Welcome to QuaxWrite. This section contains a collection of essays, articles and opinions. The topics are essentially anything under the sun - Open Source to Book Reviews.

Each listing includes a brief description of the article / essay. For any comments, please feel free to contact me at n_ravikiran [at] email [dot] iimcal [dot] ac [dot] in.

In this section QuaxWrite home Dune by Frank Herbert Dune - the series, #1: Dune, Terms of Dune Article: Travelogue: Rajasthan road trip, The Philosophy of the Free & Open, First Look at GMail, w32.nimda.a@mm, The business of OSS, User Friendly? Opinion: The gig for the Gigabyte, Do you need Linux?, Why I dont trust M$, M$ has no alternative Fiction: The Purse, Alice Technical Papers: Analysis & Design of RC Chimneys my B.Tech project, Using WADIWRK4. In this site Contact me here. Feedback form.

Short Story: Alice
Lazyness, what does that say about you?
Short Story : Science Fiction
Date added: September 11, 2005; Last modified: September 11, 2005
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Review : Dune the Series
An introduction to one of the best Science Fiction series of all time
Topic: Book Review
Date added: April, 23, 2005; Last modified: April, 23, 2005
One of my favourite series of all time. This is a series of articles, including a foreword - discussing Science Fiction in general and the Dune series in particular, Book 1: Dune.
[read it]

Article : Travelogue: Rajasthan road trip
One of the most beautiful states in India
Topic: Outdoors, Travel
Date added: November, 23, 2004; Last modified: November, 23, 2004
Our Road trip across the beautiful state of Rajathan.
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Article : The Philosophy of the Free & Open
And what we can do to help
Topic: Open Source, Computers
Date added: November, 22, 2004; Last modified: November, 22, 2004
Had written this for a newsletter at work. Thought it made a general sort of sense too.
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Article : The gig for the Gigabyte
A quick and dirty analysis into the entire 1GB email
Topic: New Technology, Computers
Date added: November, 22, 2004; Last modified: November, 22, 2004
Is the 1 GB email really that big a deal?
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Article : First Look @ GMail
A Preview into the next Block-Buster from Google
Topic: New Technology, Computers
Date added: May, 07, 2004; Last modified: May, 07, 2004
Very excited at finally having checked out GMail. This is an account of the experience.
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Article : The Business of Open Source Software
An Introduction to Open Source Software
Topic: Philosophy, Computers
Date added: February, 27, 2004; Last modified: February, 27, 2004
Had written this article as a writing sample for an "Effective Business Writing" course. It has been certified publishable :). Gives an overview of Open Source Software.
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Article : Why I don't trust Microsoft: They have no other Alternative
But to be what they are...
Topic: History, Computers
Date added: February, 19, 2002; Last modified: February, 26, 2004
I have always had a tough time in even introducing the idea that Microsoft is bad news to almost anyone. So I decided to put together some information that would be helpful in order to put the point across in a less disjointed fashion.
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Article : When Things suddenly went wrong: w32.nimda.a@mm
Response by Amateurs
Topic: Experience, Computers
Date added: September, 21, 2001; Last modified: September, 27, 2001
This is an unofficial description of the 18 September attack by the Nimda Virus on the official website of Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, and the subsequent response by the students to control and prevent damage. This is also an account of my involvement in the same and the various lessons learnt which I want to share with all. I for one have no idea about any rules I am breaking here, but I dont intend at all to find out.
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Article : User Friendly?
Topic: Computers
Date added: September, 11, 2001; Last modified: September, 12, 2001
The growth in the use of the Personal Computer has brought into prominence a very important concept of user-friendliness, a concept that was not very used in the eras preceding this period. In the succeeding period there has not been a term that has been more used and abused for various means and ends. Here we shall try to get a perspective of user-friendliness and ask some strange questions.
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Article : Why I don't trust Microsoft: 'smart tags'
Topic: General, Compiled
Date added: August, 23, 2001; Last modified: August, 23, 2001
This is the first in a series of articles where the author will try to put forward some of the reasons for a cynical attitude towards Redmond. This article is about the 'smart tags' idea that was cooked up.
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Article : Do you need Linux?
Topic: Linux; Level: newbie
Date added: August, 1, 2001; Last modified: August, 8, 2001
Eventually the revolutionaries become the established culture, and then what will they do
-Linus torvalds.
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Paper : Analysis and Design of Reinforced Concrete Structures
Topic: Civil Engineering
Date added: August, 24, 2001; Last modified: August, 24, 2001
The paper deals with the various loads associated with the analysis of Reinforced Concrete Chimneys . It deals with the methodologies involved in estimating loads. It finally deals with the methods of design to account for the effects of these loads.
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Fiction : The Purse
Topic: Fiction
Date added: July, 27, 2001; Last modified: July, 27, 2001
A PURSE is where you keep things. A BOX is also where you keep things. But a purse is not a box. A purse unlike a box has many uses. A box is also very useful.
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Paper : Using WADIWRK4
Topic: Civil Engineering
Date added: July, 24, 2001; Last modified: September, 12, 2001
Wadiwrk4 is a Public domain Dos based utility that can be used for the purpose of analysing Water distribution Networks. This paper is a short tutorial on the usage and trouble shooting of this program.
[read it]

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