10 Dots

10. Berkshire Hathaway

"When a management team with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact. " Warren Buffett

Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway is based in Omaha, US. Berkshire Hathaway manages a number of subsidiary companies. Its core business is insurance, including property and casualty insurance, reinsurance and specialty nonstandard insurance.

The company averaged an annual return in excess of 21 per cent to its shareholders for the last 42 years while employing large amounts of capital and minimal debt. Warren Buffett is the company's chairman and CEO. Earlier, he used to focus on long-term investments in publicly quoted stocks.

Berkshire now owns a diverse range of businesses including candy production; retail, home furnishings, encyclopedias, vacuum cleaners, jewellery, newspaper publishing and even makes and distributes uniforms and footwear.Berkshire Hathaway reported sales to the tune of $118.25 billion and profits stood at $13.21 in 2007.

History
Berkshire Hathaway traces its roots to a textile manufacturing company established by Oliver Chace in 1839. In 1929 the Valley Falls Company merged with the Berkshire Cotton Manufacturing Company established in 1889. The combined company was known as Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates. In 1962, Warren Buffett began buying stock in Berkshire Hathaway.

After some clashes with the Stanton family, he bought up enough shares to change the management and soon controlled the company. Buffett initially maintained Berkshire's core business of textiles, but by 1967, he forayed into the insurance industry. Berkshire first ventured into the insurance business with the purchase of National Indemnity Company.

9. ING Group

ING is a global financial services company providing banking, investments, life insurance and retirement services. The company serves more than 75 million customers in Europe, the United States, Canada, Latin America, Asia and Australia.

Based on market capitalisation (31 March 2008), ING is one of the 20 largest financial institutions worldwide. The ING Group reported sales to the tune of $197.93 billion and profits stood at $12.65 billion in 2007. The group is led by Michel Tilmant.

History

ING was founded in 1991 by a merger between Nationale-Nederlanden and NMB Postbank Group. During the past 15 years ING has become a multinational with very diverse international activities. ING's history can be traced to the insurers De Nationale Levensverzekering Bank and De Nederlanden van in 1845. The oldest legal predecessor is the Kooger Doodenbos from Koog, Noord Holland, founded in 1743.

8. Toyota Motor Co

Toyota Motors is 70-years old. Headquartered in Japan, it is one of the world's largest automobile manufacturers. The company was founded in 1937 by Kiichiro Toyoda as a spinoff from his father's company Toyota Industries to manufacture automobiles.

Fujio Cho, is the chairman of the company. Toyota also owns and operates Lexus and Scion brands. Toyota's management philosophy is 'lean manufacturing' and 'just in time production'. Toyota continues to promote localisation, based on the principle of producing vehicles in those countries or regions where demand exists.

In Japan, Toyota has equipped Takaoka plant with the company's most-advanced technologies. In R&D, Toyota is continuing to focus its efforts in the three key areas of the environment, safety and energy. Toyota has positioned hybrid technologies as core technologies that can contribute to resolving environmental issues. Toyota Motor Co reported sales to the tune of $203.80 billion and profits stood at $13.99 billion in 2007.

History
Sakichi Toyoda invented the wooden Toyoda handloom in 1890. In 1894, Kiichiro Toyoda born. In 1924, Sakichi Toyoda completed the non-stop shuttle change type Toyoda automatic loom (Type G). In 1929, Kiichiro Toyoda traveled to Europe and the United States to investigate automobiles. The British company, Platt Brothers, gained the automatic loom patent rights. In 1931, Kiichiro Toyoda started research into gasoline-powered engines.

7. BP

BP has transformed itself from a local oil company into a global energy group employing over 96,000 people and operating in over 100 countries worldwide. BP has reported sales to the tune of $281.03 billion and profits stood at $20.60 billion in 2007.

Tony Hayward is the group chief executive of BP, earlier known as British Petroleum. With headquarters in London, the company is among the largest private sector energy corporations in the world.

History
British Petroleum merged with Amoco (formerly Standard Oil of Indiana) in December 1998, becoming BPAmoco until 2000 when it was renamed BP and adopted the tagline 'Beyond Petroleum'. Most Amoco gas stations in the United States have changed the look and name to the BP brand. The highest grade of BP gasoline available in the United States is still called Amoco Ultimate.

6. Royal Dutch Shell

"This is a very exciting - though daunting - time for our industry. The world is racing ahead with ever-increasing energy needs. We are under pressure to keep up. But this race does not have only one winner. This is a race all of us must win." Linda Cook, Executive Director of Royal Dutch Shell.

Royal Dutch Shell is an MNC oil company with Dutch and British origins. It is the second largest private sector energy corporation in the world, and one of the six oil supermajors. The company's headquarters are in The Hague, Netherlands, with its registered office in London (Shell Centre).

Oil giant Shell has over 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) resources under construction. Shell has been exploring and producing oil and gas for more than a century.

The exploration and production work is going on in nearly 40 countries and the company employs around 35,000 people. Royal Dutch Shell reported sales to the tune of $355.78 billion and profits stood at $31.33 billion in 2007.

History
The Royal Dutch/Shell Group of companies was created in February 1907 when the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company and the "Shell" Transport and Trading Company Ltd of the United Kingdom merged their operations.

After the merger, 60 per cent of the new Group went to the Dutch arm and 40 per cent to the British. In 1833, the company founder's father, Marcus Samuel, founded an import business to sell seashells to collectors in London.

When collecting seashell specimens in the Caspian Sea area in 1892, Samuel realised the potential of exporting oil from the region and commissioned the world's first purpose-built oil tanker, the Murex to foray into this market.

5. ExxonMobil

Exxon Mobil Corporation is an American oil and gas corporation and a descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil company. The company was formed on November 31, 1999, by the merger of Exxon and Mobil.

It is also the largest publicly held corporation by market capitalization, at $501.17 billion on April 18, 2008. Exxon's reserves were 72 billion oil-equivalent barrels at the end of 2007 and are expected to last over 14 years.

While it is the largest of the six oil giants with daily production of 4.18 million BOE (barrels of oil equivalent) in 2007, ExxonMobil is 14th in the world when ranked by held oil and gas reserves. Rex W. Tillerson is the chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil. ExxonMobil reported sales to the tune of $358.60 billion and profits stood at $40.61 billion in 2007.

History
Exxon Mobil Corporation was formed in 1999 by the merger of two major oil companies, Exxon and Mobil. Both Exxon and Mobil were descendants of the John D. Rockefeller corporation, Standard Oil which was established in 1870.

In 1911, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that Standard Oil must be dissolved and split into 34 companies. Two of these companies were Jersey Standard (Standard Oil Company of New Jersey), which eventually became Exxon, and Socony (Standard Oil Company of New York), which eventually became Mobil.

4. JPMorgan Chase

"Our expectation is for the economic environment to continue to be weak � in spite of the environment, we are confident that we are building an increasingly strong and profitable company." James Dimon

JPMorgan Chase is a leading global financial services firm with assets of $1.8 trillion. With an employee strength of 1,80,000, the company operates in more than 60 countries.

It is a leading player in investment banking, financial services for consumers, small business and commercial banking, financial transaction processing, asset management and private equity. JPMorgan Chase reported sales to the tune of $116.35 billion and profits stood at $15.37 billion in 2007. Jamie Dimon is the CEO of JPMorgan Chase.
History
JPMorgan Chase & Co., was founded in New York in 1799. The firm is built on the foundation of nearly 1,000 institutions that have come together over the years to form today�s company. JPMorgan Chase traces its beginnings to the Bank of The Manhattan Company, which was founded by Aaron Burr in 1799 and became one of the leading banking institutions in the nation.

In the 1800s, many new banks were formed across America. JPMorgan Chase has links to many of these early institutions, including the Western Reserve Bank, one of the first banks in Ohio and a predecessor of Bank One, which merged with JPMorgan Chase in 2004.

3. Bank of America

"Bank of America helps build strong communities by creating opportunities for people - including customers, shareholders and associates - to fulfill their dreams." Kenneth D. Lewis, chairman, CEO and president.

Bank of America is the largest commercial bank in the United States in terms of deposits and second largest by market capitalisation. The bank also offers talking ATMs which help customers who are visually impaired. The Bank of America sales is at $119.9 billion and profits are at 14.98 billion in 2007.

History
Before 1998, Bank of America organization was known as NationsBank. In 1998, NationsBank acquired San Francisco-based BankAmerica and renamed the corporation "Bank of America".


2. General Electric

"We are going to solve tough customer and global problems and make money solving it," Jeff Immelt, CEO, GE.
Imagination at work, says the GE tagline. Innovation and research are the strongholds of GE. In 1969, Neil Armstrong landed on the moon wearing boots made of GE's silicone rubber. GE has four strong businesses in the financial services, infrastructure, and media markets.

GE Capital offers an astonishing array of products and services aimed at enabling commercial businesses and consumers worldwide. The company prides helps build the healthcare, transportation, and technology infrastructure across the globe. General Electric's sales stand at $172.74 billion and profits at $22.21 billion in 2007.

History
GE's research started in a barn in 1900 when General Electric Company completed eight years. The barn saw company's major breakthrough technologies. One of the earliest projects of the new lab was incandescent lighting. GE scientists have thousands of patents, and two Nobel prizes: Irving Langmuir won the Nobel prize in Chemistry in 1932 and Ivar Giaever won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1973.

1. HSBC Holdings

"We have a clear strategy, it is focused on investing and developing our powerful emerging markets franchises. We will continue to do that," Stephen Green, chairman, HSBC.

The 'world's local bank' is HSBC's tagline. Headquartered in London, HSBC is one of the largest banking and financial services organisations in the world. It comprises of over 10,000 offices in 83 countries across Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa. HSBC is listed on the London, Hong Kong, New York, Paris and Bermuda stock exchanges.

Shares in HSBC Holdings plc are held by around 200,000 shareholders. HSBC offers a range of financial services: personal financial services, commercial banking, corporate, investment banking and markets and private banking. HSBC Holdings has reported sales to the tune of $146.50 billion and profits of $19.13 billion in 2007.

History

The HSBC Group is named after its founding member, The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, which was established in 1865 to finance the growing trade between Europe, India and China. The inspiration behind the founding of the bank was Thomas Sutherland, who was then working for the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. Seeing the potential of local banking facilities in Hong Kong and on the China coast and he helped to establish the bank which opened in Hong Kong in March 1865 and in Shanghai a month later.

10

Sterilite Industries

Sales in 2007: Rs 24,376.83 crore

Sterlite Industries, a part of Vedanta Resources, a London-listed metals and mining major, is India's tenth largest company in terms of sales. Sterilite Industries had a sales turnover of Rs 24,376.83 crore (Rs 243.76 billion) in 2007 .

Anil Agarwal is the executive chairman of Sterlite. Sterlite Industries (India) Limited was acquired in 1986, bringing together several metal related activities managed by the Agarwal family. Sterlite was listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange in 1988 and on the National Stock Exchange in 2004.

Vedanta was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2003. Vedanta has two copper businesses, the first based in India and the second at Konkola Copper Mines in Zambia, which was acquired in November 2004. The copper business in India is held within Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd.

There is some captive copper mining, but the business is principally in smelting and refining. Sterilte has plants in Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu and Silvassa. Sterlite owns two copper mines in Australia. In 2005-06, Sterlite had a domestic market share of some 43% of copper sales.

9

Tata Steel
Sales in 2007: Rs 25117.78 crore
Tata Steel is the ninth largest company in India with a sales turnover of Rs Rs 25117.78 crore. Established in 1907, Tata Steel is the world's 6th largest steel company with an existing annual crude steel capacity of 28 million tonnes.

It has operations in 24 countries and commercial presence in over 50 countries. Ratan Tata is the chairman of Tata Steel and B Muthuraman is its managing director.

Founded by Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata, Tata Steel completed 100 glorious years of existence on August 26, 2007. The first private sector steel plant which started with a production capacity of 1,00,000 tonnes has today transformed into a global giant.

The company also has three greenfield steel projects in the states of Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh and proposed steel making facilities in Vietnam and Bangladesh. Through investments in Corus, Millennium Steel (renamed Tata Stee Thailand) and NatSteel Asia, Singapore, the Tata Steel has created a manufacturing and marketing network in Europe, South East Asia and the Pacific-rim countries.

Tata Steel's vision is to be the global steel industry benchmark for value Creation and corporate citizenship. Tata Steel is one of the few steel companies in the world that is Economic Value Added (EVA) positive. It was ranked the 'World's Best Steel Maker', for the third time by World Steel Dynamics in its annual listing in February, 2006. Tata Steel has been conferred the Prime Minister of India's Trophy for the 'Best Integrated Steel Plant' five times.

8

Tata Motors
Sales in 2007: Rs 31,999.47 crore

Tata Motors is the 8th largest company in India with a turnover of Rs 31,999.47 crore (Rs 319.99 billion).

Tata Motors recently created history in India Inc history acquiring luxury auto brands -- Jaguar and Land Rover -- from Ford Motor for $2.3 billion dollars.The company is also the world's fifth largest medium and heavy commercial vehicle manufacturer, and the world's second largest medium and heavy bus manufacturer.

Tata Motors has gained world wide recognition under the leadership of its managing director Ravi Kant. Established in 1945, Tata Motors today has 4 million vehicles on Indian roads, since the first rolled out in 1954.

The company's manufacturing base is spread across India - Jamshedpur (Jharkhand) in the east, Pune (Maharashtra) in the west, and in the north in Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) and Pantnagar (Uttarakhand). A new plant is being set up in Singur near Kolkata in West Bengal to manufacture the world's cheapest car, the Rs 1 lakh Nano.

Tata Motors, is the first company from India's engineering sector to be listed in the New York Stock Exchange. In 2004, it acquired the Daewoo Commercial Vehicles Company, Korea's second largest truck maker. Tata Motors and Fiat Auto formed an industrial joint venture at Ranjangaon (near Pune in Maharashtra, India) to produce both Fiat and Tata cars and Fiat powertrains for the Indian and overseas markets.

7

NTPC
Sales in 2007: Rs 33875.70 crore
With a sales turnover of Rs 33875.70 crore (Rs 338.75 billion), NTPC is the 7 the company in India. NTPC Ltd is the largest power generating company in India.

A public sector company, it was incorporated in 1975 to accelerate power development in the country as a wholly owned company of the government of India. At present, the government of India holds 89.5 per cent of the total equity shares of the company and the balance 10.5 per cent is held by FIIs, Domestic Banks, Public and others.

In a span of 32 years, NTPC has emerged as a truly national power company, with power generating facilities in all the major regions of the country.

NTPC was incorporated in 1975. In the last 31 years, it has grown into the largest power utility of India. NTPC is the sixth largest thermal power generator in the world.

NTPC's maxim is 'Powering people's progress'.

6

Steel Authority of India Limited
Sales in 2007: Rs 34390.93 crore
SAIL is the sixth largest company in India with a turnover of Rs 34390.93 crore (Rs 343.90 billion). Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) is the leading steel-making company in India. It is a fully integrated iron and steel maker, producing both basic and special steels for domestic construction, engineering, power, railway, automotive and defence industries and for sale in export markets.

Headed by S K Roongta, SAIL is ranked amongst the top ten public sector companies in India in terms of turnover. SAIL manufactures and sells a broad range of steel products, The government of India owns about 86 per cent of SAIL's equity and retains voting control of the Company.

However, SAIL, by virtue of its 'Navratna' status, enjoys significant operational and financial autonomy. SAIL produces iron and steel at five integrated plants and three special steel plants, located principally in the eastern and central regions of India and situated close to domestic sources of raw materials, including the company's iron ore, limestone and dolomite mines.

The company has the distinction of being India's largest producer of iron ore and of having the country's second largest mines network. This gives SAIL a competitive edge in terms of captive availability of iron ore, limestone, and dolomite which are inputs for steel making.

5

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation
Sales in 2007: Rs 75529.12 crore
With a turnover of Rs 75529.12 crore (Rs 755.29 billion) in 2007, ONGC is the fifth largest company in India. It is also has the distinction of being highest profit making corporation in India.

R S Sharma is the chief managing director of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited.

ONGC is a Fortune Global 500 company which contributes 77 per cent of India's crude oil production and 81 per cent of India's natural gas production.

It was set up as a commission on August 14, 1956. Indian government holds 74.14 per cent equity stake in this company.

ONGC is engaged in exploration and production activities. It is involved in exploring for and exploiting hydrocarbons in 26 sedimentary basins of India. It produces about 30 per cent of India's crude oil requirement. It owns and operates more than 11,000 kilometers of pipelines in India.

The company was incorporated on June 23, 1993 is an Indian public sector petroleum company.

ONGC's maxim is 'Making tomorrow brighter'.

4

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation
Sales in 2007: Rs 93912.34 cr
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation of India Ltd is a Fortune 500 company, with an annual sales turnover of over Rs 93912.34 crore (Rs 939.12 billion) with 16 per cent refining and marketing share in India and a strong market infrastructure.

The corporation operates 2 major refineries producing a wide variety of petroleum fuels and specialties, in Mumbai and Vishakapatnam. HPCL holds an equity stake of 16.95 per cent in Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals. In addition, HPCL is planning to set up a refinery in Punjab.

HPCL also owns and operates the largest lube refinery in India. HPCL's refining capacity has increased from 5.5 million tonnes in 1984/85 to 13.70 million metric tonnes (MMT) now. On the financial front, the turnover grew from Rs 2,687 crore (Rs 26.87 billion) in 1984-85 to an impressive Rs 91,448 crore (Rs 914.48 billion) in 2006-07.

The history of HPCL dates back to 1952. The company was incorporated in the name of Standard Vacuum Refining Company of India Limited on July 5, 1952. On 31st March 1962, the name was changed to ESSO Standard Refining Company of India Limited.

In 1974, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited came into being after the takeover and merger of erstwhile Esso and Lube India Undertaking, Caltex Oil Refining Ltd and Kosan Gas Company. HPCL is thus a result of the merger of four organisations.

HPCL's maxim is 'Future full of Energy'.

3

Bharat Petroleum Corporation
Sales in 2007: Rs 97189.37 cr
BPCL is India's third largest company with a sales turnover of Rs 97189.37 crore (Rs 971.89 billion). Listed in the Fortune 500 & Forbes 2000 listings, BPCL calls itself a 'MNC in PSU garb'. Ashok Sinha is the chief managing director of the fast track company.

Way back in 1976, the Burmah Shell Group of Companies was taken over by the government of India to form Bharat Refineries Limited. On 1st August 1977, it was renamed Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited. It was also the first refinery to process newly found indigenous crude (Bombay High), in India.

After nationalisation in 1976, Bharat Petroleum charted out a rapid growth path. Turnover, profitability and financial reserves have grown significantly over the years. Bharat Petroleum produces a range of products, from petrochemicals and solvents to aircraft fuel and speciality lubricants, besides supplying fuel directly to hundreds of industries, and several international and domestic airlines.

2

Reliance Industries
Sales in 2007: Rs 111,264.23 crore

"Between my past, the present and the future, there is one common factor: Relationship and Trust. This is the foundation of our growth." These are the words of the founder of Reliance, Dhirubhai Ambani.

Reliance Industries, is the largest private sector company in India. With a net sales of Rs 111,264.23 crore (Rs 1112.64 billlion) in 2007, it is the second biggest company in India. The Reliance Group, founded by Dhirubhai H. Ambani (1932-2002), is today headed by Mukesh Ambani.

A Fortune Global 500 company , the group's activities include exploration and production of oil and gas, petroleum refining and marketing, petrochemicals (polyester, fibre intermediates, plastics and chemicals), textiles and retail.

Reliance is the largest polyester yarn and fibre producer in the world and among the top five to ten producers in the world in major petrochemical products.

Major companies are Reliance Industries Limited (including main subsidiaries Reliance Petroleum Limited and Reliance Retail Limited) and Reliance Industrial Infrastructure Limited.

Reliance's maxim is 'Growth is life'.

1

Indian Oil Corporation
Sales in 2007: Rs 201493.85 crore
Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. is currently India's largest company by sales with a turnover of Rs 201493.85 crore (Rs 2014.93 billion) , the highest-ever for an Indian company. Headed by Sarthak Behuria, IOC is also ranked in Fortune 'Global 500' listing. It is also the 20th largest petroleum company in the world.

Established in 1959 as Indian Oil Company Ltd, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd was formed in 1964 with the merger of Indian Refineries Ltd (estd. 1958). IndianOil and its subsidiaries account for 47 per cent petroleum products market share, 40.4 per cent refining capacity and 67 per cent downstream sector pipelines capacity in India.

For the year 2006-07, IOC sold 57.97 million tonnes of petroleum products, including 1.63 million tonnes of natural gas and exported 3.13 million tonnes.

The Indian Oil Group of companies owns and operates 10 of India's 19 refineries. These include two refineries of subsidiary Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd and one of Bongaigaon Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited.

IOC's maxim is 'Bringing Energy to Life'

A central premise in yoga is “everything is connected.” That’s clear when looking at the health and fitness benefits of yoga that have long been reported by practitioners and are now being confirmed by scientific research.
1. STRESS RELIEF. Yoga reduces the physical effects of stress on the body. By encouraging relaxation, yoga helps to lower the levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Related benefits include lowering blood pressure and heart rate, improving digestion and boosting the immune system as well as easing symptoms of conditions such as anxiety, depression, fatigue, asthma and insomnia.
2. PAIN RELIEF. Yoga can ease pain. Studies have demonstrated that practicing yoga asanas (postures), meditation or a combination of the two, reduced pain for people with conditions such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, auto-immune diseases and hypertension as well as arthritis, back and neck pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, fibromyalgia, eczema, irritable bowel syndrome and other chronic conditions. Some practitioners report that even emotional pain can be eased through the practice of yoga.
3. BETTER BREATHING. Yoga teaches people to take slower, deeper breaths. This helps to improve lung function, trigger the body’s relaxation response and increase the amount of oxygen available to the body.
4. FLEXIBILITY. Yoga helps to improve flexibility and mobility, increasing range of movement and reducing aches and pains. Many people can’t touch their toes during their first yoga class. Practitioners begin to use the correct muscles to make the movement and, over time, the ligaments, tendons and muscles gradually lengthen and elasticity is increased. These gradual changes can mean that more and more poses are possible.
5. INCREASED STRENGTH. Yoga asanas (postures) use every muscle in the body, helping to increase strength literally from head to toe. And, while the postures practiced in yoga strengthen the body, they also provide an additional benefit of helping to relieve muscular tension.
6. WEIGHT MANAGEMENT. Yoga (even less vigorous styles) can aid weight control efforts by reducing the cortisol levels as well as by burning excess calories and reducing stress. Yoga also encourages healthy eating habits and provides a heightened sense of well being and self esteem.
7. IMPROVED CIRCULATION. Yoga helps to improve circulation and, as a result of various poses, more efficiently moves oxygenated blood to the body’s cells.
8. CARDIOVASCULAR CONDITIONING. Even gentle yoga practice can provide cardiovascular benefits by lowering resting heart rate, increasing endurance and improving oxygen uptake during exercise.
9. BETTER BODY ALIGNMENT. Yoga helps to improve body alignment, resulting in better posture and helping to relieve back, neck, joint and muscle problems.
10. FOCUS ON THE PRESENT. Yoga helps us to focus on the present, to become more aware and to help create mind body health. It opens the way to improved coordination, reaction time and memory.

10. VB.Net (Visual Basic .Net)

• What it is: An object-oriented language implemented on Microsofts .Net framework.
• Why you should learn it: Most argue that VB.Net is currently more popular than ever and one of the only “must-learns.” “It is currently dominating in adoption and that is where all the work is,” said Huckaby.
• Job availabilities: 2,090

• What it is: An interpreted, dynamically object-oriented, open-source programming language that utilizes automatic memory management.
• Why you should learn it: Designed to be a highly readable, minimalist language, many say it has a sense of humor (spam and eggs, rather than foo and bar), Python is used extensively by Google as well as in academia because of its syntactic simplicity.
• Job availabilities: 811

• What it is: An object-oriented programming language developed by James Gosling and colleagues at Sun Microsystems in the early 1990s.
• Why you should learn it: Hailed by many developers as a “beautiful” language, it is central to the non-.Net programming experience. “Learning Java is critical if you are non-Microsoft,” said Duquaine.
• Job availabilities: 14,408

• What they are: Ruby is a dynamic, object-oriented, open-source programming language; Ruby on Rails is an open-source Web application framework written in Ruby that closely follows the MVC (Model-View-Controller) architecture.
• Why you should learn it: With a focus on simplicity, productivity and letting the computers do the work, in a few years, its usage has spread quickly. As a bonus, many find it easy to learn.
• Job availabilities : 210 and 54, respectively

• What it is: A standardized, general-purpose programming language, its one of the most pervasive languages and the basis for several others (such as C++).
• Why you should learn it: “Learning C is crucial. Once you learn C, making the jump to Java or C# is fairly easy, because a lot of the syntax is common. Also, a lot of C syntax is used in scripting languages,” said Duquaine.
• Job availabilities: 6,164, including all derivatives

• What it is: Perl is an open-source, cross-platform, server-side interpretive programming language used extensively to process text through CGI programs.
• Why you should learn it: Perls power in processing of piles of text has made it very popular and widely used to write Web server programs for a range of tasks. “Learning some form of scripting language, such as Perl or PHP is critical if you are doing Web apps,” said Duquaine.
• Job availabilities: 4,810

• What it is: Not to be confused with Java, JavaScript is a an object-oriented, scripting programming language that runs in the Web browser on the client side. Its smaller than Java, with a simplified set of commands, easier to code and doesnt have to be compiled.
• Why you should learn it: Embedded into HTML, its used in millions of Web pages to validate forms, create cookies, detect browsers and improve the design. With its simplicity to learn as well as wide use, its considered a great bang for your educational buck.
• Job availabilities: 4,406

• What it is: Though technically not a programming language, AJAX uses XHTML or HTML, JavaScript and XML to create interactive Web applications.
• Why you should learn it: Ever since Google Maps put AJAX, well, on the map, the requests for AJAX-knowledgeable pros went through the roof. “The demand for AJAX knowledge is huge because its so damned hard to learn,” said Huckaby. Of note, Microsoft announced recently plans to release a tool named Atlas that will make AJAX easier to implement. “If Microsofts Atlas tool is successful, it would bring the extreme complexity and annoyance of AJAX to the average worker,” said Huckaby.
• Job availabilities : 1,106

• What it is: A general-purpose, compiled, object-oriented programming language developed by Microsoft as part of its .NET initiative, it evolved from C and C++
• Why you should learn it: Its an essential part of the .Net framework. “Learning C#, which is just Java with a different name plate, is critical if you heavily use Microsoft,” said Duquaine.
• Job availabilities: 5,111

• What it is: An open-source, interpretive, server-side, cross-platform, HTML scripting language, especially well-suited for Web development as it can be embedded into HTML pages.
• Why you should learn it: Its particularly widely used. “High-speed scripting with caching, augmented with compiled code plug-ins (such as can be done with Perl and PHP) is where the future is. Building Web apps from scratch using C or COBOL is going the way of the dinosaur,” said Duquaine.
• Job availabilities: 1,152

1. OpenDoc (1992)
   Released in 1992, OpenDoc was an effort to change the metaphor of computing completely—no wonder it was destined to fail. Instead of an application-centric user experience, OpenDoc created a system where mini-applications contributed "parts" to generic, multipart documents. You'd start a blank document and then add a "drawing part," an "audio part," and a Web-clipping part, for instance. But OpenDoc used massive amounts of memory and processor power for the time, never mind the vast mental shift it required for users and developers. You can see OpenDoc-like thinking today in the way embedded media, Java applets, and Web applications work.

2. Cyberdog (1996)
Apple's first official stab at a Web browser was much too ambitious, in part because it was supposed to be OpenDoc's flagship app. Cyberdog included a browser, an e-mail program, a Usenet news reader, and an FTP program. Rather than conventional bookmark lists, it encouraged users to create "notebooks," Web page–like super-documents of embedded Web content and links. The more-conventional Safari browser seems to be doing better in the marketplace.

3. HyperCard (1987)
HyperCard was not a failure. Released in 1987, it was a database, a hypertext system, a presentation program, and a software development platform. For millions of Mac users, it was their introduction to programming. I organized my comic-book collection in HyperCard at age 14; the original version of the best-selling adventure game Myst was written in HyperCard. The program's heyday ran from 1987 to 1990, but it kept puttering on until Steve Jobs killed the project in 2000. HyperCard's ideas ended up in things like HTML, JavaScript, AppleScript, Adobe Flash, and wikis. Maybe they aren't all directly descended from it, but HyperCard came first.

4. Newton (1993)
Ah, the Newton. When it came out in 1993, we said it would "make you the life of the party." And it wasn't unique by a long shot: There were a whole lot of pen-based computers coming out at this time that ultimately failed (remember the AT&T EO?). But the Newton can be seen as the forerunner of the iPhone, a much more successful product. And the Newton had several innovations that still look futuristic: It automatically related different kinds of information and understood natural-language queries. (You can see some of that relational connection in the way Gmail offers to map the locations of your e-mail contacts.)

5. PowerBook Duo 230 (1992)
The MacBook Air of 1992, the PowerBook Duo was one of the first ultraportable laptops. At 10.9 by 8.5 by 1.4 inches and 4.1 pounds, it was thinner and lighter at launch than any competing model except for Gateway's 286-powered Handbook. The Duo slid into a dock to achieve full desktop capabilities; the largest dock even included expansion slots, an FPU, and Level 2 cache for the processor! But the Duo didn't capture consumers' hearts the way more full-featured PowerBooks did. Will the MacBook Air succeed where the Duo failed?

6. Mac G4 Cube (1999)
A miracle of engineering, this small-form-factor desktop PC was nominated in 2000 for a PC Magazine Technical Excellence award for managing to shoehorn a full PC into an 8-inch cube. The Cube itself wasn't a winner, but it inaugurated the entire small-form-factor PC market. Shuttle followed the next year with the SV24, and Apple came back in 2005 with the Mac mini.

7. eWorld (1994)
Could "AOL" have stood for "Apple On Line?" Apple's eWorld was a cuddly, easy-to-use online service, originally developed by Apple and AOL. It included bulletin boards, support services, chat rooms, and even, eventually, a Web browser—powerful stuff for 1994. But Apple's then-CEO Michael Spindler decided not to market or advertise it, and charged high prices. A promised Windows version never appeared. With few subscribers, eWorld shut its doors in 1996. We trust that MobileMe, Apple's new online service, will fare much better.

8. Macintosh TV (1993)
In 1993, the idea of watching TV on your PC was pretty unusual. The Macintosh TV was basically a hack; a Performa 520 Mac running System 7.1 with a 14-inch Sony TV built into it. There was no real integration between the computer and the TV, and that bulky, underpowered Performa model wasn't very popular anyway. This model came out during a period when Apple was spewing out dozens of PCs with confusing specs and product numbers, and it disappeared from the market quickly. Nowadays, of course, watching TV on your computer is considered a perfectly ordinary thing to do.

9. Mac Quadra 610 DOS Compatible (1994)
Before 2005, Apple and Intel were never to meet, right? Mortal enemies. Vile foes. Wrong. Apple actually released several Macs with Intel coprocessors during the dark years of the 1990s; the Quadra 610, released in February 1994, was the first. (That's not counting third-party products like MacCharlie, a coprocessing unit from Dayna Communications released way back in 1985.) This model paired a 25-MHz Motorola 68040 processor with an Intel 486SX-25 and let users switch between Mac and DOS modes—a feature repeated 12 years later with Boot Camp, no coprocessor needed.

10. Bandai Pippin (1996)
Apple's much-derided game-console platform, released in 1996, was an Internet-connected gaming and multimedia box that ran a PC operating system, Apple's System 7. So, yes, you could argue that it was an Xbox, or an Apple TV. In 1996. But 1996 technology wasn't ready for this idea; the Pippin was expensive and slow, and people didn't really understand what it was for. It took Microsoft to succeed with the first truly PC-based, Net-connected game console, the Xbox, in 2001.

Courtesy : Quick 10