Turning down the idea of writing a book to chronicle the history of the Indian IT industry, former CEO and co-founder of Infosys Kris Gopalakrishnan has chosen to use his love for computing technology to create an iOS and Android application called itihaasa — a 600 video chronicle of the history of an industry that has created 35 lakh jobs.
The app, which features interviews with 44 stalwarts of the technology world and chronicles the journey of the industry from the installation of the first modern computer in the country in 1955, was launched here on Sunday by Kris Gopalakrishnan.
“Indian IT has been integral to the rise of modern industrial India. The industry employs 3.5 million people, contributes 9.5 percent of our GDP and has redefined the country’s perception globally. From a single modern computer in the early 1950s, the industry today generates revenues worth $150 billion. With itihaasa, we hope to take the incredible story of Indian IT to many more people across the world,” Kris Gopalakrishnan said at the launch of the application.
The application, available free of cost, enables people to navigate some 600 videos that chronicle the various stages of the IT industry and the people involved with its growth – like why the first computer was installed in India, early perception of computers among subsequent industry stalwarts like NR Narayana Murthy or how TCS set out on the software exports path.
“We wanted to capture voices, views, perspectives from leaders who built the industry,’’ Kris Gopalakrishnan said. “The interviews and research for itihaasa unearthed hidden nuggets and insights that make for a most compelling digital museum,’’ he said.
Itihaasa was conceptualised as a mobile app by Kris Gopalakrishnan to track business history. The project is an ongoing one that will be updated periodically and the platform on which itihaasa is created can be adopted for making historical research on other subjects available as a mobile phone of tablet application, the Infosys co-founder said.
“What computers have done is for all to see but it is the bright minds that it attracted who have changed the course of history. I could never imagine that the computers that we were playing with could play such an important role in everyday life. I pay credit to technology and the bright minds that made it happen,’’ said one of the early computer science teachers in the country, Prof HN Mahabala, who taught at IIT Madras and IIT Kanpur and who played a role in the computer education of the likes of NR Narayana Murthy and Kris Gopalakrishnan, at the launch of itihaasa.
Source: financialexpress.com
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