Last night, I was awake many hours of the night because I was installing Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic. It is absolutely beautiful OS with lots of easy administration. If you upgrade from 9.04 version, you will probably need 1-2 hours download and upgrade time to complete, but it is not much changed from 9.04 version. By the way, 9.10 was released on 29th October 2009.

So, if any of you are Ubuntu fan, it’s time to download or upgrade.

As nowadays, everyone seems to be have one netbook for each person, and you won’t feel left out, because you can also download ATOM version of ubuntu that is Ubuntu netbook remix and Ubuntu has optimized for your netbooks as well.

The software package manager is better than ever. Firefox Mozilla starts with 3.5 version. Overall, it’s really worth using it. I am on the verge of leaving Windows if possible. Of course, most of the working environments, It is very hard not to use Ubuntu, however, upgrade and security point of view, I think Linux aces on top of everything.

So, have you tried Ubuntu yet?

I actually learn linux all by myself too. all u need is time and self-study. If you are new to linux.. it’s best you use virtual machine or extra computer that can install stand alone.

there are many virtual machine that can install linux, my favorite one will be virtual box.. So, u can install on your windows computer, and virtual box will run as a mini-computing system. If u r very new to linux.. there are many ways you can get to know them.. First learning in Distrowatch.com and what are the core ingridients in each distribution.. I like Fedora 10 or 11 the best to learn new things, because they have apache, httpd, ftp, database, many scripting, also security and networking setup, I quite like it…

Let’s say, u want dual-boot with computer, not using virtual machine, try ubuntu 9.04, ubuntu is the best linux to install.. they have two version, desktop and server version, u can choose whatever version u want to master it.

Generally learning for Linux, for starter.. you can read through this website to get to know bit by bit.

Free trainings are starting from Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced Level. Moreover, you will be able to learn some useful tips and tricks of Linux operating system and its functions. Once you complete the course, it is time to choose a particular distribution and start mastering the Linux one by one. My person choices will be Fedora 11 or Ubuntu 9.04 as of today.. These versions will change time after time as they will release more or less every 6 months to 12 months as a new version.

Thanks for reading.

Some IT shops stopped upgrading vista, in order to wait for Windows 7 releases.  Basically, everyone wants to skip Vista.

We can clearly say that Vista was a bust. In US, only 6% of all organization are installed Vista, meaning, they are very hesitant to use Vista as their main operating system and will wait until Windows 7.

vista

Skipping vista could be a timing as well as cost concerns. Most importantly, for those who just upgraded hardware actually work great with windows XP versions as it is pretty fast and effective. Windows XP will support until 2014, meaning you will have plenty of time to adjust and adapt when windows 7 commercial version is out and settled as well. But around 2012, most of the XP software third-party vendors will no longer support, therefore, we will need to get used to with windows 7 by 2012 if we decide to skip vista. Some companies will also upgrade the hardware and operating system when windows 7 hits the market, because currently hardware are mostly working fine with windows XP.

Basically, windows 7 is integrated version of vista with faster performance and lesser issues. There are some major tweaks of course. As for me, I am still using windows XP for windows OS, but mainly for work. At home, I use OSX and ubuntu 8.10 desktop edition. So, are you already using Vista or will you skip IT? Any thoughts?

Recently, I have installed do-follow enabled comment plugin on my sites and It works like a charm. As you may all have known wordpress and most of the blogs have disabled in default, however, if you can control your spam, there’s actually better way you can take control of do-follow links.

So, i installed this fantastic do-follow plugin for my wordpress and I have actually received more comments than before just in a few couple of days. That is awesome, isn’t it?

do-follow

What are the advantages of do-follow?

Of course, there are bunch of advantages for do-follow sites, I will summarize for both myself and the rest of my visitors.

1. Default settings are always on a safe side. Once you enabled do-follow link there’s imminent threat of spamming. LOL, all you need to have a a couple of top rated spam filters such as Akismet and so on. On the bright side, it’s massive traffic. There’s always an opportunity cost for higher traffic, that comes with higher spams.

2. Repeating comments, there are two ways to follow up repeating comments, one to reply each visitor comment, and another one from visitor’s reply. Confused? Bottom line, your blog post may earn more than 2 comments from each entry because many people will comment you genuinely, on the other hand, if your visitors are clever enough, they make sure they write more than 1 comment at your blog, or reply to the same comment so that the search engine bots will read them more than once.

3. Don’t worry about PR/Alexa, they are alternative ways to benchmark your site, especially I don’t believe in Alexa ranking. I would trade more traffic than getting better PR/Alexa ranking. That’s the truth. Do-follow blogs are actually giving legit backlinks to your commentors, but don’t worry, you get heaps of traffic and your ranking will grow because It just does it.

4. Encouraging your readers to comment is best thing for bloggers. You allow backlinks, you encourage your readers that you are giving something back , rather than expecting something, that builds a great relationship to your readers as well.

5. By sharing about do-follow to those who do not know, you take control of knowledge that your visitors/readers do not know yet. It is a good opportunity your readers are bloggers and this will also help them to get backlinks which bloggers indeed love.  The more you can help a hand, the smarter you sound, don’t you?

6. Since I have carefully built my site around big search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN , ask.com , etc etc. I have very confident that every single page of mine is properly pinged and quickly indexed. Make sure you use sitemap xml and site verifications with Google, Yahoo! and MSN to get faster search engine updates. Easy Breezy method for organic search.

7. It creates a larger community. Why? Because you have no-follow blog before, now you enabled do-follow site, that’s where you have massive members and visitors to make a geniune comments and in return they get backlinks for their PR or more traffic, it’s a win-win situation and you also get to know your readers. Spam filters will actually differentiate your readers and just those people who want backlinks and etc.

8. The quality backlinks are important and half the time, many people do not understand what they mean. It depends on the place where you put your comments as well as your niche. If you are car-sales category and make a comment on this infomm.com website, you are not getting quality backlinks, that’s for 100% sure. Maybe, a legit backlinks. You need to find similar niche for your site, so that you leave comment accordingly.

9. Okay, #9 is NONE , just start doing what I have mentioned above. You will see the difference. Now, start getting quality backlinks by leaving comment on this post.

Thanks for reading

For those who are curious about Windows 7, your curiosity is almost revealed. Microsoft has released Windows 7 beta version. 

It is probably not recommended for those without IT knowledge and most importantly, Please do not test on your work computer or everyday computer. As we all know, beta version are buggy, but you will be the first to experience this operating system.

There are three important things you need to know before you test the OS.

• The Windows 7 Beta is actually a pre-release version of Windows. While it is considered stable and high-quality beta, it’s not the finished  final product. It could perhaps crash your computer or cause you to lose important files or information. Bottom line, you have risks of running the windows just like previous beta testing. 
• The Beta version will stop operating on August 1, 2009. To continue using your PC, please be prepared to reinstall a prior version of Windows or a subsequent release of Windows 7 before the expiration date. You won’t be able to upgrade from the Beta to the final retail version of Windows 7. So, let’s say you have 7-8 months of usage, So, don’t really expect to have important files or such. Perhaps use virtual machines if your computer has enormous amount of memory and disk space. 
• Important Note to Internet Explorer 8 Beta testers: If you’re already testing Internet Explorer 8, please be aware that the version in the Windows 7 Beta is at a different stage of release. If you’re beta-testing Windows 7, you need to use the version of Internet Explorer 8 that comes with it. So, if you are upgrading from xp or vista, I suggest DON’T. try clean install on a different computer for just beta testing. 

  I suppose you read all the things above, so enjoy your beta testing here. Any comments? Drop a line here.

Today, I decided to install threaded comments plugin for my blog. It is actually very good plug-in and I definitely need to use it because my visitor rate has been increasing week by week, so is the comments on my blogs. 

The reason I choose this plug in is simple. It works like a magic, it helps to everyone who comments on the blog to have clearer message and which comment is intended to a particular person. This actually facilitates not only the communications between you and your visitors, but also all your visitors themselves as well.

You can download the plug-in here. The  installation part is pretty straight forward.

• download the zip file.  Unzip the plugin package. 
• rename the file name if you think it’s too long, like ”wordpress-thread-comment” folder to “wp-thread-comment”
• As usual, just upload it to WordPress Plugin folder, ‘*/wp-content/plugins/’
• Activate the plugin from wp admin page
• Check if you see the word “reply” on your comments, if so, then you are done.
• More options can be set in settings just like any other plug-ins. 

 

Well, wordpress 2.6.3 is available now. I will be soon updating to 2.6.3 in a couple of days as well.
so, it’s time to download and upgrade here.

Don’t forget to check out installation guides or upgrading guides on wordpress.com.

Have a great weekend.