The Hindu Business Line : `Software services to create product opportunities'

SOFTWARE services is expected to create many opportunities to build entirely new products, says Mr Bill Gates, Chairman, Microsoft Corporation, in an e-mail response to Business Line.

Do you expect the growth of software services to be as disruptive as the Internet? Is this a threat or an opportunity for Microsoft?

We believe that the coming wave of software services offers us new ways to enhance and grow our foundation businesses like Windows, Office and our server products — the combination of rich client software with Internet-based services will transform our industry in the coming years, and we are working to infuse services into everything we do. Services will also create many opportunities to create entirely new products.

Do you see developing countries like India becoming important markets for companies like Microsoft, despite low PC penetration and high piracy?

Absolutely. Computers are becoming more powerful and less expensive every day, countries around the world are making great progress in their efforts to protect intellectual property, and the growth of Internet-based services is creating new opportunities for software companies to succeed through a number of different revenue models. India is one of Microsoft's fastest-growing subsidiaries, and we see tremendous potential for growth throughout the developing world.

On local language computing?

One of the best ways to bring the power of computing to everyone is to make it available in a way that is affordable, simple to use and available in the languages people know. By offering products like Windows XP Starter Edition as well as localising many of our products, we're committed to helping software reach beyond language barriers and make an impact on as many people as possible.

The importance of India in Microsoft's global strategy/game plan?

India is incredibly important to our future plans both as a market and as a centre for software development. Our business in India is growing significantly every year, and we are optimistic about sustaining this growth if we keep delivering great value in our products. Our R&D centre is expanding and will continue to do so. We appreciate the great code that has been developed by our team in Hyderabad, and how they have improved core Microsoft products.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page