Technology Wars

It's been a quarter now that I'm in Seattle-Redmond. Working for one of the Giants of software has its own benefits and pitfalls. But what makes it really interesting is the times, and boy, they're changing fast!
Firstly there's this comparison in Google Vs Apple Vs Microsoft. It's like Mahabharata - but with 3 parties in it! Each company has its forte in a specific field. Google is lion of Web, Apple is the king of device skies, and Microsoft rules the deep waters of Operating systems and Office products. But is it really that?

Microsoft is fighting everyone at every front! they're fighting OS wars, Web-search wars, Phone wars, Developer product wars, Entertainment and Gaming wars - you name it! Lately it's been a war of worlds - especially in the cloud domain. I see Microsoft embracing all technologies and all aspects that software has to offer.

On the other hand, I'm not so sure about Apple. They create fabulous (fantabulous!) hardware and kick-ass apps. But sorry, that's it! They're not embracing the world- with open (read:google) and not so open(read: Microsoft) standards, but rather they're shrinking deep within their cocoon. In the days of seamless interaction of web and devices, I'm not sure how they're going to survive in the long years of "Cloud based" software.

Google has it's own story. It's an exciting company that keeps the world guessing with their innovative(and slightly irritating) technologies. They're definitely embracing the brave new world, with both hands.

Whatever it is- the times are exciting and I can already hear the war cries.
Hau !

"Would you lilke it spicy, sir ?"

It looked very tempting.
Me and my friend , we were sitting at the table, our mouths watering like Mumbai streets on the night of 26th of July. If I tell you that we are "Recently graduated students who have found the dream job" type of species, the reason would not allude you for a split second.
Being a grad student, only thing which we dreamed about (other than the GPA of course) was good food. So here we were - sitting in an Indian Restaurant - inhaling the beautiful aroma of Indian food - which unfortunately lasted till we took a spoonful.

But let me tell you from the beginning. To cut Dravid's innings into Sehwag's, we were hungry and realised that within spitting distance from our apartment, there exists an Indian Restaurant.
So we marched on and ordered a vegetable Biryani.
"How spicy sir?", was the next question from our western friend who had trouble pronouncing Biryani.
"Make it real spicy", was our brisk reply. We spent considerable time in making fun of so called spicy food in US of A. According to my friend, calling Western food spicy was equivalent to calling Nirupa Roy an Item girl. (Refer: Nirupa Roy, Wiki)

Ah! Birayani came rather quickly. I took a spoonful and started eating it. But my joy lasted for a mere millisecond. the thing was HOT. H-O-T.
In fact, I was almost going to call out for fire brigade!
What the devil they had put into the preparation I dare not imagine, but it certainly brought my intestine to a pit stop. tears flew towards my eyes as my brain started analyzing the damage. What on earth was that? I somehow continued to eat the chilly'd rice, but one department of my brain was already working on possible cause behind this hopeless recipe.

I could come up with few guesses -
A) the waiter had heard our "funny" comments about western spicy food and had decided to settle the question once and for all.

B) We must've looked like real Spartans to the chef, who decided to test latest weapon in his armory on us.

C) Possibly ISI was involved in this incident.

D) !!!!%#$^%#^^&*%^&