Happy New Year.

Wishing you all a wonderfully wonderful and prosperously prosperous 2012.

Vivek Varghese Cherian & Phebe George

Flipkart.com creates user accounts without permission.

Flipkart sure is great way to purchase stuff on line. I recently ordered an induction cooker via Flipkart.I ordered it on 19/12/2011 around 12.30 PM and got it delivered to my residence the next day afternoon. Great delivery time folks.

But I have a problem with Flipkart. They have a product and I have the money,I am willing to pay the money and purchase what they are offering on line.When I go shopping to a shop in town and say I like a fridge, I purchase it and I don’t need to give my name or any personal information even to obtain a bill or warranty card. The fact that I have the money and they have the fridge I like and our willingness to transact cash for the good is sufficient for the transaction to occur.

The presence of the bill and the warranty card is proof that I have purchased the product and I get the service in the warranty period for any goods that I have purchased.

In case an online purchase,the only thing that the vendor needs to know is your email address and mode of payment, nothing more nothing less. Flipkart created an online account in my name xxxxxx@flipkart.com without obtaining my permission first to create the account on my behalf.

A few emails were exchanged and Flipkart had to close down the account that they created on my behalf without consulting me.

Note: I have modified name of my email address,model brand and name and other transaction ids so that my privacy and right to anonymity online is not breached and also the names of the customer service representatives of FlipKart who corresponded with me.
Privacy is a two way street right ?

Dear Customer,

Greetings from Flipkart!

Order ID : X7W2A12345
Item : Bajaj CHEF PRO Digital Induction Cook Top (Golden) (ZU7EDEEDEDDD)

Thank you for writing in.

As per your request we have deleted your e-mail id from our data base.

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused to you.

Have a pleasant day!

Customer By Email (.) – 21/12/2011 02.40 PM
Hi Flipkart,

The consignment has been delivered. Please delete my account and confirm
the deletion once it is done.

>
>
>
>>
>

Response Via Email(Edward) – 20/12/2011 02.26 PM
Dear Customer,

Greetings from Flipkart!

Order ID : X7W2A12345
Tracking ID: ABCDEFGH123
Item : Bajaj CHEF PRO Digital Induction Cook Top (Golden) (ZU7EDEEDEDDD)

On checking our records, we see that this order has been shipped already through Flipkart Logistics. You should have received a shipping confirmation e-mail from us which includes the tracking number for this consignment.

On checking the courier web site, we see that the order is out for delivery and it’s likely to reach you end of today, if not within the next 24 hours. If for some reason this remains undelivered, please let us know so that we will take appropriate action to ensure the delivery.We request you to revert to us once the consignment had been delivered to you, so that we will go ahead and delete your account.

We appreciate your patience and cooperation in this regard.

Customer By Email (.) – 20/12/2011 02.10 PM
Hi Flipkart,

I have made orders with flipkart earlier without having to register my
email address on your site. You may use my email address only for
processing the current order (Order ID : X7W2A12345) and nothing
further.

If it is mandatory to register on your site, then please cancel the order.
I do not want to register on your site or receive any further promotional
spam mail from your end.

>
>
>
>>
>

Response Via Email(Charles) – 20/12/2011 10.04 AM
Dear Customer,

Greetings from Flipkart!

Order ID : X7W2A12345
Item: Bajaj CHEF PRO Digital Induction Cook Top (Golden) (ZU7EDEEDEDDD)
E-mail: xxxxxx@mailservice.com

Thank you for writing in. We tried calling you but failed. Please be informed that
if we delete the account then the order will be cancelled. Kindly revert with an
alternative e-mail id so that we can have it changed for further communications to
process the above order.

We appreciate your anticipated patience and cooperation regarding the same.

Customer By Email (.) – 19/12/2011 10.40 PM
Hi,

Have you deleted my account XXXXX@flipkart.com as I had told you to do.
This account was created automatically on Flipkart and without my permission.

If you do not delete my account from your system and confirm the deletion
within tomorrow, consider the order canceled.

>
>
>
>>
>

Response Via Email(Martin) – 19/12/2011 05.56 PM
Dear xxxxxx,

Greetings from Flipkart!

We tried calling you to verify the order mentioned below, which you have placed
using Cash on Delivery payment method.

Order ID : X7W2A12345

Considering your mail as a confirmation, we will confirm your order for the same.
You will receive a shipping confirmation e-mail with the tracking details once the
order is shipped.

Customer By Email (.) – 19/12/2011 02.25 PM

Hi,

xxxxxxxx is indeed my number. I have called your customer service department and confirmed the order.

My postal address is xxx-x, yy-apartments, xyz-locality,xxx-city,pin-code.

I do not need an account at flipkart.com. Please delete my account
‘XXXXXX’ created by you without asking me first at flipkart.com and
linked to this email account.

Please revert back to me via email once this is done.

> Greetings from Flipkart.com!
>
> This is regarding your Cash on Delivery Order X7W2A12345 for the
> following item(s):
> Bajaj CHEF PRO Digital Induction Cook Top (Golden) (ZU7EDEEDEDDD) [Qty: 1]
>
> We have been trying to get in touch with you xxxxxxxxxx regarding your
> order, but have been unable to. Please get in touch with us at the
> earliest, either by replying to this email or by contacting our Customer
> Support Team on 1800 102 3547 for us to proceed with your order.
>
> We look forward to hearing from you.
>
> Regards,
> The Flipkart Customer Support Team
>

Why programmers work at night

I went to bed at 9.00 AM today and came to work at aroud 3.30 PM. My mother in law who stays with me gave me lot of advice an how staying up at night was harmful to health and today I stumble upon this URL which tends to explain why people prefer nights to do technical work.

http://swizec.com/blog/why-programmers-work-at-night/swizec/3198

Brooks’s law

“Nine women can’t make a baby in one month”. – Fred Brooks.

Brook’s Law on Wikipedia

My website http://www.vivekcherian.com now has a new home at Linode.

Moved my website http://www.vivekcherian.com from Super Dimension Fortress to my own VPS at Linode after the recent repeated cracker attacks on my websites and home workstation.

Hosting multiple websites with Apache2 on Debian

I am going to cover the basics of Name Based Virtual Hosting using Apache2 running on a Debian GNU/Linux Server.

The advantage of Name Based Virtual hosting is that you can host multiple websites from an Apache2 Web server and all these websites only require one static I.P Address and also the requirement that your domain name should resolve to the I.P Address of your server.

Steps
——-
Step 1:First let us create the document root directories for the virtual domains example.com,example.org and example.net

————————————————–
root@zion:~# mkdir /home/www

root@zion:~# mkdir /home/www/www.example.com
root@zion:~# mkdir /home/www/www.example.com/htdocs
root@zion:~# mkdir /home/www/www.example.com/cgi-bin
root@zion:~# mkdir /home/www/www.example.com/logs

root@zion:~# mkdir /home/www/www.example.net
root@zion:~# mkdir /home/www/www.example.net/htdocs
root@zion:~# mkdir /home/www/www.example.net/logs
root@zion:~# mkdir /home/www/www.example.net/cgi-bin

root@zion:~# mkdir /home/www/www.example.org
root@zion:~# mkdir /home/www/www.example.org/htdocs
root@zion:~# mkdir /home/www/www.example.org/logs
root@zion:~# mkdir /home/www/www.example.org/cgi-bin
——————————————————-
Please note that I have created separate directories for
htdocs,logs,cgi-bin

Step 2: To enable virtual hosts in your Apache 2 Configuration.

For this let us create a file called /etc/apache2/conf.d/virtual.conf and the following content in it.
——————————————
#
# We’re running multiple virtual hosts.
#
NameVirtualHost *
——————————————

3) Create host files in /etc/init.d/sites-available in the following format for example.com

——————————————————–

ServerAdmin webmaster@example.com
ServerName www.example.com
ServerAlias example.com

# Indexes + Directory Root.
DirectoryIndex index.html
DocumentRoot /home/www/www.example.com/htdocs/

# CGI Directory
ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /home/www/www.example.com/cgi-bin/

Options +ExecCGI

# Logfiles
ErrorLog /home/www/www.example.com/logs/error.log
CustomLog /home/www/www.example.com/logs/access.log combined

——————————————————–

Create similar virtual host files for example.net and example.org

4) Now enable the sites by running the command a2ensite

———————————————————

root@zion:~# a2ensite www.example.com
Site www.example.com installed; run /etc/init.d/apache2 reload to enable.

root@zion:~# a2ensite www.example.net
Site www.example.net installed; run /etc/init.d/apache2 reload to enable.

root@zion:~# a2ensite www.example.org
Site www.example.org installed; run /etc/init.d/apache2 reload to enable.
———————————————————–

This will create a symbolic link between the files for the domains from /etc/init.d/sites-available to /etc/init.d/sites-enabled.

5) Restart apache2 with the command /etc/init.d/apache2 restart.

Default Installation layouts for Apache httpd on various Operating Systems and Distributions.

I was looking for a URL that would help me to list out the the default installation layouts for Apache httpd on various operating systems and distributions.

I found this URL: http://wiki.apache.org/httpd/DistrosDefaultLayout

Thanks to jMCg on #httpd on FreeNode for pointing me to this URL.

Red Hat Certified System Administrator

I received an email early today morning from The Red Hat Certification Central informing me that I have been awarded a new certification named Red Hat Certified System Administrator.

My new RHCSA certificate number is 100-173-327

Join the Electronic Frontier Foundation in standing up against Internet censorship

I support the Electronic Frontier Foundation in their stand against Internet Censorship.

Associate Membership of the Free Software Foundation

I Joined The Free Software Foundation today as an associate member #9193.

Nice to be associated with an organization that has long worked for the principle of software freedom. A strong Free Software Foundation will undoubtedly determine to a very large extend what freedoms the next generation of computer users will enjoy.