Mobile phone giant Motorola hopes to expand its product line beyond cell phones and the company is looking at launching its tablet computer early next year.
"We want to make sure that any tablet that we deliver is competitive in the marketplace, and I think all of us will make sure that we will only deliver (computer) that when that occurs".
"Hopefully, that's early next year. The tablet would be Motorola's answer to Apple's iPad, which has dominated the market since its launch in April this year".
Apple said in June that it has sold three million of its iPad tablets.
"Google has made clear it doesn't think the latest version of Android, called Froyo, is appropriate for tablet devices," the paper quoted Jha as saying in a conference call.
"I will only develop a tablet if it is sufficiently compelling".
Motorola's India-born co-chief executive Sanjay Jha
Jha further said he is eager to get into the tablet business, but indicated that he is thinking about new forms of mobile computing.
He is also interested in models that are "even more smartphone-centric. Other phone makers have also been lining up their tablet computers to take on the iPad."
Samsung Electronics unveiled its seven-inch Galaxy Tab in the US market today, while Dell too launched a five-inch tablet.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
A Letter From A Girl To Jrd Tata In 1974
THE GIRL WRITING AS HERSELF....
It was probably the April of 1974. Bangalore was getting warm and gulmohars were blooming at the IISc campus. I was the only girl in my postgraduate department and was staying at the ladies' hostel. Other girls were pursuing research in different departments of Science. I was looking forward to going abroad to complete a doctorate in computer science. I had been offered scholarships from Universities in the US... I had not thought of taking up a job in India.
One day, while on the way to my hostel from our lecture-hall complex, I saw an advertisement on the notice board. It was a standard job-requirement notice from the famous automobile company Telco (now Tata Motors)... It stated that the company required young, bright engineers, hardworking and with an excellent academic background, etc.
At the bottom was a small line: 'Lady Candidates need not apply.' I read it and was very upset. For the first time in my life I was up against gender discrimination.
Though I was not keen on taking up the job, I saw it as a challenge. I had done extremely well in academics, better than most of my male peers... Little did I know then that in real life academic excellence is not enough to be successful?
After reading the notice I went fuming to my room. I decided to inform the topmost person in Telco's management about the injustice the company was perpetrating. I got a postcard and started to write, but there was a problem: I did not know who headed Telco
I thought it must be one of the Tatas. I knew JRD Tata was the head of the Tata Group; I had seen his pictures in newspapers (actually, Sumant Moolgaokar was the company's chairman then) I took the card, addressed it to JRD and started writing. To this day I remember clearly what I wrote. 'The great Tatas have always been pioneers. They are the people who started the basic infrastructure industries in India, such as iron and steel, chemicals, textiles and locomotives they have cared for higher education in India since 1900 and they were responsible for the establishment of the Indian Institute of Science. Fortunately, I study there. But I am surprised how a company such as Telco is discriminating on the basis of gender.'
I posted the letter and forgot about it. Less than 10 days later, I received a telegram stating that I had to appear for an interview at Telco's Pune facility at the company's expense. I was taken aback by the telegram. My hostel mate told me I should use the opportunity to go to Pune free of cost and buy them the famous Pune saris for cheap! I collected Rs30 each from everyone who wanted a sari when I look back, I feel like laughing at the reasons for my going, but back then they seemed good enough to make the trip.
It was my first visit to Pune and I immediately fell in love with the city.
To this day it remains dear to me. I feel as much at home in Pune as I do in Hubli, my hometown. The place changed my life in so many ways. As directed, I went to Telco's Pimpri office for the interview.
There were six people on the panel and I realized then that this was serious business.
'This is the girl who wrote to JRD,' I heard somebody whisper as soon as I entered the room. By then I knew for sure that I would not get the job. The realization abolished all fear from my mind, so I was rather cool while the interview was being conducted.
Even before the interview started, I reckoned the panel was biased, so I told them, rather impolitely, 'I hope this is only a technical interview.'
They were taken aback by my rudeness, and even today I am ashamed about my attitude. The panel asked me technical questions and I answered all of them.
Then an elderly gentleman with an affectionate voice told me, 'Do you know why we said lady candidates need not apply? The reason is that we have never employed any ladies on the shop floor. This is not a co-ed college; this is a factory. When it comes to academics, you are a first ranker throughout. We appreciate that, but people like you should work in research laboratories.
I was a young girl from small-town Hubli. My world had been a limited place.
I did not know the ways of large corporate houses and their difficulties, so I answered, 'But you must start somewhere, otherwise no woman will ever be able to work in your factories.'
Finally, after a long interview, I was told I had been successful. So this was what the future had in store for me. Never had I thought I would take up a job in Pune. I met a shy young man from Karnataka there, we became good friends and we got married.
It was only after joining Telco that I realized who JRD was: the uncrowned king of Indian industry. Now I was scared, but I did not get to meet him till I was transferred to Bombay. One day I had to show some reports to Mr Moolgaokar, our chairman, who we all knew as SM. I was in his office on the first floor of Bombay House (the Tata headquarters) when, suddenly JRD walked in. That was the first time I saw 'appro JRD'. Appro means 'our' in Gujarati. This was the affectionate term by which people at Bombay House called him. I was feeling very nervous, remembering my postcard episode. SM introduced me nicely, 'Jeh (that's what his close associates called him), this young woman is an engineer and that too a postgraduate.
She is the first woman to work on the Telco shop floor.' JRD looked at me. I was praying he would not ask me any questions about my interview (or the postcard that preceded it).
Thankfully, he didn't. Instead, he remarked. 'It is nice that girls are getting into engineering in our country. By the way, what is your name?'
'When I joined Telco I was Sudha Kulkarni, Sir,' I replied. 'Now I am Sudha Murthy.' He smiled and kindly smile and started a discussion with SM. As for me, I almost ran out of the room.
After that I used to see JRD on and off. He was the Tata Group chairman and I was merely an engineer. There was nothing that we had in common. I was in awe of him.
One day I was waiting for Murthy, my husband, to pick me up after office hours. To my surprise I saw JRD standing next to me. I did not know how to react. Yet again I started worrying about that postcard. Looking back, I realize JRD had forgotten about it. It must have been a small incident for him, but not so for me.
'Young lady, why are you here?' he asked. 'Office time is over.' I said, 'Sir, I'm waiting for my husband to come and pick me up.' JRD said, 'It is getting dark and there's no one in the corridor.
I'll wait with you till your husband comes.'
I was quite used to waiting for Murthy, but having JRD waiting alongside made me extremely uncomfortable.
I was nervous. Out of the corner of my eye I looked at him. He wore a simple white pant and shirt. He was old, yet his face was glowing. There wasn't any air of superiority about him. I was thinking, 'Look at this person. He is a chairman, a well-respected man in our country and he is waiting for the sake of an ordinary employee.'
Then I saw Murthy and I rushed out. JRD called and said, 'Young lady, tell your husband never to make his wife wait again.' In 1982 I had to resign from my job at Telco. I was reluctant to go, but I really did not have a choice. I was coming down the steps of Bombay House after wrapping up my final settlement when I saw JRD coming up. He was absorbed in thought. I wanted to say goodbye to him, so I stopped. He saw me and paused.
Gently, he said, 'So what are you doing, Mrs. Kulkarni?' (That was the way he always addressed me.) 'Sir, I am leaving Telco.'
'Where are you going?' he asked. 'Pune, Sir. My husband is starting a company called Infosys and I'm shifting to Pune.'
'Oh! And what will you do when you are successful.'
'Sir, I don't know whether we will be successful.' 'Never start with diffidence,' he advised me 'Always start with confidence. When you are successful you must give back to society. Society gives us so much; we must reciprocate. Wish you all the best.'
Then JRD continued walking up the stairs. I stood there for what seemed like a millennium. That was the last time I saw him alive.
Many years later I met Ratan Tata in the same Bombay House, occupying the chair JRD once did. I told him of my many sweet memories of working with Telco. Later, he wrote to me, 'It was nice hearing about Jeh from you. The sad part is that he's not alive to see you today.'
I consider JRD a great man because, despite being an extremely busy person, he valued one postcard written by a young girl seeking justice. He must have received thousands of letters everyday. He could have thrown mine away, but he didn't do that. He respected the intentions of that unknown girl, who had neither influence nor money, and gave her an opportunity in his company. He did not merely give her a job; he changed her life and mindset forever.
Close to 50 per cent of the students in today's engineering colleges are girls. And there are women on the shop floor in many industry segments. I see these changes and I think of JRD. If at all time stops and asks me what I want from life, I would say I wish JRD were alive today to see how the company we started has grown. He would have enjoyed it wholeheartedly.
My love and respect for the House of Tata remains undiminished by the passage of time. I always looked up to JRD. I saw him as a role model for his simplicity, his generosity, his kindness and the care he took of his employees. Those blue eyes always reminded me of the sky; they had the same vastness and magnificence. (Sudha Murthy is a widely published writer and chairperson of the Infosys Foundation involved in a number of social development initiatives. Infosys chairman Narayana Murthy is her husband.)
Article sourced from: Lasting Legacies (Tata Review- Special Commemorative Issue 2004), brought out by the house of Tatas to commemorate the 100th birth anniversary of JRD Tata on July 29, 2004 .
It was probably the April of 1974. Bangalore was getting warm and gulmohars were blooming at the IISc campus. I was the only girl in my postgraduate department and was staying at the ladies' hostel. Other girls were pursuing research in different departments of Science. I was looking forward to going abroad to complete a doctorate in computer science. I had been offered scholarships from Universities in the US... I had not thought of taking up a job in India.
One day, while on the way to my hostel from our lecture-hall complex, I saw an advertisement on the notice board. It was a standard job-requirement notice from the famous automobile company Telco (now Tata Motors)... It stated that the company required young, bright engineers, hardworking and with an excellent academic background, etc.
At the bottom was a small line: 'Lady Candidates need not apply.' I read it and was very upset. For the first time in my life I was up against gender discrimination.
Though I was not keen on taking up the job, I saw it as a challenge. I had done extremely well in academics, better than most of my male peers... Little did I know then that in real life academic excellence is not enough to be successful?
After reading the notice I went fuming to my room. I decided to inform the topmost person in Telco's management about the injustice the company was perpetrating. I got a postcard and started to write, but there was a problem: I did not know who headed Telco
I thought it must be one of the Tatas. I knew JRD Tata was the head of the Tata Group; I had seen his pictures in newspapers (actually, Sumant Moolgaokar was the company's chairman then) I took the card, addressed it to JRD and started writing. To this day I remember clearly what I wrote. 'The great Tatas have always been pioneers. They are the people who started the basic infrastructure industries in India, such as iron and steel, chemicals, textiles and locomotives they have cared for higher education in India since 1900 and they were responsible for the establishment of the Indian Institute of Science. Fortunately, I study there. But I am surprised how a company such as Telco is discriminating on the basis of gender.'
I posted the letter and forgot about it. Less than 10 days later, I received a telegram stating that I had to appear for an interview at Telco's Pune facility at the company's expense. I was taken aback by the telegram. My hostel mate told me I should use the opportunity to go to Pune free of cost and buy them the famous Pune saris for cheap! I collected Rs30 each from everyone who wanted a sari when I look back, I feel like laughing at the reasons for my going, but back then they seemed good enough to make the trip.
It was my first visit to Pune and I immediately fell in love with the city.
To this day it remains dear to me. I feel as much at home in Pune as I do in Hubli, my hometown. The place changed my life in so many ways. As directed, I went to Telco's Pimpri office for the interview.
There were six people on the panel and I realized then that this was serious business.
'This is the girl who wrote to JRD,' I heard somebody whisper as soon as I entered the room. By then I knew for sure that I would not get the job. The realization abolished all fear from my mind, so I was rather cool while the interview was being conducted.
Even before the interview started, I reckoned the panel was biased, so I told them, rather impolitely, 'I hope this is only a technical interview.'
They were taken aback by my rudeness, and even today I am ashamed about my attitude. The panel asked me technical questions and I answered all of them.
Then an elderly gentleman with an affectionate voice told me, 'Do you know why we said lady candidates need not apply? The reason is that we have never employed any ladies on the shop floor. This is not a co-ed college; this is a factory. When it comes to academics, you are a first ranker throughout. We appreciate that, but people like you should work in research laboratories.
I was a young girl from small-town Hubli. My world had been a limited place.
I did not know the ways of large corporate houses and their difficulties, so I answered, 'But you must start somewhere, otherwise no woman will ever be able to work in your factories.'
Finally, after a long interview, I was told I had been successful. So this was what the future had in store for me. Never had I thought I would take up a job in Pune. I met a shy young man from Karnataka there, we became good friends and we got married.
It was only after joining Telco that I realized who JRD was: the uncrowned king of Indian industry. Now I was scared, but I did not get to meet him till I was transferred to Bombay. One day I had to show some reports to Mr Moolgaokar, our chairman, who we all knew as SM. I was in his office on the first floor of Bombay House (the Tata headquarters) when, suddenly JRD walked in. That was the first time I saw 'appro JRD'. Appro means 'our' in Gujarati. This was the affectionate term by which people at Bombay House called him. I was feeling very nervous, remembering my postcard episode. SM introduced me nicely, 'Jeh (that's what his close associates called him), this young woman is an engineer and that too a postgraduate.
She is the first woman to work on the Telco shop floor.' JRD looked at me. I was praying he would not ask me any questions about my interview (or the postcard that preceded it).
Thankfully, he didn't. Instead, he remarked. 'It is nice that girls are getting into engineering in our country. By the way, what is your name?'
'When I joined Telco I was Sudha Kulkarni, Sir,' I replied. 'Now I am Sudha Murthy.' He smiled and kindly smile and started a discussion with SM. As for me, I almost ran out of the room.
After that I used to see JRD on and off. He was the Tata Group chairman and I was merely an engineer. There was nothing that we had in common. I was in awe of him.
One day I was waiting for Murthy, my husband, to pick me up after office hours. To my surprise I saw JRD standing next to me. I did not know how to react. Yet again I started worrying about that postcard. Looking back, I realize JRD had forgotten about it. It must have been a small incident for him, but not so for me.
'Young lady, why are you here?' he asked. 'Office time is over.' I said, 'Sir, I'm waiting for my husband to come and pick me up.' JRD said, 'It is getting dark and there's no one in the corridor.
I'll wait with you till your husband comes.'
I was quite used to waiting for Murthy, but having JRD waiting alongside made me extremely uncomfortable.
I was nervous. Out of the corner of my eye I looked at him. He wore a simple white pant and shirt. He was old, yet his face was glowing. There wasn't any air of superiority about him. I was thinking, 'Look at this person. He is a chairman, a well-respected man in our country and he is waiting for the sake of an ordinary employee.'
Then I saw Murthy and I rushed out. JRD called and said, 'Young lady, tell your husband never to make his wife wait again.' In 1982 I had to resign from my job at Telco. I was reluctant to go, but I really did not have a choice. I was coming down the steps of Bombay House after wrapping up my final settlement when I saw JRD coming up. He was absorbed in thought. I wanted to say goodbye to him, so I stopped. He saw me and paused.
Gently, he said, 'So what are you doing, Mrs. Kulkarni?' (That was the way he always addressed me.) 'Sir, I am leaving Telco.'
'Where are you going?' he asked. 'Pune, Sir. My husband is starting a company called Infosys and I'm shifting to Pune.'
'Oh! And what will you do when you are successful.'
'Sir, I don't know whether we will be successful.' 'Never start with diffidence,' he advised me 'Always start with confidence. When you are successful you must give back to society. Society gives us so much; we must reciprocate. Wish you all the best.'
Then JRD continued walking up the stairs. I stood there for what seemed like a millennium. That was the last time I saw him alive.
Many years later I met Ratan Tata in the same Bombay House, occupying the chair JRD once did. I told him of my many sweet memories of working with Telco. Later, he wrote to me, 'It was nice hearing about Jeh from you. The sad part is that he's not alive to see you today.'
I consider JRD a great man because, despite being an extremely busy person, he valued one postcard written by a young girl seeking justice. He must have received thousands of letters everyday. He could have thrown mine away, but he didn't do that. He respected the intentions of that unknown girl, who had neither influence nor money, and gave her an opportunity in his company. He did not merely give her a job; he changed her life and mindset forever.
Close to 50 per cent of the students in today's engineering colleges are girls. And there are women on the shop floor in many industry segments. I see these changes and I think of JRD. If at all time stops and asks me what I want from life, I would say I wish JRD were alive today to see how the company we started has grown. He would have enjoyed it wholeheartedly.
My love and respect for the House of Tata remains undiminished by the passage of time. I always looked up to JRD. I saw him as a role model for his simplicity, his generosity, his kindness and the care he took of his employees. Those blue eyes always reminded me of the sky; they had the same vastness and magnificence. (Sudha Murthy is a widely published writer and chairperson of the Infosys Foundation involved in a number of social development initiatives. Infosys chairman Narayana Murthy is her husband.)
Article sourced from: Lasting Legacies (Tata Review- Special Commemorative Issue 2004), brought out by the house of Tatas to commemorate the 100th birth anniversary of JRD Tata on July 29, 2004 .
Monday, September 13, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Google's Password System That Controls Multiple Access
New York, April 20 (IANS):US internet giant Google's password system that controls multiple access to almost all of its web services was hacked through an innocuous message sent to a google employee in China, a media report said Tuesday.
Though Google had disclosed in January that intruders had stolen information from its computers in the cyber attack in December 2009, the extent of the theft has been a closely guarded company secret till now.
The programme, code named 'Gaia' for the Greek goddess of the earth, was attacked in December, a source close to the investigation was quoted as saying by New York Times Tuesday.
It is intended to enable multiple access to users and employees, who can sign in with their password just once to operate a range of services.
Though Google quickly started making significant changes to the security of its networks after the intrusions, the theft has left open the possibility that the intruders may find weaknesses that the company might not even be aware of.
The theft began with a message sent to a Google employee in China who was using Microsoft's Messenger programme at that time. By clicking on a link and connecting to a 'poisoned' website, the employee inadvertently permitted the intruders to gain access to his computer and then to the computers of a critical group of software developers at Google's headquarters in California.
The details of the theft have been a closely guarded secret. Google first publicly disclosed the theft Jan 12, 2010, on the company's website, which said the company was changing its policy towards China in the wake of the theft of unidentified 'intellectual property'. This led to significant tension between the US and China, leading Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to urge China to conduct a 'transparent' inquiry into the matter. In March, after discussions with the Chinese government, Google re-routed its mainland Chinese-language website to its Hong Kong-based site.
Google continues to use the Gaia system, now known as 'Single Sign-On'. The company also tightened security of its data centers and further secured the communication links between its services and the computers of its users. However, having access to the original programmer's instructions, or source code, could also provide technically skilled hackers with knowledge about subtle security vulnerabilities in the programme that may have eluded Google's engineers.
'If you can get to the software repository where the bugs are housed before they are patched, that's the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow,' George Kurtz, chief technology officer for McAfee Inc, was quoted as saying.
McAfee Inc was one of the companies that analysed the illicit software used in the intrusions at Google and at other companies last year. When Google first announced the theft, it said it had evidence that the intrusions had come from China. The attacks have been traced to computers at two campuses in China, but investigators later said the true origin may have been concealed.
Though Google had disclosed in January that intruders had stolen information from its computers in the cyber attack in December 2009, the extent of the theft has been a closely guarded company secret till now.
The programme, code named 'Gaia' for the Greek goddess of the earth, was attacked in December, a source close to the investigation was quoted as saying by New York Times Tuesday.
It is intended to enable multiple access to users and employees, who can sign in with their password just once to operate a range of services.
Though Google quickly started making significant changes to the security of its networks after the intrusions, the theft has left open the possibility that the intruders may find weaknesses that the company might not even be aware of.
The theft began with a message sent to a Google employee in China who was using Microsoft's Messenger programme at that time. By clicking on a link and connecting to a 'poisoned' website, the employee inadvertently permitted the intruders to gain access to his computer and then to the computers of a critical group of software developers at Google's headquarters in California.
The details of the theft have been a closely guarded secret. Google first publicly disclosed the theft Jan 12, 2010, on the company's website, which said the company was changing its policy towards China in the wake of the theft of unidentified 'intellectual property'. This led to significant tension between the US and China, leading Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to urge China to conduct a 'transparent' inquiry into the matter. In March, after discussions with the Chinese government, Google re-routed its mainland Chinese-language website to its Hong Kong-based site.
Google continues to use the Gaia system, now known as 'Single Sign-On'. The company also tightened security of its data centers and further secured the communication links between its services and the computers of its users. However, having access to the original programmer's instructions, or source code, could also provide technically skilled hackers with knowledge about subtle security vulnerabilities in the programme that may have eluded Google's engineers.
'If you can get to the software repository where the bugs are housed before they are patched, that's the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow,' George Kurtz, chief technology officer for McAfee Inc, was quoted as saying.
McAfee Inc was one of the companies that analysed the illicit software used in the intrusions at Google and at other companies last year. When Google first announced the theft, it said it had evidence that the intrusions had come from China. The attacks have been traced to computers at two campuses in China, but investigators later said the true origin may have been concealed.
Ibm Introduces New Software Platform For Governments
With the purpose to address the challenges that governments, whether central, state and local, are facing today, IBM has introduced new technical innovations for governments. IBM's Governmental Industry Framework (GIF) is a software platform, which will provide extensive solutions to governments in areas like public safety, crime prevention, law enforcement among others.
Speaking on the occasion, Ponani Gopalakrishnan, Vice President, IBM India Software Labs, mentioned that to stimulate economy and benefit citizens, governments are more inclined towards adding intelligence into their services. According to him, to build a smarter city, the government has to work smarter. "A smart city is characterized by dynamic infrastructure, better ways of working, better products and services to the end-users, assured public safety and more importantly, by an accessible government," said Gopalakrishnan.
Talking about 'Smart city command center', one of the GIF enabled solutions, and how it is being implemented in India, Gopalakrishnan mentioned SAHANA, an open source disaster management system deployed by national and state governments. SAHANA, developed in 2001, proved to be very helpful during the Bihar floods in 2008. He also talked about how Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) is using this technology to track all of its 500,000 LPG cylinders with IBM's radio frequency identification-based solution.
On the pricing of these solutions, Gopalakrishnan said that they are not being priced based on their complexities, instead it's the value of a particular solution, which will determine its price. According to him, now governments are much open towards this kind of technology services, as they work towards citizen centered activities to ensure welfare and security of the citizens. He added that the public sector is third largest source of revenue for IBM.
On implementing this technology for India's Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Gopalakrishnan told that IBM offers integrated infrastructure solutions to CBDT's three data centres in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai. It also offers facilities management services for the Income Tax Department (ITD) across 745 offices in 510 cities in India.
In a country like India, where the population is increasing day by day and more people are migrating towards urban areas from rural areas, these technology-driven capabilities can be very handy for the government to work smarter.
Speaking on the occasion, Ponani Gopalakrishnan, Vice President, IBM India Software Labs, mentioned that to stimulate economy and benefit citizens, governments are more inclined towards adding intelligence into their services. According to him, to build a smarter city, the government has to work smarter. "A smart city is characterized by dynamic infrastructure, better ways of working, better products and services to the end-users, assured public safety and more importantly, by an accessible government," said Gopalakrishnan.
Talking about 'Smart city command center', one of the GIF enabled solutions, and how it is being implemented in India, Gopalakrishnan mentioned SAHANA, an open source disaster management system deployed by national and state governments. SAHANA, developed in 2001, proved to be very helpful during the Bihar floods in 2008. He also talked about how Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) is using this technology to track all of its 500,000 LPG cylinders with IBM's radio frequency identification-based solution.
On the pricing of these solutions, Gopalakrishnan said that they are not being priced based on their complexities, instead it's the value of a particular solution, which will determine its price. According to him, now governments are much open towards this kind of technology services, as they work towards citizen centered activities to ensure welfare and security of the citizens. He added that the public sector is third largest source of revenue for IBM.
On implementing this technology for India's Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Gopalakrishnan told that IBM offers integrated infrastructure solutions to CBDT's three data centres in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai. It also offers facilities management services for the Income Tax Department (ITD) across 745 offices in 510 cities in India.
In a country like India, where the population is increasing day by day and more people are migrating towards urban areas from rural areas, these technology-driven capabilities can be very handy for the government to work smarter.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Ten reasons why every programmer should learn C
Every programmer should learn C during their programming career. Its benefits are to numerous to ignore. Not only will it open many more job opportunities, but it will teach you more about computers as a whole.
1) C is lower level then other programming languages (C++, Java). Programming at a lower level allows you to further your understanding of computers, as a whole.
2) Device drivers and operating systems are written exclusively in C. Now, you may never write a device driver or an operating system, but what if you are ever required to modify one?
3) What if you ever want to get a job programming microcontrollers? They are programmed in C. Are you going to limit your possible list of jobs because you didn't want to learn a new language?
4) C programs are smaller and faster then any other program created in a different language. Sometimes your program needs that speed boost that only C can give it.
5) If you have learned C, you can learn any modern programming language. The reason behind this is that all modern programming languages are based on C (Java, C++, C#, etc).
6) Because C has been around for many years, it has a large community and collective code base. This allows you to quickly and efficiently implement new algorithms or functions that have been programmed before.
7) C is the language of the open Source community. The open Source poster child, Linux, was coded in C. If you know C, you can participate in and contribute to numerous open Source communities like Source Forge.
8) C is the only language that teaches you what pointers really are. C# and Java skip the subject completely. It is pointers that give C its power.
9) C is still the most commonly required language for programming jobs. It is well worth your time to get C under your belt.
10) Anything that has a microprocessor in it has support for C. From your microwave to your cell phone, C powers technology.
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