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Rescuing my Laptop!

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From my days at BITS, when did a fresh install of the OS almost every month, to the post BITS era, where a fresh install was almost unheard of, it has been some transition. From someone who would install Linux (pre-Ubuntu days) and then hunt for drivers, to someone who would not trust himself with a Windows install.

However, I still like trying new stuff, and I did end up installing a beta of the Windows 7 SP1. Big mistake! It changed my Windows copy to a RC and started giving me weird messages about only a few days remaining for me to upgrade. So when the SP1 was formally released, I tried to upgrade. But the stupid system wouldn’t let me. Big FAIL, Microsoft. Anyway, after some Googling around, I discovered that I had to reinstall the OS. And there begins the story.

ISB had provided us a licensed copy of Windows 7 Professional but as a nrg image. And almost all tools needed me to either have a DVD or a iso file.

Step 1: Install Daemon tools. It allows you to mount the image files (nrg, iso, etc). Also, it will allow you to convert them into ISO files 🙂

Step 2: Download and install Windows 7 USB/DVD tool. This will help you create a bootable USB drive from the ISO.

Step 3: If you need any special drivers, download them and keep them handy. Also, I downloaded the Windows 7 SP1 RC. Unfortunately, unlike nLite, the tool for slipstreaming Windows 7 just sucks! So you can’t build a custom install.

Step 4: Boot up from the USB and there you go!

Step 5: License key and activation. Now for some reason Windows 7 wouldn’t accept the key we got from ISB and kept calling it invalid. After some searching on the ISB alum mails (GMail search rocks! Thanks for using it for the alum mail ISB), I saw that it needed to be activated by phone. So I followed the instructions and for the first time ever I activated my copy of Windows over a phone. Also the first time I actually own a licensed copy of the OS 😛

Step 6: Customize it. Now to get Windows 7 back to the state it was in with all the apps and settings I wanted. Step in Ninite. This super tool lets you install most free softwares in one click. Select online the apps you want and download the (really small) Ninite installer. Run it, leave you laptop connected to the internet for an hour or so (depending on your connection and the tools you want) and Ninite will install everything by itself. Bingo! Here is a list of all the apps I selected.

  1. Google Chrome – the best browser there is, period. Also, the sync function allowed me to get all the extensions, plugins, passwords from my office laptop in a jiffy! Such joy!!
  2. Firefox – the version 4 is out, and need it to download House 😛
  3. Windows Live – just for fun.
  4. Google Talk
  5. Skype
  6. VLC
  7. Winamp
  8. MPlayer
  9. K-Lite Codecs
  10. Flash
  11. Picasa – the tonnes of snaps I have on my laptop. Wow!
  12. GIMP
  13. Foxit Reader
  14. CutePDF
  15. MS Security Essentials – the best antivirus there is today.
  16. uTorrent – obvious!
  17. Dropbox – another must have.
  18. CCleaner
  19. 7-Zip
  20. Notepad ++

Other than these I installed the SP1 for Windows 7, IE9, Office 2007, and all updates needed. Also installed (and used till way past midnight) was the hugely addictive Angry Birds.

A number of extensions for Chrome were also installed – GMail checker, URL Shortener, Cricinfo, Reader, Adblock, Google Translate, ToDo Camp, Tweetdeck, and some more.

All in all, a day well spent. My laptop now works faster, is cleaner, more updated, and less prone to crashing, though frankly speaking Windows 7 has crashed only a few times over the past year and it has surely become my favorite Windows OS of all times over taking Win XP.

Race to the top

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Dan Vasella stepped aside from the CEO role at Novartis yesterday to be succeeded by Joe Jimenez, the head of their pharmaceutical business. Along with this, the other person in contention, Joerg Reinhardt, quit the company to look for options elsewhere.

This reminded me of a course we had, on Managing Teams, taught by Henry Moon, this brilliant guy who somehow made everything sound so simple.

In one of the classes he was explaining why CEO salaries are so high. His contention was that the brilliant people at the level below the CEO are the ones that drive any organization and the position of the CEO is like the reward. And they know only one out of many will reach there. Therefore, in order to incentivize everyone to actually fight for the spot and perform at their best, it was important to keep the reward high, just as you would do in a lottery. If the chance of winning is low the reward has to be high to compensate for it.

One of the drawbacks of such a system is that when some one wins, the others in the race generally leave the company, and that is a concern. However, Prof. Moon said that this is inevitable and was necessary to promote fresh blood. He gave the example of GE – when Jeff Immelt became CEO, the others in contention left to head other organizations. When this played out again yesterday, I couldn’t help wondering if there is no other option.

As they say in hindi, “Ek mayan mein do talwar nahi reh sakti.“

Louis rocks!!

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You know how there are moments in class you would probably never forget about. Well, this was one of them. At first I thought I would post it on the ISB Students’ Blog, but then figured it would be slightly inappropriate for that.

Anyway, we have this absolutely amazing professor, Louis Thomas, who teaches us Economics of Strategy, and was trying to explain how commitment works. It was then when he came up with this example. And after that I haven’t been able to think of a better one. Hats off to you Louis! And Meatloaf makes it even more memorable.

PS: For those who were wondering what baseball was doing in the song, read this. And the song is Paradise by the dashboard lights.

Sometimes, slow is good!

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What is common to Dravid, Riquelme, and Sergio Leone? A sense of perfect timing.

If you watch Dravid bat you would realize that he plays the ball like he has all the time in the world. Let alone his defensive ones, even his scoring shots are played with elegance that are on a different plane than those around him. His hooks and pulls are not hurried, unlike other Indian batsmen. There is clam and equanimity in his style of playing.

Riquelme played with a charm not seen for almost a decade. In a fast paced modern game, he was a throw back to the times where skill mattered more than speed. He controlled the ball and created opportunities others could not sense. From a post on the Guardian,

In many ways, he is the closest thing football has to a quarterback, the most influential and glamorous position in American sport. The quarterback is the creator, the player who invents the game as he goes along. If it means passing back or sideways, in order to progress, so be it. Because what Riquelme has, above all else, is patience, the very quality Leo Beenhakker, the veteran Dutch coach of Trinidad & Tobago, says England, so hurried and committed to the long ball, palpably lack.

If you watch a Sergio Leone movie, you will understand that long movies are not boring. A 10 minute shoot out scene with only one bullet being fired is as fast and tense as the Matrix II bike chase scene! A long drawn shot of Eastwood staring at Van Cleef can be very interesting. It seems like the entire world has slowed down, and you can now focus on the action in the middle.

Slow is not always boring. Slow can be elegance. Slow can be precision. Slow can be like symphony!

Coke Studio

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For the past couple of days, I have been totally hooked on to the performances on Coke Studio, and the concept itself. Go check it out.

One that I really like is Titliyaan by Strings.

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