Recent Developments

Past 2 months have flown fast, so fast that I forgot blogging. But hey, i m still here.
So what should I talk about?..India trip ? US Presidential Elections? Economy? Recession or maybe stick to the tech industry in general.

Trip to amchi Pune was nice. It all started with a good long Continental flight to Mumbai's Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport. The airport has been significantly revamped, streamlined immigration process, cleaner toilets and now comparable to airports in the US. The experience in working at Symphony office was good, met a few people, some ex-Calsoft buddies. Biking - thats one thing i miss here and it was a delight to drive down the Pune Banglore bypass highway on my Splendor. Also attended cousin's marriages and ate a lot of food - as usual grew fat. Celebrating my 25th birthday in the serene abode of Lord Keshavraj in the Konkan region, a few kms from the Arabian sea - boy, I like that.

Coming to presidential elections - hmm Obama seems to have a slight edge over Hillary at this time and I am all excited to see who gets nominated. For the republican side, McCain had a cake-walk defeating Mike Huckabee by a huge margin. In the process of following CNN coverage, I atleast have basic knowledge of the election process here - something like US Politics 101.

Economy - this is my hot topic of discussion these days at lunch tables. I see the dollar weakening each day and think of what would happen tomorrow. The scene is scary when they talk of job cuts in manufacturing companies and some tech companies too. Stock prices have fallen and Google broke its 52-week low - is that the end of glamorous Google stock? well maybe, maybe not. Unless M$ and Yahoo! work up something really fast!

Recession - ya i think its here, but would not last too long. I do see fewer crowds at restaurants. 2009 should show signs of recovery.

Tech Industry - Macworld was a disaster as far as i am concerned. Apple failed to click this time. VMware is unable to sustain its growth rates in the 1st quarter of listing its IPO - how bad is that ? stocks have fallen 50%.
NetApp - yes thats our new official name now. My company launched a new branding exercise to increase our footprint in the storage industry. That should help us get into more data centers. Personally I liked the new logo, looks like the Gateway of India and a gateway to growth for companies. Go further, faster NetApp, i am with you.