In continuation with one of my earlier posts Elephant's dream, I was exploring some work done with the free, open-source 3D graphics software blender.
Look at a sample someone could do in one day flat using blender
.. and if u see the copyrights in above image, this was created with blender in 2004.. so today's blender version must be more advanced and more easier.
More such blender made graphics are posted here. blenderartists.org
I have been noticing one person, Arun saxena.. hosting an online consumer rights organization, which he calls as "International Consumer Rights Protection Council".. though almost everything he tracks are indian consumer problems.
Here's a letter he recently posts on his website based on consumer issues he has been appraised of. This letter clearly depicts some attitude of indian corporates towards consumers.
Many indian companies are well known for their bad service quality to indian customers, while they have separate teams to service foreign customers.. most of them practise 'consumer inequality' or bias for high-value customers.. most of them finish products differently or package them differently for exports and domestic consumptions... and so on.
This letter adds to what the companies promise, and what's hidden from the eyes of the easily brain-washed consumer. Rememeber that "* Conditions apply" that you almost see on 99% ADs in India.
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BEWARE OF THESE BANKS---Looking at the rising complaints against Citibank, ICICI Bank, and Standard Chartered Bank, we request consumers to properly read their
documents and keep a record when dealing with these banks, especially regarding credit card and housing loan. These three banks are biggest
defaulters and do not resolve consumer problems easily. Be aware of their terms in writing. Keep a perfect record of all correspondence with
them.If they do not agree to written communication, immediately stop their services.
BEWARE OF NOKIA
Nokia assures that their handset is covered under insurance. They even provide a certificate of insurance. But the condition is that if the handset
is lost/stolen, you have to lodge an FIR to seek claims. The catch here is that the police station does not lodge FIR for loss of handsets, they only
register NC. So you will never get insurance claims on basis of NC.
Nokia is selling some of its degraded products that have software problems. If you come across such problem in a new set, do not waste your
time in running around service centers as it is not going to help much, ask for a replacement with a new set.
DO NOT BUY NOKIA 6260
BEWARE OF AIR DECCAN
Their confirmed bookings are highly unreliable and of no guarantee that u will be allowed to fly. The booked tickets get cancelled without
intimation to consumer only to be known by him when he goes to the airport to catch his flight.
BEWARE OF COUNTRY CLUB, BANGALORE
They advertise that if you take their membership, a plot of land will be given free of cost near Golden Spa at Coconut Grove. Please note
Golden Spa is 35 Kns from Bangalore and the said plot of land is over 100 Kms from Bangalore. Based on false promises and with arrangementwith Citibank and ICICI Bank, this team cheats the consumers of his money by asking payments through credit card.
BOOK TELESALES & RECOVERY AGENTS
If you receive unwanted advertisement / telemarketing call from any company or recovery agents. Ask their telephone number and report to the
police. File a police complaint against the Chairman of the company.BEWARE OF TATAINDICOM BROADBAND
Their promises to get you a broadband connection within a week is not to be relied upon. Once your money is stuck (about Rs. 2000), it takes lot
of pains to recover it back.CAREFUL WHEN DEALING WITH THESE COMPANIES / PRODUCTS
LIST OF WORST COMPANIES AGAINST WHOM WE RECEIVE COMPLAINTS VERY FREQUENTLY
AIRLINES: Air Deccan
BANKS: Citibank , ICICI bank, Standard Chartered Bank
BUILDERS: Parimiti Buildcon (Thane), Madras City Co-op Bldg. Soc (Chennai)
CARS: Tata motors, Hyundai
CREDIT CARDS: SBI credit card, Citibank, Standard Chartered
CELLPHONE SERVICES: Tata Indicom Broadband, Airtel, BPL mobile
HOME APPLIANCES: Videocon, Godrej,
HOME BUSINESS: Kenya Star Tea
INSURANCE: National Insurance Co., New India Assurance
MOBILE PHONES: Nokia 6260
TIMESHARE: Royal Goan Beach Club (Goa), Happy Home Constructions (Bangalore), Country Club India Ltd. (Bangalore)
TRANSPORTERS: Sky Packers and Movers (Mumbai), Packways Pvt.Ltd.(Mumbai), Sai Packers and Movers (Mumbai)ARE U BEING HARASSED BY CONSUMER COURTS?
WE ARE GATHERING INFORMATION ON CORRUPT JUDGES, REGISTRARS & CLERKS
We have received many complaints from consumers that they are being harassed in the consumer courts when they go there to submit consumer
complaint and attend hearings. They are not being served properly by the clerks, and the judges keep on giving hearing dates without arriving to
judgment.These acts are contrary to the purpose of setting up of consumer courts that were basically meant to help the consumers. Please inform us if you
have experienced or witnessed harassment or corruption. Inform us the exact time, date, and location of the incident in writing through duly signed
letter. Your details will not be disclosed on this website, but you should be ready to co-operate when action against these people is initiated by
nabbing them through proper channel.
For further clarifications you may contact:
Sri.ARUN SAXENA
International Consumer Rights Protection Council
B-9/55, Vijay Nagari,
P.O. Kasarvadavali,
Thane (West) 400601
Mumbai - India
Having got no options to fix my broadband connection.. because its being serviced by some people with bad/no attitude.. I wrote a letter to
Head, Customer Service,
Tata indicom broadband..
Hoping things to be better in the future..
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To
Head, Customer Service,
VSNL
I am Harish Palaniappan, a customer of tata indicom broadband.
I have been using the tata indicom broadband service for the past 1 year.
In recent weeks there has been too many service issues with the service, and especially customer service.
After everything I have seen with your service, I am left to only hope that you will be bothered about my plight of continuing to be a tata indicom customer still,.. and you will read the mail below.
I have always had problems with the broadband service.. not just past weeks.. and if you would look for complaint records under my login
******** login: harry950 a_t eth.net ******** you will find many ways to improve your infrastructure, and overall service.
And things have only worsened in the past 2 weeks.
For the past 2 weeks the internet connection has not been stable.
Its like i try connecting and then find out whether the connection will go through .. and if it connects... hurrrray.. my broadband works so i will check email and start my work.
... And if it doesn't connect, i call up the customer service number to hear these "Your estimated wait time is more than 12 mins.. we recommend you call back later".. [ disconnects ]
I try calling a local hub number (valasarawakkam hub services my connection.. phone no: 64506002)
The guys in the hub dont' pick up the call. [ not of use ]
Not having any other options..
.. try customer service call center again.. and again.. and again.. and wait on a hold tone.
Interestingly the hold tone has loud loud advertisement messages telling you about offers and stuff.. which irritate you more than helping to cool you down when you are calling up to complain on a problem. Atleast... they can disable ads in hold tones if the user selects menu choices indicating he wants to place a complaint.
And after all this waiting on an irritating hold tone .. when your call connects.. the executive starts talking, and most executives stupidly start saying "the same sentences" in the same order without understanding or listening what the customer has to say. or better off, they ask the customer to repeat the whole thing, even about old complaints. Atleast... they can first read the history of complaints that the user has placed, know the status of these complaints, and then talk sensibly to the customer.. rather than asking "have you got a router or a modem? (this should be there in the records)... "have you connected the usb cable to the computer? (if customer is enquiring on a previous complaint.. then troubleshooting steps and sentences only irritate)... and so on.
Not of help.. and wasting almost 30 mins to 3 hrs of time for placing a complaint with customer service call centre in hyderabad.. [ not of help.. lose hope.. disconnect ]
I go have a cup of coffee to release my stress.. some newspapers then... i remember theres work to do on a project.. and i have to be online..
I call back the local hub number.. again.. again.. again.. and finally,
a guy picks up.. and listens to me saying that "i dont have a link.. or even if its there i get error "server time out: server did not respond to verification request".. (meaning simply that the server is down) ... and then,
the guy says.. "yea.. we just restarted the system .. since last week we have had power problems.. and stuff.. so we restart it or disconnect the server and troubleshoot"..
I say.. "what the heck, its not your home computer to restart at your will. .. I am dependent on the server for my broadband connection, and a broadband connection is something that HAS TO BE 'ON' 24 by 7"
And then he said.. the most worst service statement of all.. the most insulting statement of all.
He says: "Sir.. now and then all these things happen.. you can't complain for this".
He means.. the broadband service will work when he wants it to work.. and i have to be happy with that unreliable service. Typical government office employee-like answer that was.
I feel so bad and curse myself often for being a paid subscriber.. for such a service provider.
After all the disappointing embarrasments i have faced using your broadband service, I hope below items will be taken care.
I beg, dont treat future customers in the way. Thanks.
1.
valasarawakkam hub engineer 'sivaraj' needs to be adviced of what broadband service is and why it has to be 24x7. what 24x7 means.. and how to listen and respond to customers
2.
I hope in future .. all the customer-meet points, the customer service executives, service engineers like sivaraj.. etc., understand this (seriously): "HAS TO BE 'ON' 24 by 7"
3.
I also hope all customer-meet points.. behave..
> by not disconnecting a call knowing that customer is calling,
> by not laughing with collegues saying.. "hey this customer cant take 30 mins of disconnection it seems..as if he is bill gates.. ha ha" .. customers are not so funny
> by listening to customers on a call, then take time thinking., and then respond....
> by not blabbering away written down sentences on the phone, to make it obvious that.. I am talking to an "Indian" call-center executive.
Thanks & Regards,
Harish,
Update 6 sept 2007
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Though I have had a restless, unstable connection before, I would like to mention here that ever since I posted the above, and until now, Tata Indicom Broadband has improved its infrastructure, customer services, and importantly its people attitude.
I have so far registered and used two connections for 2 years now, one at office and another here at home, both tata indicom's, and I should say, I am happy (if not extremely happy) about their service.
I am enquired about the connection very often by friends who seem to still have a lot of issues with finding better service with other broadband providers like BSNL and AIRTEL... both Airtel and Bsnl, I am told, take a lot of time (sometimes even 2 weeks) to respond to complaints. To them: "Thanks for keeping never allowing the indian attitude to service change guys..". To my friends, I always have recommended to shift to Tata Indicom broadband...best that is possible today.
Why am I making this update?
Today (almost after an year of this post), some guys called up from Tata indicom to enquire whether I had any problems still .. and mentioned that they got to know from this blog. Though late (blame it on my blog's popularity), I liked that gesture of theirs, and so I am reciprocating.
But I will never be happy with all these broadband service providers including Tata's, unless they do it really professional.
Delivery of broadband services - is where the quality of the service lies - understand, grow up.
Regarding the delivery of their service... running wires through trees, posts, all along many kilometers from the hub to the delivery point, is probably the best that these guys with their IQ are able to think of...and is the worst solution...
... being in this big business, raking so much money, pushing so many many ADs, and importantly even being the Tata's, I only hope somebody someday spends 2 minutes to innovate a better delivery model.. may be wireless like mobile phone technology.
Will they grow up.. or Will they still live to the old "indian" attitude...??
Open source software is the idea of making free software.. that's not all.. the source or the programs of the said software is also free. The deal is to create a community of developers who like the product to start adding more power to the programs their own way, and contribute to the software's evolution.. even though its free software where money does not compensate for efforts.
The best compensation a dreamer and innovator can get is the response from fellow dreamers, innovators and typically the opening up of a new possibility for end-users for peanuts or no cost.
All that thing about open source is already known.. what's different now??
A new project, to put it more brighter... a new movie project has won loads of recognition for its good showing of use of a free 3D software called blender.. and blender's pals or tools for movie and picture editing.
"Elephant's dream" is the name of a short movie that's been entirely created and finished through open source softwares.. majorly the 3D animation tool "blender".
And as per open source community ethics.. the creators of Elephant's dream have left the production files of the movie open for the community to download and play with. So, the movie is free (some 300-400 mb), the production files are free, and the softwares that were used were already free.
In my humble opinion, may be 3D enthusiasts can't ask for more to learn, feel and make similar and better movies..
and movie watchers can't ask for cheaper free, and still, good quality movies,
and the free 3D blender software community and open source community itself have rose a step bigger to deal with software as an enabler of creativity, technology and many other things for even simple, humble, not-so-financially strong technology enthusiasts ..
Did we forget to say here.. that blender software's programs itself are open source.
In that context, Open source software is an Elephant's dream.. so open source is definitely evolving into a bigger dream than what commercial softwares can dream. That's power of making a community.
Related links:
Download Elephant's Dream here
Blender Free 3D animation software
NASA is still unable to fix shuttle foam cracks? or, I wonder whether the American policing and politics is at loggerheads to make big time money out of the sad issue... or, may be NASA is starting to feel the hierarchy problems of big enterprises (Big enterprise problems: When a company has grown bigger, it finally makes granularly small problems look the biggest and the biggest problems dissappear into Annual reports).
History:
The Space Shuttle blasted into pieces years back. Reason: Due to the increase in temperature inside the shuttle's fuel enclosure, which was ultimately caused by fly-aways of cracked foam insulation covering the fuel enclosure.
The US government, in an attempt to allay all fears of next space shuttle launch, said its investing 2 billion dollars into research and repairs for, this, one, foam problem.
.. of all the huge and complex parts in the shuttle, the foam finally became the costliest, work of all..even more important than the launch vehicle itself.
In India, our indian space research organization would launch 4 satellites within the cost of 2 billion US $. I wonder, what on earth US agencies and NASA did with 2 billion dollars for just foam repairs.. And if you are still wondering, the cost as of today for the foam research, testing and repairs has crossed 3.3 billion US $ and 3 yrs .. much more than planned...
finally, the problem is not fixed yet..
As you read the news today, one day before independence day in America, you will feel so dissappointed about how NASA, and the US government has swallowed greater than 3 billion $ of American tax money with the simplest excuse of FOAM repairs.
About FOAM experiments of NASA:
FOAM is characteristic of sponge.. and is artificial. Made with various materials, there are all types of FOAM. What NASA has done so far with the billions of dollars is lots of paper work and testing.. much more than the the actual final repairs. And still it has not pulled it off, because it looks like they spent all the money wasting time on understanding everything about foam, its properties, its reactions and stability with environmental changes, etc., but not about how it is used with shuttle and how to correct that.
On NASA site or elsewhere you would read that foam bullets or foam pellets are made and fired at a fan blade or other targets and the effect on the target's surface, is studied for varied speed of firing, distance of firing etc.,
Also, you will read that NASA use the practise of pouring foam on to space shuttle's surface like a thick liquid and it later converts into foam which should not be cracked or disconnected anywhere. If you made foam pieces and stuck them, they would obviously split under conditions. So, NASA does the pouring technique since the time shuttle was made.. so this technique hasn't kept the problem away..
Scientists would say .. though poured, air bubbles could create vacant portions of foam inside the foam making for cracks.. so the pouring technique was experimented, tested, researched,.... and all that .. again with huge cost effects.
Finally it comes down to the fact that the foam has cracks.. STILL.. and NASA blames everything on this crack.
Conclusion:
We have pretty simple household techniques to protect foam from tearing off surfaces, and an advanced version of one of these techniques should have solved the problem within the cost of peanuts. If this could cost Americans greater than 3 billion dollars, we can look forward to american budgets like, 'Inner wear malfunction prevention research and solutions - for pop stars' - costing 6.5 billions, 'American president's stain proof coat research - to protect from embarrasing enquiries' - costing 4.3 billions, etc.,
On this eve of American independence, Lets all hope NASA's space shuttle project comes back on track after all the political hogging that's on it now.
Once two men sat in a bar drinking. The first one said
to the other ,"I have a hell lot of family problems."
The second one said ,"I'll tell you mine. I married a
widow having a young daughter. My father married my
daughter and so my father became my son-in-law and I
became my father's father-in-law. My daughter is my
mother and my wife my grandmother. More problems
occurred when I had a son. My son is my father's
brother and so he my uncle. Situations turned worse
when my father had a son. Now my father's son i.e. my
brother is >my grandson. Ultimately, I have become my
own grand father and I am my own grandson. And you say
you have family problems !! ".
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Hope this joke doesn't get into any indian movie director's mailbox..
we already have lot of trouble understanding the story in some movies here.. :-s
