An update on my previous post

In my previous post, I had talked about laptop manufacturers not offering a choice between Windows and Linux operating systems, atleast in India. It turns out that I am somewhat wrong. Asus and HCL offer a choice between Windows and Linux OS on their "ultraportable" series of laptops. These are also termed as "Netbooks" aimed at people who want to use the laptop for surfing the internet, light editing type works and light multimedia. The main reason, though, for offering Linux is not about giving a choice, but cost reduction and resource utilisation, as the processors in these netbooks are pared-down versions of the Core2Duo.

But I still maintain my protest, as the mainstream manufacturers do not give the option to those who are more heavy users as compared to the netbook customers.

Monopolistic practices (and cartelisation??)

Over the years that I spent at IIT, I have begun to like Linux a lot. Although I am not particular about a distro, I prefer having Fedora or Ubuntu loaded on my PC. And over time, my liking towards Linux has grown along with the fact that I began disliking Windows. There were several reasons for me to starting liking Linux. One of them is that it was free and the freedom to use Linux the way I wanted it. Also, Windows had a hundred conditions that needed to be satisfied before I could use it and continue using it. To top it off, Microsoft never offered free upgrade to later versions. Only free updates and patches for the installed version were offered. And once a new version was out, Microsoft slowly reduced and eventually stopped support and updates for the previous version. This forces many customers to either upgrade to the new version by again paying for it or remain vulnerable to various shortcomings of the installed version. Linux being available freely means that one can upgrade to the new version without incurring any costs at all.

When I wanted to buy a laptop, I decided that I would not have Windows with it. I wanted a machine that would have only Linux on it, preferably a distro of my choice. However, to my utter dismay, when I looked around in the market, none of the laptop companies were offering a choice between Windows and Linux operating systems. Neither did they offer a laptop without an operating system. I was forced to buy a laptop with Windows loaded on it. What's more, the laptop manufacturer doesn't provide a Windows CD/DVD but loads the recovery system on a partition of the hard-drive that can only be accessed by the recovery software, there by eating into existing disc space.

My laptop has since then become defunct due to a hardware failure. But, I was thinking about this issue for very long. Why don't the laptop manufacturers offer us a choice? Why are we forced to buy Windows? Of course, there are open source supporters, like IBM-Lenovo supports Fedora/Red Hat, HP supports open SuSE but where do they put their preaching into practice? Their laptops too come pre-loaded with Windows OS. Isn't this some sort of cartelisation between Microsoft and the laptop manufacturers? Sure, the manufacturers can order Linux distros at very cheap rates and distribute them on DVDs instead of trying to restrict the Windows OS to a single machine by loading it on the machine's hard drive. Why hasn't any government taken action against the laptop manufacturers? In other sectors, this kind of bundling (without offering a choice, when available) has been frowned upon by the regulators. Will there ever be action against such caterlisation? Microsoft being a dominant force in the OS market, will try to exert its influence over the laptop makers. But isn't it the duty of the regulators to see that others too have a fair chance? And with options being available, the regulator should ensure that customers get the choice of operating systems. Why should we ever be forced to take stuff from Microsoft?

On the lighter side

The mobile phone rings. It displays a number that is not familiar to me. I am riding my bicycle to the department. I am on the upclimb near the convocation hall. A little irritated, I pick up the phone. I do that always, as I feel that it could be an important or emergency call.

Caller: "Hello sir, I am Priya* calling from XYZ bank."
This is my credit card company. I get a bit more irritated. Some of it stemming from the fact that I am still riding uphill.
Me: "Yes?"
Caller: "Sir, we are offering you a pre-approved loan of Rs 88,000/- at a special interest rate."
Me(the irritation is increasing): "No madam, I am not interested."
Caller: "But sir, you could use this money for whatever purpose you want. And this is a limited period offer. We are offering you a special interest rate because of your good credit history. The interest rates will be revised next month and you may not get this special rate."
Me (frustration creeping in): "But madam I do not need the money right now. Whenever I need it, I shall take it at whatever interest rates are offered to me."
Caller: "OK sir, whenever you need a loan, please call me on my cell phone. Please note down my number."
Me: "Go ahead." And I pretend to jot her number.
Caller: "Thank you sir, and have a nice day."

I proceed to my department, happy that I could fend off the caller, without offending her. This is necessary as she is doing nothing else but her job.

About a year ago, such calls were common and I used to receive such calls at least once every month. And then, somewhere in mid-2008, the financial markets crashed. Everybody was running helter-skelter, trying to hang on to what ever liquidity they had. Loans became dearer and credit was drying up. And then, one day I realised that the calls from the credit card company too had stopped. It was a blessing in disguise for me. The crash in the financial market had relieved me from the tension of fending off callers for loans. It has brought some peace to me by taking those calls off my back.

What I regret now is, why did I not actually jot down the numbers of the females who had called me up. The least I could have done is called them up and cheered them during this financial downturn. And probably go out on a date with one of them and then pay the bill using the same credit card on which she had once offered a loan. Next, I could ask her for a loan to clear off the expenses incurred on her and ask her for very special interest rates. Well, a lot more could have happened, if I had jotted down those numbers. Just imagination at work.

*The name is imaginary.

Back to Pavilion

Finally, my stint at Honeywell is over. It came to an end a bit earlier than I had expected, nonetheless, it has ended. And ended successfully. In the two-and-half months that I worked with Honeywell, I managed to file one patent. So, I will have a patent in my name in the next one or two years. Enough for a work that officially lasted for just over two months.

Apart from work my stay in Bengaluru too was good. I enjoyed a lot of things here. There are a few things that I liked about Bengaluru and that I will miss back in Mumbai. First, the greenery. Many of Bengaluru's roads have a nice green cover on their sides, thus keeping the road cool and shady. In Bengaluru, the problem with street lights is that due to the trees, their light doesn't fall on the roads. However, the trees are a blessing during the day when they keep away the sun.

Second, I shall miss those road-side juice shops. In Bengaluru, there is a juice shop at almost every 100 metres. They serve various juices at low prices. An orange juice costs around Rs. 10, while an apple milkshake costs anywhere between Rs. 12-15. These juices were a boon for me after my workout in the gym. Being exhausted and famished, they helped me stay alive till I could have dinner. These juice shops should be replicated all over India. The juices would atleast satisfy some of our nutritional requirements. Although IITB has one juice shop, they are not available outside IITB.

Third in line are the community parks. Every locality in Bengaluru has a community park, which is maintained by the Bengaluru Municipal Corporation. These parks have a walking (jogging) track inside, coupled with grass lawns and benches. So, you an walk/jog in the park and then laze or rest on the benches. These parks act as real stress-busters for those who need it. They are frequented by everybody, from the young to the old, who want to revitalise themselves.

Finally, I would miss Blossoms, the bookstore off Brigade Road. The three-storied bookstore that had all kinds of books- from childrens' collection to erotica- and sold brand new as well as second hand books. Blossoms was a favourite hangout of mine. I have bought a few books (especially second hand ones) from Blossoms and continue to crave for more. So many classics, out of print books, books bought by people from outside India are kept in their second-hand section for dirt-cheap prices. It is the hangout for book-lovers. I will definitely miss Blossoms as there is no counterpart for it in Mumbai or Pune.

1500 years ago, an Indian was being funded for research by Indians

There is this Airtel advertisement that I keep seeing on television. It tells us that how Indians were inventing things and the world was following them. For e.g., it points to Aryabhatta who put forth the concept of zero. It also points to Sushrut, the first person to practice medical surgery and document it in detail. Towards the modern times, it shows about Vinod Dham, who led the team that invented the Pentium processor for Intel.


Now, what cannot be shown in this short advertisement is the tremendous amount of research efforts put in by all the three men. All of them did (probably) believe in themselves. Let's talk of Aryabhatta and Sushrut. They carried out a large number of studies and documented their successes for the future generations to taste their fruits. Aryabhatta is believed to have studied at Kusumpura, which is a name for Patliputra. The university at Patliputra was patronised by the king and wealthy of that era (equivalent to what is government and businessmen today). Aryabhatta wrote his famous "Aryabhatiya" while at the university in Patliputra. Sushrut, the legendary surgeon, lived in Kashi around the 6th century BCE. While I have no idea about his early education or his studies in the field of medicine, it was common in that age for the king or emperor to patronise education. The ruler would give a piece of land to the scholars interested in teaching or research and would fund them for their work. Many times, the wealthy too would patronise such institutes of studies or research. Thus, both Aryabhatta and Sushrut were products of patronised research. Both had an objective of serving the purposes of the society through their research.

What does this mean in today's context? If we are ready to believe in ourselves, as the Airtel ad wishes us to, there needs to be someone who can stand behind us solidly with resources to carry out research that can serve the purpose of the Indian society. Does Airtel want to do so? How many Indian corporates (not foreign multinationals) carry out research work to develop products suited for use in India? How much support does the government lend for the upkeep and expansion of research infrastructure? And till what time will we Indians rely on past glory to claim the superiority of our civilisation? We should believe in ourselves, back our researchers to the fullest possible extent and build an India based on our needs.