Archive for May, 2005

ZohoCRM On Demand Beta Launched

Posted May 25, 2005 * Comments(0)

We just made a very important new service available on our site. It is the ZohoCRM on demand service. You can check it out at http://www.zoho.com.

There is an interesting history here. About 18 months ago, AdventNet started working on a CRM On Demand system, which we felt is a logical extension of our Help Desk (http://www.servicedeskplus.com) solutions. This effort, like other AdventNet products, is based on Java.

Then about 9 months ago, some of our people felt that they want to explore new open source PHP based approaches to the same problem. They strongly felt that PHP has emerged as a strong contender to write enterprise applications, and they wanted to explore this. Since the open source business model is different from what AdventNet is used to, a new company called vtiger http://www.vtiger.com was formed, with angel funding from AdventNet. AdventNet continued its course of the Java based On Demand service, while vtiger went ahead and launched a PHP open source product offering, initially based on SugarCRM 1.0, but later went on its own separate way due to differences with SugarCRM. ZohoCRM is the fruit of the original internal AdventNet project. Note that it is not based on the vtiger code base (ZohoCRM is Java based).

To symbolize our commitment to open source and to provide options to ZohoCRM customers, we have decided to support free migration of ZohoCRM On Demand service data to the vtiger CRM product. Any time a customer wants to migrate from the service, they can not only take out their data, but they have a place where this data can go into. It is a kind of an industry first, we believe. More and more, as On Demand services proliferate, vendors have to offer such options, so customers have choices about where their data resides.

What is the value propostion of ZohoCRM? It is an On Demand service, so no installation or administration is required. It is in beta, but there is a lot more to come!

It is an exciting new “Advent”ure for us. Now it is up to you, our valued users, to decide!

Sridhar

Exam Result Season

Posted May 19, 2005 * Comments(0)

Every May/June (summer in India), we are gripped by “exam results fever” - that is when results for annual examination season are announced. There are a dizzying array of exam-conducting authorities, everything from the 10th and 12th grade “public” exams, and entrance exams to various engineering, medical, dental and what-not colleges. Each state has multiple examination authorities, and then you have independent examination authorities like those conducted by the IIT system.

In my state of Tamil Nadu, as in many other states in India, we take our exams very seriously. The “toppers” are royalty, at least during the result season. You will find them interviewing in newspapers, TV stations and so on. Here is a sampling of press articles that give you the flavor. The kids profiled are all the toppers of the “Plus Two” (i.e 12th grade) public exams conducted in March/April 2005. There are something like 400,000 students taking this exam, so the competition in intense. And the by now established tradition is that girls always walk away with most top ranks.

The number of articles in each newspaper on results day tells you how important this is.

http://www.hindu.com/2005/05/19/stories/2005051914590400.htm

http://www.hindu.com/2005/05/19/stories/2005051914600400.htm

http://newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IET20050518111145&Page=T&Title=Southern+News+%2D+Tamil+Nadu&Topic=0

http://newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IET20050519031158&Page=T&Title=Southern+News+%2D+Tamil+Nadu&Topic=0&

Here is a quote from the third URL mentioned above:


Quote:
CHENNAI: G Sathya, a student of Kurinji Higher Secondary School at Kavettipatty in Namakkal, topped the State Board Plus Two Examinations 2005, scoring 1185 out of 1200 marks.

The overall pass percentage in the exams improved by 0.5 percent compared to last year. Girls continued to maintain the trend of outperforming the boys. Students from Chennai and the districts shared the top ranks in two different categories.

Sathya also scored 196 in the Tamil paper, the highest in the state. She came state third in Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics, scoring centum in all.

The second place was bagged by M Asha Benazir of Rosemary Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Palayamkottai, who scored 1183 marks. S A Ayisha of S V Mandir Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Uthangarai, in Krishnagiri district and R Srinath of SRV Boys Higher Secondary School, Rasipuram, shared the third rank scoring 1181 marks.

Usability blunders: WinXP Wi-Fi Setup

Posted May 18, 2005 * Comments(0)

On my new HP laptop, I was trying to configure Wi-Fi. Basically, I had to input my WEP security passphrase. Here is the screen on the built-in Wi-Fi client. Note that I am using Microsoft’s own Wi-Fi driver here, because none from the Wi-Fi adaptor vendor was bundled. And this cheap laptop came with Windows XP Home Edition, so one would expect it would be a cinch to configure.

It turns out the Microsoft expects you to magically find out the hexadecimal version of the passphrase and enter it. The text passphrase inputted to the access point won’t do. I tried the text passphrase in the field that says “Network Key” and that didn’t work. After 15 minutes of fiddling around, I realized it is likely the hexadecimal version. Luckily the AP’s config screen supplied the hex version, which I copied on a piece of paper and transferred here. I suppose Microsoft doesn’t really expect Home Edition users to use something as esoteric as Wi-Fi …