Longhorn to be released without search facility

Google can breathe easy, Microsoft has announced the release of the updated Windows OS in 2006, without the advanced file search capability. Microsoft will release WinFS as an update after the Longhorn release. While people are looking at this move as a set back, Bill Gates has announced that the glass is three-quarters full.

Another Issue

The TCS issue is the 3rd in terms of M-cap, and construction baron Pallonji Mistry has doubled his billions. Now it is wait and watch for investors who are hoping that the stock will make them rich. Interest in the scrip is certainly very high, with TCS displacing Infosys from the top of the IT M-cap list . However, TCS does not have the fundamental strength of either Infosys or Wipro. The biggest plus is its scale of operations. In the longer term, I see Infosys reclaiming the top spot.

Google is the 25th largest American IPO

Google has gained 27% since its listing. And it has disappointed Wall Street by failing to be a disaster. Will Google be able to live up to the hype? Fingers crossed.

Good News?

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has ruled that P2P network owners and software developers can't be held responsible for copyright infringements that happen on P2P networks.

Of stars and egos

The one thing that I came back with from I, Robot was... Will Smith. In fact, the movie should have been I, Smith. I don't understand why a story inspired by Asimov should become another star ego trip. This isn't to say that I don't like the movie, or Will Smith. But it is just another action thriller which pretends to have higher aspirations. Smith is capable of more than such routine fare.

Customer Service in India

I have a post-paid connection from Orange. This month, I used a payment gateway to pay my Orange bill online. A few days later, my outgoing calls were barred for non-payment. My bank shows that the amount has been transferred, but the Orange database apparently does not. And getting through to the customer service in Mumbai is painful, to say the least. Yesterday, I hung on for a full hour and still couldn't get through. I am still trying to avoid the actual trip to the Orange outlet, but I guess I'll have to do it eventually. And ask them to stop calling me every week and telling me to convert my pre-paid connection into a post-paid! So much for customer service!