Bill Gates Retiring

Microsoft chairman Bill gates is retiring today. It would be cliche to say that an era is coming to end. Microsoft and Bill Gates generates extreme reactions. One section revers him as almost equalling him to God and the other section crucifies him as an evil. While both are extremes, one has to just wonder how as a company Microsoft could survive let alone dominate for such a long time. Is it because of smart business acumen, visionary marketing might or just plain sheer luck ? No doubt they are the smartest business people but if at all they have to give credit for their success they must first give it to their competitors. It is the incompetency of the competitors that made Microsoft such a big giant.

See the facts - they didn't invent any (D)OS, GUI operating system was in vogue in Apple long back, spread sheet, word processor, browser ....all the applications are developed by somebody else first. In fact world had a better OS than Windows even 30 years back - bug free, virus free and even FREE of money. Smart marketing by M$ or bad marketing by others ? In fact at one point of time M$ even had the audacity to charge customers for seeing its ads (for its Widows 95 commercials !!). Apple and Sun always had much better and stable products ....

M$ had its share of friends too and what a friendship it is .......they worked for M$ without getting salary from M$ ...it is like all the salesmen of Intel, Dell, Compaq, HP etc.. etc.. worked for M$ but got salary from their respective companies. Growth of these companies fuelled MS's growth and along with, its office suite and allied applications.

Only the advent of Internet, Linux & open source initiatives and the Java phenomenon could stunt the growth of Microsoft. Otherwise it could have been a behemoth of unimaginable proportions ...

Like all fairy tales the story has to end some day ....difficult days ahead for Steve Ballmer and co .. Vista has flopped ...Yahoo deal failed ...(even if its through it would have been a hopeless deal as Google still dominates the online ad space almost monopolistically) ...Almost a no show in the PMP (IPOD) segment (its Zune pales in comparison with iphone/ipod's) .....Google, Apple, Amazon leads in the "cloud computing" - the new buzzword, more and more credible open-source initiatives - all these are adding pressure to M$. Apart from this it has to battle the rejuvenated Apple (wiser after the years) and the new kid Google - and not to forget the old rival - Sun. Or so we think ??

In the increasingly (digital) convergent and mobile world it is difficult to predict who is going to the prime mover - competition comes from many areas - Google, Apple, Nokia, Sony, Amazon, Sun ...all has potential to dethrone the reigning king. Personally I would rate the first two as the forerunners to the throne.

Sujatha - My All time favorite

Sujatha, aka Rangarajan, one of the prolific and great writers of Tamil and my all time favorite passed away yesterday night. He was 72. A path breaker in all senses, he had a great influence in the Tamil literary (both modern and traditional) scene for over four decades. A Engineer by profession, he had the rare combination of being proficient in Tamil (literary, contemporary, modern) as well as in Technology. Widely read and knowledgeable, he presented all his knowledge in simple Tamil and inspired a whole generation.

He came as whiff of fresh air in the times when the Tamil writing was dominated by Social/family dramas or historical novels. His unique style of writing with the uncanny adoption and identification with the masses - their way of talking, behavior, mindset and the slang included in his writings made him immensely popular cutting across the segments.

His contribution to the popularization of technology is immense - starting with his Silicon Chip writing in Dinamani Kadhir and Yen, Yedharku, Eppadi in Junior vikatan - he seemed to have time for anything and everything. At one point of time his writing alone sold most of the Tamil weeklies and Journals - he was writing in Vikatan, Kumudham, Kungumam, Kalki and Dhinamani Kadhir almost simultaneously. Later he contributed as script/screenplay writer in several Tamil movies. His notable movies include Vikram, Thiruda Thiruda, Boys and Sivaji. Most of his early novels/stories are made as movies - notable include Priya, Gaytri, Karaiyellam Senbagapoo...

Versatile and gifted he will be mostly remembered for variety of novels, stories, essays he contributed. He introduced Haiku poetry to the Tamil audience. Brought up in Srirangam, Trichy and who spent most of the later part of life in Bangalore he described both the places vividly in his various writings. Among his popular novels are Pirivom Sandhipom (not related to the recent movie on the same name), Rathham ore niram, Kolaiyudhir Kaalam among others.

Last but not least, he immortalized the Ganesh-Vasanth - the imaginary advocate pair being the main characters in most of his detective, semi-detective stories. Ganesh being a level-headed, senior advocate with Vasanth being his flirtatious Junior advocate made a fascinating reading in most of the contemporary situations his novels dealt with.

In his later days he restricted his writing to essays such as Katradhum-Petradhum which again was a hit with audience. He was more into reading in his later days especially on the old rare Tamil writings as well as the latest developments on IT and computing. Not to forget the fact that in his younger days he was involved in the design of the Electronic Voting Machine used in the Indian Elections. Surely a man of versatility and knowledge.

A compulsive smoker (Wills Filter) and a two-time-Heart-attack survived person he was not afraid of death - he was neither philosophical about it - he lived the life to its full - enjoying himself and contributing to the society in terms of sharing his knowledge. May be he could have lived a decade or more for his numerous fans .....

One of his touching writings I remember is about the early (infant) death of his younger sister and a still-born daughter - he dedicated one of his writings to them - the only time he was sentimental in any of his writings. I can still recollect the exact words - மரித்த என் தங்கைக்கும் மலராது மறைந்த என் மகளுக்கும் இதை சமர்பிக்கிறேன் - May his soul rest in peace in joining them.

[ps - posted some of the contents from the above to the Wikipedia Sujatha page - very few people (in fact it is just two ;-) who have read (both) though that I copied the content from wikipedia, I have to convince them it is not so and its the other way around ..so in case you read wikipedia and also this and feel that some of the contents are same, dont think I plagiarised the content - the contents are same becuase the author is same]

Evolution of Cricket

Fascinating and amusing to see the evolution of cricket. Used to be a leisurely six-day-game (!) once upon a time - remember, they used to have a rest day for the games in the sub-continent. Score of 200+ is a well played game. Advent of one-day games introduced some aggression. Yet, the old one-day games - some of them 60 overs a match (till 1983 world cup) looks like a mini-test matches when compared with the T20 games today !

Glut of one-day games, day-night matches, colored dresses - all well documented evolution of cricket did made the game interesting but still the old world charm for the test cricket has not ended. The plight of the players have to be sympathized as no other game needs this kind of adjustment for the games they play - test match, one-day, T20 ....not to talk about the different climate, pitch conditions.

Cricket will have its share of criticisms - but it will continue its evolution and keep enthralling us.

The hunter becomes hunted

Six to seven months have been a long period ! The world has turned upside down for SUN TV or so I think ! Just recapping the major events happened in the intervening period :

• Dinakaran carried a survey on after Kalignar who is the likely successor in the DMK. The survey results showed that majority (70%) in favour of Stalin, around 2% each for Kanimozhi and Azhagiri and 20% for others.
• The 20% apparently disguised for Dhayanidhi maran
• Azahgiri clan was not too happy with the results and ransacked the Madurai Dinakaran office killing around 3 people in theprocess.
• Dayanidhi Maran removed from the Central Govt
• Launch of Kalignar TV announced
• Sharath, the earlier architect of SUN TV was roped in to architect/consult Kalaignar TV
• SUN TV and its bouquet, who earlier refused to play ball with TATA SKY now announces that their channels are available with TATA SKY
• Kalaignar TV launched
• Several Marquee composers, technicians, shift loyalty to Kalignar TV
• SUN Group announces its own DTH services
• Cable operators protest - showdown with SCV and DTH service providers
• Govt announces it can "operate" its own Cable network and DTH service ...

And so the saga continues ......

Amusing to say the least ....A fight between the family group results in a showdown like this !
Few things that begs answer - who owns Kalaignar TV ? Why does DMK party promotes it ? Wont there be any conflict of interest ?

When the Chennai streets are stinking with the Garbage, does the Govt needs this kind of indulgence in primarily what is a commercial activity ?

Back after a Gap

Kind of in hibernation for some period. Work load, family load et all. Usual excuses. From June have been traveling widely - mainly in the west zone. Been to Mumbai thrice, Vadoadara and Pune - all work related. Not able to explore the full areas but started loving Mumbai and its hectic pace of life. Experienced the famed Mumbai rains, understood the complex train network that carries Mumbai, visited a Bandra bar with an old friend ........still a lot to explore in Mumbai.

Will write more about Mumbai, Pune and in General more frequently...of course if time and my two little daughters permits.

Infosys bashing - II

More credible articles/blogs on the Infosys bashing and in general emphasizing on the importance of being a product driven economy:

http://windia.blogspot.com/2006/07/why-infosys-cant-be-product-making.html
http://windia.blogspot.com/2006/08/is-world-flat.html
http://www.webyantra.net/2006/08/28/infosys-takes-to-corporate-blogging%e2%80%a6trying-to-be-noticed-in-the-web20-world/
http://www.amitranjan.com/2005/07/15/infosys%e2%80%99s-global-dreams-%e2%80%93-diagnosing-its-achilles-heel/

Infosys bashing

It is not easy being in the top. Everybody throws stones and mud at you .....its your choice to respond or to ignore ......Infosys bashing is becoming a favorite past time for many of us .....but the truth is most of them are valid ...if not all ....

No doubt Infosys is a great company, Narayanamoorthy is an icon and they may have generated a great amount of wealth but it is still a looooong way to be compared with a giant like IBM and other tech biggies. Simple reason - Infosys is not a company which generates "value" and spawns an "ecosystem". It is just a user of technology, provider of services in an efficient, professional, quality and cheaper way and makes an enormous amount of money (legally and ethically).

It is still in the tier-II of the software service providers and has a long way to go to be in the league of EDS, HP and IBM the top troika among the service providers. It comes nowhere near in the league of Microsoft, Oracle and SAP in terms of product innovation and global domination. Neither it is an innovator in the tecnology space like Google, Yahoo or Apple. Worse it cannot even come near to some middle level software product companies like BEA Weblogic, Symantec et all. And then there are a host of technology leaders like Intel, CISCO, Nortel. Where does Infosys stand among these. Are we just overhyping and overplaying a simple minor software service provider whose only advantage is dollar-rupee differential and does the job given to him in a perfect way - typical of an Indian clerk ? One point to be noted is - it is listed in NASDAQ as not as a software product/services company but as an "Technology Consulting company".

Where is the "value" ? Where is the "ecosystem" any major company provides. Both Infosys and our Software companies in general dosn't even provide one tenth of what the old economy companies provide in terms of eco-system. An industry like Automobile manufacturer spawns a network of auto component manufacturers, dealers, suppliers, infrastructure suppliers and the like - it generates a multitude of investment opportunities and wealth. Our $oftware companies are not able to sustain this kind of system - in fact it doesn not benefit any of the locals at all. Most of the Infosys type companies use Dell or IBM computers, CISCO switches et all, thus benefitting the global behemoths and not helping any of the Indian counterparts.

Is Infy aworld beater with its 69,000 employess ?- what is its employee-to-turnover ratio. How does it compare with Google, Microsoft and Apple or with IBM, CISCO and Oracle. Do they have an ecosystem that spans across the channels .....meaning any dealers or resellers selling Infosys products, any training institutes that teaches Infosys products, any desktops or servers that carry Infy's products ? Any free downloadable version of Infy's products ........... It is just a body shopping company that makes a ton of money by easy dollars .....but kills innovation among the India IT enginners.

Leaving aside all those - I doubt Infosys can survive this model for the next twenty or twenty five years - I doubt whether they will be able to celebrate their 50th anniversary - leave alone in the much same fanfare as they did their twenty-fifth anniversary.