Monday, August 23, 2004
A Microsoft Disclaimer.... @
By Whoosh 2 @ 3:24 am      1 Comments

"This is a technical beta release. Before you decide whether to install this software, it is important to understand that the technical beta release does not have the stability of released Microsoft software. You might encounter problems with this release of the software that could possibly result in a loss or destruction of data. This release is not for production use, and we suggest that you run the software in a test environment or back up your existing data, including music and video files, before you install and run the software on your computer..."


Guess they should include this warning with all the software they bring out, not just Beta versions...
1 Comments

Saturday, August 14, 2004
Coolies??? @
By Whoosh 2 @ 9:45 am      6 Comments
This is one blog which i really did not want to write!

Oflate, there has been one forward that has found its way quite a few times to my mailbox. The subject line read "Bangalore, Silicon Valley or Coolie Valley?". The author had basically argued that the so-called "Software Professionals" in Bangalore were just coolies for fair complexioned, fat pursed Americans... Well, it is typical isnt it.. It is just the,"You are not able to carry your load ? let the lesser guy do it for you." sort of an attitude. And here we are in India being happy that we are leading the BPO race... Oh Yes, we are leading alrite!! We are the best Coolies in the world! Hello???

If you are the sensitive Indian, You might not want to agree with me. Who am i to say this crap, you may ask. I dont care.. But just to make my case a little more strong, let me quote what Mr.Nandan Nilekani (CEO, Infosys) had quoted to one of the American dailys.


'The whole process where people get an idea and put together a team, raise the capital, create a product and mainstream it -- that can only be done in the US. It can't be done sitting in India. The Indian part of the equation is to help these innovative US companies bring their products to the market quicker, cheaper and better, which increases the innovative cycle there. It is a complementarity we need to enhance."

-- Nandan Nilekani, CEO, Infosys, quoted in The New York Times, March 7, 2004.


So, do you agree now?? The number one guy in India has said so himself!!! So, basically he says that we Indians are just these poor people who need to work for the more influential and intellectual Americans.. Oh Ya Ya, i can hear you.. "Many Indians hold top positions in many companies", u say.. True. Accepted. But how many people are in the actual decision taking positions in these companies.. handful, right?

A very influential IT magnate of India, along with another influential person came to my institute some time back! We got 6 precious minutes to speak to them... Yay! I am jumping up and down with joy! Well, this is the fun part. We were allowed to ask 4 questions to the guests and one person in the audience asked "Why doesnt India have an MNC?". It was quite a well intentioned question, i would say. We, afterall, have the brains of the world dont we? The IITians, the IIM-grads, the IIITians ( **cough**) are all there right? Money? Well, Infosys is a billion$ company and so are Wipro and TCS! Back to the question that was asked.. the guest gave some answer which basically paraphrased what the guy had originally asked. Two weeks after this happened, the top Professor of our college came to us and gave us a gooooood thrashing! Apparently, a few of the $1B companies i mentioned above are MNCs according to "popular definition". The popular definition is "if the company has a customer from more than one nation, it is an MNC". Well, technically it is correct. But, the term should not be taken that literally, should it?? Atleast, i dont! See, there is a difference between the above mentioned companies and companies like Microsoft, Nokia, GE, Bridgestone, McDonalds and whatnot!!!

Here is the bottom line.. I agree that these companies are doing a great job for India, and that the BPO thing is one of the best things that has happened to us in quite a long time... But, it is time to move on.. It would be great if these companies could take the next step and push it. Just imagine.. Wipro and Infosys giving MSoft the run... or Reliance actually starting to make cell phones and giving Samsung and Nokia the shivers... or Saravana Bhavan competing with McDonalds (haha)... Sony could do with some competition from Videocon, right???

Well.. Dreams are really nice!! but as my Blog-page title goes..."Kanavu Meipada Vendum"...


6 Comments

Sunday, August 08, 2004
So, I am Orkutting!! @
By Whoosh 2 @ 3:10 am      2 Comments
"To Orkut or not to Orkut" was the question in my mind when i was put up with the task of filling in the rather lengthy registration form. To quote my "F.R.I.E.N.D.S", the first thing that came to my mind when i saw the form was "Oh My God!". But then, the Orkut invite was given to me by a very close friend of mine, Mahaneeya Raman and i just couldnt pass it over! So i said .." Hey Orkut, Here i come!"....

My first few days at Orkut were really boring.. What sort of a website was that anyway? A totally silly concept! And more than that, i had the strange feeling that Orkut was run on a 286 machine, let alone a "degraded" server farm, IT WAS SO DAMN SLOW EVEN ON MY T1 CONNECTION!! Yaar!!!

One month into Orkut, less than 10 friends, all the invites that i sent - apparently in the reeiver's trash boxes! BORED! I decided to just get out of this Orkut crap! But slowly and steadily i found my SSNCE friends, initially, taking into Orkut.. Great sign dude! Then my fellow IIIT ians came into the bandwagon! Gr8! Right now it is Orkut most of the time.. Nothing else worthwhile to do, at least for the moment!

I guess i am Orkutting rather too much these days though, for Abirami is already starting to give me strange glances when she sees me Orkutting :( , and to top it all Radhika came and asked me in Tamil , "Enna Vikkki, eppo paathaalum Orkut liye Irukkei"... HA HA HA!!! Beat that! :))


2 Comments

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