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Betting on a New XP-rience

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DQI Bureau
New Update

Experience matters. And that is what Microsoft is harping on this time. The

company has changed its date-based naming scheme–Office 97 and Office 2000–and

instead used a shorter and spunkier ‘XP’ for its latest version of Windows

and office Suit. Short for ‘experience’, XP symbolizes a richer and extended

user experience that Windows and Office have to offer. And this, by embracing

Web services that span a broad range of devices.

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The

Desi XP-rience

Exactly 73 days after the global launch of Office XP,

Microsoft Corporation India unveiled its ‘India special’ version with

Indian language support. The company extended the functionality of its

entire Office suite to nine Indian languages– Hindi, Marathi, Sanskrit,

Konkani, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati, and Gurumukhi. The Indian

language versions will also have a proofing tool kit with spelling checker

for all nine languages. Three new typefaces for Hindi and one new typeface

for Tamil were also unveiled with the product. Five online keyboards,

including transliteration keyboards for Hindi and Tamil are also part of

the booty.

According to Microsoft, with Office XP Indian language

support users can carry on document discussion, save passwords and create

hyperlinks and web pages in Hindi. Additionally 500 special Hindi

templates and an Indian clip art gallery with over 100 unique images have

been created specially with this product. Furthermore, features like smart

tags, task panes and calendars have also been made available in Indian

languages. While support for Tamil and Hindi is already available with

Windows 2000, the company expects to extend the same for Gujarati, Telugu,

Kannada and Gurumukhi with the launch of Windows XP.

–SP

Announcing the name of the new version early February, Bill Gates, chairman

and chief software architect of Microsoft had this to say: ‘‘The coming

generation of XP range of Windows and Office will enable customers to

communicate and collaborate more effectively, be more creative and at the same

time have fun with technology.’’

The two products are in fact being considered as an important step toward the

company’s .NET vision of moving beyond disconnected applications, services and

devices. The idea is to deliver a complete, connected, computing experience for

redefining relationship between people, software and the Internet. However, that

is not the only reason for the XP range.

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However, there is another more pressing compulsion to this. The software

industry is headed for a paradigm shift in the way products are delivered and

used (read licensed). Microsoft is right in visualizing the movement of software

to the Internet through the ‘apps on taps’ model. But where does Office XP,

that has already been launched on May 31, fit in the whole scheme of things?

Experts rave about Office XP being a completely new experience–it looks and

feels very much like the web. This is an attempt by Microsoft to prepare its

users for the coming years. In other words, this is the groundwork for Office on

the web that would allow one to work on documents from home or work or school.

All that users would be required to do is to log in to the Website and start

working from where they had left. However, one would need to remember paying the

monthly bill.

For companies like Microsoft it makes a perfect business sense. Online

distribution system would not only curb piracy; but also pull down the

manufacturing and distribution costs substantially. For users, it would be

original software at a lower cost and freedom from worrying about patches or

updates.

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The Office suite has traditionally focused on providing individual

productivity improvements. Office XP is a step further from this. "It takes

productivity to the next level by enabling new experiences that allow people to

richly communicate, collaborate, and harness and re-use information in an

integrated manner,’’ says Rajiv Kaul, MD Microsoft Corporation India. ‘‘The

idea is to shift our focus from product features to a rich computing

experience," he says.

Experts agree. But, according to a Giga Information Group report on Office XP

migration plan, despite its favorable position in the OS and Office upgrade

cycles, XP adoption rate will be 10-15% less than the predicted 50% mark.

SHUBHENDU PARTH in New Delhi

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