After close to 30 years of growth the "Software Product Industry" is slowly experiencing an inertial slowdown, having experienced at early times huge profits that made them Billion Dollar houses. To them, the Big Bang is finally over. It is now a slow and tough march to earn a living, and even the Big Blue has decided to be labelled a 'Service Company'. The Infotech industry hype, the Bubble; all of this has happened, come by and passed.

This is the second time under the same Chief Minister Mr.Modi that violence has erupted in Gujarat. From what the press/media presents it appears as if the muslims alone are being victimised.

The Indian news media has taken a slow march from bad to worse; (it is the speed I am unsure of.) Press myopia combined with severe tunnel vision is a known phenomenon. However, in the past few weeks it seems to have dilated this stain. Television News media has completely lost any sense of meaning of Live images. It is frequently used on any recorded videos without alerting the viewer; except for the simple note that when the same set of images loop repeatedly through, one knows they a

Recently there's been a huge row in the Indian media triggered by a parliamentary law passed recently. This law reserves almost 49.5% of seats in the premier educational institutions in India (IITs,IIMs primarily.) Many students have been confused as these institutions have been inducting candidates only on merit and providing them the necessary education to be competitive and of high demand in the corporate and technology arena worldwide.

The dreaded Avian Flu, much talked about is in some ways hyped up by the media. It is true that the scientific community powered by improvements in biotechnology has been able to anticipate a pandemic and warn us before it happened. Now that the worst hasn't happened, I see people complaining that businesses are failing. I am not sure what they intend to see happening. Are they waiting for thousands to die before they declare that Avian Flu is indeed t

The recent trend with Job recruitment firms at least in India is quite disturbing. They catch resumés on the internet and just bombard their clientele with them. Whenever someone makes a hire from such a lot, they take a brokerage. A model suitable for companies that can't afford HR firms. But I find that small companies require people with a special niche most of the time and someone who understand the environment with the risks. So they rarely benefit from these firms. That leaves the med

With another hype for Negroponte's Dream $100 Laptop and his One Laptop per Child (OLPC) initiative I see this pipe dream go on and on. The corporate world works on an economic equation. Among Food, Clothing and Shelter - the minimal human necessities to be provided with sanitation and humane living conditions - The UN has had far

I find that watching movies has a profound effect on moods. It does depend a great deal on the film, the actors, the film-maker and the medium you're watching it on. It also depends on the time you're watching the movie. I just saw Hamlet(1990) starring Mel Gibson, Glenn Close, Helena Bonham Carter and a few other well known names. It seems to hold Mel Gibson's best performance in quite a long while. Although a shorten

While humanity claims to have progressed a great deal since the so labelled Paleolithic, Neolithic, Iron and Bronze age through the Dark ages, the rennaisance, the Industrial age and the Information age I notice that our tribal behaviour has changed little. Human beings still tend to group together in tribes. The affiliation for tribal groupings have differed, yet behaviourally we find solace in such groups. People of a company like to group with their own teams, some fortunate ones with their c

The recent ruling (WPost,Dec 22/2005,Page A28) by Judge John E Jones III looks very much against the right to freedom of expression. When we were taught about the creation of the universe and life, we were informed about all theories including evolution and creationism, and "intelligent design" wasn't a package available then. Today, there are advocates who claim that "intelligent design" is a poss

I have been creating software components (mostly system software), and managing teams doing the same. Whenever I was delivering a complete platform (Kernel+Drivers+Utils) with a product, I found that the process was much easier. The end product was easily taken in although I can't comment about the commercial success. However, whenever the delivery was a source code component that had to be plugged into someone's product I have found delivery very difficult with either complaints or a long time

Microsoft happily has announced and maintains no support for "prehistoric", "outdated" software like Windows 98 SE. I had to get someone who'd sent his kid his archaic Toshiba Satellite CD-8090 laptop which was in French (AZERTY keyboard too in a community that is used to QWERTYs and almost no DVORAKs). The Laptop even has a floppy drive (I don't remember the last time I actually used a floppy although I have a faint idea that this was just some 3-4 years back.) Trouble is the kid doesn't