(Vivek Kapoor)s on Google

Ever since I started this blog, I regularly ego surf in Google to see where my blog turns up. I even set myself a target to displace all web pages above mine, if you searched for my name :) But then, few people do actually search for my name, and the entire effort may be futile. Then again, they don't call it ego surfing without reason!

Normally, a "Vivek Kapoor" search results in about 4 web pages above mine. Two of these are for a particular namesake working for Credit Suisse First Boston, one for vivekkapoor.com (hard to displace), and one for a particular "Brat" whose father works in the Army. Now, my Initial target was to displace this brat from the better rank, because he had no business taking my rank away from me! I've been trying for 2 months to displace the brat without luck. Today I decided to find out who exactly he was and why so many people were linking to his page (Assuming PageRank works).

To my surprise, it turned out to be a story, written by someone called Mr. Gokul Rajaram. I read through the story, and I was rather touched at the end of it. I decided to contact Mr. Rajaram for permission to post his story on my blog. Google lead me to his website, and he ironically happens to be the product manager for Google AdSense! The world often comes a full circle! I still haven't been able to contact him, so till then, you can read his story here.

I no longer have any intentions of displacing the fictional guy anymore. I'm going for the big fish now ;).

PS. The title of this post, and the repetitive use of "Vivek Kapoor" within the post ;) is a desperate attempt to go up the ranks!

Labels: Backlinked, Internet, Life

Naming Software (Or naming blog posts??)

Most software companies pay no heed to giving interesting names to their software. Microsoft is probably the worst i'd say. Take 'Office' for example. How obvious is that? I still remember that in a quiz in Modern School, we were asked, "Which software made by Microsoft, is named after one of the buildings in their complex?". I believe I need to explain the general psyche of people taking part in these quizzes. There were free chocolates for being funny, and there was a particular hot chick of modern school sitting in the front row, who used to giggle when people gave funny answers. Do I need to elaborate?? I don't think so.
So, our unanimous decision was "Office". Unfortunately, the quiz master thought it was a good guess despite our honest intention of sounding funny, and as the girl didn't have a brain of her own, we didn't get any giggles either.

The point to be noted is that, (well the answer was Outlook) companies can be pretty unadventurous with the christening of their software. Some companies fare a little better, like Adobe (I'm referring to the erstwhile Macromedia here). Most of their software have very hip and gen-x names. Flash, Shockwave, Flex, ColdFusion. The list is endless. However, none, I repeat none comes close to Ahead Software Inc. Does that ring any bells? Ever burnt a CD with Nero?

When we first realized the connection, we were spell bound to say the least. The name was so perfect, it had the perfect connotations, the ROM(e), the fiddle, the burning! It was so amazing that our instant reaction was to include this as a question in the upcoming Panache! (I have to add that we did feel like idiots when we saw that the Nero logo clearly shows the Colosseum on fire..), but we were impressed nevertheless..

We seldom realize, that a thing as simple as the name of the software can be a great insight into the kind of people who worked on the software! The only vision I ever get of the people at Ahead Software is that of an Intelligent, fun-loving lot..

So much for my visions of people at Microsoft!

If you are still wondering what I am talking about, read this...

Labels: Backlinked