www.BPODigest.com i-Vortal

Questions VCs Ask...

Via Rajesh Jain

Brad Feld lists questions by Chris Wand that entrepreneurs seeking venture capital should answer:

1) WHAT IS YOUR VISION?
- What is your big vision?
- What problem are you solving and for whom?
- Where do you want to be in the future?

2) WHAT IS YOUR MARKET OPPORTUNITY AND HOW BIG IS IT?
- How big is the market opportunity you are pursuing and how fast is it growing?
- How established (or nascent) is the market?
- Do you have a credible claim on being one of the top two or three players in the market?

3) DESCRIBE YOUR PRODUCT/SERVICE
- What is your product/service?
- How does it solve your customer’s problem?
- What is unique about your product/service?

4) WHO IS YOUR CUSTOMER?
- Who are your existing customers?
- Who is your target customer?
- What defines an "ideal" customer prospect?
- Who actually writes you the check?
- Use specific customer examples where possible.

5) WHAT IS YOUR VALUE PROPOSITION?
- What is your value proposition to the customer?
- What kind of ROI can your customer expect by using buying your product/service?
- What pain are you eliminating?
- Are you selling vitamins, aspirin or antibiotics? (I.e. a luxury, a nice-to-have, or a need-to-have)

6) HOW ARE YOU SELLING?
- What does the sales process look like and how long is the sales cycle?
- How will you reach the target customer? What does it cost to "acquire" a customer?
- What is your sales, marketing and distribution strategy?
- What is the current sales pipeline?

7) HOW DO YOU ACQUIRE CUSTOMERS?
- What is your cost to acquire a customer?
- How will this acquisition cost change over time and why?
- What is the lifetime value of a customer?

8) WHO IS YOUR MANAGEMENT TEAM?
- Who is the management team?
- What is their experience?
- What pieces are missing and what is the plan for filling them?

9) WHAT IS YOUR REVENUE MODEL?
- How do you make money?
- What is your revenue model?
- What is required to become profitable?

10) WHAT STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT ARE YOU AT?
- What is your stage of development? Technology/product? Team? Financial metrics/revenue?
- What has been the progress to date (make reality and future clear)?
- What are your future milestones?

11) WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR FUND RAISING?
- What funds have already been raised?
- How much money are you raising and at what valuation?
- How will the money be spent?
- How long will it last and where will the company "be" on its milestones progress at that time?
- How much additional funding do you anticipate raising & when?

12) WHO IS YOUR COMPETITION?
- Who is your existing & likely competition?
- Who is adjacent to you (in the market) that could enter your market (and compete) or could be a co-opted partner?
- What are their strengths/weaknesses?
- Why are you different?

13) WHAT PARTNERSHIPS DO YOU HAVE?
- Who are your key distribution and technology partners (current & future)?
- How dependent are you on these partners?

14) HOW DO YOU FIT WITH THE PROSPECTIVE INVESTOR?
- How does this fit w/ the investor’s portfolio and expertise?
- What synergies, competition exist with the investor’s existing portfolio?

15) OTHER
- What assumptions are key to the success of the business?
- What "gotchas" could change the business overnight? New technologies, new market entrants, change in standards or regulations?
- What are your company’s weak links?

Bachchan turns down ad glorifying dowry

Mega star Amitabh Bachchan has refused to endorse a product - a flashlight - portrayed as a dowry item in a television commercial, prompting the company to change it.

The big B, who was to feature in a advertisement campaign showing Eveready Industries' 'Jeevan Saathi' torchlight as a lucrative dowry item, turned down the offer on grounds that it would encourage the evil social practice, Eveready Industries India Limited (EIIL) managing director Deepak Khaitan said in Kolkata on Tuesday.

"We appreciate big B's social concern and did not hesitate one bit when he pointed out that the ad could have negative impact on the masses," he said.

The 40-second ad was to show a bridegroom walking away from the marriage Pandal when the bride's father was unable to gift him a 'Jeevan Sathi' torch.

Source: Bachchan turns down ad glorifying dowry

We will need more regulation on the advertisements so that they stick to social consciousness. First thing we need is censoship on the TV programs that are aired into the living rooms of India. The content that is delivered is so horribly explicitly sexual and violent, this must be stopped to nurture a better next generation.

Pak flag hoisted in Karnataka, 14 held

Police have arrested 14 people for allegedly hoisting a Pakistani flag at a place of worship at Chinur village in the district.

Police said all the detainees have been remanded to judicial custody till July nine by a court.

The arrests were made yesterday after protestors gathered outside the police station following the flag hoisting incident and demanded immediate action.

Senior police officials visited the place and ensured that the flag was removed.

Additional police forces from Davangere were sent to Chinur, where the situation is normal.

Source: Pak flag hoisted in Karnataka, 14 held - Sify.com

This is a serious breach of integrity of nation and these people should be declared as traitors and be given due punishment.

Gmail Shortcuts

Gmail: Help Center has info about keyboard short cuts that you can use to better manage the gmail account. This is the coolest thing to happen to email. Looks like this is the starting point of google becoming worlds computing platform. Gmail Rocks!!!!

XLRI Seniors abusing juniors scandal

Vijay writes @ Extrospectrivia

"The true meaning of education ought to be enlightenment, a liberal and generous approach towards other human beings, and above all humility because the more educated we are the more we realise how little we know." - Kalpana Sharma in The Hindu
__________________________________________________________________

"...another of India’s premier B-schools, the Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), Jamshedpur has been rocked by a controversy of another kind. Female freshers at the institute have apparently alleged that inebriated senior students misbehaved with them under the garb of ragging..." - The Statesman on June 26, 2004
__________________________________________________________________

"Many people complain that women's activists never stop talking and writing about issues like domestic violence. Why don't they get on with their lives, women are often asked. Why do we keep on whining? The reality is that most women want to get on with their lives but cannot." - Kalpana Sharma in The Hindu
__________________________________________________________________

"...Some seniors reportedly tried to force the girls to consume alcohol and a senior student allegedly tried to kiss a fresher. She objected and tried to push him away but he held her back, a source close to a first-year student said. The girls then ran towards their rooms but were reportedly followed by the seniors who tried to enter the rooms but prevented from doing after the institute staff intervened." - The Statesman on June 26, 2004
__________________________________________________________________

I am no activist. But for a moment, I felt like making all the "educated" men write those first lines on the purpose of education, a thousand times. I would do it myself, lest I forget it.

I am going to make the liberal assumption that things did unfold as narrated, at XLRI. That is because I religiously believe in the dictum, There is no smoke without fire.

Now the picture you see is that of the alleged molesters inside XLRI. Rub away the campus and draw the society around them and you have potential rapists in front of you. Rub society away and draw a workplace around them and you have potential sexual harassment propogators in front of you.

I am no activist. I do not want you to feel sympathetic towards the female. I am a very selfish guy.

Well, either u like me or hate me, I have witnessed this kind of behaviour when I was in college, though I was not involved personally in this. Though it was not at PG level, but I have seen it at engineering college level. I have witnessed seniors literally blackmailing girls and exploiting them sexually repeatedly over the period of time. I don't have any record/document of this thing. At that point of time I used to think its a world of who can manage to do it. I did not even consider this as a big deal. But now when I look back and see it from a different perspective, its so ture that there are many guys who are perverted and use use their power with out any pangs. And sadly it is considered as macho thing in a campus environment. I am not sure if I should feel happy that I am not personally involved with such things or should I feel ashamed that I did not consider it as something wrong and did not oppose it at that point of time.

Barefoot Venture Capitalism

Gargi of POV write about her new documentary shoot.

Cogito TV - my company - has just been commissioned a documentary film. I will be out filming in remote districts of Maharashtra. I take off on Monday to the back fo beyond and am thrilled to bits.

The documentary is on the work of a charity called TDSS. There are three projects we will be filming:

Barefoot Venture Capitalism - an amazing story about how a group of destitute women got together and raised some collateral. TDSS gave them a pregnant goat. This was three years ago. today every woman in the group owns atleast two goats. and the one goat has become 270 goats. Additionally the women have also raised cash capital that - as opposed to goat capital - they are using to help build a school for their kids

Literacy - The other two projects are literacy projects that are implemented via balwadis serving the Padari and the Lamani tribes. Again a degree of innovation in thinking that is so far removed from corporate/government life. Over here - twin language text books are the norm. On one side is a visual with descriptor in Marathi, on the other in Padari or Lamani. Kids retention and success has increased

Visiting her blog is always a pleasant experience for me, I find a very learned, critical and daring posts there.

www.PAGALGUY.com - MBA/CAT Discussion Forum

pagalguy.com, funny name but a pominenet dicussion forum for MBA entrance exams in India.

Started in the September of 2002, what was initially supposed to be a discussion forum for a group of friends preparing for CAT, the forums today have grown tremendously in the past 22 months with over a 7000 member registration base and a guest list that tops the 50,000 per month figure consistently. Discussions at the forum revolve around CAT, XAT, JMET, FMS and the entrance examinations of all major B-schools in India. Members discuss study techniques and post their own approaches to solving complex problems. Once the exams are over, the discussions revolve around how to tackle the second stage of the admission process, which is the GD/PI stage.

Users post their individual experiences at various interviews thus giving a bird’s eye view to future aspirants too. Mutual benefit and a faith in sharing knowledge, for common good, is what brings in people here and makes them active participants. A very important factor in the immense success of this board can be attributed to the fact that unlike most discussion boards in India that cater to management education, this site has the highest quality, both in terms of user maturity and in terms of intellectual content of posts.

The forum has been widely appreciated for the close-knit feel and warmth that it exudes. The forum members in various cities also get together on a regular basis in the offline world and build upon the friendships and camaraderie that exists on the forum. And through our recent forays into Community Service across the major cities of the country, we are, in our very own small way, trying to pay back to the community by working with the under-privileged. We believe with the steady and concerted steps being taken by some of our most active members towards Community Service, we would be able to bring in a manifold rise in active volunteers, in other smaller cities, towards many other pressing social causes.

PaGaLGuY.com was started by Allwin "PaGaL GuY" Agnel (the administrator) and he is assisted by Anil "Maverick" Gorti, Purna "Mango" Chandra rao, Sowmya "Simba" Srinath, and KVJ "uRmad" Subrahmanyam - aka Subbu (the moderators) in moderating this ever-increasing influx of users.

India, Inc.s hottest geeks are women

When you talk to herabout IT in India you talk Narayan Murthy, Vivek Paul, Rajesh Hukku and whole lot of other poster-boys. When you talk about IT globally you would similarly name Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and — Carly Fiorina of Hewlett-Packard, Meg Whitman of eBay, Anne Mulcahy of Xerox, Patricia Russo of Lucent Technologies.

Globally, women are right up there in the world of tech. All this might lead you to conclude that in India, women and IT do not mix. That Indian women would prefer right brained jobs to the more structured left-brain orientation that IT requires. That C++ is a language for the boys and for the girls it’s English.

Hang up those stereotypes! For as a women’s activist once said, “There is no female mind. The brain is not an organ of sex. You might as well speak of a female liver.” Indian IT women are showing that they can stand shoulder to shoulder with the boys. While India may not have a poster-girl in IT yet, it’s only a matter of time before one emerges.

There are plenty of women making their presence felt by leading critical functions in core technology operations, spearheading their company’s entry into newer businesses and even turning entrepreneurs. In reality, the Indian situation’s much brighter than in the US.

Consider these figures: according to Catalyst, a US-based women’s business advocacy organisation, only 11% of corporate officers in America’s top 500 technology companies are women, whereas the top Indian IT companies have more than 20% of women on their rolls. That’s way above the representation of women in the banking or manufacturing sectors.

So what has inhibited the ladies from going all the way to the top? Is it, as the late Canadian social activist Charlotte Whitton once said, “Whatever women do, they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good.“ Not quite. For starters, it’s a young industry and many big Indian firms are still run by their promoters, most of them happen to be men.

Anita Ramachandran, managing partner, Cerebrus Consulting, an HR consultancy firm, says “ It takes around 15 years for anyone to reach senior positions in an organisation. You just need to have staying power, which I believe today’s women engineers have,” she says. Padma Parthasarathy, head financial services, Perot Systems TSI, who has worked across three continents, believes that India offers more opportunities for women than the US. “In the US, there is more resistance towards women and minorities and the pay discrimination is more obvious. In India such things hardly exist.”

The other issue is that of mentorship. Given the relatively low number of women in top management — at Wipro, women constitute only 5% of the senior management and at i-flex, the figure is 12% — there are not enough role models and mentors to help put things in perspective.

Which is where senior women executives are stepping in to encourage their juniors to start playing the game — literally. Says Lathika Pai founder and COO, B2K Corp, “I often warm-up with my clients on the golf course and encourage others to learn the game.”

Most women also seem to be shy when it comes to talking about their achievements, and this often works against them.

“A crucial problem is women don’t look at marketing themselves well, simply because it never occurs to them.” says Vanaja Arvind, COO & ED, Thinksoft Global. Sonal Agrawal, senior partner of head hunting firm Accord is of the view that “women typically tend to be less politically attuned and less aggressive in projecting themselves, and hence often lose out in the rat race.”

Read More @ India, Inc.'s hottest geeks are women - The Economic Times

Eclipse and Hibernate - Cool Stuff

Eclipse and Hibernate are poster children for Open Source. Many developers want to integrate the two of them, and James Elliott has written on this topic.

In article James discusses the myriad of Eclipse plugins available for Hibernate, how to set them up, and how they work.

Jump to the article directly @ Working with Hibernate in Eclipse

Education In India

I have come across this site Educaiton in India. I expected to find info related to education and its details, but what I found is even better. This site is all about how to get grants for getting your education in Inida. So cool.. so check out if you can get a grant and get some more education.

BioDiesel Investments In India

Suhit has sent me the following me which he received at his blog.

Name: Salomon Reddy

Institution: Aduri natural Products

email: adurifarms at indiatimes dot com

Message:
Dear sir,

we would like to start Biodiesel project in A.P.

We would like to buy 3000acers of agri land to grow plants(jatropha) as well as to do Organic farming for export fresh veg & fruits to europian countries.
We are seeking investments or joint ventures or partners.

kindly do the needful.
with regards,

So anybody interested in goign about this. If you going for this after reading this post, then don't forget to keep me in my mind, if you make lot of money do holla me and send a check :D, well I might consider investing too.

I want to build a better artificial leg for my mom and that is why I want to study in the US

Stories people say to get a student to USA:

Just how closely Chinese students strategise over the Internet on how to get visas to America — at a time when fewer are being given for security reasons — was revealed to the embassy recently when on one day one consular officer had scores of students come through with the same line, which some chat room had suggested would work: ‘‘I want to go to America to become a famous professor.’’ After hearing this all day, he was surprised to get one student who came before him and pronounced, ‘‘My mom has an artificial limb and I want to build a better artificial leg for my mom and that is why I want to study in the US.’’ The consular officer was so relieved to hear a new line that he told the young man: ‘‘You know, this is the best story I’ve heard this morning. I really salute you. I’m going to give you a visa.’’

You guessed it. The next day every other student who showed up at the embassy said he or she wanted to go to America to learn how to build ‘‘a better artificial limb for my mother’’.

Read more @ Destination US: Only visa power

Venus Transmission - DD Style

Humor - Ghumnewala Chahiye

Zindagi Hai To Khwaab Hai
Khwaab Hai To Manzilein Hai
Manzilein Hai To Fasaley Hai
Fasaley Hai To Rastey Hai
Rastay Hai To Mushkilein Hai
Mushkilein Hai To Hausla Hai
Hausla Hai To Vishawas Hai
Vishvas hai to Paisa hai
Paisa hai to Shohrat hai
Shohrat hai to Izzat Hai
Izzat hai to Ladki hai
Ladki hai to Tension hai

Tension hai to Concern hai
Concern hai to a Khayaal hai
Khayaal hai to Khwaab hai
Khawab hai to Growth hai
Growth hai to Zindagi hai
Zindagi hai to khwaab hai
Matlab duniya Gol Gol hai
Bas ghumnewala chahiye......

Applying this to your project

Requirements hai to design hai
Design hai to Development hai
Development hai to Testing hai
Testing hai to Defects hai
Defects hai to Fixing hai
Fixing hai to More Defects hai
Defects hai to Analysis hai
Analysis hai to Requirements hai
Requirements hai to Design hai
Design hai to Development hai
Matlab Project Gol Gol hai
Bus ghumnewala chahiye..

Courtesy Butterfly

World Is Green Rocking

Suhit's World is Green got into eChoupal : Newsroom : Press Releases. This is really cool. Suhit U rock dude!

Lakshya - Movie Review

You can read reviews of the movie @ Lakshya Movie Review at NRILinks.com Entertainment

I loved the movie a lot, especially when Preity says 'Vice Chancellor ki julum(i guess), nahi chalegi nahi chalegi' ;-), its was so nostalgic. But Preitys hair style is so bad in the movie, she looks so terrible and old in that hiar style.

Well Hritik, he is perfect, i guess he is becoming a wonderful actor with each and every movie. I loved the way he acted as confused guy, non-commintal and undecisive, I sure did go thorough periods like that. Once he knows what his Lakshya is, he is just amazing, he shows what kind of effort goes in reaching the goals. I felt as if I was watching myself sometimes. Basically its a realistic move and so you can relate yourself to the characters.

Faran has done it again, he did a wonderful job of making a phenomenol movie. A movie with a Kargil backdrop, but the movie is mostly about glorifying Indian Military and he for sure succeded, well excelled, in the attempt.

A must watch for everybody.

Well one funny thing happened when I went to watch the movie last weekend. There was a Pakistani guy who came drunk and started commenting in the movie and towards the end due to the Kargil war scenes his comments reached a limit and one guy who is sitting near him picked an arguement with him. There was some foul language that started going in the air about Pakistanis and Indian and I went there to support the Indian guy along with my friends. Finally cop came and everybody went their way. The surprising is that, there are a hall full of Indians and one pakistani guy started making noise and just a handful of Indians stood there to support the fellow Indian................

Swapna - A Rare Desi Graduate

Recently I came across Swapna, a graduate student at The University of Iowa. After talking to her for a while what I came to know is that she is not a regular desi graduate, who you expect to be majoring in either some engineering/medical related disciplines. She is pursuing her master’s in Special Education for Children with Learning Disabilities and Behavior disorders.

After learning this, my first feeling was - 'this is unbelievable', b'cos I have not seen anybody from India pursuing Masters in this field out of passion. After that, I communicated for a while and decided to do a write up on her and persuaded her for an interview. Here are the excerpts of the email interview with this highly articulate yet humble woman:

Q: Why are you pursuing Special Education for Kids and Why Masters In Special Education? What caught your Interest to study this field?

A: Well, I always wanted to get into an exceptional field. Of course didn't have a special orientation that it would be in the field of special education but always wanted to work with children. And when I came across this course I got really interested in it. And as I got involved in my coursework I enjoyed it more and wanted to become an expert in it.
And why Master's? Well, I do hold a diploma in special Education and also have certification in working with multiple disabilities. But somehow I felt I need to master it. As I was already a graduate I wanted some thing at the post graduate level. But there aren't any courses as of my knowledge which offers anything in Special Education. I had to do my BEd and then had to go on for my MEd. But I didn't want to waste my time as felt I already had the experience which a graduate in education would have. Moreover wanted to get acquainted with the best Education possible.

Of course, While working for Swayamkrushi an institute working for the self’ reliance of the mentally challenged I was inspired by the knowledge the director of the institute had. As she had pursued a course abroad, she had become an expert in dealing with the subject. I wanted to be an expert too. Thus aspired for higher studies.
And now why learning disabilities? Hmm this is an optional question which you didn't ask me but would like to answer it. Well, the children with learning disabilities are the ones who have the potential but due to some problems they never reach their potential. Moreover there are very few schools in our country which cater to their needs. Hence I thought it was good for me to get into the field of learning disabilities as I have more reasons and more avenues to get into.

Moreover if bestowed with all the adaptive techniques and the best instruction kids with learning disabilities can become more independent. This is of course very important for the society as a whole. Making more and more individuals independent reduces the burden on the society. Moreover why not help the ones who can make a difference? That’s how I went about it.

Q: How long have you been involved in this field and what did you do until now?

A: Well, I have worked in a special school since 1998 even before completing my undergrad. As most of my friends and the ones in this field suggested I get into it as early as possible. Moreover more experience is required than bookish knowledge . So I decided to work at an early age. Meanwhile I completed my undergrad in commerce from Osmania, had the opportunity to do a certificate course from the Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy. And then did my master's in psychology from Annamalai University. So with a work experience of five years and enough credentials I wanted to try for higher education. Was very reluctant as I was not sure if I could make it but I got admitted into the Special Education program at the University of Iowa.

Q: Now comes the regular question, How supportive was your family?

A: Well, how supportive was my family? Indeed very very supportive. In fact it would be impossible for me to make it to the US without the blessings and well wishes of my parents relatives and friends. They supported me financially and emotionally. But it did take a while to convince them that I was working on something which made sense. Well, at least in India, most parents wouldn’t appreciate if their child start working when she is supposed to study and go to college. So there was a hostile environment at home. But my sister (Sudha) and my cousin (Venugopal) supported me. My friends especially Vasupradha gave me more emotional strength. Of course God showered me with his blessings. And then when I continued my studies while working, I could convince my parents that I still like to study and want to enhance my knowledge. As time passed by and as I kept balancing my work with my studies my parents became more and more confident about me.
However, it was a surprise and close to a shock when I told them of my plans to go to the US for higher studies. But though they were reluctant, they saw me struggle, and then wanted to help me. Thus not only my parents but my grandma, (who always bothered about getting me married. She would say "You see it is difficult to find a guy as educated as you!") my aunt and uncle (Madhavi pinni and Ramesh babai) helped me realize my dream of making it to the US of A.
On the whole I should say that my family has been very supportive. They now believe that I can make a difference and do something great to make our family proud( Well, now I am burdened with a lot of responsibility)
Persistence pays off:).

Q: What are your future plans? Do you have plans for working on regular education in India as such?

A: Well, I don’t want to plan ahead cos I believe that as time passes by and as I get exposed to new avenues, I would be able to decide what is good for me. However one thing is for sure, I would like to make commendable contribution in the field of education. May be by starting an institute which fosters future educators with the best tools of instruction using a very democratic and practical approach. Would like to influence the Indian Education system and modify it for tapping in the best potential of all the students. Improve the educational conditions, improve the literacy rate and work on reforming or rather radically changing the government schools in India and make education cheapest and affordable to anyone and everyone.

Yeah, so basically I would like to contribute to special education and more to the field of learning disabilities and then adapt these techniques for the general population. As special education means "specially designed instruction to meet the needs of an individual (Hallahan and Kauffman)" the designed instruction would be immensely helpful in improving the educational conditions of the individuals with average intelligence too.

Q: Are you interested in blogging?

Well, she was reluctant at first to do this stuff, but finally I persuaded her to do blogging by explaining various benefits that it would bring. But I luv to read through the blogs. Yes, of course I have started to lie blogging.

So fellow bloggers and readers, Visit her blog @ Spoorthi and give this passionate lady more inspiration and support her in realizing her cause and welcome her with a big applause into our fascinating world of blogging.

She describes her self in her own words: Maverick? Of course not. Just taking the different route; The less traveled one!

Infy plans biggest training centre

What do you do when you add the employee strength of a mid-sized company onto your rolls on a yearly basis? At the very least, you set up a really comprehensive and massive corporate trai
ning programme

That is exactly what Infosys Technologies -- which on an average will absorb 12,000 people yearly over the next few years -- is doing, by setting up the world's largest corporate training centre at Mysore at an investment of Rs 260 crore.

The centre, which will be ready by October 2004, will have the facility to train 4,000 people at a time.

Read more details @ Infy plans biggest training centre - The Economic Times

Is India Ready To Create Next M$

There is a new eco-system being put in place even as the Indian IT services and ITES sector continues to lure global companies. The seeds have been sown and the results are expected to manifest in the next 3-4 years.

India’s role in the original formation of a company’s DNA can no longer be questioned. And the activity in the product and technology services is now gaining momentum.

Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) venture partner Vab Goel says, “India is at its infancy stage wherein we are yet to see companies who would begin to deliver complete enterprise software products or complete hardware and software systems. Is there potential? I would say ‘yes’. Is it happening —‘yes’.”

The time-frame for India emerging as an IP leader can be debated. India’s date with a homegrown Microsoft can be debated, but not ignored. As Mr Goel says, it is only in the past two years that there have been attempts to move from the regular IT back-end work to the development of an entire product. Most of the products are slated to hit the market this year.

It will be a lot clearer once they begin competing in the global marketplace.

Read More @ Microsoft from India? Not pipe-dream for long

Its exciting to see India surging ahead, isn't it. But at the same time we need to concentrate on taking India forward bottom up across the pyramid of the economy.

The Great Debate: Reservations in private sector

The Great Debate: Reservations in private sector - Sify.com

Sify writes: More than a decade after the Mandal Commission report created a furious controversy, the reservation debate is back. This time, the UPA government has promised to initiate a national debate on job quotas in the private sector. Is reservation the only way to ensure social justice in the era of globalisation? Our columnists thrash it out...

Read content @ http://sify.com/news/othernews/fullstory.php?id=13499861

Presence of mind !!

Via: Butterfly: Presence of mind !!

Harry bought a brand new Mercedes convertible SL500. He took off down the road, pushed it up to 90 mph, and was enjoying the wind blowing through his hair.

"This is great," he thought and accelerated to an even higher speed.

But then he looked in his rear-view mirror, and there was a police car behind him, blue lights flashing. "I can get away from him with no problem" thought the man and he pushed it some more, and flew down the road at over 130 mph to escape being stopped.

Eventually he had to pull over as the police car caught up with him.

"Sir" the policeman said while looking at his watch. "My shift ends in a few minutes and today is Friday the 13th. If you can give me a good reason why you were speeding... something that I've never heard before, then! I'll let you off the hook."

Harry looked at the policeman, thought a bit and said: "Last week my wife ran off with a policeman, and I thought you were bringing her back."

The policeman said, "Have a nice day."

-- LOL, so funny.

M$ Releases Smart Client Architecture and Design Guide

Smart Client Architecture and Design Guide Released

Microsoft's Patterns and Practices group is getting prolific :) They have released the Smart Client Architecture and Design Guide which "gives you prescriptive guidance on how to overcome architectural challenges and design issues when building smart client solutions. It also provides guidance on how to combine the benefits of traditional rich client applications with the manageability of thin client applications."

The guide will walk you through:

• Handling data
  
• Getting connected
  
• Occasionally connected clients
  
• Security considerations
  
• Handling multiple threads
  
• Deploying and updating smart clients
  

Need to look at this for future client architecture designing and development on my plugins on Eclipse.

How Microsoft Lost the API War

Joel on Software write in - How Microsoft Lost the API War with the trend of more and more developers moving towards webbased programming instead of rich clients, and how M$ is getting lenient on backward compatibility in the newer versions. Its really a fascinating tale, read it @ http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/APIWar.html

NASA invites Indian students to design Moon city

A bunch of teenagers from Patiala will rub shoulders with NASA engineers and take up the formidable task of designing a city to be built on the Moon when they travel to the Kennedy Space Center, Florida next month.

In the age group of 14-19, the 18 students of the Budha Dal Public School and Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology in Patiala, have earned the distinction of becoming the first Indian team ever to qualify for the Space Settlement Design Competition at NASA.

The team, which registered for the competition organised by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics under the name 'Team Force', is also the only foreign squad this year to have qualified for the final round of the competition to be held in Kennedy Space Center from July 17 to July 19.

Read More @ NASA invites Indian students to design Moon city - Sify.com

Caribe - First Mobile Phone Software

Kaspersky Labs said that Cabir seems to have been developed by some global group that specialises in creating viruses to demonstrate that 'no technology is reliable and safe from their attacks.

The developers of Cabir apparently have not designed the virus - or worm - to propagate on a massive scale, but to demonstrate that cell phones and PDAs can be infected by malicious code.

This malicious code spreads to devices that run under Symbian OS, which is used in many models of phones, including some manufactured by Nokia, Siemens and Sony Ericcson.

Cabir spreads in a file called 'Caribe.sis,' which installs itself automatically on the system when the user accepts the transmission. It displays a message on the screen with the text: 'Caribe' and then starts a continuous search for other devices to send itself to, although these must be connected via Bluetooth technology, says PandaSoftware.com.

Bluetooth's transmission range is 30 feet. The virus is only able to jump from phone to phone within that range. Also the phone must have the correct OS installed and the appropriate settings - that is, it has to be set for a known number.

It is able to scan for phones that are also using the Bluetooth technology and is able to send a copy of itself to the first handset that it finds.

On the other hand, it is possible that the Caribe.sis file copies itself to other devices using Bluetooth, such as some printers.

According to the anti-virus software developer F-Secure, the discovery of Cabir is proof that the technologies are now available to create viruses for mobile phones and that they are now known to the writers of computer viruses.

Source: First mobile phone virus found - Sify.com

As the power of mobile phone is increasing and the bandwidth becoming cheaper and cheaper, the mobile phone ecology is opening up itself to viruses and hackers. So, now comes Semantic/Norton/MyMobileShield/etc.. to provide service in Mobile market :-)

One of the readers Khurrum has sent this link http://www.jamanda.com/ which seems to have fix for the virus. Please confirm yourself before downloading it.

May be you should check http://www.kaspersky.com/ too.