Voice or Video Chat? Sign in to Gmail

Gmail's official blog has this announcement shouting it loud that Gmail now has Voice and Video chat(http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/say-hello-to-gmail-voice-and-video-chat.html).

They are providing Voice and Video chat from within Gmail. I was thinking they would have made a breakthrough Flash Web Application as Flash natively supports webcam and audio/video streaming. However Google has done something odd(at least.. it looks odd to me.. seems the innovation drive is slowing down here). Last year Google acquired a Sweden based company : Marratech. Marratech was an e-meeting startup and now Google has come up with the plugin that seems the direct result of take over(source : http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/11/google-adds-voice-and-video-chat-to-gmail/).

So instead of a flash application, this one is a .Net Clickonce application(PLEASE CORRECT ME, IF I AM WRONG). I detest running any application on my laptop/desktop that comes from Google so I didn't allow it to run. But when it was being downloaded, the dialogbox was the famous.. clickonce installer dialogbox. anyways..sooner or later some one from my circle will install it and I will come to know what it is all about.

Google has been pretty quick when it comes to rolling out features to its userbase lately, as a result you can see the voice and video option in menu in the screenshot below.

Also as amazing as it sounds and looks, I am not sure how well it will do in India sub-continent. Though bandwidth is comparatively better than previous years and we have decent processing power as well RAM to handle the overhead, I wonder will it be sufficient for this kind of usage or not?... only time will tell.. till then... bbbyye...

Don't be shocked if you see something like this instead of this blog

I've been getting messages from friends that they are not able to access my blog. Instead of my blog they are getting some biblecollegeonline shit. I am trying to figure it out what is wrong but as of now I am helpless. It looks like DNS Cache Poisoning or something else.. I apologize for any inconvenience caused and all I can ask is to bear with it while blogger staff is working on it.

Windows 7 for Developers

This guide describes features and includes vivid screenshots from the pre-Beta version released at PDC. Build applications on a solid foundation, enable richer application experiences, and integrate the best of Windows and Web services.

Recorded sessions of PDC 2008 available for download

I know how important it is to be at a PDC.. however...it is expensive... and not everybody here can attend. No worries..though.. all the recorded sessions and PPTXs are here. Download high quality videos to see what they mean by PDC...

Microsoft Virtual TechDays is back!

Microsoft Virtual TechDays provides an opportunity to the IT Pro community to dive deep into the latest offerings from Microsoft - SQL Server 2008, Microsoft System Center, Windows Vista, Internet Explorer 8, Essential Business Server, Visio & Microsoft Office communication server. During the 2-day event, Microsoft Experts will conduct 17 LIVE training sessions on how to harness the power and possibilities of these products.

Register today! for the Virtual TechDays to be held on November 25th & 26th, 2008.

You will be asked for your live id and also once you are logged in you can download recorded sessions and presentations... go ahead... Enjoy!!!

Visual Studio 2010 and .Net Framework 4.0

One of my friend has been constantly bugging me about Visual Studio 2010.. all I've to say to him till date ..was.. dude.. I don't know when they are gonna release it.. but anyways.. few days back I ran into this newsletter... which clearly mentioned that a CTP of VS2010 is available on Microsoft Downloads.

So... here it goes...

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=922B4655-93D0-4476-BDA4-94CF5F8D4814&displaylang=en

Just check it out.. I am damn sure.. most of you will not dare to download it.. but.. hey.. this is meant for developers who love to stay ahead in the game..so... where do you stand?