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So, India-South-Africa Test Series concluded recently. And what a great series it was. Though India couldn't come out trumps but it was heartening to see them fighting RSA ball to ball (literally!).

But this post is not the 'post' series analysis by yet-another-wannabe-cricket-expert. This is actually about the agony of a long lost cricket lover who is just frustrated to see the deck of ads being slapped on him every second of his cricket watching moments.

I was a big cricket fan. I really was. Used to go to others' home to watch cricket since we didn't have cable TV at home in childhood. Liked to watch match from end to end and always remain scared when Sachin used to bat (thinking he will get out soon and the match will be over). Used to enjoy fall of each opposition wicket like only a true Indian fan can do. Have in memory a lot of memorable cricket moments. Well in last 5-7 years, I turned to other sports and so now cricket is not that much of a passion to me.

One can say I have moved on. But I would say I was pushed into NOT watching cricket. And I would partially blame Coke, Pepsi, Hero Honda, Airtel, Parley, LIC and other such companies for that. And more than them the very TV broadcasters, the courtesy of whom I get a live feed anyway. 

In good-old-days, there were ad intervals in between overs because the fielders used to take place and the batsmen took guard, changed ends etc. Sometimes, the match got so exciting that you desperately wanted a break, so it was good to see ads. Turn the clock to now-a-days. You see half of the first ball (bowler is already in action) and half of last ball (batsman defended, don't mind where the ball went), even half of the fall of wicket (Ball knicked the bat, it's going to a slip fielder, of course he is gonna catch, hey check out this latest ad of paan-masala).

And if that was not enough, slowly you started to get those side advertises in during overs. Replays and other 3D analysis were already sponsored, so don't worry about them. And now my new favorite TenCricket (Let's not be anonymous and POINT the culprits this time) has taken the Ad hysteria to an altogether new level by showing the ads on the grass close to wicket-keeper while the bowler is taking action. Now, all that is remaining is to see ads occupying the remaining center screen. Com'n why don't you change it to 24x7 shopping channel? Stupid me; I thought 'ads in between overs' meant "in between 2 overs". Now I know; it means "in the middle of an over".

OK, I agree cricket is a huge money game. Broadcasters have spent money lavishly to buy the cricket rights, and they have to get their money back. Every second of TV viewing is worth lacs. Every pixel of TV screen is like gold dust. But I have a question; is Cricket a more watched or higher value game than say soccer or F1? or even Tennis? OK, may be in India, what about worldwide? So, why is there not so many Ads during the transmission of those sports? OK, some of the tactics like Ads sidebar is employed there too (broadcasters are the same!) but still I can safely say, I watched more of Soccer or F1 than Advertisements.

Watching cricket now gives me a feeling that I as a viewer is being taken for granted. I don't have anything else to do, I don't have any other choice. So, come what may I will have to digest whatever crap is served on screen. Even the Ads Hungry Google doesn't do such an act!

I just hope this article/post reaches the eyes of some sports channel broadcaster (besides my friends). I am not saying don't earn money. By all means do it, but at least be ethical and care for your viewers.

Good bye XP... Will miss you

Seems like 2010 is becoming an year to say bye to many things. Last post was a tribute to Blueline buses. This one is dedicated to dear old M'Soft Windows XP.

When I really started using computers (in school) and came to know that computers are much more than game playing machines, I was introduced to Windows 98. It was just amazing to see how you can use mouse to click on that start button, then Programs->Accessories->Notepad and a wonderful Notepad (;) comes out of blue. Now you can write anything you want and save it and see it later. It was truly amazing.

After some years, Windows inside the computer labs got upgraded, and I got to see Windows 2000 server edition, Windows ME, Windows NT etc. which may have been better but didn't feel any different from Win98. Finally, one day in one computer I saw Windows XP. It was so sleek, quite beautiful, everyone enjoyed working on that particular lab PC. After a few years, I got a PC of my own. I thought I would make it triple boot with Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows XP (though at that time, I didn't exactly know the meaning of triple boot). But that damn computer engineer only gave me Windows XP, it was preinstalled (at shop) and I thought M'Soft did it on HCL behalf! It took me 2-3 years to realize, my Windows XP wasn't genuine ;)

Anyway, Windows XP has been 'The OS' for me for almost all of my computing life till now. I have learnt how to use computer and its softwares, how to install and uninstall programs, how to install games cracks, how to connect to Internet, how to use an Anti-virus, and stuffs like virus definition, disk defragmentation, disk checking, registry pruning, 'burning' MP3 disks, even some programming, reinstalling OS, fiddling with system files etc. I have learnt them all by myself :P Alright, with a lot of help from more knowledgeable friends, and learning by experimenting myself.

It always had its shortcomings (most important, it being a M'Soft product) but I always felt right at home using the OS. When Vista came and I heard negative responses about it, I laughed at the new OS and people using it. Did give a try to it but didn't get a reason to turn my back from XP. XP always felt rugged, like no amount of virus, worm, trojans, spywares and other malwares can harm it (of course, I was proven wrong time and again).

After sometime Windows 7 came, and I installed it on my system. Used it for some time, but my system wasn't as powerful to give a full blown Win7 experience. So, turned back to my old friend. But after some good hardware upgrade last year, I again started using Windows 7 at the beginning of this year (by this time, a lot of people had upgraded their pirated OS) and after sometime the frequency of XP usage started decreasing. Now, I mainly used XP as a testing ground, to install new softwares and to do usual experimenting and tricks. Its desktop was so full with icons and folders etc, it felt like I shitted on it. 

And after August, Windows XP started to feel like just taking another partition and not really being used. So, thoughts of removing it started coming in mind. But partly because I was lazy and partly because of the nostalgic feeling attached to OS, I really couldn't do that for next 2 months. But then around the end of October I thought of letting the past go. I opened disk partitioner inside Win7 and just deleted the XP partition. Its been 2 months, and now I feel what I did was right. I don't think I am going back to XP ever again.

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I have been a die hard Linux lover for almost 2 years now and I have indulged in a lot of PDA for Linux.(Full story about Linux Love in some other post). Till now had used it time and again (installing inside Windows or using VirtualBox, which wasn't a great experience really) but never as my Main OS. And being a M'Soft criticizer, I always felt ashamed as till the time I used Windows I really wasn't entitled to laugh at M'Soft. One of the reasons for leaving XP was that, I had to become a regular Linux user. 

So after removing WinXP I started waiting for the latest version of my favorite distro to release (I don't understand my fascination for latest, thankfully I don't wish for latest friends!). And finally on 12th November Linux Mint 10 "Julia" came. Woke till 2 am that day to download and install it. Had some problems with running Internet but with much difficulty and some luck, I was finally able to run Internet on Linux. Its been 50 days today, and I have hardly used Windows 7 since then. Just like IE, I start to feel sick thinking about having to use Windows. In fact have been forcing others also at home, to use Linux, mainly because the use of PC is so limited that Windows 7 doesn't provide any advantages other than familiarity. And now I feel I am ready to ridicule Windows much like Internet Explorer. :)

But on second thoughts, after becoming a 'true' Linux user I realize this platform has its own disadvantages/limitations. So criticizing Windows for being 'jhand' doesn't call for. I am a happy Linux user, others may be happy Windows (XP) users. I can only advice them to give Linux a try. I am no more going to force anyone to do so. After all its just a platform, not your religion.

M'Soft I heard may be stopping support for Windows XP in 2012, I have already stopped supporting Windows XP.

R.I.P. XP...