released May, 22 1990. Microsoft Windows 3.0 full version was priced at $149.95 and the upgrade version was priced at $79.95.
1991	Following its decision not to develop operating systems cooperatively with IBM, Microsoft changes the name of OS/2 to Windows NT.
1991	Microsoft Windows 3.0 or Windows 3.0a with multimedia was released October, 1991.
1992	Microsoft Windows 3.1 was released April, 1992 and sells more than 1 Million copies within the first two months of its release.
1992	Microsoft Windows for Workgroups 3.1 was released October, 1992.
1993	Microsoft Windows NT 3.1 was released July 27, 1993.
1993	Microsoft Windows 3.11, an update to Windows 3.1 is released December 31, 1993.
1993	The number of licensed users of Microsoft Windows now totals more than 25 Million.
1994	Microsoft Windows for Workgroups 3.11 was released February, 1994.
1994	Microsoft Windows NT 3.5 was released September 21, 1994.
1995	Microsoft Windows NT 3.51 was released May 30, 1995.
1995	Microsoft Windows 95 was released August 24, 1995 and sells more than 1 Million copies within 4 days.
1996	Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 was released July 29, 1996.
1996	Microsoft Windows CE 1.0 was released November, 1996.
1997	Microsoft Windows CE 2.0 was released November, 1997.
1998	Microsoft Windows 98 was released June, 1998.
1998	Microsoft Windows CE 2.1 was released July, 1998.
1998	In October of 1998 Microsoft announced that future releases of Windows NT would no longer have the initials of NT and that the next edition would be Windows 2000.
1999	Microsoft Windows 98 SE (Second Edition) was released May 5, 1999.
1999	Microsoft Windows CE 3.0 was released 1999.
2000	On January 4th at CES Bill Gates announces the new version of Windows CE will be called Pocket PC.
2000	Microsoft Windows 2000 was released February 17, 2000.
2000	Microsoft Windows ME (Millennium) released June 19, 2000.
2001	Microsoft Windows XP is released October 25, 2001.
2001	Microsoft Windows XP 64-Bit Edition (Version 2002) for Itanium systems is released March 28, 2003.
2003	Microsoft Windows Server 2003 is released March 28, 2003.
2003	Microsoft Windows XP 64-Bit Edition (Version 2003) for Itanium 2 systems is released on March 28, 2003.
2003	Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2003 is released on December 18, 2003.
2004	Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 is released on October 12, 2004.
2005	Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition is released on April 24, 2005.
2005	Microsoft announces it's next operating system, codenamed "Longhorn" will be named Windows Vista on July 23, 2005.
2006	Microsoft releases Microsoft Windows Vista to corporations on November 30, 2006.
2007	Microsoft releases Microsoft Windows Vista and Office 2007 to the general public January 30, 2007.
2009	Microsoft releases Windows 7 October 22, 2009.

Vol-10 | Difference between 2G and 3G

2G and 3 G is a family of standards for mobile telecommunications defined by the International Telecommunication Union, which includes GSM EDGE, UMTS, and CDMA2000 as well as DECT and WiMAX. Services include wide-area wireless voice telephone, video calls, and wireless data, all in a mobile environment.

2G Stands for second generation mobile telephony standards, where 3G defined the third generation  mobile telephony standards to facilitate growth, increase bandwidth, and support more diverse applications. For example, GSM (the current most popular cellular phone standard) could deliver not only voice, but also circuit-switched data at download rates up to 14.4 kbps. But to support mobile multimedia applications, 3G had to deliver packet-switched data with better spectral efficiency, at far greater bandwidths.

History

·  Launched a decade apart, 2G and 3G technology were both utilized in divergent parts of the world first. 2G first launched in the nation of Finland in 1991, while 3G was first used in Japan in 2001, according to UMTSWorld.com, a website that follows 3G technology.

Function

·  While 2G networks primarily involve the transmission of voice information, 3G technology provides the additional advantage of data transfer. 3G can download information at 14 Megabits per second, while uploading 5.8 Megabits per second.

Significance

·  3G technology offers a higher level of security than 2G networks. According to Colin Blanchard of BTexaCT, a UK-based technology firm, 3G networks allow authentication procedures when communicating with other devices.

Considerations

·  Due to the advancements of 3G technology's data transfers, many additional features are available to those networks utilizing the system, unlike 2G. These features include mobile TV, video transfers and GPS systems.

Click Here check out what actually is 3G?

Vol-9 | How do optical mice work?

I­t appears that the venerable wheeled mouse is in danger of extinction. The now-preferred device for pointing and clicking is the optical mouse. ­

Developed by Agilent Technologies and introduced to the world in late 1999, the optical mouse actually uses a tiny camera to take 1,500 pictures every second. Able to work on almost any surface, the mouse has a small, red light-emitting diode (LED) that bounces light off that surface onto a complimentary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) sensor.

The CMOS sensor sends each image to a digital signal processor (DSP) for analysis. The DSP, operating at 18 MIPS (million instructions per second), is able to detect patterns in the images and see how those patterns have moved since the previous image. Based on the change in patterns over a sequence of images, the DSP determines how far the mouse has moved and sends the corresponding coordinates to the computer. The computer moves the cursor on the screen based on the coordinates received from the mouse. This happens hundreds of times each second, making the cursor appear to move very smoothly.

Optical mice have several benefits over wheeled mice:

• No moving parts means less wear and a lower chance of failure.
• There's no way for dirt to get inside the mouse and interfere with the tracking sensors.
• Increased tracking resolution means smoother response.
• They don't require a special surface, such as a mouse pad.

­ Although LED-based optical mice are fairly recent, another type of optical mouse has been around for over a decade. The original optical-mouse technology bounced a focused beam of light off a highly-reflective mouse pad onto a sensor. The mouse pad had a grid of dark lines. Each time the mouse was moved, the beam of light was interrupted by the grid. Whenever the light was interrupted, the sensor sent a signal to the computer and the cursor moved a corresponding amount. This kind of optical mouse was difficult to use, requiring that you hold it at precisely the right angle to ensure that the light beam and sensor aligned. Also, damage to or loss of the mouse pad rendered the mouse useless until a replacement pad was purchased. Today's LED-based optical mice are far more user-friendly and reliable.

Vol-8 | Hindi, not a national language: Court

Surprised! Can’t believe it right?

Same was my reaction. I have read Hindi as a language in my entire career , and every time I have been taught it as National Language!

But see the screenshot from Wikipedia below (Bottom Left corner – “National Language”).

I was completely confused. But read on to see the supporting scripting….

Gujarat High Court has observed that though majority of people in India have accepted Hindi as a national language, there was nothing on record to suggest that any provision has been made or order issued declaring Hindi as a national language of the country.

The observation was made by division bench of Chief Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya and justice A.S. Dave recently while rejecting a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) by one Suresh Kachhadia.

Mr. Kachhadia had filed the PIL last year seeking direction to Central and State government to make it mandatory for manufacturers to print details of goods like price, ingredients and date of manufacture in Hindi.

The court observed, “Normally, in India, majority of the people have accepted Hindi as a national language and many people speak Hindi and write in Devanagari script but there is nothing on record to suggest that any provision has been made or order issued declaring Hindi as a national language of the country.”

“No mandamus can be issued on any manufacturer or others for giving details or particulars of package in Hindi in Devanagari script,” it further said.

It was contended by Mr. Kachhadia’s lawyer that Hindi was the national language and was understood by a large number of persons in the country.

The Counsel representing central government submitted that specific provision has been made under the Standard of Weight and Measures (Packaged Commodities) Rules of 1977 that particulars of declaration should be in Hindi in Devanagari script or in English.

The court said that the Constituent Assembly while discussing the Language Formula noticed the recommendation of the Sub-Committee on Fundamental Rights, which recommended the formula as per which, “Hindustani, written either in Devanagari or the Persian script at the option of the citizen, shall, as the national language, be the first official language of the Union. English shall be the second official language for such period as the Union may, by law, determine.”

However, in the constitution, Hindi was declared as an official language and not a national language.

The court in its order said Part XVII of the Constitution deals with Official Language. Under Article 343, official language of the Union has been prescribed, which includes Hindi in Devanagari script and English.

Above information is at : http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article94695.ece

Screenshot of : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India

Vol-7 | Tips’n’Tricks : OpenOffice.org

OpenOffice.org 3.0 is a fully featured office suite. The suite is designed to completely fulfil the needs of working in most office environments. It consists of a database management program called Base, a vector-based drawing environment called Draw, a presentation program called Impress, a spreadsheet program called Calc, a scientific calculator called Math and a word processor called Writer. Here are some of the finer aspects of Calc, Impress and Writer.

Calc

Work With Numbers Beginning With Zero

By default, spreadsheet applications convert entries like 042 to 42. Leading zeros in numbers are used in many places, a simple example being serial numbers. To insert a number that begins with a zero, just type [‘] before the number. Entering ‘042 will convert it to 042. The apostrophe does not show in the spreadsheet. This method cannot be used for calculable figures. To do this, select the cells you want to insert the numbers in, then go to Format > Cells > Numbers. Under Category, select User-defined. In the Format code field, enter “�0”. This will add a zero before every number. The program will append the number with as many zeros as you enter after ‘�’. For example, using “�000” in the Format code field, and then entering “21” will show up as “0021” in the cell.

Freeze Headers

To freeze headers while working with large documents, select the column to the right, or the row just below the row you want frozen, and check Window > Freeze. To unfreeze the frozen area, uncheck Window > Freeze. Selecting a single cell with this option will freeze all rows above the cell, and all columns to the left of the cell. It is not possible to freeze two separate areas simultaneously. To freeze headers while printing a document, go to Format > Print Ranges > Edit. Click on the Rows to Repeat icon, then select the rows with the cursor. A red rectangle will be drawn on the rows. To repeat columns, click on the Columns to Repeat icon and select the columns. To enter the code manually, type in “$1:$2” to repeat the first three rows or “$1:$3” to repeat the first two rows and so on. For columns, use “$A:$B”.

Add Notes To Cells

To add notes to individual cells, select the cell, then go to Insert > Notes. A yellow field will appear where you can type in your text. Drag the nodes of the field to resize or reposition the note. Every cell with a note will have a small red square on the top right corner. The note will be visible when the mouse hovers over this square. Alternatively, you can right-click on the cell and select Insert Note in the menu. To edit the note, go to Insert > Notes again. To show the note permanently while editing other cells, right-click on the cell with the note and check Show Note. The note will be visible till you right-click and deselect Show Note. Double-click on the note in this view to edit it.

Rotate a table

To rotate a table in such a way that the rows become the columns and the columns become the rows, select a range of data, go to Edit > Copy then select a single cell where you want to past it. Then go to Edit > Paste Special and check Transpose under Options, then click OK. If you select a row or a column, the data gets pasted many times over in the rows and columns, so be sure to select just one cell. Also, the data will get automatically rotated the next time you use Paste Special, so make sure that the Transpose option is unchecked.

Change the colour of the gridlines

By default, the gridlines in the spreadsheet is grey. If you want to choose another colour for the gridlines, or want to make it slightly darker or lighter, go to Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org Calc > View. Under Gridlines, select a colour from the colour drop down box. Click OK.

Using Conditional Formatting

You can specify upto three conditions for a cell, and then format the resulting values in that cell according to the conditions. Select the cell or cells for which you want to use this feature, and go to Format > Conditional Formatting. There are three conditions available, with a drop down box to change the three conditions. This includes a number of operators. The options are equal to, less than, greater than, less than or equal to, greater than or equal to, not equal to, between and not between. Select a condition, then select a style from the Cell Style drop down menu. There are four default styles available. To create your own styles, enter a text or number, apply the font changes you want to it, select the cell, then go to Format > Styles and Formatting or press [F11]. In the Styles and Formatting window, click on the New Style from Selection button. A window will pop up asking you to name the style. Once this is done, click on OK. Now, go to Format > Conditional Formatting and in the Cell Style drop down menu, you will see your new style.

Using Scenarios

Scenarios is a useful little feature in Calc that allows you to assign a different set of values to the same set of cells. This means that you can use the formulas and create charts, as well as use the Data Pilot on the same cells, with alternate values for different situations. Select the cells you want to enter alternate values to, go to Tools > Scenarios and click on OK. A grey box appears by default around the area of selection. This is your Scenario 1. Go the Tools > Scenarios to create the second scenario. Now you can move back and forth between the two scenarios using the scenario drop down menu that appears boxed around the cells. You can create as many scenarios as you want on the same set of cells. Editing one scenario will not change the other scenario. Note that the notes on a cell will remain the same throughout all the scenarios.

Impress

Using The Start-up Wizard

On start-up, Impress initiates a wizard. To disable the wizard, check Do not show this wizard again when it starts up. However, the wizard is a very helpful feature, and gets your presentation well under way before opening up the application for editing. You can select the design, the transitions, and the timing of the transitions. The fourth step in the wizard asks you the name of the company, the subject of the presentation and ideas to be presented. These fields, when filled occupy the first slide of the slideshow. The fifth step is choosing particular pages, which is centered around a presentation for a product. This can be easily changed later on.

Custom Slide Shows

You can create custom presentations from a large slideshow according to the needs of the audience. This means that you can take particular slides from the presentation, re-order them and present to an audience. You can create as many custom slide shows as you want.

To do this, go to Slide Show > Custom Slide Show > New. The Define Custom Slide Show window will now open. You can add or remove slides from the main presentation.

Once you are done, click on OK to save the custom slide show. To make another custom slide show, click on New again. To present a particular custom slide show, click on Start from this window, after selecting a custom slide show from the list.

Insert Summary Slide

A summary slide is a slide added to the end of the presentation that highlights all the points covered in the presentation. To insert a summary slide at the end of the presentation, go to Insert > Summary Slide. Note that changes made in the intermediate slides after creating the summary slide will not change the summary slide, and the summary slide can be created only once in a presentation.

Rehearse Slide Show

Impress lets you calculate the duration for display of each slide during a presentation so that you don’t need to manually feed in the duration while creating a slide show. Go to Slide Show > Rehearse Timing. The slide show should start now, with a semi-transparent timer in the bottom left corner of the screen. Change the slide after the appropriate duration of time. Once you have gone through the entire presentation in this manner, the timings for each slide are automatically stored. Save the file and run the presentation. The presentation will now proceed with the rehearsed timings.

Batch convert PowerPoint Documents And Templates

You can batch process MS PowerPoint templates and presentations to be used with OpenOffice.org with the Open Document format. The same procedure can be used with different settings for converting Excel and Word files as well. Go to File > Wizards > Document Converter. The Document Converter window should now open. By default Star Office is selected. Select the Microsoft Office radio button. Check PowerPoint Documents and click on Next. Select the Import from: and Save to: directories for the Templates and the Documents. By default, the PowerPoint templates are in the C:Program FilesMicrosoft OfficeTemplatesPresentation Designs directory. Click on Next. A summary of which directories the templates and documents will be imported from and exported to will show up. Click on Convert and the files will be converted to the Open Document format.

Turn On Reference Options

To turn on the grid in Impress, go to Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org Impress > Grid. Under Grid check Snap to grid and Visible grid. The grid that appears is made up of an array of dots, and not lines. To show Rulers, go to Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org Impress > View. Under Display, check Rulers visible.

Customise The Menu

The top bar can be totally re-ordered and customised according to user preferences. You can rename the menu options of File, Edit, View, Tools etc, add sub-menus and sub-sub menus, re-order the arrangement of the items in each menu and so on. Impress allows total flexibility with regards to the menu. Go to View > Toolbars > Customize. From the Customize window, you can tweak the menus, the keyboard shortcuts, the toolbars and events according to your preferences.

Make 3D Rotation Objects

You can use Impress to create 3D objects from a curve. Although the objects created are not really 3D, they appear to be so. Draw a line or a curve, right-click on it and go to Convert > 3D Rotation Object.

Writer

Creating A New Style

To create a new style, first type in a few text characters anywhere in the document. Apply the font settings that you want, and go to Format > Styles and Formatting or press [F11]. Click on the New Style from Selection button, and enter the name of the style. You can use the same method to update a particular preset style. To do this, press [F11] then click on the Update Style button.

Auto Completion

Writer can automatically learn and complete long words. This feature is enabled by default, but can be distracting. To disable the feature, go to Tools > AutoCorrect > Word Correction and uncheck Enable word completion. If you want to use this feature, but want to use the space bar to accept a word instead of the [Enter] key. Under the Accept with drop down menu, select Space. If you want to use a particular word, but another word is showing up in the autocomplete feature, press [Ctrl]+[Tab] to cycle forwards through the list or [Ctrl]+[Shift]+[Tab] to cycle backwards through the list. To decrease the minimum number of letters for which this feature is active, reduce the min. word length from the default value of 10 to either 5 or 2 as per your choice.

Using The Direct Cursor

The direct cursor feature allows you to start typing anywhere on the page. The feature divides the document into lines and three zones - right, centre and left. Once activated, you can click the cursor anywhere on the page and start typing. To enable the feature, go to Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org Writer > Formatting Aids. Under Direct Cursor, check Direct Cursor. To allow for even more flexibility, and give you the freedom to start writing from any point on the page, go to Tools > Options > Open Office.org Writer > Formatting Aids. Under Direct Cursor, select Insert. Finally, select the Tabs and Spaces radio button.

Add Footnotes

When writing a technical document, it is useful to append footnotes at the end of a page. To add a footnote, bring the cursor to the end of the sentence to which you want to add a footnote, go to Insert > Footnote, and click OK with the default values. The cursor will now be taken to a modified footer, where you can type in the footnote. Footnotes will be added to the end of every page. To collect all the notes at the end of a document, go to Insert > Footnote and under Type select the Endnote radio button.

Use Sections

Sections are a useful feature that allows a part of the document to behave in a different way than the rest of the document. To create a section, go to Insert > Section. The section is by default named serially starting from Section1. Write some text in this section, or copy-paste from another location. To change the way the section behaves, go to Format > Sections. Select a particular section from the list. You can protect a particular section from being changed. Check the Protected check box under Write Protection. You can choose to add a password to this section to remove the write protection. To hide the section in the document, check the Hide checkbox under Hide. To allow only the section to be edited in a write-protected document, check Editable in read-only document under Properties.

Insert Notes

Notes are small post-its like fields for comments or personal reference. Notes can be added anywhere in the document, and show up with a dark yellow line linked to a field to the right of a document. Position the cursor to the left of the character to which you want to add the note to, then go to Insert > Note or use the shortcut [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[N]. If you delete a text, the accompanying note will also be deleted. You can edit the note by clicking on it. The note is attached to a particular character on the page, typing before the character will make the note change position too. To keep the notes, but make them invisible, go to View > Notes.

Add Animation To Text

You can add animation to text in drawing objects like circles or rectangles to give more visual appeal to your documents. First, insert an object into the document from the drawing toolbar. If the toolbar is not visible, go to View > Toolbars > Drawing. Once an object is inserted, double-click on it to enter text. After entering the text in the object, select the object and go to Format > Object > Text Attributes > Text Animation. There are four effects available, blink, scroll through, scroll back and forth and scroll in. Most of these effects can be looped infinitely or made to repeat a specific number of times. You can choose other settings like direction, increment and delay. Click on OK when you are done.