Microsoft India is an obscure research entity for Redmond, whereas it has to assume a much bigger role for Microsoft to maintain it’s world dominant status. The reason why I say this is because, Microsoft is taking strong actions against piracy which is a good thing but from what I see it will have a strong impact on Windows’ dominance & it’s sales in the market. Google’s possible Linux distro will only make matters worse. Talking about India only here, Windows is dominant because:
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Games
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Piracy
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It’s presence around the world & subsequent compatibility.
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Linux sucks
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Mac’s costly & isn’t as games friendly.
Piracy featuring in the list should not surprise you. Be it in small/medium scale companies or homes you will find pirated copies. Unless they are OEM machines, possibility of a legit copy is negligible. The biggest reason for that is cost.
Apple released the Mac Box which will contain iWork 09; iLife 09 & Leopard costing $169 USD, which roughly comes to 7,600/- add tax to it round it to 9,000/- INR. And how much does Windows Vista Ultimate only cost? 10,000/- INR retail at Croma. Outrageously ridiculous pricing.
Why would I want to buy it? Home Premium? Sorry, but I prefer the complete feature full edition. So the cost factor does give you the idea of the apprehensions in the mind of the customer factoring the Vista perceptions it does not help Microsoft’s cause.
And hence, if Microsoft takes stricter actions against piracy, people will not hesitate to try other options. Here is where Google comes into picture.
Slowly & steadily Google has been making headway onto the desktop, Chrome, Google Desktop suite, Google Gadgets, Picasa, Gtalk add to that Google Docs, Gmail. IMHO all Google needs is an OS & they have a formidable desktop force. About time Microsoft started looking at Google as competition beyond the desktop.
Here is what I’d suggest the so far obscure Microsoft India to do:
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Reduce the friggin’ cost of Windows & Office.
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Go easy on piracy.
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Open Microsoft Retail Stores to facilitate customer interaction.
Only if someone was listening.
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Hi, I’m Manan and here I write about gadgets and technology. Find me on Twitter or Mastodon and my stream on Twitch. Get updates over email. Or sign up for the Newsletter.
well..vista is priced optimally..it contains so many technologies worth that price..if u want a low cost version..there is home premium and even vista basic…
same with Mac, mac is a premium product with cutting edge technology..they dont make cheap crap..
software wise mac products sucks big time…
linux is the future…i know its being some time folks are talking abt this…but i can see the changes..atleat the comon man is aware that there is an alternative option called linu
It’s 2 years after your comment but windows is still the best in the market & your linux is just thinking to capture the market in future.
In reality, Linux will never get the position, what windows got.
We still have Turbo C till graduation. That pretty much sums up that Indian people don’t like to try new things even if old gets older.
The pricing of MS Office 2007 Home & Student edition is just fine.. 3k at http://www.buyoriginalms.com.. is just good.. now MS really need to get the prices of Windows’ licenses right.. means.. Home Premium should be near 3-4 k IMO..
I have Linux installed in my system (UNIX progrmming is a part of the B.Tech Comp Engg). However, its not the primary OS because –
i) Limited software choices. Becuase FOSS fans start crying for my blood..let me clarify that yeah..i have tried a hell of a lot of softwares available for Linux and found them fall short of expectations. There is Exaile and Amarok but both get blown away by WMP and iTunes.
For my blogging needs I couldnt find anything as powerful as Snagit or as convinient as Winsnap. None of the video players come close to NeuView or KMPLayer in terms of quality.
ii) Limited avaibility of Games.
Linux is no longer for geeks, its no longer confusing or hard to use but it still has a long way to go.
And yeah Vista is definitely over priced. MS should really consider lowering their prices for markets like India (instead of trying to sell cripped editions for cheap).
Yup … Vista is a bit overpriced considering the bugs it has.(the microsoft Corp has got patches but I dont think an average indian home user doesnt have a good internet connection for that. )
If microsoft continues its aggresive antipiracy campaign with such prices for its goodies; i am compelled to say: “thats what we call monopoly.”
Apple comes down with silly line of products anyway.(sorry goobi.) say for instance who would need to zoom in and out photos with their fingers, while people do actually feel the need to forward messages.
Well, I spoke to Microsoft India & they assured me that their anti-piracy campaign is educative & aggressive. I’ll take their word for it. Look for a post on the same.
The brackets need some correction : i dont think the avg. Indian home user HAS .;bla bla bla..