My Tech blog goes live … :)

well what should i say.. again as i was in dilemma when to start, how to start, where to start…??

lots of questions ???

seems totally confused, but ya finally the bang came and news was IE8 beta 2 is available..

but what is so special about it, that made me start a new tech blog..??

hmm.. people, just get up, go to the download page , download it , install the beta and feel the difference !!!

i would say it is the best ever version of IE ever released, although being beta it will be having bugs, one such is flickering of chat box in gmail, automatic shut down of explorer, missing data and many other things, but at the end of the day it is “user experience”, I am sure most of us will enjoy using it.

For more details and features,

do visit my other blog http://kunjal-maheshwari.spaces.live.com

happy surfing 🙂

My first Interview ;)

oaky so here comes the D day without any prior intimation…U guys might be thinking what the damn, is he speaking about, Interview and that too without any plans??

Seems funny na, but friends let me tell you this was not the job interview, this was the Interview call from student partners team from Microsoft for MSP recruitment. So is the picture clear now???

Okie then let me proceed, to be precise it was 27th Feb 07, @ 4:31 PM, again u might be wondering how can i remember that exact time ??

Well again, let me take u from the start, as it was just last hour of the day, i was just coming out from My class room as the bell rang, just a min after the bell rang, their was a buzzzzz in my cell, although cell phones were not allowed in college and during class hours, most of us used to keep it but in silent mode (quite disciplined guys), well coming back to scene, just checking the number 080—–, i rushed out of the class, and probably i was the first one to leave the class that time…

so I just gave a thought that some one from Bangalore is calling, so i just came down to first floor and attended the call which gave me a sudden shock as the person from the other end said “hello this is XYZ, from Microsoft, is this Kunjal Maheshwari “……

For a moment I even forgot my name, but then, i got control over my senses and replied back, yes this is kunjal, and then their came a normalizing response that made me go calm..

so a brief narration of the whole incident goes like this

interviewer : So Kunjal, You have applied for Microsoft student partner program

me : (getting back in time, and recalling the application) ya ya ya, i applied for that long back, but got no response since then.

interviewer : ok can you spare some time now ?

me : of course I can.. (but in mean while I was very worried as i was still in campus and was speaking on mobile and the stairs were common way for students and faculty to go through)

interviewer : So, kunjal tell me about yourself ??

me : Just gave an overview about me and my college… bla bla bla…

interviewer : okie kunjal, so what do are your hobbies ??

me : well this is question on which i can speak a lot, i love to learn new things and see how that works, i love networking, i love music and in free time plays keyboard (i was also a runner up in Instrumental music competition held in college), apart from that i also like cooking 😉

interviewer : cooking ?? so what all things can you cook ??

me : well not to say its as a hobby, its my passion (well just took gaurav’s name in mind, who created interest in me for the same, Thanks gaurav 🙂 ), i can create mainly any Veg items, and being fact, that even we cook in hostel (although it was banned) from daal chawal to pav bhaji, just take the name and we will 😛

interviewer : oh that’s sounds pretty good !!!

me : thanks

interviewer : so kunjal, can you tell me in details about projects done ??

me : told them about the database project using VB, then Microcontroller based project, then the main one..

Typing tutor using Java swings and AWT..

interviewer : can you brief in more details about the last one ..??

me : started with the negatives (although wrong way to convey), i told abt the features i have included.

and in mean while i was very truthful about results and accuracy.

interviewer : so how much frequent you are online ?? and what are your favorite destination on WWW ??

me : here I got a golden chance, I told them that we use GPRS for browsing the net, so i was almost online. then i mentioned about ACM, IEEE, news sites to be my favorite spots.

interviewer : (then there came an obvious question) what do you do of this websites ??

me : (As I wanted to get credit for my first prize in paper presentation, that i won on 22nd Feb., just around a week before my interview) so i just made my answer like this, See ACM and IEEE are very big organizations, going through various research papers i was out with my paper in “Pervasive Computing”, which bagged first prize in a student convention held last week.

interviewer : kunjal, let us now discuss some basics, and he asked some technical questions!!

(i just answered all those .. bingo ..)

interviewer : are you aware about .net ??

me : being frank, i am totally unaware about .net, but ya as i said i like to learn new things, i will give a shot if given me a chance.

interviewer : then are you a member of any .net user group ??

me : NO, not yet (this time i thought i am gonna loose it, as i was black abt .net at that time and his questions were digging me around the same)

interviewer : (but then, he changed the topic 🙂 ) so kunjal, can you justify your role as an MSP ??

me : here I came out with my true presentation skills, I blabbered a lot and at that time thought “really I am a good speaker ”

interviewer : kunjal, that’s all for now, nice speaking you, you will be informed about your selection through mails so keep checking it okie.

me : thanks and same to you.

P.S. : here comes an end to my first Interview, i was just very excited, as at least I got a call from Microsoft, although not sure, i would be selected or not, but ya it was good time to think that i had my first interview and that too “Without Preparing for it”

First steps to MSP…….

going back in time, it was around October 2006, when I came across, Microsoft student partners poster in our campus, that was pasted on one of the notice boards on 2nd floor of IT block, then quickly I opened my notebook, and noted the web site link http://student-partners.com, I went to net lab, and downloaded the Nomination form.

just then days passed as usual, then suddenly one day, The form which was stored on my laptop, appeared in front of me, and at that moment i gave a thought why not go to net lab and submit the form, then at that point of time, I  hurried up filled in the entries and quickly went to the net lab as net connection was not there in hostels.

now having a look in time it was 9:45 PM and at 10:30 labs would close, so just was hurrying up, by the time I got a free system it was already 10:30

Actually in between there were many jobs to be done like

1) coming to net lab from hostel

2) making entry into the log register

3) copying my documents from pen drive to my account

4) Produce your net card before lab in charge, again make a entry in their log

5) Wait for a system to get free [only 16 systems in net lab 😦 … ]

So you can understand what all the hardships I went through to just get a system to start browsing.

Now finally before wasting my time, I quickly logged in my account and send the mail…

GOOD job kunjal, finally you have done it..

BUT, the things do not end here

Again a week went just like that and i was again in net lab to check in my mails, fortunately their was a mail from Student partners Team from Microsoft, My heart pounded and in enthu, I opened it, to find a message

“Kindly attach the Nomination form”

lol……… 😀

what happened was, that in hurry, I just forget to attach the form and send the mail, without ant documents.

but the things are never the same, so again the mail was send and this time form was attached.

Now the wait started, when will i get the reply, but ya, I have done my job  🙂

Microsoft posts search leads over Google

hey this is not a fake news nor am i kidding,

Microsoft in June finally managed to take back a small amount of market share from Google in the US search business, according to comScore.

Its share of search queries had declined steadily over the previous 12 months, dropping two percentage points or so to a low of 8.5 per cent in May. So an increase back to 9.2 per cent has at least stopped the rot – for now.

Could this be a sign that the new Live Search Cashback service is having an effect?

Of course, for Steve Ballmer it still looks like a case of far too little, and far too late. The odds must be on him pitching another new offer for Yahoo’s search business (or even the whole company) before that company’s shareholder meeting on August 1st.

for more accurate data related details, do have look at

http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=2337