This may be an insignificant step for IE but it’s a big move for Rediff. For it marks the first attempt by India’s largest internet company to go beyond being just a web portal to making web products (or pdt extensions). For Rediff has launched a toolbar for Internet Explorer (5.5 & above). It is pretty much on the lines of the Google/Yahoo toolbars.

The toolbar has a Rediff search box, a pop up blocker, a news reader besides having buttons for directly accessing its classifieds, fare search, connexions, shopping sections etc. I downloaded the toolbar and it installed smoothly, without any glitches.

Its unlikely that Rediff would be able to get users to switch from their Google/Yahoo toolbars; but it might be able to win over some first time users, if it is able to smartly promote the toolbar on its website. Any which way, I suggest you should give the toolbar at least one try; if not for anything else, then just for the vicarious pleasure of knowing that you have an Indian toolbar in your browser.

This was long overdue. For a country that aspires to be a de-facto tech powerhouse, India was certainly short of a really good technology portal. That’s set to change with the launch of PCWorld, a website from the IDG group. The only other tech website of any repute till now was TechTree, but that left a lot to be desired.

PCWorld has everything that you would expect to find in a tech portal or magazine. The website is very well designed and has a well thought out navigation. In fact, it looks & feels exactly the way, any top-class tech website should. It has separate sections for tech news, product reviews, buying guides, featured columns, not to forget the free software download section (incidentally, I have always found the software download section in TechTree the high point of that site and I’m sure, PCWorld would have lots of catching up to do on that front). I couldn’t locate any discussion forums though, which is essential for creating a dedicated community around a portal , but I’m sure that must be planned some time pretty soon.

In my role as the head of a small tech startup, I have always felt the need for a comprehensive India centric tech portal, that covers the entire gamut of news, reviews, hardware, software etc. Something, that I could blindly refer to, the next time I am shopping around for a new batch of computers for my office. PCWorld looks exactly like what I always wanted, but never found till now.