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Newbies and freebies crowd Cybercity expo

With 20 PCs hooked to the Web for anyone to surf and 25 company stalls spread over three massive halls, the Cybercity Exhibition here is truly an electronic city.

On the second day at the Taj Residency Hotel, the exhibition is chaotic, mostly because of the large number of student visitors whose wonderment cannot not be contained.

T O D A Y

• Brain damage • Newbies and freebies • Strategies for service • Cybercity talks end

Then there are Internet enthusiasts and scientists to just the plain curious who are milling around, making the place an anthill of excitement. However, the organisers are looking for something else and hope to see more of corporate decision-maker kinds tomorrow, the final day of the exhibition and the NASSCOM'97 business conference.

A majority gawk at the sheer scale of the multimedia presentations assaulting their senses but there are also those who have shrugged off all frills and are doing brisk no-nonsense rounds, seeking information on this and that. And, of course, there are a good number of those who have come in to only surf the Web for free while they can.

Sudha Ramanna, a scientist form Bangalore's Indian Institute of Science, is here because she is interested in learning Java. "I know C++ and I'm told that in this case it's not very difficult to learn Java. It can be very useful in doing my papers."

IBM had the matinee idol of yesteryears and today's Web enthusiast Shammi Kapoor visit their exhibition last evening. It has the largest stall and a huge screen there attempts to introduce newcomers and latecomers to the intricacies of the Web.

They also have a digital camera which snaps your picture and puts it on a floppy instantly. Shree Vidhya who is in charge of the Solutions Partnership Centre at IBM says: "There's a lot of interest from software professionals. They keep bombarding you with questions but, of course, there are a few who come in asking a lot of basic questions on the Internet and intranets."

Apple Computers has a couple of new technologies on show. A neat system is the E-Mate which will be introduced in the Indian market this December. E-Mate is a tiny gizmo for the kids which allows them to read, write, surf the Net and even print on a laser printer.

Sudhir, who handles education for Apple in India, says, "This kind of an exhibition allows interested people to have a hands-on experience with the equipment, the technology, the advancements, this is important for any business. Of course, with every technology-friendly person, comes a question like 'Do I have to wear goggles to watch virtual reality'."

And for the tired and hungry, in the Cybercity, is a Cybercafe. The menu is quaint with Gopher.soft drinks, Jughead.hamburger, Yahoo.vegetable biryani, Active X.samosa, and MIME.chicken roll. A couple of teenagers add to the flavour by playing noisy computer games; the ambience is complete.

MicroGiga Infotech is actually conducting 40-minute classes on ways to absorb the Internet and intranet technologies for just about anybody who wants to take them. So, in the midst of all the melee, a very serious lecture is being delivered on Java beans, Java foundation classes, SMTP client, POP3 client...

And then there's the stall of the government ISP monopoly, the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited. Though, with the policy decision to open up the ISP market, VSNL's prime position has been lost, it is not failing to attract crowds.

The VSNL staff is busy explaining the ISP technology with graphs and charts. Many small-time ISP wannabes are rapt with attention. Ravi Shankar of Digital Equipment says: "There's been a hoard of people asking about the modalities and logistics of becoming a service provider. The guy who now runs an STD/ISD service will soon want to move up with the technology."

Lalitha and Subbanna Sudharshan are probably the oldest couple on the floor. Subbanna is chairman of HOPE, the Helping Organisations Pursue Excellence outfit. He is "impressed". Lalitha has managed to get a few questions answered about her new Internet connection.

Living Computers, PC World, Express Computers, all are giving away their publications free.

Aditi Technologies, the legendary Microsoft partner in India, are asking people to enroll for a free demo class. They are also giving away CDs which explain how the Internet can be used.

Cal-Info speaks of its plans of starting a shopping mall on the Web by Diwali. The site is to host wares of all the major department stores in Bangalore like Shopper's Stop, Big Kidskemp and Deepam Sarees. R Lakshman explains "This Web site will be for Indians living abroad who can pay by MasterCard over the Web while buying gifts for their friends and relatives in India. We think it will work."

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