Haha! Hope you liked the title 
Microsoft’s Windows 7 is scheduled to release on 22nd October, this year.
I am just hoping that it won’t be a major disaster like Vista or Millenium as I have noticed in the past that more the marketing, bigger the promises, higher the customer expectations and at the end major setbacks for customers.
Anyways, here are top 10 reasons to change to Windows 7.
Who you calling Third World? – just read this article by Rakesh Krishnan, who is a features writer with Fairfax New Zealand. In which he talks about a kiwi’s experience in India and how India has progressed in last few years.
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It really amazes me the progress India has made in last 7-8 years! We moved out of India and settled into New Zealand in 2003 and remember very well that then there were like barely 1 or 2 tiny little malls in the whole of Mumbai, or may be even India, and now there are malls like bigger than Auckland’s CBD. Woah!
Based on some stories that I hear lately from India – movie tickets cost approx Rs. 250 – Rs. 500, whereas it used to be like Rs 50 in those days; food at an average restaurant will cost Rs 150 – Rs 200 per person, compared to Rs 30-50 while we were there.
One thing is for sure – India’s economy is booming and it still is on its way up.
By the way I am not here to talk about India’s growing economy. That information may be found on any economics website. But what this article actually reminded me was of a joke. This joke is apparently one of those email-forwards that would keep on going around until people get sick and tired of it. As we all know people from developing country would always try to find a job in a developed country like USA and therefore stand in the queue for hours and hours outside USA consulate to try their luck with getting a visa. This story is a bit of reversal of it and is based in future, in which two american boys are talking to each other and are planning to move to India, as India is a developed country. I had first seen this email approximately in 2001 and if India continues progressing the way it is, then this could be true by the year 2020. So the story goes something like this:
Year: 2020
Place: Two Americans at IBM, USA
Currency Conversion Rate: INR 1 Rs = USD $ 100
Alex: Hi John, you didn’t come yesterday to office?
John: Yeah, I was in Indian Embassy for stamping.
Alex: Oh really, what happened, I heard that nowadays it has become very strict.
John: Yeah, but I managed to get it.
Alex: How long it took to get it stamped?
John: Oh, it was nasty man, long queue. Bill Gates was standing in front of me and they played with him like anything. That’s why it got delayed. I went there at 2 am itself and waited and returned by 4pm.
Alex: Really? In India, it is a matter of an hour to get stamped for USA
John: Yeah, but that is because who in India will be interested in coming to USA man, their economy has been booming.
Alex: So, when are you leaving?
John: Anytime, after receiving my tickets from the client in India and you know, I will be getting a chance to fly Air-India. Sort of dream come true.
Alex: How long are you going to stay in India.
John: What do you mean by how long? I will be settled in India, my company has promised me that they will process my Hara Patta ..(green card)
Alex: Really, lucky person man, it is very difficult to get a Hara Patta in India.
John: Yeah, that’s why, I am planning to marry an Indian girl there.
Alex: But you can find lots of US girls in Hyderabad, Bangalore and Mumbai.
John: But, I prefer Indian girls because they are beautiful and cultured.
Alex: Where did you get the offer, Hyderabad?
John: Yeah, salary is good there, but cost of living is quite high, it is Rs. 1000/- for a single room accommodation.
Alex: I see, that’s too much for US people, Rs.1/- =$100/-. Oh God! what about in Bangalore, Mumbai?
John: No idea, but it is less than what we have in Hyderabad. It is like the world headquarters of software
Alex: I heard, almost all the Indians are having one personal Robot for help.
John: You can get a BMW car for Rs. 5000/-, and a personal Robot for less than Rs.7500/-. But my dream is to purchase Ambassador, which costs Rs.2,00,000/- but has got a lovely design.
Alex: By the way, who is your client?
John: Subbarao and Apparao Associates, a pure Indian company, specialising in Embedded Software.
Alex: Oh, really, lucky to work in a pure Indian company. They are really intelligent and unlike American Bodyshoppers who have opened their Fly-by-night outfits in India. Indian companies pay you in full even when you are on bench. My friend Paul Allen, it seems, used his bench time to visit Bihar, the most liveable place in India, probably world. There you have full freedom and no restrictions. You can do whatever you want! I wonder how that state has perfected that system.
John: Yeah man!, you are right. I hope our America also follows their footsteps.
Alex: How are you going to cope with their language?
John: Why not? From my school days I have been learning Hindi as my first language here at New York. At the Consulate they tested my proficiency in Hindi and were quite impressed by my cent per cent score in TOHILi.e. Test of Hindi as International Language.
Alex: So, you are going to have fun there.
John: Yeah, I will be travelling in the world’s fastest train, world’s largest theme park, and the famous Bollywood where you can see actors like, Hrithik, Shah Rukh Khan and all. Esselworld is also near Bollywood.
Alex: You know, the PM is scheduled to visit US next year, he may then relax the number of visas.
John: That’s true. Last month, Narayana Murthy visited White House and donated Rs. 2000/- for infrastructure development at a Silicon Valley and has promised more if we follow the model of High-Tech City of Hyderabad. Bill Gates also got a chance of meeting him. Very lucky person.
Alex: But, Indian government is planning to split Narayanamurthy’s Infosys.
John: He is a hard worker man, he can build any number of Infosys like this. Every minute he is getting Rs. 1000/-. It seems, if you keep all his money converted as Rs. 100/- notes you can reach Pluto.
Alex: OK, Good Luck John.
John: Same to you Alex. And don’t go to Consulate in a “Kurta Pyjama” because they will think you are too Indianised and may doubt you will never come back and hence your Non-Immigrant Visa may get rejected. But don’t forget to say ” Namaste, aap kaise hai ” to the Visa officer at Window 5. It seems he likes that and will not give you a visa if you don’t greet him that way.
[Source]
This happened almost 2 years ago when I had called one of the local council services to reserve a community center. On being asked for my email I gave her my Gmail address and the response from her was something like – ‘oh never heard of that one before!‘. Fair enough – I don’t blame her for that. Gmail wasn’t and still isn’t that popular with non-techy people.
In the meantime Google has been advertising its cloud service a bit lately and has also dropped its ‘beta’ tag from Gmail which was causing some hesitation for companies to use Gmail as their corporate email solution.
As per the latest report released by InformationWeek, Google’s Gmail has just overtaken AOL’s email service. I think earlier Gmail used to be only a kind of geek’s-choice, but lately it is getting quite popular with rest of the people as well.
Personally I use Gmail but I think it has a bit of a geeky user interface and not really easy-to-use for someone not that tech savvy – unlike Yahoo and Hotmail. Though it’s changing lately and may be thats one of the many reasons why Gmail is getting more user base. Whereas Hotmail used to be most easy to use interface for a long time – but now with increased features (most of them are useless flashy features) it has compromised on the usabiltiy side.
Anyways I’d just like to end with ‘may the best one win’. And hope that consumer is the winner at the end’.
If you’re not on Gmail – then click here to get it.
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