Microsoft Corporation on Thursday said India would play an important role in its overall cloud services strategy. “India will not only see a surge in consumption of cloud services, driving growth in domestic IT usage, but companies all over the world will look to India to support their transition to cloud computing. Microsoft is committed to helping businesses both in India and across the world maximise business value by leveraging the benefits that the cloud offers,” Microsoft Corporation CEO Steve Ballmer said while talking to journalists here.
Mr. Ballmer pointed out that many IT firms, including NIIT, Cognizant and CDC Software, besides Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Science (IISc), would be creating solutions and train manpower based on its cloud computing platform, Windows Azure.
Cloud computing refers to Internet-based computing where applications and software are accessed over the Internet, resulting results in reduced IT costs. Today, Microsoft's cloud infrastructure supports over 100-crore customers and two-crore businesses globally.
Sharing results of a study by global management consultants Zinnov, Mr. Ballmer said India had the potential to emerge as the global competency centre for cloud services. According to the study, the global cloud computing market is expected to cross $70 billion by 2015. As a result of the growing demand for independent software vendors, developers and system integrators, additional three-lakh jobs related to cloud services are estimated to be created in India over the next five years. Over 4,000 applications have already been built on the Windows Azure platform by India.
While NIIT will be training over one-lakh students on Windows Azure over the next three years, Cognizant has already announced the creation of a vertically aligned set of industry frameworks and pre-built solution accelerators to enable implementation, migration and management of cloud-enabled application portfolios built on Azure for clients both in India and abroad. Similarly, CDC Software has announced the global roll-out of its flagship product ‘CDC Respond' (a complaint and feedback management application for banking and government sectors) on Windows Azure, while IISc is building a large-scale application on Windows Azure to study the basic resource allocation constructs and strategies required for addressing enterprise needs on the cloud.
Showing posts with label Microsoft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Microsoft. Show all posts
Friday, May 28, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Windows users to be offered choice of browsers
Many internet users might not be so excited about some freedom of choice coming their way.
Microsoft’s Windows operating system has begun offering users a choice of browsers when surfing the web, no longer limiting them to Explorer. The freedom might excite some, but the less tech-savvy could find the choices overwhelming.
Browsers are essentially the web surfer’s board. They are the programmes that make viewing websites possible. Nonetheless, they are an unknown quantity for many people.
“A lot of people use them without really knowing what they are,” says Tim Bosenick, Manager at Sirvaluse, a German company that evaluates technical products.
Until now, Windows users were more or less forced to use Explorer.
It was automatically installed on most PCs and appeared automatically as a light blue letter e in the toolbar. Anyone who wanted to use a different browser had to make a conscious decision to install and use it. But now the European Union has more or less ordered Microsoft to expand the choices offered.
Users will notice a change when they update their Windows operating system.
“The window automatically pops up,” says Microsoft spokeswoman Irene Nadler. It will show the five most common browsers. Alongside Explorer there will be Version 8 of Firefox - the newest - as well as icons for Opera, Chrome and Safari. Since Microsoft is blocked from promoting Explorer, the solution seems fair, says Jo Bager of c’t, a German computer magazine.
Scrolling right will reveal yet more browser options. Under each symbol is a clickable area where people can go for more information about the browsers - and how to install them. Anyone who wants to think before acting can opt to be reminded about the choice later.
But those who act quickly and then have buyer’s remorse will not get the window again, meaning they will have to manually track down a different browser at its website.
“All four browsers offered in the window are sensible alternatives,” says Holger Maass of Fittkau & Maass, a German information technology marketing research company.
Firefox, for example, can be expanded easily thanks to add-ons, giving it a whole new range of functions. Google’s Chrome also offers add-ons.
“Chrome has developed unbelievably quickly in the meantime,” says Bager. One drawback for users who care about information security: each browser is linked to a personal number that allows the browser operator to track every user and his surfing behaviour. Google has promised to shut that function off in its newest version.
“Fast” is the word most people associate with Opera, offered by the Norwegian company of the same name. The new version 10.50 is particularly speedy. Computer users who don’t have especially fast internet connections can also benefit from a special Opera setting for such computers.
The advantage of Apple’s Safari is its wide array of functions.
“For example, you can page back with a mouse movement.” But those functions could also make users unfamiliar with them nervous.
Indeed, at the end of the day, a lot of computer users have grown used to Explorer, which could be good news for Microsoft.
Microsoft’s Windows operating system has begun offering users a choice of browsers when surfing the web, no longer limiting them to Explorer. The freedom might excite some, but the less tech-savvy could find the choices overwhelming.
Browsers are essentially the web surfer’s board. They are the programmes that make viewing websites possible. Nonetheless, they are an unknown quantity for many people.
“A lot of people use them without really knowing what they are,” says Tim Bosenick, Manager at Sirvaluse, a German company that evaluates technical products.
Until now, Windows users were more or less forced to use Explorer.
It was automatically installed on most PCs and appeared automatically as a light blue letter e in the toolbar. Anyone who wanted to use a different browser had to make a conscious decision to install and use it. But now the European Union has more or less ordered Microsoft to expand the choices offered.
Users will notice a change when they update their Windows operating system.
“The window automatically pops up,” says Microsoft spokeswoman Irene Nadler. It will show the five most common browsers. Alongside Explorer there will be Version 8 of Firefox - the newest - as well as icons for Opera, Chrome and Safari. Since Microsoft is blocked from promoting Explorer, the solution seems fair, says Jo Bager of c’t, a German computer magazine.
Scrolling right will reveal yet more browser options. Under each symbol is a clickable area where people can go for more information about the browsers - and how to install them. Anyone who wants to think before acting can opt to be reminded about the choice later.
But those who act quickly and then have buyer’s remorse will not get the window again, meaning they will have to manually track down a different browser at its website.
“All four browsers offered in the window are sensible alternatives,” says Holger Maass of Fittkau & Maass, a German information technology marketing research company.
Firefox, for example, can be expanded easily thanks to add-ons, giving it a whole new range of functions. Google’s Chrome also offers add-ons.
“Chrome has developed unbelievably quickly in the meantime,” says Bager. One drawback for users who care about information security: each browser is linked to a personal number that allows the browser operator to track every user and his surfing behaviour. Google has promised to shut that function off in its newest version.
“Fast” is the word most people associate with Opera, offered by the Norwegian company of the same name. The new version 10.50 is particularly speedy. Computer users who don’t have especially fast internet connections can also benefit from a special Opera setting for such computers.
The advantage of Apple’s Safari is its wide array of functions.
“For example, you can page back with a mouse movement.” But those functions could also make users unfamiliar with them nervous.
Indeed, at the end of the day, a lot of computer users have grown used to Explorer, which could be good news for Microsoft.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Yahoo-Microsoft deal set, taking aim at Google
U.S. and European regulators have cleared the long-discussed Internet search partnership between Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc., enabling the rivals to form a tag team as they try to mount a more serious challenge to Google Inc.
The government approvals announced on Thursday anointed an alliance that Microsoft and Yahoo proposed nearly seven months ago after years of flirtation and often contentious negotiations.
Microsoft first approached Yahoo about working together in late 2006 and again in 2007. In 2008, Microsoft launched a hostile bid to buy Yahoo in its entirety, only to withdraw the $47.5 billion offer in exasperation.
Microsoft is counting on the 10-year deal with Yahoo to provide more muscle as it tries to counter Google’s domination of the lucrative Internet search market. The companies make money by charging advertisers to pay to have their links appear when people search for certain terms.
While gaining access to Yahoo’s Internet search audience and advertisers is bound to help, it could still prove to be too little, too late.
The U.S. Department of Justice and European Commission had no problems with Microsoft and Yahoo working together largely because Google is so far ahead of them in the lucrative Internet search market.
Microsoft has been making some minor strides in the United States since it overhauled its search engine and renamed it Bing last summer. But the progress has primarily come at Yahoo’s expense.
It’s going to take a while before all the pieces of the complex Microsoft-Yahoo deal will be in place. The companies hope Microsoft’s technology will be ready to start processing search requests that people enter on Yahoo’s U.S. site by the end of this year. But getting everything ready around the rest of the world is expected to take until 2012.
Yahoo figures to make more money from the deal because it allows the company to keep 88 per cent of the revenue from search ads on its website during the first five years, while Microsoft absorbs most of the expenses. Yahoo estimates the partnership eventually could boost its annual operating profit by $500 million. The financial gains aren’t expected to start flowing to Yahoo until next year.
To start, Yahoo will get $150 million from Microsoft to help offset its expenses for the transition to a new technology. The payments will be made in instalments, with the first checks due before April.
Microsoft will also take on about 400 of Yahoo’s 13,900 employees, with the first transfers expected to take place this year.
“Although we are just at the beginning of this process, we have reached an exciting milestone,” Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said. “I believe that together, Microsoft and Yahoo will promote more choice, better value and greater innovation to our customers as well as to advertisers and publishers.”
Even though Microsoft’s technology will be steering things, Yahoo insists its search results and advertising won’t be identical to what’s served up on Bing. Yahoo can still shape the presentation of the results.
“This breakthrough search alliance means Yahoo can focus even more on our own innovative search experience,” said CEO Carol Bartz.
The government approvals announced on Thursday anointed an alliance that Microsoft and Yahoo proposed nearly seven months ago after years of flirtation and often contentious negotiations.
Microsoft first approached Yahoo about working together in late 2006 and again in 2007. In 2008, Microsoft launched a hostile bid to buy Yahoo in its entirety, only to withdraw the $47.5 billion offer in exasperation.
Microsoft is counting on the 10-year deal with Yahoo to provide more muscle as it tries to counter Google’s domination of the lucrative Internet search market. The companies make money by charging advertisers to pay to have their links appear when people search for certain terms.
While gaining access to Yahoo’s Internet search audience and advertisers is bound to help, it could still prove to be too little, too late.
The U.S. Department of Justice and European Commission had no problems with Microsoft and Yahoo working together largely because Google is so far ahead of them in the lucrative Internet search market.
Microsoft has been making some minor strides in the United States since it overhauled its search engine and renamed it Bing last summer. But the progress has primarily come at Yahoo’s expense.
It’s going to take a while before all the pieces of the complex Microsoft-Yahoo deal will be in place. The companies hope Microsoft’s technology will be ready to start processing search requests that people enter on Yahoo’s U.S. site by the end of this year. But getting everything ready around the rest of the world is expected to take until 2012.
Yahoo figures to make more money from the deal because it allows the company to keep 88 per cent of the revenue from search ads on its website during the first five years, while Microsoft absorbs most of the expenses. Yahoo estimates the partnership eventually could boost its annual operating profit by $500 million. The financial gains aren’t expected to start flowing to Yahoo until next year.
To start, Yahoo will get $150 million from Microsoft to help offset its expenses for the transition to a new technology. The payments will be made in instalments, with the first checks due before April.
Microsoft will also take on about 400 of Yahoo’s 13,900 employees, with the first transfers expected to take place this year.
“Although we are just at the beginning of this process, we have reached an exciting milestone,” Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said. “I believe that together, Microsoft and Yahoo will promote more choice, better value and greater innovation to our customers as well as to advertisers and publishers.”
Even though Microsoft’s technology will be steering things, Yahoo insists its search results and advertising won’t be identical to what’s served up on Bing. Yahoo can still shape the presentation of the results.
“This breakthrough search alliance means Yahoo can focus even more on our own innovative search experience,” said CEO Carol Bartz.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Microsoft announces Windows Phone 7, will ship by Christmas
Software giant Microsoft on Monday announced that its Windows phone 7 operating system for mobile phones will be available by Christmas season of 2010, as a whole new platform that incorporates social networking, music, video, photos and games to provide a rich, personalised user experience.
At the Mobile World Congress that opened here, Microsoft's Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer unveiled the features that the Windows Phone 7 to be manufactured to specifications laid down by the company, will offer. The phones will support the capacitative touch interface now popular with users, and revolve around the concept of ‘hubs’ on-screen for people, pictures, office and mail applications, music and video.
Making the hubs the core of the navigation system, with dedicated keys for start, search and back — the most frequently used functions — and providing the ability to display configurable individual ‘tiles’ on the display screen for the people and applications that matter most to the individual user will differentiate, in Microsoft's view, the Windows Phone 7 from the personal computer, and other phones.
Thus, a user can feature tiles for individuals, which would show connected activity for them on Facebook, Windows Live and so on. Full-featured synchronisation and integration capabilities with other Microsoft products such as Office, Outlook, the music player Zune and the gaming platform X-Box Live has been built into the new system. It is tightly knit with services such as Bing, the search engine for which the company is strengthening its database and map utility. The mobile browser for the phone is built on the desktop Internet Explorer code, aimed at making for a good web browsing experience with the vast majority of existing Websites.
A major area that Microsoft is focusing on is active collaboration with hardware manufacturers, to bring about consistency of performance. It has laid down minimum standards for the phones. At the same time, Mr. Ballmer said, it wants diversity and innovation in the form, feel and industrial design of the phones. In the case of developers, a rich kit is being provided to encourage development on the scale that was witnessed for operating systems for computers.
Highlighting the features of the Windows Phone 7, Joe Belfiore, Vice-President, Windows Phone Programme, said the phone was not a personal computer, was much more personal and lifestyle oriented, and the new platform had been designed with that fundamental philosophy in mind.
Microsoft hopes that the new platform will give it a solid footing in the fast-growing smartphone market, through a series of partnerships with hardware manufacturers including LG, Samsung, HTC, HP, Dell, Sony Ericsson and Toshiba, and technology companies such as Qualcomm. It has been working on similar collaborations with mobile operators for services. Andrew Lees, Senior Vice-President, Microsoft Mobile Communications Business, said over 1 billion phones were sold every year, and there was a massive shift to the smart phone segment.
At the Mobile World Congress that opened here, Microsoft's Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer unveiled the features that the Windows Phone 7 to be manufactured to specifications laid down by the company, will offer. The phones will support the capacitative touch interface now popular with users, and revolve around the concept of ‘hubs’ on-screen for people, pictures, office and mail applications, music and video.
Making the hubs the core of the navigation system, with dedicated keys for start, search and back — the most frequently used functions — and providing the ability to display configurable individual ‘tiles’ on the display screen for the people and applications that matter most to the individual user will differentiate, in Microsoft's view, the Windows Phone 7 from the personal computer, and other phones.
Thus, a user can feature tiles for individuals, which would show connected activity for them on Facebook, Windows Live and so on. Full-featured synchronisation and integration capabilities with other Microsoft products such as Office, Outlook, the music player Zune and the gaming platform X-Box Live has been built into the new system. It is tightly knit with services such as Bing, the search engine for which the company is strengthening its database and map utility. The mobile browser for the phone is built on the desktop Internet Explorer code, aimed at making for a good web browsing experience with the vast majority of existing Websites.
A major area that Microsoft is focusing on is active collaboration with hardware manufacturers, to bring about consistency of performance. It has laid down minimum standards for the phones. At the same time, Mr. Ballmer said, it wants diversity and innovation in the form, feel and industrial design of the phones. In the case of developers, a rich kit is being provided to encourage development on the scale that was witnessed for operating systems for computers.
Highlighting the features of the Windows Phone 7, Joe Belfiore, Vice-President, Windows Phone Programme, said the phone was not a personal computer, was much more personal and lifestyle oriented, and the new platform had been designed with that fundamental philosophy in mind.
Microsoft hopes that the new platform will give it a solid footing in the fast-growing smartphone market, through a series of partnerships with hardware manufacturers including LG, Samsung, HTC, HP, Dell, Sony Ericsson and Toshiba, and technology companies such as Qualcomm. It has been working on similar collaborations with mobile operators for services. Andrew Lees, Senior Vice-President, Microsoft Mobile Communications Business, said over 1 billion phones were sold every year, and there was a massive shift to the smart phone segment.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Google plans to launch store for online business software
Internet giant Google Inc is planning to launch a store for selling online business software, a media report says.
Attributing to people briefed by the company, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) stated, “Google Inc is preparing to launch a store selling online business software that integrates with its Web services, enlisting software developers in its battle against Microsoft Corp.”
The people in knowledge of the development said the store would sell business software designed by outside developers to integrate and add capabilities to Google Apps, such as enhanced security features or the ability to import contacts.
Google Apps provides web-based email, word-processing and spreadsheet functions.
“Google could announce the new store — a revamped version of its Solutions Marketplace site that features third—party programs — as soon as March,” the report said.
Google eventually plans to allow customers to purchase its partners’ software through the site, taking a cut for itself and sharing some revenue with developers, WSJ attributed the report as saying.
Moreover, Google would allow users to quickly access their purchased applications through the menu at the top of their screens within Gmail or Google Docs, it added.
According to Google, more than two million businesses are using the paid or free version of Google Apps.
