A GE spokesperson who did not want to be identified said their decision was based around issues of personal and corporate privacy, functionality, support, features and Zoho won hands down. The spokesperson said the Google application was intrusive and the ads started to become a nuisance.

That's why Zoho has branched out into online customer-relationship management software, the exact same service Marc Benioff's Salesforce.com provides to automate sales. Benioff made an unspecified offer to buy Zoho from Vembu, who refused. A geeky, bespectacled sort capable of withstanding Benioff's charm campaign? That's how I'm going to remember Vembu.