Desicritics Category: BizTech: Aviation

Secret Rules for Air Hostesses

Lekhni — Mon, 9 Jun 2008 10:44:28 EDT

How does an air hostess's weight matter ? Of course it's vital, as any airlines will tell you. Air hostesses must be slim and young and pretty. Never mind if they are not courteous or speak such poor English that they do not understand what "toast" means. That's not what their job is about anyway.

The Hon'ble (male) judges of the Delhi High Court would agree. The Court thinks that Air India (or Indian or whatever they call themselves now) was right to ground five air hostesses because they were overweight. This is what the Hindu reports:

The rules prescribe different weight limits according to their height and age. For an 18-year-old air hostess with a height of 152 cm, the maximum weight permissible is 50 kg while air hostesses in the age group of 26 to 30 and a height of 152 cm, the weight limit is 56 kg.

Of course, Air India itself is very overweight and the Maharajah packs a hefty paunch, but then the Maharajah is not an air hostess.

I had always thought that air hostesses are really a sort of glorified waitress. Except, they are waitresses who don't depend on customers' tips for their income, which explains why air hostesses in US airlines are so rude to passengers. But apparently not. Air hostesses must be in the fashion industry. Why else would they have rules saying air hostesses can't marry, get old or put on weight? I thought such rules were only reserved for models. Also obviously, male stewards are not in the fashion industry. That is why none of these restrictions apply to them.

But why stop at just age and weight? The airlines have other secret rules for air hostesses that explain the quirks in their appearance, behavior and the quality of airline service these days. I have seen these rules in action in the US, and I am sure they exist in India (or Indian). So for readers of this blog, I am letting you into a trade secret that is guarded zealously by the airline industry. I shall tell you the secret rules.

The Six Secret Rules for air hostesses:

Rule 1: Air hostesses should remember that they are, first and foremost, sales persons. They are responsible for selling stale trail mix, cheap headphones and overpriced blankets and pillows. Unfortunately, airlines do not as yet sell water, so air hostesses should refrain from handing out water unless specifically requested by passengers. Even then, they should provide water only in tiny water cups.

Rule 2: All air hostesses should wear high heels that are at least 6 inches high. Heels of five inches may be permitted in special cases, with prior approval. They should sashay through the aisle, rolling carts on high heels, and also use these heels to curb passengers who demand too much attention, like extra cups of water.

Rule 3: Air hostesses should have long fingernails that are at least an inch long. Long fingernails are an important accessory that can be used to dip into cups and discourage use of complimentary drinks by passengers. They can also be used to poke passengers while handing out cups of water and juice.

Rule 4: Make up is very important. Nail polish and lip stick should always be bright red in color. Also, make-up should be applied heavily, so the face looks pale, contrasting with the bright red lipstick. Eyes should be heavily made up. This appearance, when combined with a glare, may scare some of the more timid passengers.

Rule 5: Hair color should be brown on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On all other days, it should be black. Red and orange highlights are recommended.

Rule 6: Air hostesses should give the appearance of smiling at passengers. But genuine smiles are not recommended, in case the passengers get too friendly and request additional cups of water, newspapers or other services currently free.

The airlines take interaction with passengers very seriously. Hidden cameras will be placed above each seat to monitor whether air hostesses chat with passengers or otherwise indulge in courteous behavior. Such behavior can attract disciplinary action. Air hostesses are permitted to be rude to economy class passengers, however, and also to smile in relief, however, when passengers depart the plane.

Perhaps there are more. Certainly the airlines seem to invent a new rule every day, and you just have to open the papers to learn about it.

The Bangalore International Airport - The Day One Experience

Anuradha Goyal — Tue, 27 May 2008 11:57:03 EDT

I was to land in Bangalore on 24th May in the morning at 8:45 AM, and this turned out to be the exact date on which Bangalore’s new international airport was to commence operations. To be honest, I was sincerely hoping that I land at the old airport as it is a hop. skip, and jump from my place. And the closer you were to the old Bangalore, the farther you are from the new airport in Devanahalli. But now that I have landed at BIAL on day one and got comfortably back home, it feels good to be a part of the history. There have been so many debates, arguments, views and controversies around opening of BIAL that I want to share the experience if being there on Day 1.

As we were landing at 8:30 AM on Saturday morning, all those who were returning home wanted to peep out and have a glimpse of the new airport from the top. While landing at HAL, I could always see my apartment complex, and a whole lot of other identifiable landmarks. At BIAL, it was a vast empty space all around and then there were two airstrips in the middle of nowhere. The first look at airport from the plane window did not give a great impression, it looked like a building still under construction. It is definitely much bigger and better than HAL, but is it big enough to take care of the potential air traffic of Bangalore in coming years, I am not sure. As we landed through an aerobridge, which used to be a rarity at HAL, it felt nice to go through an absolutely new aerobridge still to be adorned with advertisements or any other kind of messages or notices. As we walked out, the place looked a little deserted, but none the less everyone carried a curious look on their faces as they walked towards the immigration counters.

The counters look ported from the old airport, not very different and I think they could have been better designed. They look like counters in old time banks and are situated too close to each other. The yellow line to separate the queues and the counters is yet to be drawn. The number of counters was good enough to clear most passengers within 5-6 minutes. I spoke to the immigration officer who was excited to be at the new airport. When I asked him is he happy about being in the new facility he said, 'Its day 1 - lets see how it goes’.

The toilets were a big disappointment. Less than 9 hours of operations and the toilets were dirty, filthy and it appeared that they had not been cleaned at all since being opened. The down escalator was not working, but there were people attending to it and it started working in about 30 mins or so. Baggage carousels are well designed, a lot of people can stand by them and collect their baggage. While immigration was finished in 5 mins, we had to wait at least an hour before the carousel started moving, which everyone applauded loudly. I was lucky to get my baggage very fast after it started moving. While waiting for the baggage, I moved around to see the airport and strolled around a few retail outlets, most of which were still in the setup mode and were fixing things. The prices mentioned were in dollars and I wonder why.

The whole airport carries a resemblance to the Infosys campus, especially the washrooms. Similar designs and materials have been used, probably because of the Mr Narayana Murthy being at the helm of affairs at both places…There was a huge board saying ‘I came here First’ with the lovely BIAL logo, open to everyone to sign on it. It felt great to sign on it. If you happen to see it, look out for my signature right on I.

As I came out of the airport, the view outside was almost similar to the one at HAL, loads and loads of taxi guys with placards waiting for their customers. It is when you go past them that you are able to see the other options to get back home. Thanks to the very active association of my apartment complex, I knew that I have to take the Electronic City bus to reach home. The Volvo bus station is about 200-300 mts from the arrival gate. You can take the trolley right up to the bus. The conductor helped me load the luggage on the bus. The buses are well designed to carry lots of luggage and can seat 31 persons. The conductor had a small machine around his neck which he used to issue tickets. The ticket to Sarjapur road junction on ORR costs Rs 150/-. You can also take taxis, which are flat priced at Rs 15/- per km. For most of us living in south Bangalore, I guess the bus is a better option than taxis, especially for women traveling alone as its one long stretch of lonely roads. The bus was comfortable and it took me 1 hour and 20 mins to cover approx imately 50 kms. It was a Saturday, so it might take a little longer on weekdays and during peak hours.

I think the Volvo buses are going to be a huge hit, provided there are enough of them. With only a capacity of 31 persons, we would need a lot of them. Buses are a good option to come back from the airport, but to go there they may end up serving only those who board them from the starting point. This would mean we need many more starting points or routes for the buses. Another idea may be exploring Taxi pooling to and from huge apartment complexes, organizations and hotels. This can reduce pressure on everything: roads, environment and pockets.

In my opinion it would take another 3-4 months by the time everything smoothens out, and the airport wears its planned swanky look. Overall, it was a nice experience to be there on Day 1, far better than what most newspapers made it out to be.

James Watson Vs. Howard Gardner - What Does Intelligence Mean?

Uma Ranganathan — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 05:10:17 EDT

The other day my mother expressed her opinion on James Watson’s remarks on intelligence in her usual succinct fashion. “He thinks blacks are less intelligent than whites? Why don’t we plonk Watson in the middle of the Kalahari desert and see how long he survives”, she said with a mean glint in her eye.

In fact the real debate about intelligence has to do with far more than some misconceived remarks made by an elderly Nobel prize winner for physiology and medicine. It has to do with the general view of intelligence in our society. Just look around you and this is what you see. That the branch of intelligence we worship by and large, is that which destroys, which alienates human beings from each other and to top it all pollutes the world to such an extent that many of us are no longer able to even breathe freely. True, at the material level modern intelligence has led to some pretty mind-boggling innovations, to technologies which have extended our life spans, have licked horrendous diseases considered to have been fatal till a short while back, and deepened our sense of comfort. Which I can hardly grumble about considering my own mania for creature comforts - electricity, running water, modern plumbing and all the rest. But one can’t help noticing how little this so-called intelligence has done for our sense of responsibility or dignity as human beings. There is nothing either responsible, dignified or half way creative about all that is going on in the world today in the name of religion, morality or nationalism.

The education system almost throughout the civilized world is centered around a philosophy which subtly (and often not so subtly) implies that the most smart talking, most powerful, most exploitative, most cunning people are the most intelligent. At least those are the ones who are rewarded, initially with good grades and later with recognition and wealth. A few nuts or eccentrics might be aware of and occasionally expound on Harvard Professor Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligence but how many?

Gardner in fact lists seven different areas of intelligence: linguistic (the kind that would make you a poet), logical-mathematical (which you would need to be a scientist), musical, spatial (as in a sculptor or pilot), kinesthetic (intelligence of the body, which dancers need for example), interpersonal (intelligence related to the ability to connect with others) and intrapersonal intelligence (being aware of oneself). These were the original seven kinds of intelligence described by Gardner although later he added one more to the list, which he called the naturalist intelligence, the ability to recognize and classify plants, minerals and animals.

Gardner’s theory might gladden the hearts of those human beings whose faculties fall outside those of traditionally defined intelligence, but still it is small consolation. How many parents do you know even today, for example, who would genuinely encourage their son to learn dancing instead of physics or law? How many parents would be happy to support a child’s artistic talents instead of egging him or her on to take up a respectable profession like medicine or engineering?

Once we’re done with verbally thrashing Watson for his remarks perhaps we should use the point he has raised as a launching pad to examine some of our own preconceived notions of what intelligence means. If you ask me one of the basic points on which I would personally judge intelligence is the ability to not only survive but to live in harmony with each other, in a kind of relationship which brings beauty, grace and creativity into our lives. Judging by the sort of world we have jointly produced, I would say we human beings (at least till now) have failed the test.

Sunita Williams, Potato Chips, and Space Research

Uma Ranganathan — Mon, 8 Oct 2007 11:40:12 EDT

The Indian media reminds me of a one-man dog. Once it gets hold of someone you find the person’s mug all over the press and television. Of course unlike a one-man dog the fancy doesn’t last a lifetime but for a few weeks or at the most some months. If the person in favor happens to be Mr. A. Bachchan, well you find Mr. A. Bachchan’s face plastered all over the dailies and the weeklies and dominating a string of talk shows as well, so that no matter who you are or what you do, in a while you’re eating, sleeping, dreaming of Mr. A. Bachchan. Some years ago our cook A, actually came to me giggling over a dream in which Mr. AB had figured. “We were both sitting in a car,” she said, “And he was dropping me off at the airport. When it was time to part, there were tears in his eyes and in mine as well.”

I said to her, “Oh heck, why did you have to pick on Mr. AB to dream about and she giggled, “That’s what I asked myself too! I don’t even like him particularly. The guy I used to be really mad about was Dharmendra.”

These days a person whose visage you can’t get away from is Sunita Williams. We are discovering all kinds of things about her including her penchant for samosas and how India’s president made sure she was provided them during a presidential tea party.

Don’t get me wrong. Sunita Williams comes across as a really nice, down to earth, personable young woman. I kind of like her. But this mania for space research? So all the kids in India are now gearing up to be astronauts? Naturally a few unwanted questions come to mind.

If the passion and energy that the U.S. and some other countries invest in space journeys were to be invested in revamping medical care all over the world, (especially in the U.S. with its notoriously exorbitant health care system) how would the world look?

If the money spent on space trips could be pumped into projects to feed, clothe and educate all the people on earth, would that make us human beings seem less creative or inspired as a race? Why don’t human beings spend just a little more time and make a little more effort to understand their own psyche and how to streamline the functioning between the different nations? Why don’t they look at ways to ensure that the benefits are really divided in an equitable manner between us all?

And as for journeys into outer space - in my experience, journeying into the space of your own mind and connecting with other individuals in a space in which one can move around with freedom and openness, seems far more rewarding than sitting in a rocket and taking off for the moon. I never have been to the moon but can well get a feel of the universe which Williams describes from where I am on earth. “When you are up in space,” she says, “You see the vastness of the universe and realize you are just one little piece.” Maybe some people need to get out there to really feel it. Some can sense it sitting in their own homes, on the balcony or in the garden, on a lonely beach by the sea, gazing at the stars above.

“You might say I’m a dreamer,” to quote John Lennon. You might say I’m not in touch with “reality”. Maybe the reality of human beings is to keep conquering new worlds (including those in cyberspace) leaving vast slums and mounting neurosis in their wake. Maybe this is our destiny. Maybe I should ask to be born a Martian in my next life. So what if I look like ET? There’s a chance that society on Mars or some other remote planet will turn out to be somewhat more congenial than the one we’ve tacked together between us on earth. But then again, you never know. I think I’ll just settle for a bag of potato chips when I finish writing this. Like I said yesterday, I’m definitely giving up eating chips tomorrow.

Bring the Maharaja Down to Earth

Jitesh — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 00:13:59 EDT

After months of unsuccessfully peddling Alitalia, the Italian government is now contemplating a liquidation of the insolvent national airline. "When something is diseased, you need to amputate it," Infrastructure Minister Antonio Di Pietro said.

While reading the entire story, it was hard not to draw parallels with the geriatric Maharajah of India and his domestic help – ‘Indian’. For as long as I can remember, Air India and Indian Airlines have been on life support, bolstered by government subsidies and powerful unions. Lately, competition from a bullish private sector has rendered the national airline more irrelevant than ever.

However, the Indian government continues to apply lipstick on the pig with ill-conceived merger plans and rebranding campaigns at the tax-payer’s expense. The pent-up demand for air travel in India is helping sustain the government’s misdirected efforts, but at what cost?

I travel to India several times a year for work and the starkness of the Air India and Indian Airlines facilities at most airports is galling. The check-in counters occupy prime real-estate but serve only a trickle of customers when compared to a Jet or an Air Deccan (and I am told much of that patronage comes from government babus for whom it is mandatory to fly on the national carrier). One routinely hears of the harrowing experiences of flying on Indian Airlines in contrast to the raving reviews of Jet and Kingfisher.

There is, and has been for some time, a strong case for pulling the plug on state-run airlines in India.

My friends tell me I’m a capitalist schmuck and don’t appreciate the service provided by Indian Airlines to destinations that would otherwise be unattractive to private carriers. The argument defies all logic because if that were the sole purpose of the state-run airline, it should not be flying the mainstream routes at all. By flying to cities like Mumbai and New Delhi, Indian Airlines introduces a shoddy, subsidized product into a market where the private airlines are already engaged in a fierce dogfight.

The Civil Aviation ministry would do well to take a cue from their Italian counterparts, and euthanize the ailing Maharajah once and for all.

Patna and Pune: India's Most Dangerous Airports?

arZan — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 00:06:00 EDT

The TOI has an article in today's edition about the lack of safety standards at Indian airports.

With an additional 12,000 flights this year compared with 2006, the rise in the number of skids and incidents is not surprising. The Sao Paulo tragedy has raised the question: how safe are Indian runways? The consensus in the aviation industry is that the two most unsafe airports in the country are those at Pune and Patna. However, it's not as if the rest are up to standard. [link]

While I have never landed in Pune, I have once in Patna. It was a long time ago in 1996, and the only thing I remember was that the airport was spectacularly boring from what I could see.

My vote for the weirdest airport in India would go to Nagpur hands down. Infact I am surprised that the airport was so bad, because Nagpur is a prominent city in Central India.

A lot of issues make airports unsafe. However the one big issue is length of runways. Its surprising that a lot of Indian airports do not have runways that are at least 9000 feet as per safety norms. In recent years Indian aviation has taken off literally and therefore its all the more surprising that infrastructure has not kept pace. Privatisation could be one answer, but the government has dragged its feet on the issue for years before offering some leeway on this accord with the airports in Bombay and Delhi.

Which airport according to you is the scariest one in India?

UB Group Acquires 26% Stake in Air Deccan - More Consolidation in the Skies

Rajiv Renganathan — Thu, 31 May 2007 21:49:03 EDT

From Kingfisher v/s Air Deccan to Kingfisher + Air Deccan- This seems like a story of two good friends who could not be rivals at business! Captain G.R. Gopinath and Vijay Mallya have joined hands. Vijay Mallya's UB Group is buying 26% stake in Air Deccan. The sale is termed as a "strategic financial investment”. What that means for now is that Vijay Mallya does not gain management control of Air Deccan. It would however gain a management role in the low-cost airline. G.R Gopinath will be the executive chairman and Vijay Mallya, the vice chairman of Air Deccan. The future will be interesting to watch the changing face of the pioneer of low-cost airlines in India and the role the man who described his airline's business to be "transport people between 2 places at the lowest cost and nothing more."

Launched in August 2003, Air Deccan has come a long way. Air Deccan has made flying affordable to the common man. To a business man, it has opened up a new business arena of low cost airlines. Air Deccan exploited an unexplored potential and on the back of it a host of low-cost airlines have mushroomed in recent years. In terms of numbers, Air Deccan hast the largest route network covering over 55 cities with a fleet size of 43. It has a market share of 20% making it the second largest airline in India. All this in a short span of about 4 years is highly commendable. However, the answer to one key question in any business- "Are you making profit?" turns the numbers topsy -turvy. Air Deccan reported losses of Rs. 356 crores in the last financial year. With 22% of the airline owned by the promoters and rest among public- VC funds, FIIs, Individuals including 11% by Lachmandas Ladhani, it seems it became difficult to keep flying without a co-pilot!

On the personal front, I have liked Air Deccan for the prices. My liking ends there. I have had bad memories with flight delays and reschedules. I have failed to understand the concept of "free seating" which only creates confusion and discomfort. When a simple software can churn out seat numbers, why not! I have had to wait for 30 minutes on call to speak to a customer service representative. When I made an attempt to cancel tickets in March, I was told that they have lost data in a system upgrade that included the price of my tickets! It is June and I am yet to get my money. Personal experiences aside, Air Deccan continues to provide the opportunity for many, who never expected to fly once in their life time.

The stage is set for the next phase- Kingfisher-Deccan versus Jet-Sahara combine. On the sidelines is the Air India-Indian merger. All this is immaterial for the common man- this is no end to the party. He can continue to watch for the "Fly at Rs 0" ads on daily newspaper.

America on Gel-Alert: How My Can of Deo-Spray Posed a Security Threat

GV Krishnan — Mon, 21 May 2007 11:40:31 EDT

I don't know which colour-coded alert (yellow, orange, red) is now on in America. I believe colour-coding was introduced some five years back. With every visit that I make to the US, under varied colour alerts, I learn about new threats to its security.

In the beginning there was the white-powder scare that was conveyed through mail-boxes. Any envelope received from strangers was tested for anthrax contamination. Then fork and knife assumed a lethal dimension in the eyes of Homeland Security. Later smokers were not allowed to carry a lighter.

I no longer keep my nail-cutter in the shaving kit, which is part of my hand baggage during air travel. The last time I did, the officer at the security check (Hong Kong airport) took the nail-cutter away before I was allowed to board the flight to San Francisco. They were after my shaving kit this time as well. At the security checkpoint in Seoul (during transit) the man picked out my can of deo spray and said, "No, not allowed", before tossing it into a trash bin, thoughtfully placed at airport security counters. Toiletries so collected from air travelers can keep the shelves at Chennai's Burma Bazaar forever filled. The US federal security bans carrying gel (more than three ounces) in any form in the hand baggage.

It is on such occasions that I miss my wife, who has a way with airport security officials. She wasn't with me and I felt vulnerable. During our last US visit together we had our baggage scanned on arrival at San Francisco and I watched helplessly as a Customs official rummaged my hand baggage and pulled out a plastic container with betel nuts. I was tongue-tied. As he was about to toss it into the bin, my wife spoke up on my behalf. "It is supari," she said. "We take it after meals to help digestion." The man saw sense in it, and allowed my betel nuts.

This time my wife and I traveled on different dates. While I lost my can of deo spray to maintenance of US internal security, my wife had breezed through the airport formalities with her Mysore milk sweets, banana chips and assortment of other eatables for her pregnant daughter-in-law and beloved son. Some people get away with an air of innocence about them. And I can't even tell the truth without arousing suspicion. During one of my earlier visits, an immigration official wasn't convinced about the duration of my visit to the US, even after I had produced as proof my return ticket to Bangalore. I thought I was being straight-forward when the official wanted to know how long I planned to stay. It only evoked suspicion - "Is the date (on the return ticket) final?"

My son Ravi, who travels frequently within the US, says they were more considerate at domestic airports. Once at San Jose he told the security officials he didn't want to lose his after-shave gel. They offered to courier the can of gel to his residence at San Ramon. He wound up paying the courier charges ($10), which was more than what the gel had cost him.

My wife's complaint is that I am anxiety-prone. My anxiety is that, unknown to me, my wife packs in sweets, eatables and curry power in supreme indifference to the restrictions at US airports. My telling her about such baggage violations, sniffer dogs and the trash cans at airport security checks has little impact. She silences me saying, "I will take that chance, so long as you don't blurt it out to them."

So I let my wife do the talking. I can't bring myself to telling people at airports, "We've nothing to declare," particularly when I know not what my wife's baggage contained.

Indian Aviation: First Blood Drawn?

Capt. Anup Murthy — Wed, 4 Apr 2007 07:25:55 EDT

I have been away in Macao and almost missed some stories from back home in India. When I got to Singapore, the first news from India that caught my eye was about Indus Airways stopping flights and shutting down. It brought back memories from the 1990's when start-up airlines in India started folding, one after another.

Funnily enough, I had written in December last year, that some of the airlines in India are run on ego and not on sound business plan and I had predicted their closure. This included Indus, as evidenced from one of my replies to a comment from a reader. My post got some bouquets and brickbats, as it usually does, with some going on to refute my prediction. I had mentioned that the reasons for my observations were based on pure math and also from knowing that the wrong aircraft for the wrong routes and wrong pricing can never add up to profits.

The writing is on the wall, I had said, sounding more like a doomsday prophet than an aviation professional, and some had questioned my observation about corporate investment in the airline sector.

I had said in my blog then "There's another curious activity going on these days that's also making news. Financial companies, investment firms and other corporate types are buying up small equity shares in some of the Airlines. I don't know why and some seem keen on picking up larger equity. I don't know who is advising these guys and I'll bet there is an army of CA's and MBA's in ties involved."

I did hear some sound bites from the "experts" about this and they were saying: "these are very positive a signs indeed, signs of maturity, such an investment lends credibility etc" and all that hogwash these guys come up with. And they get paid a mint, mind you, to say all this rubbish".

I had written about specifically the TATA group having picked up a stake in Spice Jet and that I thought was a mistake. This led to a question from a reader asking why I did not support corporate investment in Aviation business. I had felt that while corporate investment in the Airline sector was a good thing to have, it did not make much sense for a company to invest blindly. TATAs do know a thing or two about Aviation but on the advice of some of their financial consultants it seems, they had found it prudent to pick up some equity in Spice Jet.

So, coming to Spice Jet's current cup of woes, the latest news projects Spice Jet's loss this quarter is up by 395%. Staggering? It would be for any one else but as I mentioned, some one keeps injecting some fresh life in the scene and things keep floating for a longer time.

I have heard that the other Airlines are all keeping a positive attitude - that's good because that's all they can do; keep positive. They will paint red all over the skies with their results this year, notwithstanding bravado statements from the "glitterati" of aviation. The sector is set to lose something like Rs.1,800 crores and thats no small change! Like I said before, it's been good for the flying public, cheap fares and all. My advice, stop complaining and keep flying. When more airlines fold up, the fares are heading north for sure!

So, we have the first blood drawn in this aviation scenario. Luckily it has not been a bloodbath in terms of an all out price war and the intention of one Airline to see another go down the tubes and fail. My blog on Macao had to wait for this piece, just had to get this one off my chest.

The U.S. Comes Up Lacking In Cross-Atlantic Trade Wars

Sibin Mohan — Mon, 5 Mar 2007 00:15:25 EST

Yes, the title is exactly as I meant it to be. There seems to be a subtle trade war, of the underhanded kind, and the United States doesn't seem to be doing too much about it.

I'm not sure if the Europeans are following an agenda, but they seem to be systematically targeting some of the biggest players in the tech industry (basically American corporations).

The first in line, was of course Microsoft. But then, they were pulled up in the U.S. for unfair trade practices as well, so one could say that well, they deserved it. If they used unfair methods to get ahead, then it is obvious that the Europeans would go after them as well. But what was interesting, was that the Europeans kept at it. The legal battles and fines went on for much longer in Europe than it did in the U.S. In fact, the Windows versions released in Europe were very different from what was released worldwide.

The extent to which the Europeans seemed to be taking Microsoft to task was obvious by the way American corporations like Google and Adobe would run to the European Union to complain about their impending Vista release and not to the American government/courts! They felt they had a better chance of being heard there than in their own country.

Well, considering that Microsoft was being dragged about everywhere by the European Union, the American government did not intervene and throw their support behind the company -- but then again, since they had also gone after the same company, it would seem odd if the government now changed its stance and helped Microsoft.

Of late, Google has been in the news, again in Europe, losing court battles that almost seem nonsensical - people lay claim to the local language site like gmail.pl or they claim that Google cannot use the name "gmail" or something even more nonsensical like they don't want their articles to appear on Google News. In the latter instance Google was initially being fined close to million dollars a day unless they stopped their search engines from indexing certain Belgian newspapers. Apparently they didn't like the free links that Google was giving them!

Then there's Apple. Apple is supposed to be everything that Microsoft is not - cool, revolutionary, hip, and rebellious. They supposedly are in a league of their own and apparently are responsible for over 70% of online music sales and also own the player market with their iPods.

First, the French decided to take a shot at Apple. They passed a law, mind you that's a constitutional law, that says that companies (like Apple) that sell digital music in France must open up their systems so that the music can be downloaded onto any device. This means that Apple will have to make their music available on any mp3 player.

The rest of Europe seems to be following suit -- various countries that form the European Union are now pursuing Apple to open up their iTunes store.

I'm not taking side in the DRM vs non-DRM argument. I'm not even backing the record companies in this case. The socialist nature of the European Union seems to be taking periodic potshots at companies (companies that are global players, but US-based nonetheless) and maybe hurting them seriously.

I'm not a big fan of the governments stepping in and trying to crush free competition, especially when they're driven by a particular socialist agenda. The only reason these lawmakers are even considering these legislations, is because they know that the iPod/Google/Windows is very popular and the voting public will see them as taking on these software giants to help their everyday lives. Add to it, they will also have given "evil" Americans a snub in the face.

I do believe that the U.S. government has to step in and back their corporations to the hilt. These issues should be a part of trade negotiations with the Europeans, because these problems have a serious side effect - the losses/drop in share values could affect American economy in a big way. Add to it the idea that any company, just because it is big and successful, can be a target of malicious governments the world over should not be tolerated.

This is not limited to the personal tech sector. There is the classic case of Airbus vs Boeing. The European aircraft manufacturer has been getting away with a lot of "profit" and price cutting due to subsidies it obtains from the European Union, while Boeing has been feeling the ill effects of having to compete with Airbus on unfair terms.

Then there was the hushkit issue a while ago. While all Airbus-manufactured aircraft had these installed, the European Union found a way to go after Boeing for not having this part, which would cost the American aircraft manufacturer billions of dollars to retrofit every aircraft that would fly over European airspace!

But the aircraft industry was an instance where the US government decided to step in and support Boeing and file WTO complaints against the EU. During the hushkit fiasco, they also came down hard on Airbus on the U.S. side. I guess the visible losses in income and blue-collar jobs woke up the Washington D.C. politicians and made them spring into action. Sadly, no such action seems forthcoming in the software/personal tech sector. The losses are not visible yet, or are in the unforseen future, and hence they needn't worry about it. Reminds me of the ostrich-in-the-sand scenario (or even the global warming issue to be honest).

The U.S. government seems to be sleeping while their industry is facing serious problems in Europe. Perhaps it is time that the government (surprisingly an industry-friendly government in this case) wakes up and decides to do something about it.