Finally the much talked about, hyped Google Operating System has been announced and it would be in market in a year's time. I remember numerous times people asked me "Google is launching its OS, right?" and when I you used to give them an amused look they used to feel that I am just keeping it confidential. I used to say that Google is a web based company and will not enter into desktop operating system. Well, I was partly right in saying that.
The new Google Chrome OS is a lightweight OS that would be designed majorly for the notebooks to run the web browser and web based applications. The best thing about it is that it would be open source which will result a huge developer community building applications on top of it which will soon make it popular. Definitely, it would be a great product for the users who just work on internet most of the time and rarely use their desktop for any other purpose. Its going to be fast, more secured, easy to use and obviously damn cheap compared to the existing Operating Systems.
But the question is if this OS would be able to challenge the No.1 in the market. Its definitely a threat for Microsoft but we still need to see how big. To make Chrome OS popular, we need to make internet even more powerful such that users dont need their desktops at all. Hopefully, this OS would provide that platform to create more user friendly web based applications which would make the costlier desktop hardwares and softwares useless. Cloud computing will definitely play a very big role in this.
Congrats Google! Way to go!!
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Chilled out at -6 degree celsius
It was the first time, I was exposed to the temperature of -6 degree Celsius and it was really an awesome experience. Well, I didn't go to Antarctica but just to the Chillout Bar in Dubai. The place was completely frozen and everything there was made of ice. We were given a good thick fur jacket and gloves before entering in to the freezing zone but they could help only a little. I could stay there only for 40 minutes and had to come out twice to bring down my body to little normal temperature and avoid myself from freezing.
All the stuff in the bar was made of ice - the tables, chairs, glasses, show pieces etc. There was also a flower pot made of ice. Even the menu was a thick ice sheet and glasses for cold drinks were made of ice too. It was good that we got a complimentary hot chocolate which helped us a little. I had gloves on but still my hands were numb after sometime itself. We were clicking each and every corner of the bar. We were picking up each and everything : ice fish, ice stars, ice glasses to have a photo with them.
When you are in such a crazy place, you get to turn little more crazy and we were no exception. We ordered even a cold juice there to add to the chillness of the place. We were touching the ice cubes to our face to take the pic. And the best one came after half an hour. We were done with clicking all the places and objects in the bar. We got rid of our jackets, caps and gloves and came inside just in our normal clothes. We stayed there for around 3-4 minutes in similar state and had a quick round of photos. We were almost frozen to our depths when we ran away outside to the normal desert weather
All the stuff in the bar was made of ice - the tables, chairs, glasses, show pieces etc. There was also a flower pot made of ice. Even the menu was a thick ice sheet and glasses for cold drinks were made of ice too. It was good that we got a complimentary hot chocolate which helped us a little. I had gloves on but still my hands were numb after sometime itself. We were clicking each and every corner of the bar. We were picking up each and everything : ice fish, ice stars, ice glasses to have a photo with them.
When you are in such a crazy place, you get to turn little more crazy and we were no exception. We ordered even a cold juice there to add to the chillness of the place. We were touching the ice cubes to our face to take the pic. And the best one came after half an hour. We were done with clicking all the places and objects in the bar. We got rid of our jackets, caps and gloves and came inside just in our normal clothes. We stayed there for around 3-4 minutes in similar state and had a quick round of photos. We were almost frozen to our depths when we ran away outside to the normal desert weather
The evening at Burj Al Arab
The day I landed in Dubai, I have been hearing about this tallest hotel of the world - Burj Al Arab. Supposedly it is the only 7 star hotel. Everytime when I used to pass by the Sheikh Zayed road or the Jumeirah road, I used to look at this magnificent piece of architecture with awe and used to click its photograph from my car window. When we visited the Jumeirah beach, we clicked more pics with Burj in the background rather than having sea in background.
I decided to visit this place after I saw the documentary which described how much effort went into construction of this hotel and how its so different from other buildings. Its built a few hundred metres inside the sea in the shape of sail which looks so simple and marvelous but it took great engineering minds to build it this way.
So, Finally this weekend our entire IIMB gang thought of hitting the Skyview bar of this hotel which is suspended 250 metres above the sea level and gives you a feeling as if its just hanging in the air without any support. Having a champagne at such a place was an awesome experience and we just kept on watching Dubai from this height with admiration. This was the costliest champagne that I have had in my life and I am sure I am not breaking this record for a decade. Also, this bar holds a Guinness book of records for serving the most expensive cocktail for 27,321 AED.
As usual we had lot of pics in the restaurant and enjoyed our champagne to the fullest. Also then we spent a lot of time in the beautiful lobby and had many pics there too (afterall we had to recover our cost :P).
I decided to visit this place after I saw the documentary which described how much effort went into construction of this hotel and how its so different from other buildings. Its built a few hundred metres inside the sea in the shape of sail which looks so simple and marvelous but it took great engineering minds to build it this way.
So, Finally this weekend our entire IIMB gang thought of hitting the Skyview bar of this hotel which is suspended 250 metres above the sea level and gives you a feeling as if its just hanging in the air without any support. Having a champagne at such a place was an awesome experience and we just kept on watching Dubai from this height with admiration. This was the costliest champagne that I have had in my life and I am sure I am not breaking this record for a decade. Also, this bar holds a Guinness book of records for serving the most expensive cocktail for 27,321 AED.
As usual we had lot of pics in the restaurant and enjoyed our champagne to the fullest. Also then we spent a lot of time in the beautiful lobby and had many pics there too (afterall we had to recover our cost :P).
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Xoogler's journey in the B School
Many people have been constantly asking me if it was a right decision to leave Google and join MBA. The count of such people was low when I have just joined IIMB because only doubt they had in mind was if I wasn't happy at Google; some where like what more do you expect than Google - it has an excellent work and culture. But as the economy plunged into recession and it started effecting job markets everywhere not even sparing the best B schools across the globe, the count of such people increased. Even when I wasn't thinking about this at all, they were constantly questioning me and trying to make me realise that this was the biggest mistake in my life till now.
I don't know if this was a right decision or wrong. As Steve Jobs say: "you can only connect the dots looking backwards". I am still only half a MBA and I had spent only one year at Google. So, at both the places I dont think results should be used for comparison. I won't like to see it from the point that I became a team lead in Google in just 6 months but wasn't one of the toppers in MBA.
If, any day I have to compare between these two places, I can just compare the experiences there and even then I would never say that one was much better/worse than other. Both the places had their own pros and cons. They were similar in many aspects - I had to meet deadlines at both the places, both the places gave me ample freedom to do what I want. If Google gave me 20%, IIMB gave me choice of electives and obviously all the time after the classes to do what I want.
Both gave me ample opportunities to learn. I learnt a lot about the corporate culture and one of the best at Google. I learnt how to behave professionally, how to conduct meetings, how to orgnaise and prioritise my tasks, how to do the perfect time management, how to meet my deadlines, how to work in a team, how to motivate my team, how to achieve the desired results and most importantly how to play foosball. I guess after coming to IIMB, these learnings continued and actually took the next bigger step. All these professional learnings were honed more when I was working as a member of the placement team and was interacting with companies. I learnt more and more about team work and time management when I was working in so many teams to complete my projects along with managing the studies and placecom tasks.
Both the places gave me an exposure to the outer world with small international stints. Its a different learning experience all together to go outside and work with people of different culture but similar objectives. Also, its much more exciting and you really enjoy a lot visiting so many places in such a short time. Not to forget both the places gave me many friends and contacts which will always be helpful to me wherever I go.
I have never limited my learning at IIMB to only academics and I think that was only possible because I came after a little industry experience which taught me that all these things do not matter in the long term. Because of this I was able to focus on other things which I liked doing. I was able to analyse the long term benefits of many things which were not giving me any short term benefits at IIMB. I am glad that I didn't lose the motive with which I entered into IIM.
I am no financial expert and I dont know when this recession will end and I dont even want to take any guess or make any hypothesis here. I would not mind if I get a lesser paying job from IIM. I never came here with the astronomical figures in mind. I came here to achieve my long term goals. Since, I would be achieving them in long term only, they are insulated from the recessions of the world. So again I wont like to compare these places with their end results in the short term but definitely I would like to cherish the experiences that I have gained here.
As somebody has rightly said, "Enjoy the journey, enjoy every moment, and quit worrying about winning and losing." So, I strive to enjoy the journey and not the destination.
I don't know if this was a right decision or wrong. As Steve Jobs say: "you can only connect the dots looking backwards". I am still only half a MBA and I had spent only one year at Google. So, at both the places I dont think results should be used for comparison. I won't like to see it from the point that I became a team lead in Google in just 6 months but wasn't one of the toppers in MBA.
If, any day I have to compare between these two places, I can just compare the experiences there and even then I would never say that one was much better/worse than other. Both the places had their own pros and cons. They were similar in many aspects - I had to meet deadlines at both the places, both the places gave me ample freedom to do what I want. If Google gave me 20%, IIMB gave me choice of electives and obviously all the time after the classes to do what I want.
Both gave me ample opportunities to learn. I learnt a lot about the corporate culture and one of the best at Google. I learnt how to behave professionally, how to conduct meetings, how to orgnaise and prioritise my tasks, how to do the perfect time management, how to meet my deadlines, how to work in a team, how to motivate my team, how to achieve the desired results and most importantly how to play foosball. I guess after coming to IIMB, these learnings continued and actually took the next bigger step. All these professional learnings were honed more when I was working as a member of the placement team and was interacting with companies. I learnt more and more about team work and time management when I was working in so many teams to complete my projects along with managing the studies and placecom tasks.
Both the places gave me an exposure to the outer world with small international stints. Its a different learning experience all together to go outside and work with people of different culture but similar objectives. Also, its much more exciting and you really enjoy a lot visiting so many places in such a short time. Not to forget both the places gave me many friends and contacts which will always be helpful to me wherever I go.
I have never limited my learning at IIMB to only academics and I think that was only possible because I came after a little industry experience which taught me that all these things do not matter in the long term. Because of this I was able to focus on other things which I liked doing. I was able to analyse the long term benefits of many things which were not giving me any short term benefits at IIMB. I am glad that I didn't lose the motive with which I entered into IIM.
I am no financial expert and I dont know when this recession will end and I dont even want to take any guess or make any hypothesis here. I would not mind if I get a lesser paying job from IIM. I never came here with the astronomical figures in mind. I came here to achieve my long term goals. Since, I would be achieving them in long term only, they are insulated from the recessions of the world. So again I wont like to compare these places with their end results in the short term but definitely I would like to cherish the experiences that I have gained here.
As somebody has rightly said, "Enjoy the journey, enjoy every moment, and quit worrying about winning and losing." So, I strive to enjoy the journey and not the destination.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Dubai
As the title says, I am going to talk about Dubai in this blog. So, what brings me here: my summer internship which is part of curriculum at IIMB.
I came to UAE in April and after spending two weeks in Abu Dhabi, I came to the new luxury tourist hot spot of world - Dubai. Its a beautiful city which has both sea as well as deserts. To me it seems like India with US infrastructure. Yea, you can disagree with this but it comes from my limited exposure to only a few countries. Now, why I made such a statement was because you will find lot of Indians everywhere. There are so many Indian restaurants also around that you will hardly feel home sick because of food. Infrastructure is amazing. Awesome roads, wonderful bus/cab service, tall buildings, 24 hours power, big cars all around. I am surprised that still there is no railways/metro in this country.
Dubai has been always in news for its skyline. Leading from the front is Burj Dubai: tallest building in world and Burj Al Arab: tallest hotel in world and supposedly the only 7 star hotel. Hopefully, I will visit it this week. Apart from these there are many other great buildings in variety of shapes. Seems like people dont like making simple and small buildings here and all the architectural experiments are conducted here. The city has so many malls and they have hardly left out any brand. But one good thing in the malls here is they are based on some central theme and are not boring like malls in other countries. In a single mall you would find acquarium, zoo etc and in other you will find a place of skiing with a temperature of -4 degrees. Some malls have the traditional Arabic look and some look like Egyptian pyramids. Bottomline, you will never get bored in these malls as you will get chance to click so many photos and numerous opportunities of window shopping.
Weather here is hot as expected but you hardly feel it as everything is air conditioned. I also got a chance to go for the desert safari where I did Dune bashing in the car which was thrilling. We had the dinner in the camp and the icing on the cake was the Belle Dance. As desired by the rulers here, this place is rapidly growing as the favoured tourist spot and you will find many tourists at every place and numbers are expected to grow as Dubai is growing and coming up with more interesting options for the tourists.
http://picasaweb.google.com/bansal.vikas84/Dubai#
I came to UAE in April and after spending two weeks in Abu Dhabi, I came to the new luxury tourist hot spot of world - Dubai. Its a beautiful city which has both sea as well as deserts. To me it seems like India with US infrastructure. Yea, you can disagree with this but it comes from my limited exposure to only a few countries. Now, why I made such a statement was because you will find lot of Indians everywhere. There are so many Indian restaurants also around that you will hardly feel home sick because of food. Infrastructure is amazing. Awesome roads, wonderful bus/cab service, tall buildings, 24 hours power, big cars all around. I am surprised that still there is no railways/metro in this country.
Dubai has been always in news for its skyline. Leading from the front is Burj Dubai: tallest building in world and Burj Al Arab: tallest hotel in world and supposedly the only 7 star hotel. Hopefully, I will visit it this week. Apart from these there are many other great buildings in variety of shapes. Seems like people dont like making simple and small buildings here and all the architectural experiments are conducted here. The city has so many malls and they have hardly left out any brand. But one good thing in the malls here is they are based on some central theme and are not boring like malls in other countries. In a single mall you would find acquarium, zoo etc and in other you will find a place of skiing with a temperature of -4 degrees. Some malls have the traditional Arabic look and some look like Egyptian pyramids. Bottomline, you will never get bored in these malls as you will get chance to click so many photos and numerous opportunities of window shopping.
Weather here is hot as expected but you hardly feel it as everything is air conditioned. I also got a chance to go for the desert safari where I did Dune bashing in the car which was thrilling. We had the dinner in the camp and the icing on the cake was the Belle Dance. As desired by the rulers here, this place is rapidly growing as the favoured tourist spot and you will find many tourists at every place and numbers are expected to grow as Dubai is growing and coming up with more interesting options for the tourists.
http://picasaweb.google.com/bansal.vikas84/Dubai#
Half MBA completed
I have been thinking for long about writing this post and finally I am here. I was expecting this to be the chillest term so far but it just turned out to be the opposite.
From acads point of view, it was really cool. I had to select 3 electives, that means I could choose what I want to study. That relieves some pressure. BTW, you know IIMB is the only Indian B School that offers electives in the first year itself. So, studying half of the subjects of your choice and having some subjects in the kitty which dont have mid term definitely helps. Also, after been through two stressful terms, you anyways get used to all this.
But apart from studies, there are many more interesting events that term 3 offers. The most important one for me was the placement of the senior batch and that took most of the time. PPTs, laterals processes, long night meetings, interaction with companies and seniors, it was all fun and the most memorable moments at IIMB. Finally, we were relieved when the batch was 100% placed even in these tough times. As, I have mentioned in the earlier blog, its a very complex process and it was a great experience to run the show. Thanks to all of my batchmates and seniors who gave their full support for giving IIMB another successful placement season.
Also, third term is term of fun with Unmaad (cultural festival of IIMB). Because of my other engagements, I wasn't able to attend most of it and wasn't able to participate in the dance competition. Still, I made sure that I save some time to attend KK night and L^2. IIMB was a different place for these days with so many visitors from institutes all over the country which also helped in balancing the gender ratio at campus though only for 3 days.
And who can forget the shooting of bollywood movie 3 Idiots featuring Aamir Khan, Madhavan, Sharman, Kareena, Boman Irani. All of them were on campus for around a month and again campus was more colourful in nights. It was nice to see that along with us somebody else was working late nights. I didn't get the time to go and have pictures with them but Madhavan and Sharman themselves dropped in our placeroom once to have a look at the place and thus giving us a chance to have a photo with them.
So, finally with all these happening events, half MBA is completed and I am here in Dubai enjoying my summer internship. Will talk more about Dubai in later blogs
From acads point of view, it was really cool. I had to select 3 electives, that means I could choose what I want to study. That relieves some pressure. BTW, you know IIMB is the only Indian B School that offers electives in the first year itself. So, studying half of the subjects of your choice and having some subjects in the kitty which dont have mid term definitely helps. Also, after been through two stressful terms, you anyways get used to all this.
But apart from studies, there are many more interesting events that term 3 offers. The most important one for me was the placement of the senior batch and that took most of the time. PPTs, laterals processes, long night meetings, interaction with companies and seniors, it was all fun and the most memorable moments at IIMB. Finally, we were relieved when the batch was 100% placed even in these tough times. As, I have mentioned in the earlier blog, its a very complex process and it was a great experience to run the show. Thanks to all of my batchmates and seniors who gave their full support for giving IIMB another successful placement season.
Also, third term is term of fun with Unmaad (cultural festival of IIMB). Because of my other engagements, I wasn't able to attend most of it and wasn't able to participate in the dance competition. Still, I made sure that I save some time to attend KK night and L^2. IIMB was a different place for these days with so many visitors from institutes all over the country which also helped in balancing the gender ratio at campus though only for 3 days.
And who can forget the shooting of bollywood movie 3 Idiots featuring Aamir Khan, Madhavan, Sharman, Kareena, Boman Irani. All of them were on campus for around a month and again campus was more colourful in nights. It was nice to see that along with us somebody else was working late nights. I didn't get the time to go and have pictures with them but Madhavan and Sharman themselves dropped in our placeroom once to have a look at the place and thus giving us a chance to have a photo with them.
So, finally with all these happening events, half MBA is completed and I am here in Dubai enjoying my summer internship. Will talk more about Dubai in later blogs
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