Microsoft: Stop !

"Processor speeds will double every 18 months" said Gordon Moore.

And in my opinion, the primary factor that has made such rapid increases in processor speeds commercially viable (With customers willing to upgrade their computers/processors at regular intervals) is Microsoft.

Think about it - If Microsoft had never developed XP, and all the world had was Windows 2000, would we really have needed the Pentium 3.4 Ghz chip ? Could we not have achieved similar levels of computing speed with a 2.4, due to the "lighter" nature of Windows 2000 ?

Of course XP is far superior to 2000 in many ways, but seriously, when is Microsoft going to stop ?

I believe that Microsoft's constant development of new operating systems with more demanding computing requirements is driving the growth of companies like Intel and AMD. Or is it the other way around, with the growth of processing speed making it possible for Microsoft to innovate faster, albeit with less consideration of efficiency ?

Where did my school go ?

With the way land developers are gobbling up property in Chennai, I wonder if things are going to come to a head very very soon ...

Some of the only large plots available in prime areas belong to educational institutions - Loyola, Stella, Lady Andal, Good Sheperd etc ...

Of course several of these institutions are owned by non-profit trusts/institutions, but I strongly believe that there will be a point when the ROI per cent of land on these properties will be so far below market rates that these organizations will cave in and convert these properties into residences or office space.

Can you imagine Chennai like that ? Just a huge number of office buildings and high end apartments at the heart of the city and all the schools and middle class residences in the outskirts. Oh wait, thats what every US city is like !

Chinese NPA's

China is staggering under the huge amounts of Non-Performing Assets (NPA's) that its state-run banks have accumulated. It seems like almost every week, the Government has to step in and bail out a bank to prevent it from going under.

Reading about this today brought back memories of conversations I have had with Chinese students at NC State. Invariably, they would have taken a huge loan to fund their studies - And when I asked them about how they planned to repay the money, they would tell me that they did not plan to do that, and that "Repaying loans was not part of Chinese culture" !

The Globe stopped - You are dead !

When I was young (really young), I used to read the US Business Magazine, Fortune that my dad would buy. I found it incredibly fascinating, and one of the things I could never understand then, was how the CEO's of General Motors, General Electric and other companies could run their operations that were spread over an incredibly high number of product lines and locations.

And this period coincided with the time with GM went through a massive restructuring, with a huge number of employees laid off. I then had a recurrent daydream that the CEO of GM would stand in front of a map of their manufacturing locations and throw a dart at it. The one that was closest to where the dart hit would be closed ...

Of course, now I know more about organizational structures, budgeting, decision making responsibilities, I know how CEO's run companies, but sometimes I still think about the map and darts, and about how fickle life can be.

Chinese Headquarters ...

Everybody talks about China taking over the world. I believe that there could be no clearer indication that this was happening than if an American company moved its Headquarters to China.

I was talking to a client of ours, and we had a fascinating discussion on which large sized American company would make the jump first ....

And after some thought, I believe that it is very likely to be Wal*Mart. Think about it - They source so much product from there, China is at the forefront of their expansion strategy, its the market of the future and the clincher - Overhead costs would plummet for the company. And at Wal*Mart, cost is king. After all, this is the company that buys no furniture for its corporate Headquarters at Bentonville, Akansas - They simply use the free samples that their suppliers dole out.

Would they not save a bunch by moving to China ? And if they jump, who will go next ?

And this is not without precedent - i2 tried a move to India - I am not sure exactly how successful that was though.

BCCI

the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) is the richest sports body in India. It looks like they now have so much money that they want to buy a Boeing 747 exclusively for the use of the Indian cricket team and its visiting opponents, because there are sometimes no direct commercial flights between certain venues.

Give me a break ! How much more do we need to pamper our cricketers ?

And an interesting side note in that article was a proposal for BCCI to build a cricket ball manufacturing plant in order to supply balls for cricket matches ! I just burst out laughing when I read this ! Can't they spend the money on some good cause, like nurturing more fresh talent ?

Out of breath ....

I love technology, absolutely love it.

I just got off a teleconference, with 35 participants - From 23 countries. What would have cost thousands of dollars just a few years ago, cost $0 for us now.

And while the call was on, the bell rang at home downstairs, and I had to run downstairs to open it (While the call was on). I went down, found the drinking water guy there, had to let him in, bring him up, pay him and then go downstairs and lock the door. Then, I ran upstairs full speed to put my headset on, and exactly at that point, someone went "Vel, what do you think about this ...." and I was like "Beautiful Timing" !! Everybody was wondering why I was panting though :-)

Ponnarasi's Tag ...

Movies I would watch over and over again:
My Cousin Vinnie
Laila (Persian)
Alaipayuthey
Hustle & Flow
Run Lola Run
Gone with the Wind
Crash
Kaadhalikka Neram Illai
The Sting (the Newman/Redford version)

TV Shows I Love
Entourage
Six Feet Under
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Elimidate/Blind Date (!)

People I would like to have dinner with
Jon Stewart
Bill Clinton
Azim Premji
(the late) K. Kamaraj

One World

Our fearless Communications Minister, Mr. Dayanidhi Maran seems to be on a roll nowadays - Nokia factory, booming cell phone subscriber base and now the "One India" concept with uniform rates for long distance calls within the country.

I wonder when we will have a "One Globe" rate, with uniform costs to call every country in the world from any country ? A democratic market-place, where a phone number is just a phone number, not an Indian number or an American number.

And subsequently, would it not be great, if there was no International Roaming charges ? I think Skype mght just be the catalyst required for this transformation.

I now have a SkypeIn number which has a US-Raleigh Area Code. If someone calls this number, the call rings on my computer, and if my computer is switched off, it forwards to my Indian cell phone. I love the concept !

I am engaged ....

... well, actually, I am 1/3rds the way to getting formally engaged, for all practical purposes, I am engaged. It is still sinking in slowly, but it is the first step in what is usually most people's craziest adventure.

Pictures of my gorgeous fiancee will be posted after her approval. Crap, there goes my bachelorhood independence :-)

However, rest assured, dear readers, that my blog will not vary from its stated path of righting wrongs, exploring things that make sense, those that don't and the glorious beauty of being that is life.

Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard ...

... So what ?

One of the most bandied-about pieces of biography in the world is the fact that Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft and the richest man in the world dropped out of Harvard University.

So what if he did ? And let me explain why I ask this question ...

In comparing India and the US, there is obviously a large difference in living standards. However, this is quickly being bridged as the educated in India experience a surge of upward mobility.

Lets consider two fictional characters - Raja Hindustani from India and John Americana from the US.

Raja is a student at IIT, Kanpur and is a brilliant computer scientist with a great idea.
John is a student at Stanford U and is a brilliant computer scientist with a great idea.

If both of them forget about their idea, and decide to play it safe, their lives would look very similar - John would work for Google and make 120,000$, Raja would work for McKinsey India and make a Price-Parity adjusted 120,000$. They would live in luxurious apartments, holiday in exotic spots and drive nice cars.

If they decide to build on the idea, that's when there is a huge deviation between their projected biographies.

John would drop out, find a cheap, but comfortable apartment and drive a Toyota Corolla and spend a few years working hard at his concept. If it was a success, great and if it isn't, that would be ok as well - He could go back to school.

Raja would drop out, live in a one room shack in the periphery of a slum, use public transport and in general, have an extremely tough life. If it was a success, great but if it isn't, that would be a freaking tragedy, no education, no money, no job.

So, I ask again, so what if Gates dropped out of Harvard - He could always have gone back there if Microsoft has not taken off, and his sacrifice was not too bad - He still had all the basic necessities - Good food, safe housing and wearable clothes.

This is when I admire guys like Narayanamurthy, who gave up a safe, if boring life and staked everything they had on an idea.

And again, artists in the US who project themselves as being "struggling" etc need to stop drinking their $4 Lattes if they wish to be more credible.

The Argumentative Indian ...

... is the book I am reading currently. It has been written by Amartya Sen, the Nobel Prize (Economics) winner. It deals with the tradition of public debate in India and its role in improving cultural and communal harmony. Further, he makes the case for public debate being the foundation stone of democracy and declares that Democracy, which is often thought of as a Western concept could potentially have germinated in India, fertilized by the extensive respect given to contrarions, including in the Ramayana, Mahabharatha and the Upanishads.

A fascinating read. Exceedingly well-reasoned and well-laid out.

Its not literature, or he would have been a cinch for a second Nobel.

The Intelligent Coconut Tree ...

There is a huge coconut tree right besides my home in Chennai. And at most times in the year, there are a huge bunch of tender coconuts (yezhani) hanging there. And as it so happens, the tree sits right above my designated parking space and this was always a source of worry to me - I did not want a falling coconut to dent my car ....

However, I heard this piece of information that made me feel a lot better - Apparently, there have been almost no cases of coconuts falling either on people or cars, ever !

I found this amazing ! Is the coconut tree an intelligent life form ?? And have any of you heard of a person or car being hit by falling coconuts ?

Water on Saturn's Moon ....

So what ? I do not understand why scientists get all excited when they discover water somewhere in the Universe ....

Read a post I made in April 2005 about this ....

http://www.ideamani.com/2005/04/aliens-dont-need-water.html

I still have not found a reason to believe that we have to look for water and oxygen in the process of finding life - Why do we believe that every other living being in the Universe would have the same dependencies as us ?

Paris

Am writing this from my BlackBerry at Paris airport ! Isn't technology great :-)

My company got its first client, so I am off to India for a month to set things up. Its going to be a hectic trip with a lot of work involved, but being in my home country will make things that much more meaningful ....

Giving back ...

IT companies in India plough a good chunk of money into education institutes, which makes great business sense, as this directly/indirectly improves the quality of personnel available to these companies.

I do not see the same behaviour amongst BPO's though. Should they not spend some money improving English language skills amongst students thereby creating a talent pipeline for themselves.

PS: I know I am on a break, but I had to get this one out ;-)