The CEO of the dominant page layout software company has suddenly parted ways with his employer after a two-year reign. Kamar Aulakh was a 10-year Quark veteran and former VP of R&D:
“… effective immediately, Kamar Aulakh is no longer with the company,” read a statement. Aulakh became Quark’s president in 2003 and ultimately succeeded Quark’s mercurial CEO Fred Ebrahimi in February 2004. [Macworld]Hailing from Aulakh village in Gurdaspur district in Punjab, he is a product of Punjab Engineering College (PEC) here. Remembering his school days in Shimla, he says with a sense of pride, “I went to Bishop Cotton School, which helped me develop strong foundation. After doing graduation in mechanical engineering from PEC in 1974, I went to the USA where I did Masters in Industrial Engineering at the University of Illinois and MBA from Indiana University…” Based in Switzerland, he visits India and Denver regularly. [Chandigarh Tribune]
The unexplained departure could have to do with declining sales. Quark is privately held and doesn’t disclose its financials, but it’s struggled in its move from Mac to Windows. It could be a clash with the emotional chairman, Farhad ‘Fred’ Ebrahimi. Or it could be something else entirely.
QuarkXpress is the #1 page layout program by market share. Aulakh put Quark’s 1,300-person development center in Mohali, a Chandigarh suburb where Dell has also invested. That center is Quark’s main campus, larger than its Denver campus in headcount:
… along with the Chairman, Mr Fred Ebrahimi, a team from the company visited Bangalore, Noida, Gurgaon, Delhi and Hyderabad. Since I knew the city, I convinced him to visit Chandigarh as well. To my surprise, he was bowled over by the planned location and cosmopolitan lifestyle of the city and decided to opt for this location. [Chandigarh Tribune]In India, Ebrahimi will soon start building a dream city in Punjab, spread over 5,000 acres, bringing state-of-the-art construction technology to the country. Quark City, will boast India’s biggest shopping mall, a host of technology campuses ranging from IT to bio-tech and the works, and housing apartments each worth a crore. To make things happen, the Punjab government has eased archaic building restrictions. It also plans to give the SEZ status to Quark City. [Economic Times]
By choosing Chandigarh rather than Bangalore or Hyderabad, Quark wanted to avoid competition in recruiting. Microsoft supposedy chose Washington for the same reason. The poaching in Bangalore is severe now, I’ve heard anecdotes about 30% annual employee turnover and people leaving for offers at 2x their previous salaries. In fact, it sounds like just like the Internet bubble in Silicon Valley.
He located the centre in the North so that we can set ourselves apart from other companies… [Chandigarh Tribune]
Aulakh also pushed for QuarkXpress Mudra, a version for South Asian languages:
… includes additional features for publishing in the following languages: Hindi, Marathi, Sanskrit, Nepali… QuarkXPress Mudra includes a localized user interface and lets you check spelling and hyphenate text in all the supported languages. [Quark]
Ebrahimi has an interesting affinity for Punjab:
So, what gets Fred to India? To Punjab, I ask. Why not Iran? That’s when his eyes well up. Between ’74 and ’78, Farhad helped set up a college of computer applications in Iran. Came the ’79 Islamic revolution, and bang, the mullahs blew up the campus. They put several of his cousins to death, and his father, influential in the Shah’s government, died soon from a heart attack. Farhad left Iran for good though his mother still lives in Tehran…“As a person, I feel alienated from both sides. As an American, I feel we are becoming isolationist. As a Middle Easterner, I don’t think we have done enough for the world to see us as anything other than a bunch of terrorists. Americans are better than most other nations in accepting someone from abroad. But they never accept you 100%. Punjab feels almost like Iran.” [Economic Times]
Ebrahimi bought out Tim Gill, Quark’s founder and one of only two openly gay people on Forbes’ ’97 rich list. Quark’s main rival, Adobe Systems, also has at least one high-profile desi executive, president and COO Shantanu Narayan.
I love this guy. Just what Punjab needs.
My brother has a load of Iranian friends and they love Punjabi culture and always say how much Indians and Persians are alike.
Farsi girls are supafly too.
I woulda thought that Persians and Parsis had more in common than Persians and say, Punjabis.
PB –
Just out of curiosity, does your self-identity come about only from being a Punjabi? Its amazing how you can pick a Punjab link in almost anything. U hardly ever post about anything else. Do you act the buffoon on purpose? If so why?
Also one more thing I am curious about – what is your definition of Punjabi? By birth, by heritage, by location, by language, by religion, or all of them? can someone with punjabi parents but brought up in madras be a punjabi?what about the other way around?
Yes.
To confuse and cause nervous breakdowns in people like you.
Hopefully the change in senior management will mean better software. Quark may be the industry standard in publishing but that doesn’t mean it’s good. It’s also the #1 source of headache for designers.
We just upgraded here at work and it’s a total logistic nightmare. I understand that Quark is not an Adobe product but would it kill them to recognize the fact that the majority of people who use it are ALSO using Adobe products in conjunction!? (That said, the new hi-res preview feature is great as well as photo color sampling.)
Back to work I go…. Now relaunching Quark for the 7th time today…
Aten, To be Punjabi is not just a cultural thing, it’s a state of mind. Yes, of course, it can be much more easily substantiated if you can verify your lineage. But if you can tear up some mukki ki roti and yelp “harripa!!” in a way that would scare Howard Dean, then you might be an honorary Punjabi. Or maybe you’ve been lied to about your lineage and you’ve got a Punjabi in the family tree. Oye balle balle!
Can I get an amen, Punjabi Boy?
Amen DesiDancer!
😉
Sheesh.. Get a room u two 😉
thanx for the explanation Desidancer. I was confused bcos most Punjabis I know dont have the state of mind u r talking abt and many who do, r not really punjabi.
Plus there is the whole – I want to be punjabi also bcos all my punjabi friends say its greatest thing – factor.
I dont have any punjabis in my lineage, but if I did would u flirt with me like u do with PBoy?(U r a girl right?)
mu bandh kar le– don’t you dis my roots and rhythm 😉
it’s not only because he’s Punjabi, though surely that could be argued as a bonus point or 2. Personality is where it’s at, and PB has loads of that.
I’d better quit feeding his ego though, else the SM servers will get overloaded and crash 😉
DesiDancer a.k.a Giddhean de Rani
This ego is never full…keep feeding!
I think we should put a freeze on all love for me for a few days though, its causing some trauma to less supafly people 😉
I’ll flirt with you Aten. But only to make you uncomfortable 😉
Saurav – Dont u like PBoy’s personality? I am sure his ego can handle u also. Plus I am pretty progressive for a FOB, u wont make me uncomfortable 🙂
Smart move, quark has no future, adobe’s indesign is taking over.
Aten
It isnt working mate, nobody wants to flirt with you, get over it 😉
Quark CEO is better management skill
Thanks for his resignation.
It is due to Indesign
Thanks ANAND
Fred is in Punjab only to fool Punjab government. He started with Software company beacuase that’s the only way by which he can take a huge piece of Land from Punjab govt. at very very less price….Now he has grown up…IT has become a secondary business now….He has started creating Multiplexes, houses, office space….He has now become a builder and planning to EARN Money in a bug way…
He will sell everything one day and will run back to IRAN,
I think nobody will survive in Quark for a long time, now Kamar has gone, the reason in Quark lots of employee left the company b/c of Fred. Fred might show lots of compassion to Punjab because his ideology never suitable to US. He is a slave driver and nobody accept him 100% in free country. India is just emerging on IT industry and Fred can use his money to become “Shah” in punjab..that’s why he is saying “punjab feels like IRAN”, but I am sure he will fail there..he does not like competition and he is sneaking out of US because of ADOBE competition…lots of quarkian said “he is not a happy man ever”, I don’t know why..if you came to us under $1500, and made mega empire and he commented ” US can’t accept him 100%”, do you think he is a 100% perfect citizen then” BIG QUESTION?