Brownie Points

Britain's Prime Minister understands the internet and the power it brings to the masses. So also do the Chinese :-)

Media Cos Convergence

Over the last few days, several mergers and acquisitions took place. HP buying EDS was the hot news.

But more interesting than that are the mergers happening in the internet media world, which IMHO is a pointer that the industry needs consolidation big time.

CBS bought CNET Networks, Condé Nast bought Ars Technica, Vodafone bought a Social Networking Startup - ZYB.

Particularly interesting is the Condé Nast deal. With the latest one, they have three of the most popular and high-traffic websites of the tech world - Wired, Reddit and Ars Technica.

Microsoft's failed buyout bid for Yahoo! - Some musings

• Was Microsoft really interested in buying Yahoo! ?
• Did Jerry Yang do the right thing by rebuffing Ballmer ?
• Will the Yahoo! investors remain quiet even after losing out on the deal ?
• Does Microsoft realise they could/can never integrate Yahoo into their own ?

• Would the merger have been a good thing for Zimbra users ?
• Did Microsoft lose out on it's only chance of becoming a contributor to Open Source ?
• Would projects like Hadoop, YUI, Zimbra died a premature death under the Microsoft's management ?

• Seemingly unrelated events influence one's personal and professional lives in ways that can not be even imagined.

Introduction to Open Source

I was the keynote speaker at a local opensource fest. Here are the slides I'd prepared for the same. [odp][ppt]

BTW, the video which may miss out is this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMU0tzLwhbE

Note 29

Collecting thoughts.