software

Always looking for an idea that will generate a much needed income stream , combined with my unabated fascination by technology, and my insatiable curiosity about various problem domains, I decided to look at linguistics as a tool to help generate content.

So I downloaded and installed the nltk package from nltk.org . I did install it on Google AppEngine account together with DJango. I had a few minor technical difficulties to overcome, but it all ended working well.

I decided to test the nltk package with an analysis of the State of the Union addresses over the years. I wanted to explore what were the dominant words used by the various presidents during their various addresses. The objective was to do a word frequency count and to compare the top words use in each address.

I have been playing with Django lately. I came accross it as I was investigating and doing some development for the "Cloud" using GoogleApps.

This site was developed using Drupal and that was a reasonable choice in terms of speed of web site development and setup, at that time.

There is no doubt that we have a potential breakthrough in use of the Internet with Google Wave.

Having used the Wave for a few weeks, I am impressed. But my enthusiastic reception is tempered by the fact that things may not pan out the way I expect.

The wave is a more efficient combo of twitter, email and collaboration tool, of that there is no doubt and has been mentioned ad nausea on many reviews of Google Wave. It simply need to achieve critical mass to succeed.

Well,Google Wave is happening... The Internet is abuzz with Google Wave. Tweets about it are flowing. I think it may be the next big thing on the net.

Yet, I am still looking for an invite. As soon as I have one, I will register, play with it and report on it.

Meanwhile, if you can, please do send me an invite.

Windows is in the news lately, in a big way. Windows 7 has been released. As I was one of the very disaffected users of Vista, which indeed prompted me to try Linux one more time, I had tried Linux on a number of occasions before, I did make the switch finally, now more than a year ago.

I had been a loyal Window user since the release of Windows 3 (1990) That is a long time ago. In fact having been a software developer since the late sixties I often found myself in the minority of Windows users in large software projects development. I wish I had made the switch sooner.

I have noticed a lot of comments on the burden of upgrading Drupal versions, recently due to Drupal 6.10, just made available. A lot of those comments on the time it takes and the down time conversely experienced by the visitors to the site.

I am using an series of upgrade steps that minimise the down, or 'in maintenance' time' for the user. Here they are. Please use at own risk and benefits. :)