Gaming.

I spent the better part of the morning at a Microsoft presser where they finally launched Windows 'Starter' edition. In simple language, that is basically Windows XP PC with Hindi language support. Microsoft aims to sell this to a lot of people in India, which means that even more people will come under the vile grip of Billy G aka Beelzebub Part II.
Actually not. Y'see despite everything, there are actually few options to having Windows, Apple products kick ass, but are mundo expensivo, and the Apple dealer in Delhi, a chap called Arun Nath, works out a shadyy little place behind Uphaar Cinema Hall. The glizy Apple stores are nowhere to be seen, not even in Jaggery Village. Well, actually there is only ONE Apple Store which deserves that title and that is in the Forum Mall in Bangalore, and that isn't even a patch on the one near Times Square. A good iMac costs upwards of a lakh, and even a stripped down 12" Apple iBook costs over Rs 60k, if you import one in. I can get a pretty killer laptop for that kind of money and for a lakh, I can configure the ultimate gaming machine.
And then there is Linux. Very easy to use, if you understand code. All problems are easy to repair, if you understand code. Though there are versions of Linux which are very easy to use, load off a CD, the 'Live CD' boot concept will be big in the future, unless people can make Linux more compatible with lots of rather common formats and software, I'ld still prefer Windows.
And then there is the very fact that 75% of all the computer games made in the world work only on Windows. And like it or not, geeks might hate Bill Gates, call him a copier, a usurper of ideas, but the man is the greatest philantrophist the world has ever known and like it or not, (thanks to IBM's stupidity) he has made the PC easy for everyone to use. And this Hindi version of Windows will be a big hit, Rs 399 a month for four years looks like a good deal and this machine is a lot better than that Laptop joke being promoted by Kapil Sibal.
Anyway, the other good thing that came out of todays presser was that I caught Ranjiv of Microsoft and told him that Microsoft should look at launching the XBox 360 in India, despite the problems of piracy (Rs 100 games in Palika). Despite the XBox 360 being trounced by the PS3 in spec terms, Sony's half brained sales team in India will never launch the PS3 here. Not before 2010 that is. And because the PS3 will be Blu-Ray disc based, piracy problems will initially be rather low. Anyway, I must catch a Sony executive soon. With Ranjiv, I sat him down and told him gaming is BIG in this country. Like it or not, Gaming and Pornography will drive PC and Broadband penetration in India, not MS-Office or Adobe Photoshop. You saw what happened to GPRS and MMS penetartion when the DPS blowjob clip went ballistic. Similar things will happen in PC's and game consoles.
So anyway, net-net, I didn't get an assurance from MS on a XBox360 launch, but I will badger them constantly about this, and hold your horses, I'm trying to get these guys to set up a Halo/Halo 2/Age of Empires, online game hub in India. Something like the XBox Live concept. Do it over the PC, and make sure that only legal versions work, but do it nonetheless. Gaming will take off in India, and the plane is already lining up.
Edit: Added more, because I didn't want to make a third post today
I know I am a bit late on this entire Paris Hilton thing, but to be she is a coca bitch who'll do anyone who gives a g of columbian. Anyway, the blonde became famous for appearing in a bad home-made porn flick. Anara Gupta (I think its her) would have been a household name if Indians were as depraved as Americans. No wait, we are. And the girl in that video (Anara Gupta maybe video) is butt-fucking ugly, plump, and hairy, as is the woman in question. I mean her nether regions look like a badly overgrown tropical jungle. Why can't we have high-quality Indian porn, I'm sick and tired of seeing ugly porn. Because as a society, no matter what the BJP/Shiv Sena types think, we are fucking debauch.
Sorry for being sexist over here, but y'see reading the Vagina Monologues was beyond me, I am however looking for a decent copy of the Penis Dialogues. Am willing to exchange my Archie comics collection and a few CD's worth of grade-A Japanese pRon (and by grade-A, I mean grade-A), because unlike Bossman I can't afford to do the monthly $50 postage and handling from Amazon business. Anyway, I don't know how many people have seen the new Paris Hilton advert, you know the one where she is eating a burger while washing a Bentley. Anyway, you'll find the spoof here.
And here you'll find all sorts of odds for her marriage, you know that Paris is marrying Paris. How lame.
Guitar Wolf Jeans (WTF?? This brand is weirder than Raper jeans in K-Nags market)
The new Virgin Mobile ads - Breasts Head Ears