World...BG...AG...

World ... Before Google....After Google...

This is the first thing that came to my mind immediately after seeing the email forward about gOFFICE......Google’s latest adventure...and earth shaker for established companies....nightmares to be precise...

Google(Verb): to search for information about a specific person through the Google search engine

Have you googled yet???

It all started in the late 90's when Google came out as a dedicated search engine...though Yahoo had monopolized the business and people seldom knew about any search engine in the periphery of Yahoo and AltaVista.... I still remember the days in my graduate course when Internet was a far-fetched dream for Indians in India like me...My college library was generous enough to provide free internet for students that too after 6 PM and we used to book slots until 9 PM between friends so that we get a prolonged tenure with that system....we started using Google and Yahoo mail then and myself not for a moment knew the significance of what I was doing....using the world leading technology during its nascent years.. We used to search for long hours on technical subjects for paper presentations and used to post technical queries to many sites and university portals mainly through Google and would search for my Yahoo ID on google, and be fascinated to see my email ID fetching atleast 10 results....a sense of accomplishment. As a matter of fact, one of my long lost friends used Google to search my name and found my email ID and sent me a mail..I was pleasantly surprised to witness the use of technology in human relations....:-).....

So Google slowly but firmly entered the search engine market...I have been a faithful follower of Google's innovations....amused and eagerly logging in each day to see what Icon Google had for that day...each significant day in history would have a related cartoon...that impressed me in a long way..because I am a person who always appreciates different ideas in place of monotony. It could make no difference for the user to see these different icons..each day..but it definitely has its share of image building for Google as a company...more than just searching..!!!!

The enthusiasm and passion for their work in Google's employees is epitomized by the founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. They insisted on the company being a technical company and is still the single largest technology company and will continue to be so...At the same time sensing business and doing justice to their existence at every possible extent..was Google harnessing its skills as a search engine founder....and also as a multi-faceted company growing leaps and bounds....

Knowing that India had a huge market for Internet, Google localized it's search for all the major indian languages,....me...thrilled...to get a search result in my native tongue..!!!, then Google expanded by extending its image beyond just information searching, but to information maintenance and information transmission, in addition to acquiring a host of tools..equally productive in their own rights...

Yes you guessed right.. I am talking about GMAIL and Google Desktop Search.....these I would say gave the Invincibles in the respective businesses a run for their money, sudden jolt in the form of an advanced technology competitor. Nobody could take the user for granted when innovation is your competitor. Yahoo and Microsoft have had to bear the brunt in the upcoming of Google as a technology company. GMAIL giving 1 GB of email space, and holding one such account was a matter of pride until late last year....now has set standards for people to expect from email service providers. People were happy with 10MB provided by yahoo..until GMAIL came ....but people want more now...and expect atleast of 1 GB of email space..and 1 Terra Byte of email spaces are becoming common place..because of the invasion of Google into this market.

Google Desktop Search was again a revolutionary Idea, because people were getting sick with MS Windows' F3....which would use all your CPU time and would still return empty handed....on most of the search queries...Agreed the technology for these searches were different, but I would not mind trading off some hard disk space for getting Information on demand..that too with HDDs of 40 + Gbs of space. I use GDS to the best possible extent in my workplace. No more should I have to remember where I kept that mail my customer sent me on a trivial issue which doesn't require immediate attention!!! The clinching factor here is that GDS as opposed to the other worthy contenders like Copernic, MSN DS or Yahoo DS, doesn't use too much of memory for Indexing and the fastest to return the information, that too with a Web Interface...more like accessing the web. I still remember people having been fascinated seeing with my efficiency in “information on demand”.....courtesy GDS... an open secret. When you have GDS, you can offload the information searching part of your work with Google and concentrate on more productive things.. food for thought for managers out there!!!

Google realized in due course that just in-house innovations will not keep it hot, and started acquiring smaller technology/product companies...going the Microsoft way...a few examples being Picasa, Hello Blogger, Google Earth and a host of others..I don't even remember the names...to hell with my memory....anyways...Google Earth surprised one and all with its utility value particularly within US...all this during the time Googlewas preparing its gOFFICE and launched its Google Talk. The applications of Google somehow unfailing have the Killer Punch to knockout the competitor's stuff..hahaha...but the winner is the user...who has very good choice now, with Google having broken the monopoly in almost all personal computing domains, like IM, Mail, Desktop, Web, etc.,

gOFFICE, I would say would be the beginning of a new way to look at technology and IT. A helluva idea of Web based office suite...would definitely reduce piracy of office suites, esp. in India...A revolutionary concept indeed, I am completely justified with the adjective here...revolutionary..!!!!

I read tech-blogs floating information about a web-based OS, also called WebOS, as Google's next poser for cutting-edge information technology, Earnestly waiting to see the architecture of this supposedly tech marvel!!!

Lets keeping googling around till that day when GoogleOS is flashed as a news at www.google.com

Ghazini / Ghajini - Movie Review

Surya has matured as an actor, versatility is his forte and is setting standards that one can expect safely from him movie after movie....Technical gloss and Surya are the main armoury for this Ghajini...:-)

Being a die-hard Shankar fan, I was pretty sure, that Tamil Cinema or for that matter Indian cinema will take its own sweet time to reach or match the technical brilliance on display in any Shankar film...and u know what, I had to eat my words..for the better of Tamil Cinema, for once I was proud...because here is a movie which is very good advertisement for Tamil Cinema. It was out and out technical extravaganza on display for close to 60 minutes, split over 2 halves in the start and the end of the movie.

Yeah...and according to me that was it.....nothing more extravagant about the movie...Believe me....the excitement that is setup with the introduction of the indisposed surya....had it been matched in entirety or at half of it....the movie would have gone far beyond diwali date, coz the movie will have to pay the casualty for the delayed release...as it has already eaten too much into the diwali deadline...and the producers of the movie..will have to pay for it...dearly...because the movie does not have the killer punch of Ramanaa..or the purpose of Kaaka Kaaka....

The main drab part of the movie...is the flashback of the Hero...that extends beyond the bar, a tad too far...spilling over three separate narrations which is quite irritating for the eye and the mind..because there is nothing special in the flash back....except for Surya's looks..
--which are stunning...he is getting smarter by the day....and is getting there for the tag that his father once held as his forte...young and sweet at heart--
Asin is looking the damsel she needs to be...nayantara..disappoints with her emoting....unwanted skin show is not expected out of this movie...which is devoid of any serious comedy...so the song sequences are just fillers for such a strong storyline...and the movie could as well go without atleast 3 of the five songs...If you ask me....

and yes..coming to the other credits holders...the music..Harris Jeyaraj..I am seriously at dismay with the kind of re-recording he has been dishing out movie..after movie....too loud...and unnecessary for the scenes..I felt exactly the same with Thotti Jaya, as well. So I felt a sense of distaste here. Songs..one felt a sense of belonging only for the melodies...just two in number..:-)

The video-editing is absolutely great...and visually grand...good work...the climax fight sequence is one very good example for this..plus the song sequences., Locations are equally grand to fit Sanjay Ramaswami's attitude....mood..and costume in the songs.

The other characters in the movie..not many in number...though played their part..Riyaz Khan did well in whatever he got...a raw deal in the meaty role I would say...Pradeep Rawat..the usual Villain..the only difference being double the villainy...hahaha....

The biggest credit to the movie..inspite of all these snides...is that the story line, though quite complex has been dealt with aplomb in the screenplay and reality never taking a beating. Surya..I would say has done his role exceedingly well...full marks to him....but one felt he was under utilized if we take Nanda and Kakka Kakka as standards....

Overall, happy with the movie...but...not satisfied..rest assured that this movie will surely treat the audiences until Diwali...thats for sure...