Opera: The Company with a Big Heart

OPERA, the browser company, was started only in 1994. Yet, in 2007 the small browser company took on the might of Microsoft. Opera filed an antitrust complaint with the EU. It urged the EU to look into Microsoft's practice of bundling IE with its popular Windows OS.

Late last year Opera won and the software giant was forced to eat humble pie. Microsoft agreed to provide a choice of browsers to its users. It was a victory for the customer in general. The browser industry would now come up with even better products as a result.

I met the CEO of Opera Software, Jon S. von Tetzchner, once in Delhi while working as an IT journalist. If my meeting with him was any indicator of the company's vision then Opera strives hard to provide customers with innovative solutions. The several awards that the company received over the years is proof of that.

The company is credited to have pioneered many browser features that we work on today, such as tabs and Speed Dial.

So it came as no surprise to me when Opera Mini was approved for iPhone and iPod touch on the App Store this month.

Mini is currently the number one iPhone app in the 22 featured Apple App Stores on the Apple's website. It's another feather in Opera's cap!

The Youngest MCP in the World!

As I read about a ten year old girl who became the youngest Microsoft Certified Professional my thoughts strayed to the streets and lanes of India.

Sure Arfa Karim Randhawa of Pakistan seems a very bright and intelligent young girl, but, is she really the youngest one? I mean India and Pakistan have so many young motor mechanics, cycle mechanics, carpentars, fabricators, and the like. Aren't these professional areas? They don't have a paper to show off but they've all the skills and experience involved. Unfortunately these unknown individuals will only be remembered as child labourers, and that's the irony of the whole situation. Arfa is lucky that she could actually go to the US and meet the great man himself. But for these situation driven professional workers their job is their ticket to survival. For them, their work areas are their 'disneylands' and each customer a 'Bill Gates!'