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Good times ahead!

This is with reference to your story ‘Gartner predicts end of BPO backlash by end-2004’ [Express Computer, July 26]. The recent outcry in the US against outsourcing work to countries like India was a cause for concern for the burgeoning Indian IT-enabled services industry. Gartner expects the US economic situation (one of the main reasons for the backlash) to improve over the next year. Also, if, as Gartner says, one out of every 10 jobs in the US computer services and software industry is outsourced, then India Inc. is in for some real good times ahead. May the flow of good luck continue.

Viren Shah, Nasik

Kudos to EC

Of late, I have seen quite a few articles in Express Computer, which have directly or indirectly been supporting the open-source software movement in India. It’s high time that we in India took a look at the business propositions offered by open-source software such as Linux. We have the capability to turn the tide in favour of open source, as against proprietary software, considering our widely acclaimed software development talents. And with IT biggies like Sun, IBM and others supporting the open source cause we have all the support we can possibly want.

G Kasturi, Mysore

The Simputer saga

India’s very own handheld device for the mass market is readying itself to go international. The Simputer had been dogged by bad luck right since inception. Despite being talked about and worked upon for years the project saw the light of the day only a couple of months back. And it certainly didn’t create any waves. But as they say hope is eternal. The company might just surprise all naysayers if its venture into the international market works out as planned. I feel that Express Computer should pay more attention to this happening.

Ravi Sharma, Mumbai

Say something new!

Storage, database management, terabytes, etc, etc seem to be the current industry favourites. These topics have been written about and spoken of so much that one would think that the media has run out of topics to discuss. Even Indian companies seem to be investing heavily into storage solutions. But what are we doing with all this data that we have stored? Are we putting it to any definite use? Maybe telecom companies are and also the FMCGs to some extent. But more often than not one feels that the same product is being sold but in a different package. Instead of just focusing on storing stuff we need to figure out how all this stored data can actually prove beneficial to us and help us recover all those millions we have poured in to acquire these systems.

Sidhartha Raman, Kanpur

Pirates all!

Apropos the article ‘Software Piracy: Understanding the larger picture’ [Express Computer, July 21]. The writer has provided a complete picture of the problem of piracy at the corporate level, and its impact on the industry as well as on other sections of society. While it may be difficult to curb piracy at the consumer level, at least at the corporate level it should be brought under control. The measures suggested by the writer, like raids and litigation, might prove effective on this front. But the defaulting companies should be given a chance to go legal before bringing them to the dock. Something similar to the voluntary disclosure of income scheme that the government offered tax defaulters a few years back. In fact, firms like accounting software major Tally have already offered delinquent companies the chance to own up and pay the license fee, which is much lower than the actual market rate, before taking legal action. At the home user level, software companies need to reduce the cost of acquiring such software. They can make up for the loss through sheer volumes that are bound to be generated.

Vinesh Lokhatia, Agra