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Records the wanderings of a wordsmith
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Saturday, August 02, 2003
In the thread of discussions about the Simputer on e-groups, the Indian-made cheap handheld computer that has smart card ability, one of my posting and a reply to that are worth noting. My posting was in response to remarks by one of the members that the poor market success of Linux-based devices is probably due to the monopoly of Microsoft...
I said....
"Thanks for the thought provoking posting.
The problem for the Simputer is not Microsoft's power, but the hesitation of big business to back innovation.. People want to follow, not lead.
I know several corporate CEOs singing in praise of the Simputer and then running away when they are asked to introduce the product through their companies/invest in its development..
This is because they are risk-averse and they want to take the beaten track.. Once Simputer becomes very profitable, they will come back and start claiming they are great supporters of the product..
I think it is the individual, at the retail level, who has the courage to support the product and will help Simputer survive.. The founders have now made a good decision to take the product directly to individuals, at attractive prices.
If they do it properly and with sound marketing, it should be a success. Then you will see the big boys, venture capital funds, hardware companies and dealers making a beeline for the device..
It has been India's bane always.. There have been so many good technology innovations which were given a burial because the corporate world/government won't back them. The Simputer is no different."
Srinivasan
REPLY FROM MR. NARAYANAN NARASIMHA, General Manager, Bharat Electronics
"Mr.Srinivasan, I liked your observation on yahoogroup site.
We at Bharat Electronics are silently establishing the Simputer manufacture and we expect to launch the product in August 2003 for the Indian market in large numbers.
The response so far has been overwhelming even without publicity and with our professional marketing which follows the launch we expect to meet all expectations like from you.
Thanks for your comments and with regards"
N.N.Simha GM/EM/BEL
p.s. We are not yet open for publicity but thought I should respond to good observations on the product.
posted by S. Srinivasan at 1:11 AM
Friday, August 01, 2003
INFOSYS (SNAFU) TECHNOLOGIES:
Infosys, the company with style and attitude, listed its second lot of American Depositary Shares on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange on July 31. As usual, they wanted to make an occasion out of it.. All programming kids danced feverishly to loud music compered by DJ Ivan.. Guys and Gals let their inhibition down and shook their hips to celebrate the event.
Inside the conference hall, journalists waited for the video conference from New York to start.. The top guys at the company were there to personally bless the trading.. and the scribes were looking at this huge screen in the hall for live feed from the Street..
Suddenly, a third-rate Hindi masala movie started playing on the big screen.. Worse, it was a rape scene.. A loud female voice, pleading to be left alone, filled the room..the villain was laughing away lustfully and a guffaw from the unexpecting audience filled the room.
It doubtless provided some comic relief to journalists who were upset about spending an evening on work and not with family.. But company officials went pink in the face with embarrassment..
It turned out that the control room guys had a VCD or cassette of that movie which they left in one of the players.. With the press of the (in)appropriate button by mistake led to the whole tamaashaa..
And when the video conference actually began, the equipment faltered and connection was lost.. Repeated attempts finally secured the connection but journalists had missed out on most of the proceedings..
At the end of it all, only the rape scene was the newsworthy event of the evening..
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