US asks 10 banks to raise $75 bn additional capital

Press Trust of India / Washington May 08, 2009, 14:55 IST

The US Federal government has directed the country's 10 leading banks to boost their capital by $75 billion, following the rigorous stress tests.

The much-awaited results of the stress tests on the nation's 19 largest Bank Holding Companies (BHCs) showed that 10 of them need more capital to the tune of $75 billion while the remaining including Goldman Sachs and American Express are well-capitalised.

The stress tests were aimed at determining capital buffers sufficient for the 19 entities to withstand losses and sustain lending -- even if the economic downturn is more severe than is currently anticipated.

Among the entities being asked to boost their capital, Bank of America needs the most of $33.9 billion while Wells Fargo has to raise $13.7 billion, the US Federal Reserve said in a statement late Thursday.

The auto financing arm of General Motors -- GMAC LLC, and Citigroup have to increase their respective capital by $11.5 billion and $5.5 billion, respectively.

According to the Federal Reserve, the losses at the 19 firms could be a whopping $600 billion, if the economy were to become more worse during 2009 and 2010.

Other entities which have been ordered to come up with additional capital are Regional Financial Corp ($2.5 billion), SunTrust Banks ($2.2 billion), Morgan Stanley ($1.8 billion), KeyCorp ($1.8 billion), Fifth Third Bancorp ($1.1 billion) and PNC Financial Services Group ($0.6 billion).

Following the Supervisory Capital Assessment Program (SCAP), better known as stress tests, the 10 companies are required to bolster their capital buffer by November 9, 2009.

Apart from Goldman Sachs and American Express, the stress tests have found that seven more entities does not have to boost their capital. They are US Bancorp, State Street Corp, MetLife, JPMorgan Chase, Capital One Financial Corp, Bank of New York Mellon and BB&T Corporation.

The 19 BHCs together hold two-thirds of assets and more than one-half of the loans in the US banking system.

Commenting about the stress tests, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S Bernanke said that these examinations were not tests of solvency.

"... We knew already that all these institutions meet regulatory capital standards... The examiners found that nearly all the banks that were evaluated have enough Tier 1 capital to absorb the higher losses envisioned under the hypothetical adverse scenario," Bernanke noted.

A detailed plan about raising more capital should be submitted to the Federal authorities by June 8.

"... If the economy were to track the more adverse scenario, losses at the 19 firms during 2009 and 2010 could be USD 600 billion.

"The bulk of the estimated losses --approximately $455 billion -- come from losses on the BHCs' accrual loan portfolios, particularly from residential mortgages and other consumer-related loans," the statement said.

Going by the Federal Reserve, the estimated additional capital buffer would be about $185 billion at the end of 2008. Since then, the concerned companies have begun assets sales and initiated restructuring measures, among others.

In addition, the "pre provision" net revenues of many of these firms have exceeded nearly $20 billion, considering the adverse economic scenario.

"The effects of these transactions and revenues rendered the additional capital needed to establish the SCAP buffer equal to $75 billion," the statement noted.

The stress tests were conducted by the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Review: Internet Explorer 8 is new and improved -- is it back on top?

 Internet Explorer 8 has shipped in its final version and is ready to take on its rivals. This latest version of Microsoft's browser leapfrogs its closest competition, Firefox 3, for basic browsing and productivity features -- it has better tab handling, a niftier search bar, a more useful address bar, and new tools that deliver information directly from other Web pages and services. IE8 has also been tweaked for security and includes a so-called "porn mode," new anti-malware protection, and better ways to protect your privacy.

This final version differs little from last January's RC1 release, aside from some speed improvements and bug fixes. What follows is a comprehensive review of all the ways that IE8 differs from IE7. If you've abandoned Microsoft's browser for a rival, you may -- or may not -- want to return.

Improved tabs and address bar

For basic browsing, the biggest improvement in IE is its tab handling, which is exemplary. It's the kind of feature you may not notice much at first, but it's one that goes a long way toward making your browsing life far easier.

If you commonly use multiple tabs, you'll particularly welcome the way IE handles them. When you open a new tab from an existing page, the new one opens directly to the right of the originating one, and both tabs are given the same color. That way, all related tabs are automatically grouped and color-coded. If you open a new tab from a page that is already part of a group, it will open at the far right of the group, rather than just to the right of the originating tab. It will also be color-coded.

This subtle change in tab behavior may have a major effect on your productivity. For example, if you write a blog and need to preview it before posting, the preview page typically opens in a new tab. Previously, and with other browsers, the tab opened all the way on the right -- often several tabs away from the originating tab -- and switching between the two was often confusing. With color-coding and grouping, it's far easier to switch between related tabs.

It's easy to move a tab between groups -- just drag it, and it becomes part of the new group, taking on its color. Right-click on any tab to control its entire group -- that includes closing the group, closing all tabs except for those in the group, and ungrouping the chosen tab from the group. You can also perform actions on any individual tab from the right-click menu. It would have been nice to be able to reopen an entire tab group, but that feature isn't here.

Also welcome is the new (for IE) ability to reopen tabs. To reopen the last tab you've closed, you press Ctrl-Shift-T. To see a list of recently closed tabs and choose which to open, you right-click any tab, select Recently Closed Tabs, and pick the one you want to open

In IE8, you can perform actions on an entire group or individual tabs, such as closing a group or reopening closed tabs.

New tabs open showing multiple links (allowing you to open pages you've recently closed), an InPrivate Browsing session (more commonly called "porn mode") and an "Accelerator" that lets you grab content from a Web page (more on this later). You can also perform certain tasks, such as sending e-mail with a Web-based service, or do a search.

Opening a new tab brings you a page that lets you reopen closed tabs, browse in InPrivate mode, or use the "Accelerator."

Each tab is isolated from the others, so if one tab crashes, the entire browser doesn't go down. You can then restore the crashed tab, and when you do, it reloads with the information that had been in it when it crashed, such as a partially written e-mail. And if you were watching a video, the video will start playing at the point the tab crashed, not at the beginning of the video.

For more info here is the link http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=Networking+and+Internet&articleId=9129906&taxonomyId=16&pageNumber=1

Software testing standard gets its first approved consultants

The organisation responsible for the Testing Maturity Model (TMMi) industry-standard software testing methodology, has accredited its first UK consultancy.

The TMMi foundation has awarded Experimentus assessor accreditation. The UK based joins Dutch firm, ImproveQS, as the only companies in the world that can provide accredited consultancy to firms using the TMMi methodology.

This could help promote a method of testing software quality that helps firms set benchmarks and easily repeat the process.

TMMi is a method that helps firms avoid the problems associated with software failures in live environments. It allows them to benchmark software development, to make it possible to repeat the process.

The methodology takes into account other stages of the development process such as preparation, requirement specification, design and coding.

HBOS is using TMMi for its software development. It employed Experimentus in 2006.

The bank rolled out TMM across three of its four major IT departments in a programme designed to reduce the number of errors in thousands of applications it builds every year. Ovum said interruptions in service can cost thousands of dollars per minute in industries that rely on financial dealing systems.

The TMMi Foundation, said the accreditations represent a milestone for the standard.

Geoff Thompson, consultancy director Experimentus, said, "whatever your approach to testing and quality, be it structured or agile, the systematic and disciplined structure of the method means that irrespective of who conducts the TMMi assessment the service will be identical."

William Shakespear's best poem

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything. 

"Sarvam" release tense among youths......

Ayngaran International’s ‘Sarvam’ has completed shoot over a month ago. The film was sent to the censor board yesterday, where the film, a romantic action adventure, was certified with a clean U certificate. All that is left now is for the movie to hit the screens, and it is expected to be in late May, after the elections and IPL Series. ‘Sarvam’ features Arya and Trisha in the lead, and is directed by Vishnuvardhan, after his blockbuster ‘Billa’. This is yet another film from Vishnuvardhan and Arya, a team that has so far given delectable films, be it ‘Pattiyal’ or ‘Arindhum Ariyamalum’. Trisha pairs with Arya for the first time and plays a doc. Despite her role, the film is said to have a song shot in Goa featuring the actress in a sexy two piece. Trisha, who is always known for her charming portrayal of roles, is expecting another big break through ‘Sarvam’, in which she is supposed to have a meaty character. The film also brings back to the Tamil screen, JD Chakravarthy. Music from Yuvan Shankar Raja is already topping the charts, and Nirav Shah’s slick camera work is expected to create a name.

Musician's Association Felicitate Rahman in Chennai

The musicians’ union of Tamil cinema congregated a grand function to felicitate AR Rahman for winning the Oscar awards. The function was held at the music academy auditorium on 1st March, Sunday.

Musicians, singers and technicians gather in entirety to congratulate Rahman on his glorious moment. Veteran composers MSV praised him for achieving the dream of every Indian and Illayaraja said that he and Rahman are still pupils of MSV.

The attendees list included AVM Saravanan, Harris Jayaraj, Yuvan Shankar Raja, Karthik Raja, SA Rajkumar, Deva, Srikanth Deva, Vijay Anthony, D Imman, TM Soundararajan, L R Eswari, Karthi, Chinmayi, Thippu, Chitra, Swarnalatha,Mano, drummer Shivamani and others.

Top Seven Social Media Predictions for India for 2009

According to the second Star-Nielsen poll, the Congress will win 155 seats (203 with UPA allies), while the BJP will win 147 seats (191 with NDA allies) (via TOI).

Arun Nehru at the Deccan Chronicle predicts that the Congress will win 157 seats (193 with UPA allies), compared to the 132 seats for the BJP (177 with NDA allies).

The Times of India predicts that the Congress will win 154 seats (198 with UPA allies), while the BJP will win 135 seats (176 with NDA allies).

According to The Week, the Congress will win 144 seats (198 with UPA allies), while the BJP will have to settle at 140 seats (186 with NDA allies).

India Today expects the UPA to win 196-205 seats, far ahead of the 172-181 seats for the NDA.

According to Reuters, the Congress with 139 seats will form the government, beating the BJP, which will win only 129 seats.

DNA predicts that the Congress-led UPA will win 184 seats, against the 177 seats for the BJP-led NDA.

Shreekant Sambrani at Business Standard predicts that BJP will emerge as the biggest party with 137 seats (184 seats with NDA allies), ahead of the Congress, which will win 119 seats (176 seats with UPA allies, including LJP/ RJD).

India TV also predicts that the BJP will emerge as the largest single party with 144 seats (187 seats with NDA allies), ahead of the Congress, which will win 133 seats (178 seats with UPA allies).

According to BJP’s own survey, conducted by G V L Narasimha Rao, the BJP will win 160 seats (217 with NDA allies) compared to 135 seats for the Congress (180 with UPA allies) (via TOI).

The numbers for the UPA have come down in recent predictions as analysts aren’t counting the numbers for Lalu Prasad’s RJD, Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP or Mulayam Singh’s SP as part of the alliance anymore.

Earlier, in March, the Star-Nielsen poll had predicted that Congress will win 144 seats (257 with UPA allies, including 47 for SP/ RJP/ LJP), compared to the 137 seats for the BJP (184 with NDA allies) (via Reuters).

The CNN-IBN poll had predicted that the Congress-led UPA will win 215-235 seats (including SP/ RJP/ LJP), compared to 165-185 seats for the BJP-led NDA (via Reuters).

In 2004, the UPA had won 234 seats (with 145 seats for the Congress) and the NDA had won 184 seats (with 138 seats for the BJP).

The Outlook Blog written by Sandeep Dougal, by the way, has emerged as my single most useful source of news and opinion on the Indian Lok Sabha elections. This is a great example of the value a traditional news organization can add by linking out to others.

Several Indian bloggers are also posting their own predictions.

Vijay at OffStumped, an overtly pro-BJP blog, predicts that NDA will win 184 seats compared to 108 for UPA.

Blogger Arvind Katoch predicts that UPA will win 230-240 seats where NDA can win 180-200 seats.

Promise of Reason is also doing a series of state-wise pre-poll predictions for the Indian elections.

Rajesh Jain, who is also a part of the Friends of BJP group, has also been sharing hisassessment of how the elections might turn out and believes that we will see another election in two years.

It seems that the consensus opinion is that the Congress will emerge as the largest party with 150-160 seats, while the BJP will win 130-140 seats.

In any case, fewer parties will ally with the BJP, and it will need 175+ seats to have a stab at building a majority coalition, so we can safely assume that the Congress will be a part of the coalition government. Most observers are predicting that a Congress-led UPA-Left coalition will form the government.

IBM fingered over early Linux mistakes

Linux FCS IBM, the first and biggest IT vendor to champion Linux, has been gently rebuked for initially tolerating the community to further its own interests.

And IBM was forced to concede.

IBM was identified during a Linux Foundation conference debate on community participation as emblematic of big companies who've made the mistake of joining the efforts around Linux to further their own goals first, and to help development of the kernel second.

James Bottomley, Novell distinguished engineer, kernel maintainer, and chairman of the Foundation's technical advisory board, said IBM initially approached Linux with the belief it had key technologies that should be in Linux, and pushed them upstream into the kernel.

These technologies, he said, first benefited IBM and only secondarily benefited the kernel.

"They broke down the technology into elements that would benefit IBM," Bottomley said.

He did not identify the technologies involved, but IBM engineers and expertise have been poured into making Linux work on its Power architecture and Intel-based servers. Back before the wider world understood Linux, IBM was there with its own Technology Center (LTC) in 1999, manned by 185 IBMers in six countries. IBM's server and global services business has since become one of the biggest beneficiaries of making the kernel - via Red Hat and SuSE - work well on its hardware.

How did IBM respond to this characterization? It agreed.

The vice president for open systems development in IBM's systems and technology group Dan Frye said: "Absolutely - we learned a lot from that lesson." What IBM learned exactly was how to join and participate more effectively in the community, he said.

Clearly there was a lot of this kind of thinking going around in the late 1999s and early 2000s. IBM created the Eclipse open-source tools project in late 2001 with a major code-dump from its Visual Age for Java tools, and with backing by its engineers.

The goal was to stop the pointless and costly task of re-building basic development-tools frameworks and tap a broader market of plug-in providers. Also, to outmaneuver tools and Java competitors.

The project worked better than expected on all fronts. But eight years later IBM remains the single largest participant in the resulting Eclipse Foundation and its projects.

The whole subject came up during a panel debate on how to measure community contributions to Linux during the Linux Foundation's Collaboration Summit in San Francisco. Along with Frye and Bottomley, participating were Red Hat developer-community manager and Fedora Project board member Karsten Wade, and Ubuntu community manager Jono Bacon.

The debate had turned to how to encourage participation and mistakes commonly made. According to Bottomley, there are open-source projects that claim to be open but only involve a "tiny bit of community" - and nobody knows who they are.

The biggest success of Linux was drawing on more than just a core set of contributors, he said. "It's almost the lifeblood of the OS," he explained.

Frye claimed there exist other community projects that let you only scratch their particular itch - or solve a specific problem that only the participants are interested in, and that have little broader benefit.

Again, there were no names.

Wade said companies had to learn that they couldn't apply the closed-source model of software development to open source by hiring people and then telling them to code. He called this stacking a project by hiring all the people to make sure the programming goals are met.

"[Companies] need to focus on not stacking-up a project by hiring all the people to make it happen," Wade said. Bottomley called this an "industrial process" of paying people to achieve a goal that's different from the community approach of working collaboratively.

Interesting Facts about India

http://india.gov.in/

• India never invaded any country in her last 100000 years of history.
• When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization)
• The name 'India' is derived from the River Indus, the valleys around which were the home of the early settlers. The Aryan worshippers referred to the river Indus as the Sindhu.
• The Persian invaders converted it into Hindu. The name 'Hindustan' combines Sindhu and Hindu and thus refers to the land of the Hindus.
• Chess was invented in India.
• Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus are studies, which originated in India.
• The 'Place Value System' and the 'Decimal System' were developed in India in 100 B.C.
• The World's First Granite Temple is the Brihadeswara Temple at Tanjavur, Tamil Nadu. The shikhara of the temple is made from a single 80-tonne piece of granite. This magnificent temple was built in just five years, (between 1004 AD and 1009 AD) during the reign of Rajaraja Chola.
• India is the largest democracy in the world, the 6th largest Country in the world, and one of the most ancient civilizations.
• The game of Snakes & Ladders was created by the 13th century poet saint Gyandev. It was originally called 'Mokshapat'. The ladders in the game represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices. The game was played with cowrie shells and dices. In time, the game underwent several modifications, but its meaning remained the same, i.e. good deeds take people to heaven and evil to a cycle of re-births.
• The world's highest cricket ground is in Chail, Himachal Pradesh. Built in 1893 after leveling a hilltop, this cricket pitch is 2444 meters above sea level.
• India has the largest number of Post Offices in the world.
• The largest employer in the world is the Indian Railways, employing over a million people.
• The world's first university was established in Takshila in 700 BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
• Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to mankind. The Father of Medicine, Charaka, consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago.
• India was one of the richest countries till the time of British rule in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus, attracted by India's wealth, had come looking for a sea route to India when he discovered America by mistake.
• The Art of Navigation & Navigating was born in the river Sindh over 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word 'NAVGATIH'. The word navy is also derived from the Sanskrit word 'Nou'.
• Bhaskaracharya rightly calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the Sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. According to his calculation, the time taken by the Earth to orbit the Sun was 365.258756484 days.
• The value of "pi" was first calculated by the Indian Mathematician Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century, long before the European mathematicians.
• Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus also originated in India.Quadratic Equations were used by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 10*53 (i.e. 10 to the power of 53) with specific names as early as 5000 B.C.during the Vedic period.Even today, the largest used number is Terra: 10*12(10 to the power of 12).
• Until 1896, India was the only source of diamonds in the world 
  (Source: Gemological Institute of America).
• The Baily Bridge is the highest bridge in the world. It is located in the Ladakh valley between the Dras and Suru rivers in the Himalayan mountains. It was built by the Indian Army in August 1982.
• Sushruta is regarded as the Father of Surgery. Over2600 years ago Sushrata & his teamconducted complicated surgeries likecataract, artificial limbs, cesareans, fractures, urinary stones, plastic surgery and brain surgeries.
• Usage of anaesthesia was well known in ancient Indian medicine. Detailed knowledge of anatomy, embryology, digestion, metabolism,physiology, etiology, genetics and immunity is also found in many ancient Indian texts.
• India exports software to 90 countries.
• The four religions born in India - Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, are followed by 25% of the world's population.
• Jainism and Buddhism were founded in India in 600 B.C. and 500 B.C. respectively.
• Islam is India's and the world's second largest religion.
• There are 300,000 active mosques in India, more than in any other country, including the Muslim world.
• The oldest European church and synagogue in India are in the city of Cochin. They were built in 1503 and 1568 respectively.
• Jews and Christians have lived continuously in India since 200 B.C. and 52 A.D. respectively
• The largest religious building in the world is Angkor Wat, a Hindu Temple in Cambodia built at the end of the 11th century.
• The Vishnu Temple in the city of Tirupathi built in the 10th century, is the world's largest religious pilgrimage destination. Larger than either Rome or Mecca, an average of 30,000 visitors donate $6 million (US) to the temple everyday.
• Sikhism originated in the Holy city of Amritsar in Punjab. Famous for housing the Golden Temple, the city was founded in 1577.
• Varanasi, also known as Benaras, was called "the Ancient City" when Lord Buddha visited it in 500 B.C., and is the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world today.
• India provides safety for more than 300,000 refugees originally from Sri Lanka, Tibet, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who escaped to flee religious and political persecution.
• His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, runs his government in exile from Dharmashala in northern India.
• Martial Arts were first created in India, and later spread to Asia by Buddhist missionaries.
• Yoga has its origins in India and has existed for over 5,000 years.

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose

The name of Subhas Chandra Bose is an integral part of the history of India’s fight for freedom. His greatest achievement was the deep sense of national unity that he was able to kindle in his countrymen and the profound love and loyalty, he was able to inspire in his army.

Subhas Chandra Bose was born to Prabhavati Devi and Janaki Nath Bose, a lawyer of Cuttack, Orissa on 23 January 1897.He graduated in 1919 with a first class in philosophy. Submitting to his parents will, he appeared for the Civil Service examination in 1920 and came out fourth in order of merit. Although he joined the service but his mind was deeply disturbed by grave developments at home, specially the heinous Jalianwala Bagh massacre. In April 1921, he resigned. He went home to Kolkata to work under Chittaranjan Das, the Bengali patriot.

Subhas was arrested and lodged in jail for participating in Gandhiji’s Salt Satyagraha (1930). In 1938, he was unanimously elected President of the Haripura Congress session. He resigned from the Presidentship in April 1939. For 'the democratisation, radicalisation and reorientation for the Congress into a sharp instrument of the people’s will,' he announced, in May 1939 the formation of the Forward Bloc within the Congress.

On 26 January1941, he suddenly disappeared from his house to supplement the struggle going on at home from outside. He held talks on a basis of equality, first with Germany and later negotiated an alliance with Japan. In January 1942, he began his regular broadcasts from Radio Berlin. On 04 July, he took over from Rash Behari Bose the leadership of the Indian Independence Movement in East Asia, organised the Azad Hind Fauj (the Indian National Army), became its Supreme Commander on 25 August and proclaimed the Provisional Government of Azad Hind on 21October. The I.N.A. Headquarters was shifted to Rangoon in January 1944, and marching thence towards their Motherland with the war cry "Chalo Delhi" on their lips, the Azad Hind Fauj crossed the Burma Border, and stood on Indian soil on 18 March 1944. He was reportedly killed in an air crash over Taipei, Taiwan (Formosa) on 18 August 1945.

Gandhiji paid his tribute to Netaji in the following words, 'The greatest lesson that we can draw from Netaji’s life is the way in which he infused the spirit of unity amongst his men so that they could rise above all religious and provincial barriers and shed together their blood for the common cause. His unique achievement would surely immortalise him in the pages of history'. Netaji Subhas Bose’s birth anniversary, on 23rd January is also observed as the National Day of Patriotism every year.

Indian Air Force

With a strength of approximately 170,000 personnel, 1,430 combat and 1,700 non-combat aircraft in active service, the Indian Air Force is the world's fourth largest. In recent years, the IAF has undertaken an ambitious expansion and modernization program and is increasingly used for India's power projection beyond South Asia. Among the various expansion plans is the MRCA program under which the IAF plans to induct 126 fighter jets at a cost of US$12 billion.

JAVA vs DOT NET which is best?

Here are some major differences between Java and .Net

Conceptually, Java is two things: the Java platform (runtime and APIs), and the Java language.

The purpose of the Java platform is to support applications written in the Java language and 

compiled to Java bytecode. The ideal of Java has always been a single language on multiple platforms. 

.NET also is two things: the .NET Framework (runtime and APIs), and the plethora of supported programming languages. The purpose of the NET Framework is to support applications written 

in any language and compiled to MSIL. The goal of .NET is a single platform shared by multiple language

2.Multi-language

The most obvious difference between the two platforms is the language. If you're writing to the Java platform, you're writing code in Java. 

.NET applications, on the other hand, can be written in any language that supports .NET. 

The .NET Framework SDK ships with three languages: C#, Visual Basic .NET, and Jscript .NET.

Third party languages include COBOL, Eiffel, Perl, Python, Pascal, and many others. 

There currently are over 20 languages that support .NET. And because they all target the 

Common Language Runtime, programs written in any of these languages can access objects created by any of the other languages.

Well, we can list 100's of these types of differences. Both has its own advantages and disadvantages. 

So, my suggestion is, instead of trying to figure out which is better, try to learn both. As far as I know, Development in .Net is quicker and easier when compared to Java. 

But to choose one for your company, Get some information on which development framework is widely used in your company. Choose that one, as you can get more support and help learning that framework. Its easy to get help from others. And also, you'll easily assigned to projects. 

Well, this is just my opinion. Choose wisely. Don't depend on others opinions.

Planet Nibiru - 2012 End of the world??

Planet Nibiru- allegedly discovered in ancient Sumerian texts by Zecharia Sitchin in 1976- a planet orbiting our sun in a highly elliptical fashion, going out past Pluto at the far end and coming this side of the asteroid belt at the near end. According to Sitchin's work, there is a race called the Annunaki living on Nibiru, and last time they were close they hopped over to Earth and genetically engineered humans out of monkeys to work as slaves for the purpose of gold mining.

Nibiru is also late- at least according to Mark Hazelwood, who claims to be a scholar on this subject. By his calculations it should have been here Spring-Summer 2003. Later estimates reckon it could be here in 2012 or 2013... 

If and when it comes, it doesn't look likely to hit Earth- it wouldn't even hit Mars, but it might crash into a few big asteroids. The gravity flux caused by another planet coming so close might result in wierd things happening in the seas or with plants however- Sitchin's work also pinned the biblical flood onto Nibiru. At the same time, if it did come around, I'd be hoping for the Annanuki to show their faces again- or we could get NASA to engineer a ship and go to visit them, like a surprise party. 'Hi! Remember us? We brought some gold for you'

and here's a lovely Wiki entry for you- describes how Pluto was originally a moon of Saturn called Gaga, before being hitched out of orbit by Nibiru. Great! All I'm saying is, if this stuff isn't true, it should be. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibiru_%28h...

Hmm, Scientia flames me? Bet he downthumbed me too x. Look, I said 'allegedly', what more do you want? Don't claim to know what I want to do or use your capital letters around me buddy. Save them for when you need to write acronyms.

Google vs Microsoft

Just weeks ago the Google features to explore the planet Mars online via Google Mars. Microsoft seems gregetan so they try to compete with Google to increase the amount of content in the online services that can also be used to explore the sky via the web, Worldwide Telescope.

Seemingly does not want to lose out to Google, Microsoft is also trying to bring data from the latest data red planet Mars. from VentureBeat, Wednesday (25/3/2009), Microsoft menggandeng NASA outer space agencies to provide data and images in the sky.

'War' sky between Google and Microsoft will continue to seem really heroic. Mars is not just a course, they also race-race-aea exploring other areas in outer space.

Microsoft is planning to menggelontorkan more data and image resolution of other planet-planet, including months. Google first have a lot of similar data available on the Google Moon and Google Sky.

Thus, who is perhaps the winner will be determined who is able to bring the good content. Microsoft seems to this very serious matter. For the latest in agreement with NASA, they are entitled to access the data of 100 Terabytes.

"Making NASA astronomical data accessible to the public is a big priority for us," said Ed Weiler of NASA on the agreement with Microsoft.