My Thoughts !

When I got the offer from IBM, I asked whether I can get a Mac as my official laptop. My manager said ThinkPads are the defacto ones and thats what I would get. But after joining IBM, I searched intranet and found a way to get Mac as an official laptop. First my team needs adequate funding and then I've convince my manager with *real* business reasons, and he has to convince his manager, and he in turn has to convince his manager and he inturn ... The chain goes all the way up to the heaven and ultimately He say 'Go on' and the approval comes down. The entire process took months, but then its worth of it.

Now I got a shiny new 2.4 GHz MacBook. I managed to have all my apps running native, so I didn't even install any Virtualization software or use BootCamp. Good bye Windows and Hello Mac - again :-)

I should say the new ones are absolutely gorgeous. Light weight, better battery backup, multi-touch trackpad etc. Few things I noticed is that the apps are not compatible to 10.4. So when I try to connect to my older personal Mac, I can't load the photos here, unless, they are converted to the new format. But converting to the new format means that I can't use them on the older one. So the solution is to upgrade the OS in my older Mac or don't use official laptop to view/edit the photos. I prefer to the second option. Another annoying thing is that the screen is glossy and the reflection is very high. I haven't noticed it in my MacBook or the earlier MacBook Pro. I had to change the direction of my office table to cope up with this. Very minor annoyances and I can definitely live with that for the Mac :-)

Two days back, I got an email from someone called Shakuntala ([email protected]) for the details about their Top 25 Emerging Technology Companies program. The mail said:

Dear Sir.,

Greetings from TheSmarttechie - Silicon India.

Hope your doing good.

The May 2009 edition of The SmartTechie will be on the Top 25 Emerging technology companies. We are looking at what exciting technologies companies are working for and prodigy of leadership team and investors of private companies. A few of these companies will be profiled in the magazine. We are talking to several startups to see who are the Best 25 we can feature in the magazine. A panel of analysts, Venture Capitalists and our editorial team will select the companies.

It will be good idea to be part of this issue along with the 25 Emerging Companies.  We are offering you to advertise in this Special issue and will be part of great branding and visibility among the  95000 readers and subscribers.

Option 1 : Only Advertisement.

Amount : 20,000/-.

   1. One Page Advertisment in the issue of Top 25 Emerging Technology Companies.
   2. Online banner ad on :  www.thesmarttechie.com/magazine

Option 2 : To be listed Among Top 25 StartUps.

Amount : Rs.30,000/-

        1.     Inclusion in the Top 25 Emerging Technology Companies list.
        2.     One page of Company Profile along with the pic of the concern person
        3.     One full page ad in the SmartTechie.
       4.     The company Profile will be displayed on the online magazine page too:  www.thesmarttechie.com/magazine

Please do let me know how we can take this forward. It will be nice to close this loop asap so that we get things rolling.

We can look at a mutual relationship so that your company gets more visibility. Let me know what you think.

If you have anything else on your mind, I shall be open for ideas.

Thanks

Shakuntala
______________________________

Shakuntala
Manager-Marketing
siliconindia
The Smart Techie
Ph: 91.80. 43402004
C: 9916972235

http://www.siliconindia.com
http://www.thesmarttechie.com/
________________________________

siliconindia is a business and technology magazine published from Fremont, California, which covers business, technology and entrepreneurship. Our current circulation exceeds 70,000 and our readership builds from CIOs, CTOs, CEOs and market influencers like fund capitalists, technology  adopters and analysts.

The Smart Techie empowers technology leaders for tomorrow. Its mission is to update its readers on the latest developments in technology and how these developments will impact them. The magazine aims to capture insights from the experiences of senior technology professionals and experts from across the globe. The Smart Techie magazine reaches out to 95000 experienced IT professionals.

________________________________

I was surprised. First I didn't get what they meant by Option 2. Is it that if I pay 30k, my company will be in the Top 25 list? Or is it an entry fees for the program? I sent my questions and the answer was clear:

Its only 25 participants & only 25 rankings not more than that currently we
have 19 clinets confirmed clients till now.

 Ah! Great. But isn't 30k too much for getting awarded as the Top 25 Emerging Technology Companies in the country? I know I also get a full page age, interview, website ad etc, but still, my company is so small you see?

Sure We shall offer you 25k for the same.

Excellent. So looks like the entire event is just a bullshit. Last year there were hoardings all over Bangalore about this. I thought it was a genuine program and the companies were "awarded" through the program and not "bought" that. Now I know the truth. So if you see the list of companies this year, you should be knowing that they are not really the Top 25 emerging companies, but the 25 companies that opted to pay 30k (minus whatever discount they got) Considering it would be the average monthly salary of a developer, its a good thing for a company to pay for it. And these guys get more than 6 Lakhs. So its a win-win situation for both the companies and the magazine. Only we think its all genuine and get fooled :-)

Back at Fiorano, I started as the lead of the IDE team. The IDE was on Netbeans platform and my task was to design and develop an Eclipse based IDE. Months after, I got assigned with additional responsibility of leading the Server team as well. Managing both the team had one advantage. If I want anything to be done for the IDE, it was much easier :-) In that way, I've pushed in new features (with fancy names like EPLCM) coupled with a nice interface. Features like Dynamic Message Injection from an IDE to a server running in production is not something that you can achieve with other ESBs.  If that is not enough, I threw away the old webconsole and revamped it using ExtGWT. The result was a totally new looking product - a new Eclipse based IDE, Ajax Console and feature rich server. Now after months of beta, the product is released to the public. Kudos to my guys there for their really hard work. Hope the customers like it :-)

Its been in the news all over. While the primary motive might be in the server space, I'm thinking of what it means to Eclipse and Java as a whole. Thinking of the possibilities:

• Netbeans platform to be deprecated (read: gone)
• Eclipse is bundled with JDK
• JDK uses Eclipse Compiler. Only downside I see is that the Eclipse Compiler is a pure Java application and needs a JRE, but hey a JDK ships with the JRE right?
• Every JRE ships with a latest version of SWT
• No more worries for interoperability of JSR 277 with OSGi - as OSGi will be pushed into Java Platform as a standard

Wow! The possibilities are promising. Let me see how many of these come true

For those who don't know what PiT means, its a blog in Tamil for Photography.. Every month there is contest and you can send your photos. I'm thinking of reviewing some of the photos, every month. Let me see how far that is feasible.
This month's topic was "Action Shots" there are more than 50 entries. The ones I like the most are:
Anand:


Comments:

Action is captured at the right moment. Keeping the picture in the center could have been avoided and a little more zoom out would have been nice. Also if panning was tried in this one, it would have been fantastic picture.

Venkatnarayanan:
 

Comments:

Nice lighting and perfect shot. The contrast of shadow on the right and lighting on the left adds beauty to the picture. Again, if the subject is not in the middle it would have turned even better.

MQN:

Comments:

Wow! Perfect shot - Timing, expressions, panning and selective coloring - everything is great and the combination makes it a winning entry :-)

Kayalvizhi Muthulethumi


Comments:

Another perfect shot and another winning entry!

Wow Kalakkal! The color correction looks a little HDRish, but nice

Opparee:

 

Nice picture, but IMHO, doesn't fit much in the theme - action shot. The much of the action is in the bus thats behind the main subject.

Nathas:

Wonderful sharpness and contrast. Again like the previous one, the major attraction is the static flower rather than the flying bee.

And my entry:



Here is the link to view all the pictures.

It all looks like a dream. A month back, it was a well respected company and people were happy on the returns. Now the shares are in the dust bin. From 250 bucks to 30 bucks. Looks like Satyam will go out of business within the next few months - or weeks! So what happens now?

Satyam has over 50,000 employees. In the troubled economy, I don't think all of them will get jobs soon. This essentially means 50,000 people with less or no salary. Almost all of them would have got one or more house loans. As most of these people are based in Hyderabad, the real estate there is going to get a hit. More houses will come for sale - which will cause prices to come down. A definite hit to real estate and the banks who have given loans.

The next short term hit would be the Indian IT companies. With all the global meltdown and Obama's non-so friendly views on outsouring, this will simply add worries to the other service companies like Infosys & TCS. They might gain some projects which were with Satyam, so in the long run, when everyone forgets that a company called Satyam exists, they will have a bigger share in the pie.

As usual corporate policies and goverment practices will be questioned and more new regulations will be imposed. This is not just in India, Satyam is listed in US as well and still gets to go away with this fraud for years together.

The auditors will be more scrutinized. Satyam was audited by the famous Price Waterhouse Coopers. When Satyam claimed to have 5,000 Crore Rupees in banks, they didn't even check the bank balance? hmmm bad. I guess these guys should get punished a lot.

After all the Maytas deal & troubles, some employees of Satyam started a website for supporting their honest CEO and God father (http://www.ramalingaraju.com/) They blame that media is bad and they are not seeing his work on making Satyam as India's pride. I wish they realize that Satyam is now India's shame :-(

Wow! so all these years they have inflated the profit and cooked the books. In the statement released to SEBI, stock exchanges and to the board, he says that none of the board members knew this situation till now (neither the promotor's family members knew it). Here is the letter:

To the Board of Directors
Satyam Computer Services Ltd. Dear Board Members, It is with deep regret, at tremendous burden that I am carrying on my conscience, that I would like to bring the following facts to your notice:

1. The Balance Sheet carries as of September 30, 2008
   • Inflated (non-existent) cash and bank balances of Rs.5,040 crore (as against Rs. 5361 crore reflected in the books)
   • An accrued interest of Rs. 376 crore which is non-existent
   • An understated liability of Rs. 1,230 crore on account of funds arranged by me
   • An over stated debtors position of Rs. 490 crore (as against Rs. 2651 [cr.] reflected in the books)
2. For the September quarter (02) we reported a revenue of Rs.2,700 crore and an operating margin of Rs. 649 crore (24% Of revenues) as against the actual revenues of Rs. 2,112 crore and an actual operating margin of Rs. 61 Crore ( 3% of revenues). This has resulted in artificial, cash and bank balances going up by Rs. 588 crore in Q2 alone.

The gap in the Balance Sheet has arisen purely on account of inflated profits over a period of last several years (limited only to Satyam standalone, books of subsidiaries reflecting true performance). What started as a marginal gap between actual operating profit and the one reflected in the books of accounts continued to grow over the years. It has attained unmanageable proportions as the size of company operations grew significantly (annualized revenue run rate of Rs. 11,276 crore in the September quarter, 2008 and official reserves of Rs. 8,392 crore). The differential in the real profits and the one reflected in the books was further accentuated by the fact that the company had to carry additional resources and assets to justify higher level of operations — thereby significantly increasing the costs.

Every attempt made to eliminate the gap failed. As the promoters held a small percentage of equity, the concern was that poor performance would result in a take-over; thereby exposing the gap. It was like riding a tiger, not knowing how to get off without being eaten.

The aborted Maytas acquisition deal was the last attempt to fill the fictitious assets with real ones. Maytas’ investors were convinced that this is a good divestment opportunity and a strategic fit. Once Satyam’s problem was solved, it was hoped that Maytas’ payments can be delayed. But that was not to be. What followed in the last several days is common knowledge.

I would like the Board to know:

1. That neither myself, nor the Managing Director (including our spouses) sold any shares in the last eight years — excepting for a small proportion declared and sold for philanthropic purposes.

2. That in the last two years a net amount of Rs. 1,230 crore was arranged to Satyam (not reflected in the books of Satyam) to keep the operations going by resorting to pledging all the promoter shares and raising funds from known sources by giving all kinds of assurances (Statement enclosed, only to the members of the board). Significant dividend payments, acquisitions, capital expenditure to provide for growth did not help matters. Every attempt was made to keep the wheel moving and to ensure prompt payment of salaries to the associates. The last straw was the selling of most of the pledged share[s] by the lenders on account of margin triggers.

3. That neither me, nor the Managing Director took even one rupee/dollar from the company and have not benefitted in financial terms on account of the inflated results.

4. None of the board members, past or present, had any knowledge of the situation in which the company is placed. Even business leaders and senior executives in the company, such as, Ram Mynampati, Subu D, T.R. Anand, Keshab Panda, Virender Agarwal, A.S. Murthy, Han T, SV Krishnan, Vijay Prasad, Manish Mehta, Murali V. Sriram Papani, Kavale, Joe Lagioia, Ravindra Penumetsa, Jayaraman and Prabhakar Gupta are unaware of the real situation as against the books of accounts. None of my or Managing Director’s immediate or extended family members has any idea about these issues.

Having put these facts before you, I leave it to the wisdom of the board to take the matters forward. However, I am also taking the liberty to recommend the following steps:

1. A Task Force has been formed in the last few days to address the situation arising but of the failed Maytas acquisition attempt. This consists of some of the most accomplished leaders of Satyam; Subu D, T.R. Anand, Keshab Panda and Virender Agarwal , representing business functions; and A.S. Murthy, Han T and Murali V representing support functions. I suggest that Ram Mynampàti be made the Chairman of this Task Force to immediately address some of the operational matters on hand. Ram can also act as an interim CEO reporting to the board.

2. Merrill Lynch can be entrusted with the task of quickly exploring some Merger opportunities.

3. You may have a testatement of accounts’ prepared by the auditors in light of the facts that.I have placed before you.

I have promoted and have been associated with Satyam for well over twenty years now I have seen it grow from few people to 53,000 people, with 185 Fortune 500 companies as customers and operations in 66 countries. Satyam has established an excellent leadership and competency base at all levels. I sincerely apologize to all Satyamites and stakeholders, who have made Satyam a special organization, for the current situation. I am confident they will stand by the company in this hour of crisis.

In light of the above, I fervently appeal to the board to hold together to take some important steps Mr T R Prasad is well placed to mobilize support from the government at this crucial time. With the hope that members of the Task Force arid the financial advisor, Merrill Lynch (now Bank of America) will stand by the company at this crucial hour, I am marking copies of this statement to them as well.

Under the circumstances, I am tendering my resignation as the chairman of Satyam and shall continue in this position only till such time the current board is expanded. My continuance is just to ensure enhancement of the board over the next several days or as early as possible.

I am now prepared to subject myself tothe laws of theland and lace consequences thereof.

(B. Ramalinga Raju)
Copies marked to:
1. Chairman SEBI
2. Stock Exchanges

 

In one of my previous companies (which is small and privately held), I happened to meet few of the board members and had chance to interact with them. I was surprised that how little they were knowledged about the core product and the business it brings to the company. In my opinion they all had lot of other stuff to do and for just sitting in the board they get a good Honorarium. So they don't want to spoil that by talking/questioning. Thats exactly what had happened in case of the "independent" board members of Satyam as well. hmmm corporates!

I guess the whole problem with Satyam was that the promoters had a very little share of 8% (unlike 51%) and they don't want someone/some other company to take over Satyam. So they started to cook the books. Now that its overcooked, they had no other choice.

What could happen next? Forget the great CEO Ramalinga Raju. As the politicians say, the law will take its own course. We will see in few years. Coming to Satyam, either the leaders within will for a strong management team and come out from the crisis or it will be taken over by HCL/Reliance/some one else or it will simply get out of business within 2 years. The last might happen because an IT company's biggest asset is its engineers. They will start quitting the company owing to the fears of their house loans and credit card bills; the projects will get more delayed; and more companies will let go of the contracts; more employees leave/fired - you see its a spiral all the way down to zero.

Satyam was a wonderful example of Indian IT dream. Started small with less money & people and made all the way into Top 5 IT companies with billions of dollars of revenue. I wish it stayed there rather crashing down this far, this soon, just because the promoter wanted to hold control.

A lesson learnt in the hard way for Indian IT :-(

Digging into the code, you never know what kind of comment you will get. Looks like looking into the Bugzilla also gets to you some interesting comments. Today I got to see this:

Real Programmers consider "what you see is what you get" to be just as bad a concept in Text Editors as it is in women. No, the Real Programmer wants a "you asked for it, you got it" text editor -- complicated, cryptic, powerful, unforgiving, dangerous

 

Prestige is one the biggest real estate promoters in Bangalore. They have been operating for a long time and have always created posh residential and commercial buildings. I guess their biggest project is Prestige Shantiniketan, which is right next to ITPL. It spawns more than 100 acres. Its a mini township project and has both residential & commercial buildings, a huge swimming pool, Radission hotel, Forum mall, everthing you can think of. Its under construction for a very long time. Yesterday evening, when I was coming back to home from office, there was a huge crowd in the road. I first thought it might be an accident, but it turned out to be the crowd looking at one of the buildings, which collapsed. I thought this is going to be a big buzz, but when I saw the newspapers this morning, there were no enough news except in The Hindu & Times of India. From the news, they claim that there was some work going on in the top floor and it collapsed first. Then few minutes later, due to the weight of the collapsed floor, the floor below that collapsed. And then the one below. Finally all the floors collapsed and it took around an hour, so every worker in the site were miraculously escaped. Only four got injured, that too because they fell down while running away from the site. When police arrived at the site, all the 100+ workers and engineers were already taken to a "safe place". This includes the injured persons, who got treated in near by hospital as out patients. Even before preliminary investigations begun, the Prestige group says that there were no damages to the super structure and no loss of life. The first one is a lie, as I can visibly see at least 3 pillars in a bent position. You can see one of the pillars in the below image from The Hindu:

 

The second one also could be a lie, because I don't believe that only 100 people will be working in that 100 acre project. Now this raises few questions. Why were all the eye witnesses removed from the place immediately. They were able to find the reason and blame the Malaysian company as soon as the building collapsed. They never did any investigation. How did they arrive at the decision. Now that we know that if a contractor gives a product, no matter the quality is, they will simply use it. There is absolutely no quality control. What about the buildings which are not collapsed? They might collapse as soon as someone move in?

Its not just the building that collapsed. Its the trust on the Prestige Groups that is collapsed. I guess it will be tough for them to sell any more high rise buildings. The ones that are already sold out, might be coming for a resale at a very cheaper prices and there will be no takers. This will propagate to other high raise buildings as well.

Irony of this is looking at the site plan, they have named this building as "World Trade Center, Tower B"