For the time being, we are on top. And In many areas, I think we’ll stay there. Given the overall depressing state of the gloom and doom news all around, techlahore does a great job of showing us how bright things are :

http://techlahore.wordpress.com/2008/12/14/pakistan-has-worlds-largest-wimax-network-will-america-catch-up-wonders-tmcnet/#comment-1086

PS to the American media : It wont hurt to quote these facts between your biased Pakistan-is-not-good reporting. I will never deny that this country has problems, but ignorance and bending the truth ticks everyone off, really.

Popularity: 27% [?]

Not about Adobe AIR, or Google Docs. But Google Native client, an attempt, similar to them ol’ Java applets that just got released and I’m sure the best brains at Microsoft are dissecting line by line to see how it works (right? right?) . Still in testing, but coming up fast on the horizon, here comes another challenge for Microsoft’s domination of the client desktop market.

Traditionally, Microsoft Office’s strength has not only been the fact that its very deep in terms of features and abilities, but also the fact that you can double click and open a 4MB word or excel file in a matter of seconds, and open something like change tracking without everything crashing. (and there are plenty universities, students, financial professionals, you name it, who have that requirement) . 

Google Docs as yet cannot match this, and one of the reasons I dont take it seriously for my daily work is the same, I have way too many complex excel sheets, and word documents with fine formatting that Google Docs cannot match or open yet. I like the fact that its web based, but thats secondary to me compared to ease of opening, editing saving files. I have a laptop, I backup alot, and I dont need the ‘cloud’ so much (yet!). Adobe AIR, while promising, is still not built to utilize the client desktop’s resources, (like Google wants to) has only as yet released some small (but very useful) apps.

So here comes Google Native Client, aka another approach to browser-launched client side computing , Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 28% [?]

So I was expecting, 30 people, maybe. Who would be interested in blogging anyway? Well, about 100-150 showed up, and showed me that the blogging scene here in Karachi was thriving happily. Google, Wateen and CIO Pakistan did a great job on the panel and the topics discussed, though alot of it was about making $$$ , Google did a great job of sponsoring the event and they had some great insights into stats, analytics and adwords. Overall, the message was quite relevant and clear: Differentiate yourself and write sincerely about what you can.  

Great show CIO, Google and Wateen! Several pro bloggers, and aspiring bloggers showed up, it was fun hanging out and meeting everyone! 

Alot of pictures here: http://ciopakistan.com/category/eventupdates/bloggers-meet/

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Its actually free, most of the time. Anyone can read your source code if you have a web application. Indeed thats how alot of us work now, there is no harm in extending other peoples code (as long as you respect the license). Its called Open source. Linux was built this way, so are many other apps. Vertical expertise on platforms, yes there is some demand there. We do not need php developers anymore. We need wordpress experts, linux experts, facebook application experts, and iPhone/Mac coders. Coders with deep, geeky knowledge of one platform.

There are facebook clones, twitter clones, clones of clones. What does that tell you? It tells you that there are enough developers out there who can build your application or idea (which is usually the first, and simplest problem).

So Mr tech entrepreneur, while you are hip, cool, geeky, techie,etc , your problem eventually is never going to be the technology. You’ll figure that bit out. You need a guru marketer(s), and amazing, honest, decently dressed sales guys. Sell, sell sell, share, sell, market market market. Your brand, your domain, your service. That is the cycle you want to establish right after your beta is out there. So, whats your barrier to entry once your app is out there in beta? How will you make money (please dont say just advertising!) , kill the competition and build your brand? Not a very techie problem, but one you need figure out before version 3, nonetheless.

Then wait for it all to dissapear. Just like you use email, if your users use your app/service/product, and once it fades away into daily life, its timeless. And so is the revenue  

Popularity: 42% [?]

Emergen moves KESC to an asterisk based IP-internal voice/phone exchange. Hey, atleast now their phones might work

more here:

http://cyrenity.wordpress.com/2008/11/25/kesc-deploys-asterisk-across-hundreds-of-sites/

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Orgoo has been down for more than a week. Not good news for the fledging internet startup, but let this be a lesson to everyone using the internet. Its a jungle out there! be careful with usernames, user policies and checks. Orgoo went down because one of their users misused their video feature and eventually forced their ISP to shut the site down. Now the ISP is not releasing any of Orgoo’s assets.

For a small startup, its very costly to run a datacenter, hence it makes sense to go to an ISP/hosting provider. But what does one go when a user goes rogue? How do you ‘fire’ a user effectively? How do you control massive amounts of data that can contain questionable material? Youtube, google, microsoft, everyone has this problem. Orgoo’s only fault really was that it was small, without its down datacenter. Orgoo is not and should not be held responsible since it acts as a middle-man to displaying content a certain way….

Maybe someone can offer a “co-op” datacenter to startups, or build software that scans user databases for questionable materials? An opportunity I smell, oh yes I do….smells like fresh muffins… yum!

Popularity: 42% [?]

Its (almost) over. The deplorable and horiffic Mumbai terrorist attacks are under control and the last of the militants has been killed, according to reports. Our prayers go out to everyone in Mumbai, and especially those directly effected by these attacks. Mumbai will come out of this, but now India is dealing with terror on a massive scale, just we are in Pakistan.

Fanatics are all over South Asia, using religion as a false basis for violence. First in Karachi, then in Islamabad and now Mumbai. This is now a regional problem and can be solved with government and intelligence agencies putting aside fears and cooperating. A strong willed population and determined authorities=a militant’s worst nightmare (esp since they were told that would never happen.) 

In this entire saga, one must notice the important role of blogs, tweets, flickr uploads, and other social media (Mahalo, Wikipedia) where ordinary citizens have been more proactive and sometimes have facts more helpful than the networks like CNN, BBC,etc. Citizen journalism that one can argue went mainstream in India after the Asian Tsunami has now come of age in South Asia, and interestingly much faster than in the US, Europe,etc. Maybe this has to do with our fundamental mistrust of state controller and large new networks  . The People’s voice is now digital.

As South Asians we have too many times been lied to by those in power, we would rather listen to each other than the authorities,right? and Web 2.0 tools let us do that. twitter, flickr, wordpress,blogs, these are now fundamental tools that allow for greater, faster communication than a television.

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For all the news of US drones attacking targets inside Pakistan, many might think that the country lacks a strong, powerful UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) fleet of its own, which is quite contrary to reality. Also, I do not see why we asked for US predator technology. With Wired magazine taking notice, and the Air force already having 2 UAV squadrons with 4 more on the way, why do we want imported super expensive US drones when stuff like that is being built right here in Karachi and Islamabad: (see pics below)

      OR this :   

A UAV is the epitome of integrated engineering. Building a strong platform demands high software development skill, EE skill, mechanical and aeronautical engineers. You have to build a plane essentially, put it an robotic brain (software), advanced sensors and make sure all the motors and long range controls work.Build ground control stations that can operator off a laptop and do enough signal processing to make sure the video comes across clean and in focus. All at the same time. Not easy at all to do. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 40% [?]

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Netsol seems to be getting serious about its SAP ambitions. The news is out that it has accquired a small focused consultancy in LA,  Ciena Solutions for a combination of cash and stock. This gives Netsol an HQ in California, as well as some serious skill to tap into for local projects and a sales team (maybe) to get US projects, tho I dont think US projects would be as profitable as local projects at this point in time. There is more SAP work in his region of the world compared to the West, I would think, atleast for the next 2 years.

No word on the size, customer base or revenues of Ciena.

Popularity: 19% [?]