The Pakistani Spectator

I am kind of crazy about anything written, especially in English and about Information Technology (IT). I have always remained apprehensive of any technical book or magazine in Urdu, because, what I expect from such book is a cluttered and esoteric amalgamation of English and Urdu. The articles in such magazines, become a burden instead of an information source. Uptill now, I hadnt found any reasonable Urdu magazine which described the IT concepts lucidly and without clutter.

The “Computing” magazine is a pleasent surprise. I found it lying silently beneath many magazines in April, and just absent-mindedly started to flick through its pages, and it soon caught my attention with a useful and article, about how to install word press and gems about free web hosting. Along with some other books and magazines, I also baught out the mag. After reading that issue, I contacted the editors of the mag, and commended them on this fine effort.

Now May is here, and I have just finished reading this month’s issue, and without any doubt, its much better than the fine issue of April. Though, its not world quality mag, but the way its progressing, its bound to be. Here are the highlights of what I encountered in this mag this month:

- The editorial is short and a lucid one, and a very enlightening too. Though it hasnt has anthing to do directly with computing.

- IT News sections is good and informative. The nice thing about it is its detailed approach.

- Now, comes the real treat. Mohammad Ali Makki has done a swell job in his awesome research regarding ‘Open Source’. If you have always remained confused about all this hue and cry about open source, read these pages. Higly Recommended.

- Then there is a little sections about HDTV sets and computing forums. I particularly liked the ‘PC doctor’ section, but its a big feat and they have to show perseverance to make and sustain its usablity and effectiveness.

- Its very heartning to see a Pakistani mag, in national language, throwing a bright light on open source and free operating system like Kubuntu. Mohammad Shakir Aziz, has done wonders, and made every possible efforts to introduce you to baby Ubuntu.

- Now Muzaffar Garh chipped in, and Rana Mohammad Ameen Akbar, described the classifications of hackers. It was an average article.

- Alamdar Hussain then goes on tell how to use Remote Desktop, with clear screen shots. His step-by-step approach is very easy to follow.
- Khalid Hussain Jaffrey, threw some light on MNP, but failed to impress much.

- Amanat Ali Gohar, the boss himself, is then recovering the data himself, again with the trademark step-by-step approach with the help of screen shots.

- The section ‘Computingpedia’ seems useless and needs to refreshed.

- Amanat Ali, then revealed some useful tips regarding Windows Vista, but the problem is that very few people are using it in our country, due to its high memory requirements. But the tips such as setting the virtual memory were good.

- Then came a horrible shock, on page 46, there is an article with the title of something like ‘ Virtual drive….’. When I saw the author’s name, it was ‘Mohammad Hamid Rana MCS, Lahore’. What a shock. Have you ever seen, the qualification of an author right upon his article in any mag? Very bad. And the degree is MCS, which is most available thing in Pakistan along with dust and pollution. We have also got a picture of Rana Sahib there.

- Then Saira Bano, writes a rather run-of-the-mill introduction about some viruses out there.

- Then comes the section, PC Doctor, which is, for now usable and pretty nifty.

- The sections; downloads and webbox and quiz are useful, if not brilliant.

- Then there was a tutorial about Java from Syed Chun Bukhari, which I didnt read, as I am not at all interested in Java.

- Then Adil Zubair deserves a standing ovation, as he has written a diamond article about that darn virus, which is ubiquitous nowadays, and even Norton dreads that virus. The virus due to which, a new folder is created with same name of its containing folder and it spreads like the childern of rabbits.

Computing is a nice and new addition to a rare and exclusive cluster of IT-related magazines in Pakistan. It needs to make its title more attractive, along with some colors inside. There could be some sections about Pakistani blogs and websites, interviews with IT gurus in Pakistan, some sections on graphic and web design, not to forget the databases.