The sixth edition of Bangalore IT.COM 2003 was rather lackluster. The inaugural event, which last year boasted of a presentation and inauguration by President Abdul Kalam had to contend with just the State Chief Minister, S M Krishna and Governor T N Chaturvedi this year.

Big names from the local industry were also not there. IT bigwigs like Infosys' chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy or Wipro's chairman Azim Premji or even Tata Consultancy Services' S Ramadorai were missing.

Even the conferences were dominated by names from the state and the central government like H N Mahabala, member, Board of IT Education Standards (BITES), Government of Karnataka, Subir Hari Singh, principal secretary, industry and commerce, Karnataka and Pankaj Agarwal, joint secretary, IT, Government of India.

However, the busiest person in the entire event was D B Inamdar, Minister for IT & Tourism, Government of Karnataka. Inamdar is giving a keynote address almost every day for the next five days. Today he got a chance to do that twice -- once at the inaugural function and later at the Open Source Summit where he was the chief guest.

The presence of too many ministers at the conference did create its share of confusion. West Bengal Minister for IT and Environment, Manabendra Mukerjee was the guest of honour at the Open Source Summit.

During his speech, Mukerjee referred to Inamdar as the Minister of IT for West Bengal. Later when it was Inamdar's turn to give a speech he called Mukerjee the minister of IT for Karnataka.

Whether that was an error or a deliberate reference to the earlier faux pas is something that the rest of audience were left to speculate on.

More on the topic of missing people. Microsoft, one of the biggest sponsors and brands in the IT industry was missing from the action at Bangalore IT.COM this year. Microsoft's participation has been limited to just one presentation by its managing director in India, Rajiv Kaul.

One reason popularly being touted around was the emphasis on Open Source this year. The first day of conferences was completely dedicated to discussion on the subject.

Microsoft needn't have sulked though. The sessions were so boring and unfocussed that it is unlikely any decision maker listening to it would have been convinced to try it out.

The IT.COM 2003 exhibition held at the Bangalore Palace grounds was a complete mela. On one end there were sprawling air-conditioned pavilions where foreign countries and companies vied for visitor's attention.

Hot bhajiyas, pink cotton candy, popcorn, chaats and panipuri stalls saw an equal amount of action. Though entry to the conference was for delegates only, access to the exhibition could be had after paying Rs 50 for a ticket.