Lets talk about next Windows OS Version

Microsoft folks have started a new blog specially dedicated to next version of Windows OS or Windows 7. As par the welcome post on their blog -

The Engineering Windows 7 blog, or E7 for short is hosted by the two senior engineering managers for the Windows 7 product, Jon DeVaan and Steven Sinofsky. Jon and Steven, along with members of the engineering team will post, comment, and participate in this blog.

I appreciate opening of this two-way communication channel by Microsoft. Its interesting to know that over 1000 developers are working on next Windows version. They basically have 25 different teams and each team consists of around 40 developers.

They are openly inviting everybody to share their views, suggestions, complaints and needless to say that people have already posted comments saying how slow windows is and how often it crashes.

Microsoft has not disclosed much details about Windows 7 as of now, however some supposedly leaked screenshots of it are already doing the rounds, its also expected that next Windows will support iPhone like Multi-touch as well as Touch-feedback, a feature which vibrates screen or give feedback in any other form when you touch the screen.

If you are looking for genuine information about Windows 7, then MS has two significant events planned this fall. The Professional Developers Conference (PDC) on October 27 and the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) the following week.

Anyone for a Rs. 31000 ($750) iPhone?

I use Vodafone India as my mobile service provider and I have pre-registered for iPhone on their website a while back. Airtel and Vodafone start selling iPhone in India on 22nd August which is just 2 days from now.

I today got a sms and an email from Vodafone that my wait is over and I can deposit advance to get iPhone within a few days. However I almost dropped my existing phone (Treo 680) after reading the price for the iPhone. They want to make me poorer by Rs. 31000 for 8GB model and want a whopping Rs. 36100 for 16GB model. Is this some kind of joke???

Well I think they have managed to do an unthinkable here. A lot of rumours were doing round till today about the would be price for iPhone in India. Some guessed it to be around Rs. 8000, as that's how much an iPhone with contract costs in US. Some guessed it to be around Rs. 25000, but nobody thought that they will be beating all the expectations and sell the iPhone at such high prices. Well good luck to Apple, Vodafone and Airtel, but I am not going to buy iPhone for that price.

I also doubt that Airtel and Vodafone are going to sell unlocked iPhone in India, if they are then its defeats the purpose of selling iPhones via an operator. And if its a locked model then why don't they just bundle the phone with some service contract and subcidise the phone? I think a bundled but cheaper iPhone will be a win-win situation for everybody inclusing consumers, operators and manufacturer.

May be they are just trying to cash in on the hype and once the dust settles down, they are either going to lower the prices substantially or start offering cheaper iPhone bundled with a data/service plan.

I have been on Vodafone for 6 yrs. now and intend to stay on for a few more years to come, but I guess Vodafone is not much interested in keeping its loyal customer base intact by offering them yearly service contracts bundled with a cheaper iPhone. All said and done my wait for iPhone is still not over :-(

India Strikes Gold in Beijing

Abhinav Bindra created history today by becoming first Indian to win Olympic Gold Medal for any individual event. He won the Gold in Men's 10m Air Rifle Shooting event. Also this is India's first Olympic Gold since 1980.

Bindra has done his country proud and had instantly become a hero in India. He has recently started blogging at - http://abhinavbindra.blogspot.com/

Check out news about his Gold Medal win at the Official Olymics website here.

While this single Gold Medal may not take us anywhere in this Olympic but I would like to believe that this is the sign of things to come. It sure is.

Amitabh Bacchan writes on his blog - "We are so proud of you and so delighted to have made every Indian walk a little taller ! Thank you Abhinav, and more glory and success to you. As a dear friend from Mumbai put it - ‘after almost a century and 2 billion births an Indian wins his first individual gold at the Olympics’."

So please join me in congratulating Abhinav on his great feet and lets start celebrations :-)