Aug 17, 2012

SAMSUNG vs APPLE or APPLE vs SAMSUNG, depending on your "allegiance"

The never ending war.

A few people I know keep on saying Samsung copied Apple. Samsung is a copycat. Apple is the real deal bla bla bla.....

Well, in that case I guess every car manufacturer copied Karl Benz's idea of an automobile. I hereby declare  Ferrari an impostor. It is not the real McCoy.

Apple fans will probably be mad at me. I do not work for Samsung, I have nothing against Apple, I am not anti-capitalist and I am not a sad case of a poor guy who cant afford an Apple product.

I just loathe the hoards of fanatical Apple devotees out there who keeps on dissing other brands because according to them, EVERYONE copied Apple. Who copied who and what was copied by who can be very subjective and is based purely on your own goddamn opinion.

You see, a person can only claim copyright for the realization or tangible expression of an idea but not the idea itself. For example, if you come up with the idea of inventing a machine to transport people from point A to point B, your realization of that idea in the form of a beautiful Ferrari 458 Italia is your right and yours alone. But you cannot say Proton is a Ferrari wannabe by manufacturing a Proton Preve for having the same idea as Ferrari i.e. inventing a machine to transport people from point A to point B.

If that was the case, Karl Benz's family would be the richest family in the world as everyone would have to pay them for the right to use Karl Benz's idea of a car.

Apple had a bright idea in the form of the iphone and ipad. They realized that idea in the form of the iphone and ipad (I read somewhere saying that the tab was actually on the drawing boards way before the ipad became a reality but I cannot verify for certain that this piece of info is true so I'll omit it).

Samsung thought hey that's actually a good idea. So they came up with the tab and galaxy range of phones a.k.a their own way of realizing that idea, without stealing Apple's technology.

As a conclusion, If you are willing to pay royalties to the families of Karl Benz and Alexander Graham Bell for driving a machine that is based on the former's idea and for using a machine to communicate based on the latter's idea than by all means, please praise Apple and worship the damn company. If you are not willing to pay them royalties, I suggest you stop dissing other manufacturers as copycats.

I'm not saying Apple's product are better and vice versa. That's entirely up to you to decide. My only point here is this, the idea of an intelligent touchscreen phone and computer tablet does not belong to them exclusively. The expression of that idea is, but not the idea itself.

That's just my opinion :).

Aug 15, 2012

How to deal with the death of a loved one

My dear grandmother, Hajah Zabaidah bt Ismail passed away at 4.15am on the 8th of August 2012.

Naturally after losing someone so dear to me,I cried....and cried....and cried. I cried till my eyes were painful. I cried until there were no more tears left. My eyes are still watery as I write this, about a week after her demise.

At home, my family comforted each other. We hugged,we cried and we laughed together in appreciation of the memory of my dear Opah, who had been a single mother for 32 years.

We prayed to Allah SWT for her soul and recited Al-Fatihah and yassin for her. Even in death, she brought us closer as a whole extended family.

At home, I finally came to terms with the death of my grandmother. However, I wasn't prepared to be left alone to deal with my grief. That happend when I returned back to work.

When I reached my office, business was as usual. I received a few condolences and that was it. My traumatic experience was just another day for the rest of the world. As ridiculous as this may sound, I asked myself why are they not sad about my dear Opah's death.I want everyone to be sad. But that's not going to happen.

I walked to my cubicle and sat down. My co-workers were doing their jobs like nothing was wrong. Some were even laughing (not at me mind you) for god knows whatever reason. After sitting down, I felt an instant Pang of loneliness. I needed support.

What I did was I texted my mom. I texted my girl. I texted my cousin. I texted my sister. That made me feel better.

The only way to deal with a death....is to live. To appreciate life and those you still have with you. My definition of a life worth living is a life full of love. It is this life that is giving me strength. The love from my family, my girl and my friends.

I miss my grandmother so much. I will always remember her love for me,my stupid jokes, her cooking and her trademark daily doa:

"Ya Allah ya tuhanku, ampuni segala dosa-dosa aku, dosa-dosa suamiku, dosa-dosa kedua ibubapaku, dosa-dosa anak-anakku,dosa-dosa cucu-cucuku. Tetapkan Iman di hati mereka........"

My grandmother recited that doa for the last time on the day she died. She was suffering from Alzheimer's but she never forgot me in her prayers.

I will never forget her in mine. I love you so much and I will miss you for as long as I live.

AL- FATIHAH