Most people recognize trash when they see it or hear it. Except for the suckers and trash lovers.

No surprise then that Microsoft’s Zune digital music player has been consigned to the trash heap and shown the middle finger by most music lovers.

Launched in November last year, Microsoft has sold about 1.2 million units of Zune. In about the same time (from October 2006-June 2007), Apple sold 41.4 million units of its hugely popular iPods. Go figure.

In a desperate effort to shore up sales of the dead sucker, Microsoft is rolling out new versions of its Zune player, software and online store in November. None of them amount to a hill of beans.

Microsoft is putting out its first flash versions of the Zune Continue Reading…

Som Mittal will take over as President of India’s premier software and services trade organization National Association of Software and Service Companies  (NASSCOM) in January 2008.

Som Mittal succeeds Kiran Karnik, who assumed the reins of NASSCOM after the untimely death of our friend Dewang Mehta in April 2001.

Currently Senior VP of HP services for Asia-Pacific and Japan, Som Mittal has spent long years at Wipro and Digital/Compaq/HP in various capacities.

In the early 1990s, Som was in charge of Wipro’s peripherals business until his boss Ashok Soota shifted him to PC operations.

While heading Wipro’s PC business, Som Mittal got restless and joined Digital Equipment India Ltd, which had been going through some turmoil after Mike Shah’s performance as Managing Director didn’t leave the parent company too happy.

After Compaq acquired Digital, Som Mittal edged out Abhishek Mukherjee of Compaq to become head of the combined company’s Indian operations. When HP under Carly Fiorina gobbled up Compaq, Som was put in charge of HP GlobalSoft.

A shrewd and wily operator and media savvy guy, Som Mittal is an alumni of IIT Kanpur and IIM Ahmedabad.