Fuck U Microsoft

Happened to just read this post on Rediff where Microsoft CTO "Craig Mundie" comments on Indian Engineers....
http://in.rediff.com/money/2005/oct/07ms.htm

All I can say is this guy should first fix his own system (the US educational System) before commenting on Indian or any other countries System. The lack of research funding which mundie claims as the reason for "poor engineers" is a common problem across the world including many American Universities. I don't know of any university in the world getting all desired funding save except for the rich Ivy leagues in the US and even they don't produce exceptional programmers/engineers. So what the heck is "Mundie" smoking and whatsupp with Rediff for publishing such Trash !!

New Age Product Pricing

So, how should one price a product which one plans to introduce into the market ? Conventional theory suggests that you should price the product somewhere in & around your competitor's so that people don't reject your product based on price alone. But all that's changing in the new world order of global economics. The key thing which the new age consumer looks for is "Value" and not "Price". How do you provide more value with your product compared to your competitor, is what customers are asking these days. And the best part is they don't mind paying 10X more for these services if they perceive enhanced value being delivered to them.
Two such examples which have their origins in Bangalore is the PVR Multiplex (Gold Class) and Kingfisher Airlines. People don't mind paying 500 bucks for the Gold Class experience as opposed to just watching it at home for 30 bucks on a DVD. Similarly people would anyday fly Kingfisher rather than Air Deccan even though the latter might offer them a better price. So in my opinion it's all about quality and value you create for the customer and not about price at all.

Political Systems.....

Having seen the horrors of capitalism in the US I can never ever support a fully capitalistic society. However this doesn't mean I am in favour of Stalin or Mao's model of un-checked Communism. Any system which provides for CHECKS & BALANCES for those in power would do for me. In that sense I actually like the current setup of the Indian Govt which for all practical purposes is a power share between the Communists & the Congress. So here's a big
shout-out to the much maligned and beleagured Communist Party Of India who have always focussed on keeping whosoever in power from making those "crazy" decisions that would benefit only the "elite of India" while leaving the bourgeois high and dry.

Ivy League Admissions....

Malcolm Gladwell....I love you man.....

Great article on the politics of Ivy League Admissions ....

http://www.gladwell.com/2005/2005_10_10_a_admissions.html

Reading List......

Bought a ton of books but haven't been able to lay my hands on any due to time constraints. So my "to do" reading list looks something like this....

(1) The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
(2) The 10 Day MBA by Steven A. Silbiger
(3) Fountainhead by Ayn Rand (this one is borrowed actually)
(4) Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
(5) Siddharta by Herman Hesse

Not buying anymore books until I finish these. My wish list after I am thru would be ....

(1) Innovators Dilemma by Clayton Christenson
(2) Innovators Solution by Clayton Christenson
(3) Tipping Point By Malcolm Gladwell
(4) Seven Day Weekend By Ricardo Semler
(5) Freakonomics By Steven Levitt

Apart from this have a huge pile of Java & Object Oriented technical books lying around for ages. I am pretty sure I would need something like 10 years to finish off those if I start today ;-)

Indian Nuclear Doctrine....

Here's some Key Passages of India's Nuclear Doctrine just for Kicks ;-))

"Any threat of use of nuclear weapons against India shall invoke measures to counter the threat and any nuclear attack on India and its forces shall result in punitive retaliation with nuclear weapons to inflict damage unacceptable to the aggressor. "

"India's nuclear forces will be effective, enduring, diverse, flexible, and responsive to the requirements in accordance with the concept of credible minimum deterrence. These forces will be based on a triad of aircraft, mobile land-based missiles and sea-based assets in keeping with the objectives outlined above. Survivability of the forces will be enhanced by a combination of multiple redundant systems, mobility, dispersion and deception. "

"Any adversary must know that India can and will retaliate with sufficient nuclear weapons to inflict destruction and punishment that the aggressor will find unacceptable if nuclear weapons are used against India and its forces. "

"India's nuclear forces and their command and control shall be organised for very high survivability against surprise attacks and for rapid punitive response. They shall be designed and deployed to ensure survival against a first strike and to endure repetitive attrition attempts with adequate retaliatory capabilities for a punishing strike which would be unacceptable to the aggressor. "

(The Full Policy can be found at http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/india/doctrine/990817-indnucld.htm )

Just Tired......

I am ....
tired of Work
tired of Women
tired of Love
tired of Travel
tired of the Internet
tired of E-mail
tired of Movies
tired of Poetry
tired of Cars
tired of Computers
tired of "Management Theory"
tired of Coding
tired of Java
tired of the "NewYork Times"
tired of Tom Friedman
tired of Maureen Dowd
tired of Politics
tired of the "Corporate Ladder"
tired of being Generous
tired of Resisting
tired of Fashion
tired of those "Gorgeous Models"
tired of "Shallow Minds"
tired of Thinking

I'am getting some rest now.....

Democracy

Here's an interesting thought about Democracy from the book I just finished reading ("Wisdom Of Groups") ....

"Democractic experience is essentially an experience of not getting what you want but knowing that you'll have another chance/opportunity to get whatever that is you're after. They key thing is you don't destroy something becoz you don't have it right now. "

Pretty profound I must say.....

French Riots

Have been following the riots in & around Paris and I have to say this was something that was waiting to happen in the Western World. So we have scores of un-employed youth who are all mostly Muslim all around Europe. These people want to be accepted into mainstream European culture but the Europeans won't let them into their homes and club houses. Most of these folks have seen the real European culture only on TV and don't have any real identity to fall back on.
Europe has a huge problem over the next 25 years as it examines how to deal with these 2nd gen immigrant youth who neither feel accepted by Europe nor can totally fit into their native cultures. Given the low birth rate in Europe & the US (among natives) both these countries would face a huge demographic problem in the next 20-30 years. Would be interesting to see how the Govt's there deal with this problem. But given the right leaning nature of most Western Govt's these days I can only imagine these problems getting worse unless there's real dialogue between the warring factions. (French Govt has by the way dispatched Muslim negotiators to talk to these youth - Totally wrong approach in my opinion. These guys wanna talk to the representatives of mainstream French population and not some muslim leader. So I don't see these negotiations doing any good.)