Open Source Investment

Technology grows very fast. Living in that situation will lead your company to bankrupt since you need to invest more money buying latest software, anti virus, security software, expensive hosting, etc. So how can we face it?

Use open source!

Open Source also grows very fast recent days. You can get 3D desktop easily using latest Linux OS and run it faster that Vista on your old machine. You can have more secure website, Application, virus-free, etc using this kind of technology. As the result, you can multifold your revenue as not investing much money on software, etc.....

Who's able to do that? Is it easy to learn?

The reason it's difficult to learn is because you haven't tried it. Or, you've tried it but few years ago. Nowadays, open source is far better and more reliable solutions not only for budget-limited companies, but also others that wants better service and reliability.

IT fresh graduates sometimes do not ready for this kind of technology since they more learn proprietary technology in their study rather than open source. Universities are getting good facilities from proprietary company so their students would be "proprietary minded". This situation is slightly different compared to what I feel in here. Some of Australian universities (particularly UNSW) are using open source platform in almost of academic aspects but still provides proprietary technology as comparison or a learning-media for other kind of technology.

What about Indonesia? Where can I get fresh graduate that well equipped  with open source knowledge?

Computer Science of Soegijapranata Catholic University (IKOM UNIKA) is one of faculty that using open source technology in all aspect of learning process. (I think this is the only one computer science faculty that using "fully open source technology" in Indonesia. Well, at least till last year :) ). As they learn computer science based on open source technology, they'll be easily adapt any other technology since they can have the benefit of open source which is deeper understanding of what happens in that technology.

More discussion about open source technology http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/7404387.stm

SMS santet... it's real, don't you believe it? :)

Voodoo via text message becomes a new phenomena in Indonesia. Some Victim die after read text message which coming from 0866... The text becoming red after a few while. Is it real? Well, I myself don't belief that :)....

But yeah, voodoo via email and sms is real... I've watched it with my own eyes...  fortunately, the voodoo is only a game which is now using a voodoo-like doll as a controller.

You can curse, poke, pinch, etc on the doll and an email or sms will be sent to the victims. But don't hurt your victim too much, otherwise, the doll will take your picture and send it to the victim. It has a built in camera on it.

Curious  about it? watch and read the full coverage here : http://gizmodo.com/390205/voodoobuddy-combines-ancient-curses-with-modern-technology

hehehe

Glad, it's just a game :)

Our First Anniversary

Yay... our first wedding anniversary..... Thanks God for giving us love and hope.... and also, brings Andra to our live. We are so grateful....

Even we are far away... but love and hope always bring us together.

It was May 5, 2007... when we were married

The very happy event in our life

Only one month before I came to Sydney.... 11 months never met... but our love and hope is the key to make everything happened

Now, we'll face the second year, third, fourth, fifth..... and so on... till death do us part.

"Yang dipersatukan Allah, tidak dapat diceraikan manusia"

Thanks for all of the support... relatives, friends, colleges, people arround us, etc...

Hopefully we can be the salt and light for the world

Aji, Andra, Linggar

Famous computer nerds series : Alan Turing

The father of computer science....

Short biography :

1912 (23 June): Birth, Paddington, London

1926-31:           Sherborne School

1931-34:           Undergraduate at King's College, Cambridge University

1932-35:           Quantum mechanics, probability, logic

1935:               Elected fellow of King's College, Cambridge

1936:               The Turing machine, computability, universal machine

1936-38:           Princeton University. Ph.D. Logic, algebra, number theory

1938-39:           Return to Cambridge. Introduced to German Enigma cipher machine

1939-40:           The Bombe, machine for Enigma decryption

1939-42:           Breaking of U-boat Enigma, saving battle of the Atlantic

1943-45:           Chief Anglo-American crypto consultant. Electronic work.

1945:               National Physical Laboratory, London

1946:               Computer and software design leading the world.

1947-48:          Programming, neural nets, and artificial intelligence

1948:               Manchester University

1949:               First serious mathematical use of a computer

1950:               The Turing Test for machine intelligence

1951:               Elected FRS. Non-linear theory of biological growth

1952:               Arrested as a homosexual, loss of security clearance

1953-54:          Unfinished work in biology and physics

1954 (7 June):  Death (suicide) by cyanide poisoning, Wilmslow, Cheshire

Even he's a homosexual (who cares?), but all his hard works has lead to modern technology which makes me possible to write this article :)

To commemorate all of his works, an Award called "Turing Award" has been annually given to whom who has big contribution to computing world. This award is more likely as a Nobel for computer people (well... we think it's equivalent).

Reading his biography, It seems that he had difficult personal life.... but it's highly recommended to read his biography... It is worth it, specially for people who likes to learn more about computer.

short biography : http://www.turing.org.uk/turing/

image taken from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing

I welcome you.... winter

Winter has started...

it was the coolest April since 30 years in Sydney... huhuhu.... I started to use my heater yesterday.

My second winter... but not the last... I still need to face it next year, hmmm... I really miss Klaten with country (village) surrounded by rice fields... Tawangmangu which will always be a lovely place for my family... They are not as cold as here... lovely.

I miss Semarang, which is very warm in midday (it was 40 degrees last year)....  I miss Jogja... with every aspect of life there... art, friendship, gudeg, motorcycles...

And for sure, I miss my wife and our beloved son, hehe.... Don't worry honey, I'll be at your side in two months.... (but only for two weeks? oh noooo... make it three).... Pray for me... I'm still struggling on crazy subjects and assignments... But I'm enjoying those...

Life is not easy.. but life is an art to solve the problem..... Enjoy your life guys....

Be careful with using bypass proxie : Indonesian blocking many sites

As the title above,

Currently, you can't access many sites (youtube, multiply, rapidshare, etc) directly in Indonesia. The solution is easy, you can use bypass proxie websites to access those sites. Just google "bypass proxie website" then you'll get a whole bunch of sites providing the service.

But, just be careful!!! They can exploit your personal data..... so be wise with your password, username, personal details, etc....

When you request a page via those bypass proxies websites, your request will be saved in their server, not only "bypassing" your request and then provide your requested page.

In a request, often you need to supply username or password, for example to login to multiply. This type of request (even it's encrypted), will always valuable for some peoples.

For what they save your request?

firstly, it's a common for a website developer to save all the log and any information that you have. This is very important to do the analysis of the website (performance, traffic, marketing, etc).

Secondly, they have all of your details.. If Im a bad guy, then I'll try to mining all the personal data... then use it to get all your valuable things.

Bypass proxies is a kind of social engineering.

So, be wise..... !!! Don't use bypass proxies to supply your personal details... particularly for net-banking, email, etc....

So what should you do? If you want to access multiply for example? Make sure that you don't have the same password (at least) with your other login details.... Then, don't forget to change your password shortly after the government unblock those websites.

written in class.... after a friend told me that he had problem with his net-bank (even I don't know whether the problem is caused by the bypass proxies or not, but after this guy login to the net-bank via bypass proxie website, next day the bank closed the access (just like if you try to login with wrong login details three times).....)

Indonesia.go.id error???

Many Indonesian website have been hacked recently regarding to the new electronic information and transaction law. This week, youtube also has been blocked in Indonesia since it contains inappropriate content. Is it the right way? Uhm... what about education?

Hey... youtube is owned by Google... Google is the biggest search engine in the world... more than 70% of what people do when they want to look for something is open google.com. 

I just thinking how if then google then blocked or under ranked any website from Indonesia... waw.. this can be dangerous... as many websites mainly depend on the search engine to be known by others. Is it possible? Technically yes,  but I think and I hope they won't.

Just trying to see the rank of some websites with the common keyword (including combination of my name, hehe)... I found that keywords "Indonesia" brought no authoritative websites from government or tourism department, etc.... The first was a page from wikipedia, the second was FBI fact page and the third one is lonely planet page. Hem... where is www.indonesia.go.id?

This leads me to search keyword "Indonesia goverment" and here was it.... In the first page and the top of the list. Glad to see that. But wait.... When I click that link, oh... I got an error message, waw.... Is it the professional correct message? How many millions has been spent for building the website and I got this error (see screenshot)? For a cracker or other bad people, this error can lead to other valuable informations to let them enter the server.

IT team should spend more time to improve our beloved nation's website, including providing better error message and way to report if there's an error.

Improving the search engine performance also needed so keyword "Indonesia" will lead users come to the desired sites. It's not easy, but there is way to do that... and I believe, millions Rupiah must be capable doing this (it should).

I'm wondering why it's easier to find my blog using my name rather than find www.indonesia.go.id using keyword "Indonesia" (it's on the third page of google.com) .....

Come on.... Indonesia has a lot of IT experts.... If government provide media to elaborate them, surely... IT in Indonesia will grow faster and sure... cheaper.... they will be happy to be volunteers.... (Including me? Sure I will, hehe but I'm not an expert.....)