Why Open Source Software?

Image Source

Have you ever imagined a world where technology is restricted to only those people who are willing to pay for closed source products? It would severely affect people’s education and many researches. It would also be hard to share information with other people. Fortunately, we don’t live in such world. Today, we have many open source software products which lead us to new technologies. They are easily available to everyone and they are cost-effective. They bring benefits to our society by giving opportunities to people to use and understand the open source software.

Image Source

So what make open source software products different from closed software products? Well, they are not in terms of programming language or operating systems, but by the license that governs the use of open source software products. That is the reason why most of the open source software products are licensed under general public license (GPL). We can look and/or modify the source code from its original design, free of charge. In my opinion, this is the best part of open source products. For example, Linux is licensed under GPL. You can look at the source code and modify the original source code. 

In my opinion, following are some key advantages of open source software products: 

• They are considerably less expensive when compared with closed software products.
• They are safe to use.
• Since they are not owned by a vendor, there is no vendor lock-in.  
• They deliver better quality. 
• We get right to access and modify the source code.  

Overall, I believe that open source software products will bring more innovations to the future.

Source:
http://www.mmmlaw.com/assets/files/article_238.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_software

Why Agile Project Management?

Image source

If you were to start a software development company, then the most important part is to satisfy customer needs. You might want to deliver high quality products faster to compete with other companies. But the question is how you can make high quality products in less time and deliver faster. Well, the answer is quite simple - through agile project management. It is becoming a new way of working in many IT companies. Agile project management takes care of customer needs. It is about managing any particular task efficiently by collaborating with all employees. To be more specific, it divides the responsibilities of any particular project among all the team members for faster results. 

Now you might be interested to know the benefits of using agile project management. There are numerous benefits, but I will focus on some key important ones. Firstly, it delivers solutions frequently. Secondly, it is very effective for software development companies because changes in the requirement of product happens quite often due to various reason. Thirdly, it assures a solution because agile project management involves more interactions with customers and more iterations to maximize feedback. Lastly, through agile project management, you can quickly produce more solutions of better quality products with very less defects and reduced risks.

In agile project management, there are various agile approaches available. However, the most popular agile approaches XP and Scrum. Below is the brief outline of XP and Scrum:

Image source

XP (extreme programming): XP is more focussed on the process of software development rather than management of software project. It includes programming in pair and often integration of changes in software development.

 

Scrum: Scrum is very popular because of its simplicity. It is an easy way to start working on any particular project. Moreover, it focuses on software management where work is distributed to all team members to reach a common goal.

Overall, I believe that agile project management is becoming important when it comes to software development because it provides a flexible and controlled environment to deliver solutions.

Source:
http://www.dsdm.org/sites/default/files/Agile-PM-White-Paper.pdf

LinkedIn and Branding: Why it is Important?

Why this social network is becoming more important for branding? Generally, when it comes to branding, most of you might think that the best way to enhance your brand is by creating a professional website. Well, this is not true anymore. Today, branding is enhanced depending upon how you present yourself to public through social network. That is why social network is very important. 



Image Source

LinkedIn is one of the leading social and professional networking websites around the world. There are more than 225 million users on LinkedIn. You can increase your network through LinkedIn profile. When people look at your LinkedIn profile, they get a better idea of your personality. Your LinkedIn profile can even help you to get job offers. In fact, there are 80% of job offers through social networking sites like LinkedIn. With your LinkedIn profile, employers can look at your experience as well as your relationships with other people. Moreover, you have some control on how you want to present yourself in professional world – whether it is by indicating your technical expertise or by showing your work projects.

Here are few ways to increase branding on LinkedIn:

• Keep your LinkedIn profile Updated: Remember that your LinkedIn profile is your resume. This resume needs to be updated regularly.
• Customize your URL: The default URL is filled with number and is not pretty. LinkedIn gives you option of customizing your URL. You can make your URL more attractive by customizing it.
• Give a detailed summary of yourself: People will know about your specialties by looking at your summary.
• Show your projects: This will allow people to know about your past and present projects.

I hope that you realize the importance of LinkedIn profile and its ability to improve your professional world.

Sources:

http://graduate.dartmouth.edu/docs/How%20to%20Get%20the%20Most%20Out%20of%20LinkedIn.pdf

http://makingsenseofsocialmedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/linkedinprofile2013-rebrand-cb_m0s3kqgwsl.pdf

QR codes and its Security

Image Source

      Have you seen those black and white square boxes, with many other tiny boxes that form interesting patterns? Yes, you are thinking right. I am talking about QR codes. I am sure that you have seen QR codes at many places. It looks like a simple bar code, but it can contain a lot more information than a bar code. With the help of QR code reader application, smartphone users can get information hidden in any QR codes by scanning their camera over these codes.

      Today, with no doubt, the use of QR codes is increasing. They are being used to get details of events, products, URL links and much more. Scanning QR codes is becoming a fast way to stay updated about information.

   

Image Source

      However, while scanning any QR codes, there are some chances of security issues. Users do not know anything about the information behind QR codes until they scan it. Taking advantage of this situation, many cyber criminals can create fake QR codes and direct user to viruses. For example, you scan a QR code to get details on any particular item. Now, if that QR code contains virus, then unknowingly you might download virus in our phone. It is also possible that you are attempted to click on a URL link which could take you at a website that contains virus. Moreover, there are also chances of downloading virus if you install applications by scanning QR codes. For these reasons, you need to be cautious while scanning any QR codes.

Here are few ways, which I find helpful, to avoid security issues:

• After scanning a QR code, always check if there is "https" in the URL. If not, then it may not be safe to open it.
• Never give your any personal information if you are directed to information form after scanning a QR code.
•  Be aware of scanning QR codes which are randomly placed in public areas. Remember,your best defense is your common sense. Ask yourself if these QR codes are safe to scan or not.

     Overall, QR codes are very helpful to get information quickly. As far as security issues are concerned, I am sure that these issues will be solved as QR codes continue to get popular worldwide.

Social Networking and Security or Lack of When Promoting Your Brand

Social Networking Websites. Source

      Did you just check your Facebook today? Did you check your friend updates, official Facebook pages of your favorite brands, actors? I think you did. You might be wondering how I can read your mind. The answer is quite simple – Social Media Network. Most of us are closely connected with it. Not only Facebook, we are connected with many other social networking websites like LinkedIn, Twitter, and many more. 

     Today, the growth of social media network has increased dramatically. In other words, social media has taken us on a new level where we can easily interact with many different businesses. Without any social media platforms, it can take many days or months for companies to advertise their business. Now, with the help of these social media platforms, companies can advertise their business to whole world within few hours. Not only companies can advertise their business to world, but they can use social media platforms for various other reasons. For example, companies are using social media for getting feedback, finding employees, communicating with other businesses and customers, and much more.

       Facebook is one of the leading social networking website in the world. Recent statistics shows that Facebook has 1.11 billion active users as of May 2, 2013. This makes Facebook more popular for spreading information and/or promoting any brand. Now think of any company who want to advertise its new product. Through Facebook, this company can advertise its new product to millions of people around the world in a single day. They can even upload pictures of new products and regularly update their customers about latest news. This is the power of social networking websites such as Facebook.

Source

      As far as privacy is concerned, we can customize the privacy setting in Facebook and most of the other social networking websites. But it is still very hard to maintain and secure our privacy. Although social networking websites have tight security, hackers can break this security breach. They can misuse personal information and put it in danger. With growth of social media, it is becoming difficult to protect all personal information.

     Overall, social media network is a great tool for promoting any brand or products.