Raj Agrawal

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The Youngest IT Administrator At 9, Marko Calasan

January 20, 2010 by Raj Agrawal 5 Comments

Marko learnt to read and write at the age of 2 and started working on computers immediately

He achieved his first professional credential at age of 6 . Marko Calasan is a 9yr old from Macedonia and has been dubbed the Mozart of Computers when he passed the Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator exam. He is managing a network of PCs at a nonprofit that works with people with disabilities.

Marko at work

Marko learnt to read and write at the age of 2 and started working on computers immediately. The news of his extraordinary achievement turned him into a local celebrity and he has even had an audience with the Macedonian Prime Minister, Nikola Gruevski, who presented him with an IT lab with 15 computers to practise on. Source: TimesOnline

This video was taken when he was 7 years old and is in Macedonian language, but people who don’t understand it can easily read between the lines

Marko is speaking to a crowd at Microsoft’s Slovenian offices, discussing Active Directory

The Microsoft officials gave me computer games and DVDs with cartoons when I passed the exams because I am a child. That was nice, but I’m not really interested in those things. I’d like to be a computer scientist when I grow up and create a new operational system – Marko told The Times.

At school, Marko’s favorite subject is maths, and in his spare time he browses internet forums for IT professionals and participates in debates about complex computer engineering problems.

Marko at work

Marko displayed exceptional learning abilities at a very early age. He was able to replicate a computer operation after only reading about it on the internet. Now we ask him for help when we have some IT related problem at work, Marko’s mother, Radica Calasan, 38, told The Times.

Image and data source: TimesOnline and ZdnetNews

Filed Under: Software Tagged With: microsoft

The on going fight against piracy

July 29, 2009 by Raj Agrawal Leave a Comment

It’s a Piracy Vs Anti-Piracy War

drawing of act finale
The Jolly Roger raised in an illustration for Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance. Image Credit: Wikipedia

Few years ago Microsoft silently released a Tool via ‘Automatic Updates’ to check and notify the Windows user about the genuineness of the Operating System, an attempt to fight against piracy. It indeed created a chaos for Windows Users and as a result, numerous patches were available to get rid of the nagging notification within no time. The surprising thing is that the Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) Validation Tool is so poorly constructed or should I call it “lame” that any user can block and remove it with the help of tiny patching applications and even by manual efforts. I don’t know how many Windows users Microsoft has been able to scare enough and make them actually buy a original copy of Windows OS, it is indeed interesting to know the number.

I live in India and few weeks ago I was standing in a queue to renew my railway pass. We have a TV screen installed on the top of the railway ticket counter. It wasn’t for entertainment purposes but was actually an ad slot. What caught my attention was unusual and shocking! The commercials were setup to play from a computer using Windows XP and which was pirated too! During one of the commercials, a WGA window popped in and stated that ‘the installed copy of Windows is illegal and the user should buy an legitimate one.’ (These are not the actual words but something that I perceived). This proved to me that Microsoft or any other company in its pursuit to fight against piracy is way too far from killing the root of it.

Lars Ulrich form Metallica. Image Credit: Wikipedia

Piracy has become like a uncontrollable pandemic disease. Remember the shutting down of Napster? Lars Ulrich, a drummer from a heavy metal band – Metallica, filed a suit and brought down Napster, because one of their studio recordings they were working on was already available for free download on Napster P2P. But, what was the result? Thousands of fans protested against Metallica for their action and majority of them were users of Napster P2P. But, this did not scare the pirates at all and numerous other P2P sharing portals were established, soon after Napster was successfully shut down. Even the renowned P2P sharing portals like Demonoid and PirateBay have also “suffered and survived” form major law suits and recently, thirteen Hollywood production companies have filed a new lawsuit to try to get PirateBay.org shut down.

Practically, there is no end to the war and the best way to put an end to it is by doing what smart enemies would do. Teaming up and re-framing the strategies that they have been following. (Reminds me of the recent Microsoft-Yahoo deal) This is the smartest way to make things more productive for everyone. But, who knows what is brewing in the minds of the “big guys” ?

(Post updated as on 14th Aug, 2009)

Few years ago Microsoft silently released a Tool via ‘Automatic Updates’ to check and notify the Windows user about the genuineness of the Operating System, an attempt to fight against piracy. It indeed created a chaos for Windows Users and as a result, numerous patches were available to get rid of the nagging notification within no time. The surprising thing is that the Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) Validation Tool is so poorly constructed or should i call it “lame” that any user can block and remove it with the help of tiny patching applications  and even by manual efforts. I don’t know how many Windows users Microsoft has been able to scare enough and make them actually buy a original copy of Windows OS, it is indeed interesting to know the number.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: microsoft, piracy

Convert Docx Files To Any Format

April 21, 2009 by Raj Agrawal 1 Comment

Microsoft Office 2007 has been introduced with a huge pile of fixes, features and an attractive look, no doubt indeed. The new “docx” format (Microsoft Open Office XML format) in MS Office 2007 is claimed to be a better version of the legendary “doc” format. The docx format also comes along with an issue that it is only compatible with MS Office 2007 and not with the older versions of the product, not even with OpenOffice, Lotus 123, or NeoOffice.

For those who are using the older version of MS Office, you can very easily convert the docx files into the desired format with this free online conversion service www.zamzar.com. You can also convert a wide variety of other file types like,

  • Document formats
  • Image formats
  • Music formats
  • Video formats
  • Compressed formats
  • CAD formats

OR, you can download the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats from the Microsoft website to expand the functionality to your older versions of MS Office.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: microsoft

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