The most important aspect of this www thing is that it allows people from all over the world to work together in "real time". Sure, we could keep in touch before, but email sort of beats the postman when it comes to coordinating projects and things like that. 

And coordination is what he Network is all about. The VI magazine as a whole is rapidly becoming a (if not the) major source of information on worldwide Indian matters, and that is only possible because of the mailing list from which most of the material here, and the folks who wrote it, come.

Putting out the world's best Indian magazine as a cooperative effort is of course neat enough, but could be viewed as more of a way of describing the world than changing it.

Changing the world is what the Network is for.

So far we have 3 initiatives in the Network. The Exchange, The Buyers' Club, and the Dealers.

-And the Warpath Project. Maybe this is more an outcome of the Network rather than one of its "pillars", but it looks to become one of the most important outcomes, so it warrants special mention.

The Exchange is for private projecteers and small-time manufacturers to pool their resouces for making better parts quicker and cheaper.

The Buyers' Club is for everybody to gang up to be able to present manufacturers with "pooled orders" that will allow rational production of some of the parts we need but which nobody has so far seen any commercial incentive in.

The Dealers is a new initiative to rope in the people on the other side of the counter. If we could work towards a more cooperative spirit in the Indian industry that could dramatically change the range of parts on offer as well as the prices of them.

Finally, the Warpath Project is nothing less than a serious attempt at a new Indian at affordable cost! Of course it can't be called "Indian", but nevertheless it is a whole lot more Indian than the current "Indians" (my personal opinion). Again this is more than any individual could do, but entirely possible for a dedicated group. This is the kind of thing the VI Network is all about.

All of this may strike those readers of a meeker mindset as slightly megalomanic but it really isn't! If we work together there is no reason why we can't accomplish this and much more.

So let's do that, huh? Work together. This page will be in the magazine every time from now on with at-a-glance news and updates of the Network.

Exchange here

Buyers' Club here

Dealers here

Warpath Project here
 

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