Youngest Software Executive is Three Years Old

rkt writes " Times of India reports a three year old kid who has been "certified" and recogonized as the "youngest software executive" in the world by organizations like Microsoft, CNN and CNBC. With the news about Comdex not letting in kids below 18, and with Corel mentioning age factor in the EULA, it seems that computer industry is still unaware of how deep computers have penetrated. Computing is no more a symbol of western world, nor are the users always 40 year old executives. Internet has brought about lots of changes, younger customer base is just one of them. "

Comments

my son uses linux

[sdamberger]

My son is 3 and he uses linux. He opens and closes windows and clicks and types. He would be an excellent GUI tester. He has managed to hang up my KDE environment multiple times.

He started when he was 18 months old, too late

[jquiroga]

These days it is necessary to begin right after birth to compete, like the son of my friends.

They visited us when the kid was 18 months old. Trust me, that kid was seasoned. Just after his nap on the couch, he wandered off, managed to climb to my chair without anyone noticing, pounded on my keyboard and wrote a nice document that was something like this:

fhdsjsdfm vfrwef
wreu2398zacx
asdh78yhvsabn
safh,..fsadf..................

He really appreciated it when I switched the font size to 72 points :-)

Afterwards, he began pointing to the other monitors I have around, all of them turned off (but bigger than the one he has at home), and stared at me. I could see he was kind of asking me: 'Pleeze, turn them onn, wanna feeel how yourr iron rockks'

When he saw I was not doing it, he began touching the green LEDs in the monitors, to better explain himself.

Now, I am 32 and I'm scared :-/

Re:He started when he was 18 months old, too late

[msouth]

They visited us when the kid was 18 months old. Trust me, that kid was seasoned. Just after his nap on the couch, he wandered off, managed to climb to my chair without anyone noticing, pounded on my keyboard and wrote a nice document that was something like this:

fhdsjsdfm vfrwef
wreu2398zacx
asdh78yhvsabn
safh,..fsadf..................

Omigosh--I just decrypted that! It reads:

The experiment has gone horribly wrong. I am trapped in a nearly helpless body. They force me to eat strained vegetables. The invasion will have to wait a few years.

---- It's even better when you play it backwards...

Staff

[cdlu]

Recruitment!!!

Put this guy on the debian team, he'll actually do something productive as well as marketing there.

Aww, how cute

[alexhmit01]

Wow, that's adorable. I guess I can't rank on MS for too much of a publicity stunt, this one IS adorable. I also can guess that Microsoft can use some good publicity these days.

I wonder how quickly the Child Labor "saviors" will jump to protect Microsoft "exploiting" this young child and the US pressuring Thailand to pressure MS Thai on child labor abuses.

Oh well, it's good to see a youngster building up a good resume at such a young age... too many people wait until 15 or gosh, 20, to start thinking about future career goals... he'll be a fine asset to any MBA program... assuming he is "potty trained."

Alex

This is just silly

[Rix]

This is just a bad marketing ploy. If I teach my cat to play Quake, can she be the first feline software executive?
Cheers,

Rick Kirkland

Re:This is just silly

[alexhmit01]

Honestly, are you an idiot! Quake doesn't make one an executive... maybe IT staff however...

Grin, having your cat as the first feline beta-tester would be cool... or if you can teach it to churn out regression tests... the first quality assurance proffessional that broke the sapiens barrier... when will the feline descrimination end! Write your congressman supporting affirmative action for feline friends!

So... um...

[Millennium]

What does he do?

Or is this an off-the-wall PR stunt by Microsoft, in an attempt to show how easy their stuff is to use? My guess is that it's the latter.

Come to think of it, how many child labor laws does this violate? I admit that I don't know the child labor laws in India, but this has to break something.

Nevermind, found it...

[general_re]

Pretty sad, replying to my own post...

Anyway check this out and tell me if this doesn't seem oddly prescient...

Re:Nevermind, found it...

[Pascal Q. Porcupine]

I hope you read the last paragraph on the 'story'.
---
"'Is not a quine' is not a quine" is a quine.

Oooo look

[Listerine]

He performs all the normal exec activities like making spreadsheets and powerpoint presentations! OOOOO! I want to hire him!

Re:i can just hear it now:

[the_tsi]

If anything, it goes to show what their execs do all day... put pictures in their little powerpoint presentations and send empty emails to relatives.

-Chris

When I was kid...

[Lester]

I was coding little basic programs on a TI-99 and playing games like spacewars when I was 5. Can I be an executive? Its wonderful that MS is exploiting a childs love for computers, ranks right up there with Nike endorsing high school athletes.

PUKE!


Life is like a Linux Box, the possibilities are endless.

Re:yea for gender bias (semi off-topic)

[miriya]

It's worth wondering whether a 3 year old girl sending blank e-mails to grandma would have been news. Something about your post hit a nerve, because in my experience, the gender bias is lifelong. I wanted to play around with computers ever since I saw Star Trek at 6, but in the dark ages when I went to junior high school, I was told I could not take the computer class because "the boys already know all that stuff and you would just slow them down." In high school, I was unable to find anyone to show me how to use our school's one Apple computer because it was valuable "and we can't risk your breaking it." It wasn't until college that I managed to teach myself to type by playing Zork 1 while the guys were all busy getting stoned. I bought my first computer with my own money instead of a car, and I couldn't get anyone to teach me how to use it, so I taught myself. I was getting a very late start by then, and the fact that I managed to pull a technical career out of a hat was just persistence and good fortune. Sure, if you're a girl, you can get there. You can even be a prodigy like the little boy in the article, but even now, you won't be likely to find a lot of help or encouragement. It's no wonder there aren't many little girl geeks. They've been told they'll break it, that it's not something they'd enjoy, that the boys have been computing since birth and it's too late to start. The games offered for girls are unexciting and insipid. How many Barbie and Disney programs is a parent going to buy? If anyone out there has a young daughter and is considering buying a computer for her, for goodness sake, don't buy the Barbie computer. If you must buy a kiddie computer, buy the Hotwheels version, because chances are your child will be better off knowing math than fashion design. I still hear "Cool, a girl who's heard of Linux!" The salesmen always try to lead me to the eOne. My mailbox is stuffed with unsolicited ads for eve.com and women.com. And here I am at slashdot, wondering if that makes me a freak of nature. Personally, I don't think what the 3 yr. old can do is all that impressive. It sounds like he is just learning to read, so how much use can he really be getting out of the internet? In all likelihood, his parents are pushing him. Show me a 3 year old girl who can do the same, and then I would be amazed. I'd be amazed they let her touch the machine, for starts. And no, I'm not a feminist, just a realist.

Re:Windows brain wash

[astro]

Ehhh, this whole thing does not impress me at all. Anyone that even thinks for a moment that this is out of the ordinary (kid uses word taking spelling instructions from dad) isn't a digital worker with a 3 year old.

My kid knows better than to send empty e-mail, at any rate... I've sent more than my share of "I qwerty you too" e-mails in reply. :)

However, and this is the reason for my reply to this particular message, my son is *almost* as comfortable with our Linux box as the win 98. And that's fairly cool, as my Linux box is old, slow, and configured with a pretty cryptically configured OLD distribution of Afterstep (if it ain't broke, don't fix it).

I tell you, it's every bit as likely for Simon to say "Dad, can I go look at pbs dot org [nick dot com/cartoonnetwork dot com]?" as it is for him to beg to watch Digimon or Dexter AGAIN.

I took my family to San Francisco a little over a week ago, and Simon says to my adult friend who put us up: "Why is your computer so DAMN slow? You should get DSL like my dad." I swear. No fooling. Gotta work on my language around the boy.

astro

how young is too young?

[bludstone]

I'm probably going to get flamed to all hell for this, but I wonder if this kid can handle himself socially.

I'm taking this class in computers and education. Its a fabulous class with an extremely intelligent group of people and very stimulating conversations and arguments. One of the topics we often discuss is the social "retardation" that comes along with excessive computer use. It has become serious enough that doctors are starting to identify the social limitations that occur due to excessive computer use as a form of autism. Not only that, but there has been a serious increase in the number of eye-glasses for young children (4-7 years old.) And although it hasnt been sufficiently documented yet, most optometrists associate this with excessive computer use.

Now im not saying that kids shouldnt have access to computers, hell I was pretty proficient in basic by the time I was 9. But I was a social outcast at the time and it took me nearly a decade to finally figure out "how to be sociable."

Im just saying that the fact that this child can use the computer at such a level at such an age probably doesnt mean the kid is a genious or anything like that. Kids have infinite patience, if you give them enough time they will figure anything out. (See metal gear for the old NES for evidence) Perhaps they should take a second look at their childs computer time. Being good with computers hardly makes a child a genious, or even above average.

I'd rather have my 3 year old (if i had one) climbing in a real cardboard box then exploring a virtual one. There are just some sensations and experiences that a simulation by computer cant fully mimic (yet.)

Give it some thought.

Ok, its waaay past my bedtime and I need sleep now...
------------------------

Re:how young is too young?

[ralphclark]

I think the previous poster's worry is well founded. I'm 35 now. 22 years ago I seat in the classroom of Modern Physics Department of University of Science & technology of China (USTC) with 157 classmates who are averagely 6 years older than me.

Every parent like to see that their kids are smarter than others. This drive parents to invent (or easily adopt) all kinds of standard to prove their point. Sometimes their force their kids fit into the framework with which they measure smartness. Most of the time, if not all, they don't know what kind of impact this will bring to their beloved children. And they fight firecely against those who disagree.

I know that "hothousing" children has been fairly common amongst academic families in China. I remember when I was little, seeing a four-year-old Chinese boy on TV doing algebra and speaking multiple languages (his parents were University academics). The only thing I can say about this practice is that it's a matter of balance. Some parents will get it right, others will push too hard for a single narrow goal which isn't appropriate for that child. In that case it's really a form of child abuse.

But I don't believe for a minute that it invalidates the whole concept of accelerated education. In my opinion the key thing is to keep the curriculum broad and proceed at a pace the child feels comfortable with. Learning should be fun.

I still like to claim that I'm smarter than the average. Whether this is true or not it keep me wandering what I would have been if I were not entered USTC so early.

I think you need to realise that applying a term like "smart" or "clever" is a hopeless attempt to reduce the multidimensional world of human capability down to one single easy measurement. Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. I'd guess that you must have got something out of your time at university, it just wasn't what you personally needed to exploit the areas where you had the most potential. Heaven knows, the University system isn't right for everyone. I went to Uni at the age of 18 and found out only much too late that I simply wasn't ready. Learning wasn't fun any more, suddenly "fun" was women and beer and...all that stuff. After a shining school career my academic performance bombed, and never recovered in time. Maybe if I'd gone to work for a year or two to learn some discipline, gain a sense of perspective and get all the teen lust out of my system, things would have been different. Who knows.

After I graduated from USTC, I found myself less competent than my other collegues for a simple reason -- I can't write a proper report. I'm still suffering from this deadly shortcome which drove me started my own company here in Holland so I don't need to report to anyone.

If you have difficulty writing reports maybe you suffer from a mild form of dyslexia. But then, dyslexia is just a convenient label for one particular brain syndrome that just happens to be easily detectable. There must be many other disorders of language processing (or logical reasoning ability) which are harder to identify and some of these might not even have names yet. Possibly a very large proportion of the world's population suffers from one or more of these syndromes to a varying degree. There was a discussion here on Slashdot some weeks ago about the prevalence of mild autism (Asperger's syndrome) in "geek" types which was basically about the same thing.

When these syndromes have names it can sound a bit scary. No-one wants to be thought of as subnormal, a candidate for "special needs" teaching. But I really think that there is a continuous range of ability in all our mental skills and what you get born with is pretty much the luck of the draw. Some people are born with a very low score in one particular aptitude and there's nothing that can be done about that because the neural machinery for that skill just isn't there, i.e. you can't cure dyslexia. But you make up for it by exploiting all the other skills that you have, and you might have a very high score in one or more of those.

Vive la difference, as the French say. What a boring world it would be if we were all the same.

I like to think that insofar as there is any purpose at all in life, it is to be the best that you can be; to take what potential you have and make the most of it. Starting your own company in a foreign country is no small achievement in itself, it certainly shows balls.

Consciousness is not what it thinks it is
Thought exists only as an abstraction

Re:how young is too young?

[ralphclark]

I think your concerns are misplaced (and that of the child psychologists too).

A year ago I realised I had to get my son his own computer when he started giving me technical support ("Just log on as root and delete the lock file, Dad"..."Dad, just get on the net and download the newest driver").

So I got him a PC last Christmas and by now he's a fairly competent Win98 user. He still gives me technical support sometimes, but I'm a bit more competent with Win98 these days so I don't need it so often. And now he's got his own Windows box at least I can get to my Linux machine, which he used to hijack so he could play xboing.

He celebrated his 6th birthday last week.

I gave him the PC mainly to play educational games appropriate to his age and ability and to access an encyclopedia, and there is no doubt that, in conjunction with books, homework and instructional videos it has helped to improve his maths and reading skills which are way beyond the norm for his age. He reads books written for 12 year olds. Though the contribution of the computer to all of that is probably fairly small.

However, he also plays games such as Wormz Armageddon, Doom, Heretic, Quake, Tomb Raider and a host of others. His favourites are strategy games, namely Age of Empires and Populous. You'd be amazed at how quickly he learned how to operate these games. Much faster than I did.

I'm not saying that it's turned him into a military genius or an expert in government or anything like that. But these strategy games are certainly training him to evaluate a range of options, to formulate and carry out a plan. I know because when he works out how to get over a difficult point in the game he just loves to make me sit and watch while he demonstrates his plan in action.

Sometimes I also supplement his education with books and blackboard chalk-and-talk sessions. We play question-and-answer in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, history, geography and whatever else comes up.

Every evening we watch old Star Trek videos together over dinner (the boy's already addicted ;o).

But despite all this he still loves to play make-believe and rough-and-tumble with his little sister and with his friends. He loves to watch Cartoon Network. He loves to make music and sing along while I bash out old Beatles and Pink Floyd songs on the guitar. Most of all (and ever since he was old enough to sit up) he loves to draw and paint (with real paper, not on the computer), and make models out of scrap materials.

Oh, and he also loves his karate, swimming and football lessons.

I therefore hardly think that using the coputer regularly is about to turn him into an autist. He is an athletic, articulate, creative, intelligent, sensitive, enthusiastic, sociable, loving, mischievous little boy. Quite normal, though perhaps a little better endowed upstairs than most his age.

The point I'm trying to make is that there are some child psychologists and left-of-centre educationalists who think there is something wrong with giving your child an educational head start. They somehow seem to imagine that the child misses out on an important experience of childhood in some way. This is arrant nonsense.

If I succeed in my plans for him he will be neither a geek nor a jock but an all-rounder in every sense. Remember the great men of the Renaissance? That's the model I'm working to. By enabling him to exercise his abilities in every possible dimension, he will have the greatest opportunity to discover where his own interests lie and to choose his own destiny. Hopefully he'll also retain an active interest in music, arts, sciences, sport etc.

It's be really swell if I could also steer him safely past the bad choices I made later on in life, but that's probably hoping for too much :o(


Consciousness is not what it thinks it is
Thought exists only as an abstraction

Lack of training opportunities? I think not!

[Wiseleo]

Oh please,

Microsoft goes out of their way to train you.

All you have to know is that you can bend their rules.

1. You can get Eval copies of NT Server/Workstation/Terminal server/Backoffice/Small Biz server and the list goes on... For FREE. Where? Microsoft.com has such offers online, takes a short time to find them. Some offers carry a nominal fee.

2. You can get more free software than you will have time to deal with at tradeshows, admission is mostly free. I'd been going to them since I was 14 with perfectly fake information ;-)

3. You can get free training at http://www.microsoft.com/seminar

4. You can read free e-books at http://www.informit.com

5. Technet is now online and free! So is knowledge base. http://technet.microsoft.com, http://support.microsoft.com/support/c.asp

6. There is Reslink at http://mspress.microsoft.com/reslink

Do I really have to go on?

Now, let's be fair, I should give some resources for linux :-)

1. Linux documentation project, on your favorite mirror.

2. Full distributions are online, but you can get them free at tradeshows on CDs.

3. There is a real-time Linux support network at http://irc.linpeople.org - I haven't logged on in a while, so check web site for updates in server lists etc. That assistance is Free

4. There are tons of How-To's and FAQs.

5. You got the source code to figure everything out. An unlikely proposition for beginners, but I resort to it quite often at times.

6. There are some e-books on informit.com on Linux.

If you wanted to learn the software, you would be able to find this rather fast.
--
Leonid S. Knyshov
Network Administrator

Re:Pointless...

[tekan]

Good point.

Kids should spend their childhood being kids, and not have their parents living vicariously thru them.

Dumbing down of software...Arcane is fun...

[_outcat_]

Geez...I don't mean to insult anyone here who says their young child can use GUI programs effectively, but I was using a PCjr when I was three-four years old. MS-DOS 2.0, a text-only word processor, a few 320x200 games. I remember sitting one day and using BASIC to "PRINT" a story. It was even worse than the programming(!?) I do now but it was the coolest thing in the world to me. I also remember my parents asking me questions about it.

The GUI stuff nowadays is great, and pretty, but kind of relating back to Tom Christiansen's article yesterday...Sometimes arcane is fun.

Oh well.

"software executive" != MSCE

[adamkennedy]

Hang on a second.

Impressed by the ease with which he handles ``contemporary software'', Microsoft Thailand recently certified Ajay as the youngest software executive in the world.

For one, what exactly IS a "software executive". I don't ever recall people with a MSCE being called Software Executives.

And it sure looks to me like he didn't do his MSCE exams... although I've seen stories of 12-14 year olds doing them. At that age you can grasp the concepts involved, but not at 3! The kid is simply a 3 year old who can press buttons, and type emails. The word "certified" used in that article has been taken totally out of context.

This story is simply about some poor kid who has worked out how to send email and do things in Office programs. As my marketting manager always tells me "Use terms that are technically meaningless" but sound cool.

"We are the leading software company in the world"

"Our software is more better, more dynamic, and totally sploogerific."

Microsoft have called this guy a "software executive", which technically means nothing so they can't be challenged on it, and have latched onto him for the cuteness factor.

Show me where it says he has his MSCE, and I'll believe he's "certified".

Adam

"Sleep is for the genetically inferior"

Pointless...

[tekan]

WHY?

Why in the hell would you allow your kid to be used for such a publicity stunt? I don't understand it. A 3 year old kid and he has is face and name plastered all over the net and papers. I would think most parents would'nt want that to happen to their kids.

I don't know, but IMHO it seems exploitive and just plain wrong...

Re:i can just hear it now:

[kmcardle]

It does seem kind of fishy. I thought my son could read until I realized he had memorized Green Eggs and Ham (RIP, Dr. Suess). It's just got that rythym to it. :)

I think it is good that the kid is getting exposure to computers at a young age, but a real test of his talents would be to put him on a different computer and see how he does. I don't mean to bash the kid, but how much of this is "if I click here I e-mail grandpa" as opposed to "I will now access my e-mail program, compose an e-mail to my grandfather, and press the send button".

My four year old knows how to operate the four different computers in our house, but tends to get a bit confused when he gets on my Linux box.
He can usually poke around the menus on any system and find familiar icons and start the software that he's used to, but sometimes he just starts up random programs to see what will happen.

Where does the line between using a computer and just clicking things to make things happen get drawn? If the kid has talent, turn him on to Linux now.


--

um

[Hard_Code]

It's great and all that this kid can use a computer, but how does that make him an executive?

Which month is it?

[Stephen]

Give us a break. It's December 1st, not April 1st.

Not impressed

[chammel]

As a proud father I am not very impressed with this story. My son is only 26 months old and has learned to put in the CD of his choice in the computer find the start program button and move around and do everything that he wants. (Jump-Start Toddler, Reader Rabbit Toddler, Teletubbies) Alex has quite fine mouse motor skills, he has been using the computer since he was about 11 months. He is now moving on to the preschool learning programs designed for 3-5 year-olds.

Children learn very rapidly, mimicking adult actions, exploring their environment. Reinforced by positive feedback from adults, children do those things that garner praise from adults. These actions are no different than that a 3 year-old that has learned how to build a tower out of blocks. Chris Hammel

Windows brain wash

[gupg]

This kid is being brain washed to use Windows .. somebody should donate a PC with linux on it ;)

I don't think the case has anything to do with child labor - its like kids acting in movies. The kid is just going to be used for promotion of MSucks Windows. Good for him and his family. He can earn his college tution early in life :)

-

[fliptout]

Somebody is really jumping the gun with April Fool's jokes with this one.

*coughbullshitcough*

[legoboy]

This really is nothing but a publicity stunt. (Of course, without Slashdot, almost none of us ever would have ever heard about it, but anyway...)

A three year old "software executive? Give me a break.

On the other hand, this story does have an upside:

"While most others of his age grapple with building blocks, Ajay Puri, all of three years, is comfortable working on the computer using software such as Microsoft Word, Excel, Power Point and Outlook Express."

And later:

``Puri is real,'' gushed an employee in the company's Bangkok office. ``He is a smart kid. For a moment I envied him that he could do all that an older executive could,'' she said over telephone.

------

Anakin Skywalker!

[Pseudonymus Bosch]

From cradle to computer
By G Lucas
By Galaxy Business Times Bureau

MOS EISLEY: He is Empire's ``youngest Dark Side Jedi knight'' in the Galaxy. While most others of his age grapple with sand, Anakin Skywalker, all of three years, is comfortable working on the Force using tools such as lightsabers, racepods and C3P0 protocol droids. He is also mydichlorian rich.

The Mos Hyderabad-born Anakin, currently with his parents in Mos Eisley, communicates through telepathy with his grandparents in South Naboo's ***** Vasant Kunj.

Impressed by the ease with which he handles ``the mystical way'', Empire Tatooine recently certified Anakin as the youngest Dark Side Jedi knight in the Galaxy.

``He is an ordinary child but becomes a master when in front of a light saber,'' his mother Shmi Skywalker told The Prequel Times from her Mos Eisley residence.

The ``master'' can take blueprints and make racepods out of spaceport debris. He puts together pieces in a droid to prepare his little Visual Basic Protocol Unit. And accesses Natalie Portman posters on the Forcenet. Having recently mastered the alphabet (and Ba Ba Binks), Anakin can telepath to his grandparents, taking spelling instructions from his father.

Often, grandfather B N Skywalker finds disturbance in the Force - all blank. He knows where it is from.

Anakin began when he was 18 months old. He would watch his father Ravi Skywalker, an export manager of Watto Group's Millenium Missiles, work on the slave shop.

``After months of exposure to the Force, he has grasped the process step by step,'' Bhanta Skywalker said.

The Empire, meanwhile, is doting on its new celebrity. ``Skywalker is real,'' gushed an ILM graphic in the Empire's Mos Eisley office. ``He is a smart kid. For a moment I envied him that he could do all that an older commander could,'' she said over holophone.

Anakin's next move is to meet Empire mogul Darth Gates in the next couple of months. The pre-nursery student will also have an audience with the Naboo ambassador to Tatooine this week. The ambassador invited him after the local media went to town over the whizkid.

Anakin has already featured on SW:ANH, SW:TESB and SW:TROTJ. ``He is being discussed in Dagobah swamp parties,'' observed his grandfather. His grandmother, Indiana, is a bigger fan. ``I am amazed that my grandson does things I'm in dread of,'' she said.

The boy told Lucasfilm he would like to become a Darth Gates. For the moment, however, he may have to settle for the role of lead campaigner for Episode 2.

``How wonderful it will be to have your son join us for the launch of Episode 2,'' Empire Tatooine's planet manager Darth Chantaruck wrote to Anakin's parents recently.

--

MS raises certification standards

[InsomniacsDream]

I guess M$ has finally raised their certification standards. It's nice to see that being toilet trained is now a requirement.

Product launch.

[Matt2000]

Hey this is great, Microsoft is finally really connecting with today's youth:

"Microsoft also disclosed that it has plans to integrate young Ajay Puri's brain right into the next release of their popular Office suite of products.

'With advances in cybernetics, we can finally integrate a whole human brain into Excel,' said a Microsoft spokesman. 'We just needed one young enough to get used to being trapped inside that helpful paperclip for the rest of his life.'"

Keep up the good work!

Hotnutz.com

Everyone's getting younger. I keep getting older.

[heroine]

The IT industry of the early 80's was definitely the home of baby boomers. Remember those pictures of Bruce Carver, this 40 year old guy with a moustache who wrote Raid over Moscow? What about those middle aged hill billies who wrote Mule? Just 4 years ago I remember the vast majority of Linux email was from users just about to graduate from college. Now the only email I get is from high school sophomores. Is the fact that everyone around you is getting younger while you keep getting older a sign of something wrong? Am I supposed to switch to Windows NT by a certain age or something?

i can just hear it now:

[Ater]

"QUICK, QUICK, the exectutive has wet his pants again... hurry with a fresh change of diapers or you're fired!!!!"

But aside from that, this whole thing seems like nothing like a publicity gimmick. Good for the kid to know how to use a few simple MS apps. But I fail to see the supreme genius of the kid as well as the whole reason for naming him an executive... I mean he's not actually going to anything.

To be honest I just find this analagous to those "geography whiz" or "math whiz" kids you often see on the tonight show and the like. True, it's rare that a little tyke can spout data from his head or mess around with a program, but is that genius? Rather I find it more similar to a trained monkey, just that the training began real early. It takes no real talent to memorize and recite facts or in this kid's case,use a program. He might be a bit better at learning stuff, but once you consider it all he can do is mess around with a few MS apps, and (even considering his age) how much skill does that take? And certainly knowing how to send Email and attachments by no means makes one internet saavy. Let's give the kid a few years and see if he set up a shell box or run his own domain or set up sendmail.

All it is, is hype, hype, hype, with a dash of MS propaganda. I'd go along with the general public and call it "cute", but dear god this is too lame to even merit that.