Gates & Naidu: Visionaries of the masses, for the masses

Chandrababu Naidu: The Digital Politician



Going by Mr Naidu’s profession, this is not the list he was expected to
top. But, it is the strong belief of Mr Naidu that technology will be the driver

in bringing in growth and prosperity into his state of Andhra Pradesh, one of

the poorest state in the country, that has catapulted him into the big league of

global visionaries. His immense popularity cuts across the citizens of his state

to the Indian corporate think tank and international economists and leaders. The

single biggest reason for his popularity is the hope that he carries. Today,

Chandrababu Naidu is perhaps the most written about living Indian politician in

the international media.

Mr Naidu’s success in getting the attention of the world leaders and global

corporates in investing in the state has forced the chief ministers of several

Indian states to imitate his policies. He was the only Indian to figure in the

dream cabinet of the World Link magazine of the World Economic Forum. Under Mr

Naidu’s leadership, Andhra Pradesh was the first state in the country to bring

out a policy paper on information technology, a trend that later spread like a

forest fire to other states. Coming out with IT Policies and forming IT Task

Forces have now become a fashion among the sate governments.

Chandrababu Naidu first got noticed by the corporate sector when he dolled

out several concessions to the Information Technology industry for shifting to

Hyderabad, the state capital, almost immediately after taking over as the state

chief minister in September 1995. His biggest catch was when Microsoft agreed to

open its development centre in the city.

Andhra Pradesh today is ahead of any other state in putting up the

infrastructure for e-governance. The registration department covering all its

212 sub registrar office is computerised. All the districts of the state are

being connected to the capital through a 2 mbps link. It is normal for the Power

Point CM (as he is sometimes known as for his frequent use of the software) to

take instant decisions while speaking to his officers through videoconferences.

Hyderabad today threatens the Indian Silicon Valley, Bangalore, the business

capital of India, Mumbai and other major industrialised Indian cities in

becoming the hub of IT activities. The latest news is that Mr Naidu has

announced the creation of Cyberabad, near Hyderabad, which will Net companies to

open offices. The performance of the chief executive officer of Andhra Pradesh,

as he likes to be called, will be the focus of both Indian and world leaders and

entrepreneurs alike for the years to come as his promises and policies start

showing results.

Bill Gates: The kid who would not stop growing



Writing a profile of Bill Gates for the IT world is like describing Gandhi to
the Indians or Abraham Lincoln to the Americans. Or, Hitler to the world, as

some would say it. After all, can one make a statement on Bill Gates without

attracting controversy? What has he done to deserve all this? If he is the

world’s most liked corporate icon, he is perhaps also the most hated software

professional. Because, he succeeded. Beyond one’s imagination.

Even his harshest enemy would agree that William Henry Gates III

single handedly changed the way software was treated by the box sellers in the

1970s. He shocked IBM chiefs when he proposed that his operating system can be

loaded on to the IBM PCs if a fee was paid on the number of machines sold. There

was no looking back for the brightest kid of the IT world. In fact, there was

never a looking back for him.

Isn’t it known that the 44-year old, started his career at the age of 13 as

a software programmer. That he dropped out of Harvard University graduate

program, during which years, he developed BASIC, the prgramming language for the

first minicomputer, MITS Altair. In 1975, he formed Microsoft, along with his

programming friend Paul Allen. In the 80s came Microsoft’s first major

product, the Disk Operating System or DOS. However, Gates and his company was

noticed in a big way when Windows 3.1 became a huge hit in the PC arena in the

early 1990s. The kid was a billionnaire at the age of 31.

The life of Bill Gates after Windows 3.1 is perhaps more popular than the

Statue of Liberty. He has almost realised his dream of seeing Windows operating

system in almost all the PCs in the world. Bill Gates, who is well on his way to

become the world’s first trillionnaire, has captured more than 80 per cent of

the world market in operating system. Many a competitors came and many continue

to come, but, they have all only helped Microsoft grow faster. So fast that the

company and its star chief has been under the close scrutiny of the US

department of Justice and many US state governments for quite some time now,

which has resulted in their coming together to file a lawsuit in the court

accusing Microsoft of stiffling competition.

Last week he said he would step down as Microsoft CEO. But, few believe that he will not play any excutive role in Microsoft’s management. The new world order has brought in many new challenges for the company. Bill Gates has seen them all and fought them successfully, till now. In the age of Internet, many believe that Bill Gates cannot be what he has been in the 80s and 90s of the last century. He will have to share the world with others. For example, with Linux, at least in the higher end server operating system environment.

Bill Gates is a visionary. He has always understood the needs of the common computer users and the sophisticated programmer, alike. Microsoft’s products and their success in the market are a reflection of this fact. Add to that his unrelenting attitude to fight and overcome all hurdles.

It is going to be interesting hobby for Gates watchers (on either side of the fence) to see how the old kid on the block performs his trapeze act and tackles the numerous role he has to play. Meanwhile, the latest round of talks that goes around is that Bill Gates could possibly be preparing himself for the post of President of the United States of America, the most powerful designation on the earth!