Life can be cruel at times. It is painful for the student community as a whole when a young life is cut short by tragic circumstances. Akul Sareen of Delhi Public School, Dwarka went on to a much more peaceful world on Monday, 20th April 2009.
As someone who knew him, from the computer symposium and quizzing circuit, I am saddened by this tragic loss. I offer my condolences to his loved ones and schoolmates. I am sure that my fellow Code Warriors, members of other computer and quiz clubs who knew him, and all of my readers will join in in remembering a brilliant guy like Akul Sareen.
Ubuntu’s hugely popular free media program ShipIt has been ‘taken down temporarily due to excessive traffic’, thus buttressing the idiom ‘There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch’. (I’ve already ordered my CD long ago. I wanted to check if it had been shipped. No, r-tard, I don’t order multiple CDs and hoard them. I order just one – as a keepsake with its official cover. And to get more Ubuntu stickers.) The ShipIt notice instead encourages visitors to download via BitTorrent. I’m sure the normal ISO file mirrors around the globe are getting pummelled right now.
I plan to upgrade using an alternate install CD I ordered from this place (damn you, Linux Bazar, for not being quick enough). Why am I not downloading myself? My Internet connection has this terrible habit of logging me off randomly at times. I did download OpenSuse 11.1 when it came out but babysitting my download to ensure I didn’t get logged off and it completed was a harrowing experience. So I’ll be a nice guy and instead of DDoSing Ubuntu servers I’ll support the open source ecosystem by buying my CD. I’d have ordered from Canonical’s Amazon shop if the shipping prices weren’t outrageous.
DPS Vasant Kunj is showing interest now in migrating the Internet Lab computers from Windows 98 to Linux. I’d started this on a small scale when I was in school but as soon as I passed out from high school some people (ref: Code Warriors) brought everything back to Windows status-quo. School isn’t likely to upgrade the Internet Lab and users are clamouring for a better experience than Windows 98 (newer browsers, better word processing software which can handle new formats), so I suggested a shift to Linux. I can’t decide between Xubuntu 9.04 and Linux Mint 6 Felicia Xfce Edition. I’ll be installing it on a few systems initially. Based on the feedback it will be expanded to all the systems in the lab.
