Bill Gates - a computer in every home and on every desk

Thank you Bill - for putting a computer in every home and on every desk.

Thank you for that bootlegged Windows 95 OS on which I learned to make mistakes.
Thank you for Windows 98 on which I grew up.
Thank you for Win xp on my office PC. It did not even crash once the last year.
Thank you for Office 97. And thank you for office 2007.
Thank you for Regedit. Thank you for "format c:"

And thank you for DX8.1 on which my son Sriduth discovered his first games.

Thank you for making computers ... well, usable, playable, tweakable, and kickable.

Above all, thank you for changing our lives.

Jay, from Bangalore

Story of the web

Like any real-life success story, this one is also full of surprises, unexpected turns, off-track growth, and adrenalin pumping breakthroughs, not to say the best years of the world's best.

And who succeeds the best? As always, the ones who sell pans!

How the web was won. Read on...

Jay, from Bangalore

Obama and Drucker: the five eternal questions

Peter Drucker's five eternal questions for business:
What is our mission?
Who is our customer?
What does the customer value?
What are our results?
What is our plan?

Business Week's Rick Wartzman wrote an interesting article about how Obama found the right answers. Read On...

Jay, from Bangalore

Office 2.0 is here

There is nothing virtual about it. Office 2.0, the connected, networked, real-time work place is here.

Work together, anywhere, says Adobe Acrobat. Google Docs offers "Free web-based word processor and spreadsheet, which allow you share and collaborate online." (Right idea, wrong grammar!)

Many organizations now prefer the real-time features of Google Docs over Microsoft Office, making for surprisingly speedy adoption..

Here is Scoble's take on Office 2.0

For an exhaustive list of Office 2.0 tools, click here. How many of these are you using right now??

Jay, from Bangalore

People and environments

"Pleasant. Caring. Engaged." people are the key to success, says Tom Peters.

‘Pleasant, caring, engaged’ work environments create "Pleasant. Caring. Engaged." people, says ideaburger.

Join the conversation here.

Jay, from Bangalore

12 PR secrets for startups

"Measure Success, Not Traffic" - reminds Brian Solis.

The PR secrets:

"Understand You’re Not the Only Story in Town."
"Pick the Right Person or Team to Lead PR."
"Participation is Marketing."
"Identify The Target Audience For Every Step Of Your Growth."
"Don’t Launch on Mondays."
"No Two Bloggers or Journalists are Created Equal."
"Measure Success, Not Traffic."
"Customize the News For Each Influencer to Make His Or Her Job Easier."
"Get a Spokesperson."
"Your Company Blog is More Powerful Than You May Think."
"Blogger Relations Extends from the “A-List” to the Magic Middle."
"Follow the Conversations and Join In."

I find #3 and #7 the most revealing.

Read On...

Jay, from Bangalore

The changing face of business travel

Business traveling is changing.

"Certain types of corporate jaunts may be dead for good.", says Business Week. [more]

"If oil is $130 a barrel and if security adds two or three hours to a trip and if people are doing more and more business with those far afield...,and if we need to bring together more people from more places when we get together...,and if the alternatives, like video conferencing or threaded online conversations continue to get better and better, then..., I think the standard for a great meeting or a terrific conference has changed." says Seth Godin [more]

Means a paradigm shift in business communications. Is your next business presentation compatible with a virtual meeting?

Jay, from Bangalore

Social Responsibility - the new competitive advantage

The 2008 IBM CEO Survey has some startling facts.

Over 18% of the 1000 + CEOs and Public Sector Leaders surveyed claimed they are adopting their organizations to address the social concerns of their customers.

Is this the dawn of what IBM calls the "Socially Minded Customer" - a new breed of customer who knows what's good for society at large is also good for her, and knows where to pull the levers to get it?

Is Social Mindedness here to stay? Can you be social minded and still meet quarterly targets?

A lot more than business profitability depends on the answers. What do you think?

Jay, from Bangalore

Building Brand Friendship

Creating Friends for your Brand

Rule 1 - "The only way to have a friend is to be one."

Rule 2 -"you can't force friendship. As a marketer, there's no way to compel people to feel comfortable with your brand. You can, however, take steps to initiate friendship."

Read On...

Jay, from BangaloreSave as Draft