Bangalore: Silicon Valley or Coolie Valley?
Your Special Friend
Bangalore: Silicon Valley or Coolie Valley?
March 01, 2004
Politicians, bureaucrats and residents of Bangalore take pride in the
fact that they live in what they call the Silicon Valley of the East.
The city is considered high tech because of the number of software and
software services companies located here.
But is Bangalore really Silicon Valley?
California's Silicon Valley
In 1933 Frederick Terman, a professor of engineering at Stanford
University, mentored two undergraduates named Bill Hewlett and Dave
Packard, and was instrumental in getting them to start a company.
They went on to form the company Hewlett-Packard. This was the first
seed from which Silicon Valley grew.
Today around 2,000 electronics and information technology companies,
along with numerous services and supplier firms, are clustered in the
area.
Silicon Valley contains the densest concentration of innovative
industry that exists anywhere in the world, including companies that
are leaders in fields like computers, semiconductors, lasers, fiber
optics, robotics, medical instrumentation, and consumer electronics.
Some products that went from dream to reality in Silicon Valley are
the first video game, the ink-jet printer, the video recorder, the
mouse, the personal computer, and much else that we take for granted
in the information age.
Here's a sample of some Silicon Valley firms, familiar to most of us
because of their products: Adobe Systems (Acrobat Reader), Apple
Computer (computer), Hewlett-Packard (printer), Intel (the CPU in your
PC), Netscape (Internet browser), Seagate Technology (the hard disk in
your PC), Yahoo (Internet portal), VeriFone (credit card terminals in
shops), Symantec (Norton anti-virus software), etc.
Such firms are called technology companies, because their chief
resource is the technologies that they develop and own, not the real
estate that they are sitting on or the equipment that they possess.
Stocks in a technology company are called 'tech stocks.' Scientists
and engineers working in these companies are called 'techies.'
Indicative of the inventive spirit is the fact that residents of Santa
Clara County, which includes San Jose and other Silicon Valley
computer hotbeds, were granted 27,617 patents during the 1990s.
Silicon Valley thrives on risk. Business in the Valley is about
placing bets on people, ideas and inventions.
If the Silicon Valley were an independent country, its economy would
be about the tenth largest in the world.
Bangalore or 'Coolie Valley'
If you ask the president of any of Bangalore's software development
companies what his company does, he'll say "We provide end-to-end
solutions for Xxxx." Xxxx could be any or all of these -- e-commerce,
banking, telecom. . .
What he means to say is this: 'We'll do the software coding in any of
these areas for you. Just tell us what you need. We have a huge mass
of engineers who know various programming languages.'
These companies do not develop any technologies or products. They
provide development services. They have engineers who specialize in
programming languages rather than in technologies.
Their chief resource is the huge mass of low-cost labour that they
have taken the trouble to recruit.
Ask them about patents, and you get the reply "Huh, what's that?"
These companies start with zero risk. They do not bet on their ideas
or inventions. A company is started after getting some contracts in
hand.
A typical engineer in these companies has no specialization in any
technology. He does not use his engineering knowledge. You could say
his body is employed, but his brain is severely under-employed.
Here is a sample of some prominent Bangalore software companies with
what they specialize in: Tata Consultancy Services (end-to-end
solutions), Wipro (end-to-end solutions), Infosys (end-to-end
solutions)
DSQ Software (end-to-end solutions), Kshema Technologies (end-to-end
solutions), Ivega Technologies (end-to-end solutions), MindTree
Consulting (end-to-end solutions).
The comparison
Silicon Valley companies are based on 'know what.' They know the
market, they know the technology and they know what products to make
to earn money.
Coolie valley companies are based on 'know how.' They do the software
coding for other companies that have the 'know what.' If you tell them
what to do, they know how and will do it for you.
Silicon Valley companies invest huge sums of money on R&D. They
generate new ideas and are constantly developing new ways of doing
things.
Coolie Valley companies have nothing called R&D. They do not generate
any new ideas.
A typical Silicon Valley engineer is a specialist in a particular
technology, like inkjet printing or virus detection. He spends all his
life working in this technology area.
A typical Coolie Valley engineer is a specialist in a few languages.
He is not concerned about the technology that he is working on and is
willing to develop any software with the languages that he knows.
A typical Silicon Valley engineer's education and work experience all
relate to a technology. When he changes jobs, he changes to another
company working on the same technology.
A typical Coolie Valley engineer's work experience does not teach him
any technology. He may be a mechanical engineer currently working for
three months on banking software, and then the next three months on
shoe retailing software.
Silicon Valley is all about the excitement of creating things out of
nothing. Companies like HP actually started in the garages of their
founders.
Coolie Valley does not know the meaning of creativity. Some companies
are started by people who quit other companies and take some of the
parent firm's software development contracts with them.
Silicon Valley's entrepreneurs bet on people, ideas and inventions.
Coolie Valley's entrepreneurs bet on certainties. They start a firm
after getting software development contracts.
Silicon Valley's firms are about technology management.
Coolie valley's firms are about man management.
It is extremely presumptuous to compare Bangalore with Silicon Valley,
so all you Bangaloreans, please do me a favour and
Don't call your city Silicon Valley ('pub city' or 'garden city', I
have no problem with -- lots of pubs and lots of trees, but very
little silicon).
Don't call one of your new software companies a 'high technology
start-up.'
Don't call your engineers 'techies.' They've forgotten their
engineering long ago.
Don't say you've invested in 'tech stocks' ('body stocks' maybe ?).
If you are from Delhi or Mumbai and encounter a Bangalorean 'techie'
spouting off about his work or about his Silicon Valley, you no longer
need to develop an inferiority complex.
G V Dasarathi is director of a software products development company
Roy Chang
"Coolie" engineers and Silicon engineers have one thing in common
South Asian origin.
Al
news2020
You could be a highly paid coolie in a wealthy nation doing nothing much
and reeling in the money all day.
The real question is quality of life of the coolie in either case.
If you are too tied up or too exploited or eventually bound up and
killed etc. then you are a coolie wherever you are. You could well
have an entire wealthy nation of coolies all busy making money.
Just like a robot farm or a busy beehive. This is not a fantasy in
today's world.
ausstu
I would suggest you take seriously the technical capabilities of those
who live in places other than Silicon Valley to create some very large
technology companies. The US is a big market for their products and
we have seen much of the semiconductor manufacturing go offshore.
Silicon valley didn't exist 30 years ago and there is no reason smart
people in other countries can't replicate some of this success. I
think Silicon Valley has in many wasy lost its way with greedy venture
capitalist with too much money making investiments without really
understanding how to build a company.
Roy Chang
> and brains.what the Chinese lack.
You assume I am Chinese which you are right. But generalised all
Chinese as brainless, even if they are devotees of Krishna/Vishnu.
I was complementing South Asians in a big big way. It is no
exageration a very large proportion of professional IT engineers,
scientists and other techies in USA are of South Asian origin. That
was my point.
The supposed main difference was that the Siliconites consist of
Jewish managers and South Asian engineers/managers. Bangalorites are
just South Asian. Which ever way you look at it south Asians dominate
IT. R&D is also a strong point.
The article failed to note that many R&D has shifted to India. And
patents are generated in Bharat on a regular basis. THe article was
thus wrong when it said that innovation is lacking in Bangalore.
I hope I have made myself clear here.
Regards
Roy
Dean Tran
the 80. This issue becomes more urgent in US in this stagnant
economic. With price down and cut throat competition in all products,
leading companies such as Intel, HP, others depend on lower cost labor
to compete in US. Dell computer made in US use parts from other
countries. In long term, American high tech companies will fine, since
innovation is American trademark.
Dean
ysf...@ziplip.com (Your Special Friend) wrote in message news:<beb4ea60.0403...@posting.google.com>...
news2020
> innovation is American trademark.
You seem to be saying that innovation is an American trademark.
Therefore, in the long run American companies will be fine.
Is it true that Americans are the only innovative people
in the world ?
And who are these people ? All immigrants from other countries ?
A nation of immigrants ?
harmony
"Roy Chang" <roy...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:8335a0cb.04030...@posting.google.com...
> Al <bundy@.com> wrote in message news:<c2am7i$ann$1...@newshispeed.ch>...
> > and brains.what the Chinese lack.
>
>
> You assume I am Chinese which you are right. But generalised all
> Chinese as brainless, even if they are devotees of Krishna/Vishnu.
>
> I was complementing South Asians in a big big way. It is no
> exageration a very large proportion of professional IT engineers,
> scientists and other techies in USA are of South Asian origin. That
> was my point.
the chinese i have known are smart and call indian people as "hindus".
but you are dumb to call them "south asians".
may be you are not chinese.
Roy Chang
> "Roy Chang" <roy...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:8335a0cb.04030...@posting.google.com...
> > Al <bundy@.com> wrote in message news:<c2am7i$ann$1...@newshispeed.ch>...
> > > and brains.what the Chinese lack.
> >
> >
> > You assume I am Chinese which you are right. But generalised all
> > Chinese as brainless, even if they are devotees of Krishna/Vishnu.
> >
> > I was complementing South Asians in a big big way. It is no
> > exageration a very large proportion of professional IT engineers,
> > scientists and other techies in USA are of South Asian origin. That
> > was my point.
>
> the chinese i have known are smart and call indian people as "hindus".
> but you are dumb to call them "south asians".
> may be you are not chinese.
>
>
harmony,
I'm sure you are a nice bloke who aspires to do good things and keeps
good
companions. But when you post such allegations that I am not Chinese
or use 'h
indus' to describes all Indians, I am begining to wonder what is the
compostion
of your brain cells. Are they functioning the way they should be or
is it too m
uch to think before you write? Take some time to think and then
write.
Your only consistency seems to be your outlandish childish retorts and
wild allegations that has little truth. Have you ever thought about
growing-up when it concerns usenet posting? I am sure in other fields
you may be superb and competent. But when in comes to usenet, your
postings are dismally pathetic and devoid of substance. To categorise
you as what your username suggests(ie harmony) is totally ridiculous
to the max.
Try and live up to your name and be more responsible before spewing
mangled garbage on the net. The ultimate reality blesed you with a
brain to think and analyse.
Now, back to the topic of South Asians.
South Asians is appropriate because it encompasses not just
Indians(Hindus included of course) but Sri Lankans, Nepalese etc etc.
A lot of intellectual gem comes from Sri Lanka and we certainly cannot
ignore them. Also there are Gujarati Islamilis from Pakistan who are
of enterprising talent. Remember Prem Azimji is a Gujarati Ismaili.
Oh and yes harmony, there is no proof that someone is dumb when
calling a group of people from South Asia as south Asians. If someone
collectivley called Koreans, Taiwanese, Chinese and Japanese 'east
Asians', that would be appropriate and they are not dumb.
Look harmony, I'm sure we can establich a harmonious relationship in
usenet. Name calling is not my forte and I really do not enjoy having
to 'lecture' you about adequate behaviour.
I hope this is the last time I ever want to post 'harsh' wording
against you.
Peace,
harmony
All depends on context. South asia is a mere geographic expression, and has
no practical utility unless you are on a long hop-scotch tour like some
american diplomat with lot of time to waste on his hand.
but you have an attitude of a racist, to whom "since they all look same,
they must be same" kind.
i know for a fact that peaceful hindus detest when some body clubs them with
terrorist pakis with the use of unwelcome "south asian" expression. you
didn't know?
i remember one korean lady who was offended when i asked her if she was from
north korea after she had let me know that she was from korea. she didn't
want to be seen associated with unruly commies.
> Look harmony, I'm sure we can establich a harmonious relationship in
> usenet. Name calling is not my forte
i am sure you must do pretty well, beyond imagination, in areas you consider
to be your forte, after all this.
> and I really do not enjoy having
> to 'lecture' you about adequate behaviour.
>
i know, to a racist, it is always other person's fault.
> I hope this is the last time I ever want to post 'harsh' wording
> against you.
>
admit it.
> Peace,
Kushan Hind
Roy Chang
And geographic terms disturbs you. Gee I'm sorry.
> no practical utility unless you are on a long hop-scotch tour like some
> american diplomat with lot of time to waste on his hand.
^^^^^^^^
Talking about Armitage?
> but you have an attitude of a racist, to whom "since they all look same,
^^^^^^
Proove to me what have I said that amounted to racism.
> they must be same" kind.
> i know for a fact that peaceful hindus detest when some body clubs them with
> terrorist pakis with the use of unwelcome "south asian" expression. you
^^^^^
And you dont have the 'attitude of a racist' to quote your previous wording?
> didn't know?
^^^^
Know that you like confrontation ?
> i remember one korean lady who was offended when i asked her if she was from
> north korea after she had let me know that she was from korea. she didn't
> want to be seen associated with unruly commies.
Why did you have to specify a geographic description for her country of origin?
Asking for trouble or is it your style of personal communication?
>
>
> > Look harmony, I'm sure we can establich a harmonious relationship in
> > usenet. Name calling is not my forte
>
> i am sure you must do pretty well, beyond imagination, in areas you consider
> to be your forte, after all this.
>
Never could quess your next move.
>
> > and I really do not enjoy having
> > to 'lecture' you about adequate behaviour.
> >
>
> i know, to a racist, it is always other person's fault.
>
Yeah I wonder who is the racist.
>
> > I hope this is the last time I ever want to post 'harsh' wording
> > against you.
> >
>
> admit it.
>
bye
> > Peace,
harmony
suggest, as racists do, that "south asians" have a common outlook on life in
varieties of terms. now, racists are not a problem for me, they can't be;
it's their problem, but i don't mind helping in getting it out of their
system if they are so prone and assuming their racism is out of laziness,
not attitudanal.
geography is not a problem; it's god ordained. americans are given to
continental geographic terms since they have a budget to match, and time to
waste.
but i have not known a chinese who doesn't appreciate and understand what i
am saying; so you can't be chinese unless you are from uigher.
"Roy Chang" <roy...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:8335a0cb.04032...@posting.google.com...
Roy Chang
news:<1068see...@corp.supernews.com>...
> you don't get it, chang dear. it's your compulsion/laziness in wanting to
> suggest, as racists do, that "south asians" have a common outlook on life in
> varieties of terms. now, racists are not a problem for me, they can't be;
> it's their problem, but i don't mind helping in getting it out of their
> system if they are so prone and assuming their racism is out of laziness,
pray tell me ....
> not attitudanal.
> geography is not a problem; it's god ordained. americans are given t
> waste.
> but i have not known a chinese who doesn't appreciate and understand what i
Oh most knowledgable one. I bow to thee for immense knowledge.
> am saying; so you can't be chinese unless you are from uigher.
^^^^^^
Is that in middle earth?
>
Please answer my previous question about proof of what makes me a
racist. If it has offended you in any way please accept my apologies.
Else
bye
PS
I dont know why I am having this debate with an utter loser.