Open the Windows

History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.

Winston Churchill

This seems to have been the motto of Microsoft worldwide till date, and India
was no exception. Times though are changing. And with it the mindset. Not just
in Redmond (where Gates finally hung up his boots), but also in Microsofts
India HO in Gurgaon.

There is suddenly a realization (borne out of business necessities) that
software monopoly is now history and there is need to be more inclusive. Like
elsewhere globally, this seems to have been the leit motif of Microsoft Indias
style of functioning in FY 08.

Nothing illustrates this changed mindset better than the scenario post the
conclusion of the ODF vs OXML battle. Though OXML won the current round, India
voted against it. Microsoft Indias call to maintain neutrality and focus on
interoperability (Office 2007 support for ODF) was probably less to do with
magnanimity and more with strategy.

With state governments like Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and a few in the
northeast joining the Linux bandwagon, and the power corridors veering more
toward an open standards-based regime, Microsoft India realized the possible
loss of an extremely lucrative constituency.

Rank-17

l Start-up Year: 1981
l Products & Services: IT services,
software & consulting l Address:
9th Floor, Tower A, DLF Cyber Greens, DLF Cyber Citi, Sector
25A, Gurgaon 122 002 l Branches: 14
l Tel: 0124-4158000 / 2567000
l Fax: 0124-4158888
l Website:
www.microsoft.com/in

size=1>Highlights

n
Vista operations crossed 2
mn

n Windows
Mobile 6.1 crossed 100,000 units within 15 months of
launch

n Largest
Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server launched at TCS

n Open
Value licensing initiative announced offering staggered
payment option for software purchases in India

size=1>Strengths

p
Undisputed leadership
still in Windows Vista and Office 2007


p Unified
Communications turning to be a big hit


p Sharepoint
license revenues growing by 83%

size=1>Weaknesses

size=1>q The
departure of Neelam Dhawan and other senior executives
created confusion in the market

size=1>q Xbox and
MSN business did not take off as expected

Ravi
Venkatesan, Chairman

Tarun
Gulati, Business and Marketing Operations

Rajiv Srivastava, GM, Enterprise Sales

Rajeev Mittal, GM, SMS&P Sales

Karan Bajwa, director, Public Sector Sales

Abhijit Bhaduri, HR Director

Industry grapevines has it that Steve Ballmer was in India on the
day the BIS was voting (though it went against Microsoft), and some
even associate the exit of some senior executives to the failure to
convince the Indian government to go the Windows way.

All this doesnt mean that Microsoft India has taken a beating. In the
government sector itself, Microsoft partnered 14 states and could boast of more
than 300 e-gov applications running on Windows. It also roped in Karan Bajwa
from Cisco to head the government practice.

In terms of revenue, both Windows Vista and Office 2007 contributed. The fact
that piracy had come down by more than two points had some impact too. While
Vista adoption in India crossed 2 mn, large deployments included Infosys, TCS,
Satyam, and L&T, among others.