Jairam's Jives: July 2007

Bill Gates and the Dragon

Here's some more food for thought. This article by David Kirkpatrick - Senior Editor of the Fortune magazine deals with the challenges faced by Microsoft in China and how the company overcame them to finally taste some success in the land of the dragon.

Kirkpatrick talks about the early days of Microsoft in China when it was perceived as a company which has just entered the country to protect its Intellectual Property rights by cracking down hard on software piracy and nothing else. Those, according to Kirkpatrick were difficult days for Microsoft in the country as it had a bigger agenda, which probably even it didn't know about.

Subsequently, the efforts of the company in developing stronger ties with the Chinese Govt.

Jul

Amazing article on cricket

I just read this transcript of a speech by renowned cricket writer Christopher Martin-Jenkins (Chief Cricket Correspondent of the Times, London) which he delivered on the occassion of the seventh annual Cowdrey Lecture at the MCC, London.

Chris talks about how modern tendencies followed by current domestic and international players has been primarily responsible for demeaning the game's fundamental spirit.

Jul

Crime Time

Another guest post from my all time favorite guest contributor, who sadly still wants to remain anonymous

Technology has reached new heights and so has crime.

I read this article in the ET 2 days ago where the bank account/credit card holder receives an automated call to say that a major transaction has taken place and to call back a number for further details.

Jul

Leaders - born or made ?

Are leaders born or are they made? Now this is a question that I've often asked myself and have never ever been able to come up with a plausible answer. The fact that I've come across various kinds of leaders, viz, the authoritative one, the autocratic one, the people's one, the pro-change one, the status quo one, the dictatorial one, in my life did not help me arriving at any proper conclusion whether these guys were born this way or did they become like this.

Jul

Deep Sea Love anyone?

"Super rich sink to new depths for making love" - Now if this isn't a headline which'll make you read the associated news article, nothing can make you read a newspaper ever in life!!!

The TOI Bangalore edition had this headline right on the front page news. Although I m not too sure if this is front page news, the article itself throws some light on how the super rich of the world are spending their money.

Apparently, the latest trend in holidaying is the deep seas with personal submarines.

Jul

The Queen - A movie review

Well, when I pushed in a DVD of "The Queen" into the player, all I wanted to do is to figure out what exactly it was that Helen Mirren had done to deserve the Oscar over stalwarts like Judi Dench and Meryl Streep and up and coming actors like Kate Winslet and Penelope Cruz. After all, the only other time I ever remember having seen Helen Mirren on screen was during the trailers of a movie called "Calendar Girls" on Star Movies.

Jairam's Jives