Ayyadurai says social media will not pose any threat to e-mails, writes Arshad KhanMumbai-born Shiva Ayyadurai created the world’s first email system in 1978, a few years after his family moved to America. “India has been the land of innovations for the past 5,000 years, it’s just we aren’t good in marketing ourselves," he said.On August 30, 1982, the US government recognised Shiva for his innovation and gave him a copyright for e-mail. Thus, he joined the exclusive league of Indian innovators. In an exclusive interview, Ayyadurai gives an insight of his upbringing, success and the hurdles which he easily crossed. Born in Mumbai, Ayyadurai's parents moved United States when he was seven for better opportunities. Good in athletics, Ayyadurai moved to New York University (NYU) with special permission because he had finished Calculus by the 9th grade and there was nothing engaging for him in Morristown. In NYU, he was the only Indian out of forty selected students to learn multiple programming languages. By the time he reached fourteen, he moved to Newark where he was given a challenge by Dr. Leslie Michelson to translate the paper-based interoffice mail and memo system into an electronic communications format. He succeeded in changing the format in 6 months and kept on changing version to ease the process.Finally the first e-mail was sent by him in 1978. Remembering his early days in US, says, “We landed in US post the Vietnam war. The country was going through a rough phase. It was sex, drugs, rock and roll everywhere and living in of the poorest region of US Paterson, New Jersy was difficult.” For the first two years, Shiva worked free of cost. On the thirty-three year long journey of e-mail, he said that things rapidly changed post 1993 when worldwide web (www) originated. “It opened a whole new window of opportunities and the world saw the emergence of e-mail services from Hotmail, Yahoo and Google. From what was an origin for business applications changed to consumer friendly interface,” he said. Ayyadurai currently heads seven companies, most of them deals in Alternate medicine. He also holds ten patents under his name and has hundred plus publications. He is confident that social media will not pose any threat to e-mails as both play important role in the communication cycle. “In future the interface may change but the basics of e-mail will remain the same,” he concludes.
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Internet Industry is booming and one of the fastest growing industries in the country today. With current Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) of consumer internet industry being around $10-12 Billion, clocking an average growth of 40-45% CAGR ,we are roughly talking about a $100 Billion GMV in next 5 years if not more. This is a phenomenal growth compared to an average 14 per cent growth rate in a conventional consumer goods industry. To add to our benefit and providing fillip to the industry, India is the second largest market, globally, for internet and smart phone users.Consumer is more aware and comfortable transacting online compared to a decade back. With evolving infrastructure – like a better and safer online payment structure, logistics and innovative customer services like COD (cash on delivery) and hassle-free return policies, e-commerce companies have not only gained the customers confidence but also changed their buying behavior pattern as well by shifting them to adapt to technology as a means of convenience.The evolution of the industry has enabled growth resulting in talent moving in at brisk rate. As a talent specialist, I feel following are compelling reasons for bright minds moving in the consumer internet space:Cash rich industry resulting to acquiring better talent at higher compensation- We are witnessing a robust VC and PE funding activity – roughly $5 Billion was invested last year in consumer internet industry and this year we could see the investment going much higher making the companies financially comfortable to expand in technology and manpower, thus able to attract better talent at premium cost.Stock Options- ESOP’s is a great way to attract a potential employee, especially if the company is growing at 4x-5x on an annually; some of the early tech product start-ups are actually growing at8-10 times YoY resulting in a huge upside to the employees stocks vested. Employees are smarter nowadays, they are no longer interested in a small fixed hike, rather would go in for higher stock options if they believe in the organizations growth, vision, technology and product.Great Learning and Value Add- while there is a huge growth and money in this industry, it also gives a great learning experience from the perspective of building a company from scratch; from product marketing, supply chain, pricing and profit management, customer acquisition, cross-selling, up-selling, customer service and much more.The era of consumer internet is here to stay for at-least a decade. The industry in India is still at a nascent stage and with increasing internet and smartphone penetration, consumer internet will evolve exponentially.The author, Aneesh Passi, is Co-Founder of Basil Advisors
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"Data business is booming and the global data market that is available for data platforms to tap is a whopping $1.6 Trillion. Real companies make real products and real solutions based on data. Microsoft Data Strategy would be to maximise the value derived from all such accessible data. The strategy would be to go Cloud First with other things following. Microsoft data platform is evolved, reliable and people-focused and will be more productive and easily accessible to customers," T. K. Rengarajan, Corporate Vice President - Data Platform, Cloud and Enterprise, Microsoft Corporation, said, at the SQLServerGeeks Annual Summit 2015.The 3-day SQL and Data Conference being attended by hundreds of SQL professionals will run till the 29 August. Organised by SQLServerGeeks.com and sponsored by Microsoft, HP, SanDisk, Melissa Data and S&P Capital IQ.The summit is featuring SQL Star Speakers such as Denny Cherry, Benjamin Nevarez, Praveen Srivatsa, Alberto Ferrari, Joey D Antoni, Dave Dustin, Vic Parmar, Andreas Volter, Stuart Padley, Lara Rubbelke, Scott Klein, Microsoft SQL Data Platform among others. The Data Business at Microsoft manages 1.5 million databases and collects 70 TB of data daily. The key focus for the data platform would be to make data simpler and more capable. Till date SQL has been one of the greatest releases of Microsoft. At Microsoft we have assembled an incredible data platform and this is the beginning of another two decades of impressive data technology' he added.Amit R. S. Bansal, Chairman of the Conference & Director of eDominer Systems, said, “Today, Data is the key to an organisation’s success. With the right data, we can do wonders. Asia has a huge talent pool of data professionals. This summit, for the first time ever, has brought all SQL & Data professionals under one roof and will facilitate skills up-gradation and offer immense networking opportunity.”(BW Online Bureau)
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Symantec has secured more than one billion Internet of Things (IoT) devices, including everything from televisions and cars to smart meters and critical infrastructure. With IoT devices expected to number 25 billion by 2020, Symantec is leading the effort to protect consumers from hacks against their always-on, Internet connected devices.“As IoT innovation and adoption continues to grow, so has the opportunity for new cyber security risks. This is the next frontier. In the automotive industry, hackers can literally steer the car and ‘hit the brakes’ from their keyboards,” said Shankar Somasundaram, Senior Director of Internet of Things Security, Symantec. “Symantec is partnering with manufacturers in the automotive, industrial control, and semiconductor industries, in addition to our work in healthcare and retail markets.”Symantec expands security portfolio with new Embedded Critical Systems Protection, designed to defend IoT devices against zero-day attacks, and signs ATM manufacturer Wincor Nixdorf as one of the early adoptersTo further fuel innovation in IoT security, Symantec recently announced a partnership with Frost Data Capital to incubate early-stage startups with funding, resources and expertise. Frost Data Capital underpins the incubator with seasoned entrepreneurs, proven innovation methodology and process, and deep expertise in big data analytics, IoT, industrials and healthcare. These startup companies will have the opportunity to collaborate with Symantec to solve the most complex challenges shaping tomorrow’s threat landscape.
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Off late, we have seen a phenomenon of sorts of shutting down the website and going app-only - Myntra was the first prominent Indian e-commerce company to take this route, followed by Flipkart. Is this phenomenon going to pick pace and turn into a movement?Apart from Myntra - Zopper, a hyperlocal shopping marketplace, also recently shut down its website citing that conversion rates i.e customers making a purchase are much higher on mobile (about 2-3 to 3 per cent ) than on website (about 0.3 per cent).Dating and matchmaking site TrulyMadly did the same as it gets 97-98 per cent of user engagement from apps. Grocery delivery firm Peppertap says it gets 87 per cent of its orders through its mobile app. A number of fast growing firms such as TinyOwl, Grofers and RoomsTonite started as an app only company and are doing well.Fact #1: Smartphone penetration in India is deepening and mobile-based transactions are seeing a sharp growth. Majority of transactions of ecommerce companies are through mobile and this trend is accentuating."India is set to overtake the US as the second largest market for smartphones in the world by 2016 as smart mobile devices become affordable", said eMarketer, a US-based global research firm. Globally, there will be 1.91 billion smartphone users in 2015 and increase by 12.6 per cent the following year to touch 2.16 billion in 2016.On absolute basis, mobile users have surpassed desktop users in India e.g Facebook's India's daily active users in India are at 55 million, out of which 49 million come through mobile (not mobile exclusive), accounting for over 89 per cent of Facebook's daily traffic as of December 2014.Snapdeal's mobile app based transactions rose to 65 per cent in 2015. Flipkart's rose to 75 per cent, compared to six per cent in 2014.Smartphone sales are zooming and customers use it as a first point of contact. It is widely accepted that customers buying through mobile also stay longer and are better engaged. The mobile is the preferred way to buy things online.Fact #2: Cheaper handsets are now coming in smartphone mode and connecting an even larger Indian rural population with the internet. A laptop is seen as bulky and costly in comparison to a mobile. To reach this virgin rural customer, one way forward is app-only.Fact #3: Mobile is not just another channel - it's a full-fledged business, a delivery address, a world which can offer latest technologies seamlessly like virtual reality. It can also be your adviser.Fact #4: On a desktop, one checks prices on a site, opens another site and compares prices. However, an app is a slightly difficult environment in the sense that to close and open a new app needs more patience and time. This slight difficulty creates a small trigger to not compare prices and according to behavioural economics, these small triggers significantly change customer decisions. This takes some pricing pressure away especially important in a high price-elastic market such as India. However, this is a thin aspect and could fritter away with time. Amazon once tried charging higher from Mac users on the assumption that they could pay more, and it turned out to be a PR disaster.Fact #5: An app once downloaded, keeps on springing up in front of you and hence promotes impulse buying. Also, one carries a mobile device everywhere and hence offering more chances to ecommerce companies to sell to the customer. It is also seen that one checks the mobile as high as 150 times a day! Mobile app users are more engaged compared to web as they come back to the app and transact many more times a month compared to their desktop or mobile website counterparts.Fact #6: However, what truly builds engagement is the app's shortcut on home screen, and 'push notifications'. Push notifications enable companies to provide a superior, personalised experience to its customers. Since the mobile ecosystem captures large information about each user, his interests, buying preferences etc - it provides highly contextual and relevant service. This is different from the desktop system since browsers are owned by some other company (like Chrome owned by Google). Browsers themselves, capture complete data on the user but the benefit of that goes to the browser's owner. However, a mobile operating system like Android can't analyse what's going in an app and hence is a more secure environment from the point of view of the ecommerce company.The app opens a whole new world of geo-targeting - the method of determining the geolocation of a website visitor and delivering different content to that visitor based on his or her location, such as country, region/state, city, metro code/zip code, organisation, IP address, ISP or other criteria. What better way to provide to customers the best purchasing experience?Fact #7: World's greatest innovations are happening on mobile e.g using Watson, Fluid created a virtual shopping assistant for ecommerce firms. Unlike the present breed of recommendations, based on browsing or shopping history, this virtual assistant will understand user needs and provide advice, much like an expert salesperson would.Fact #8: Maintaining both mobile and website is costly. Also, advertising on app is cheaper than the desktop version.With increasing margin pressures, online retailers want to streamline their technology spending and focus on a single platform.Given the eight facts above, Myntra's and Flipkart's move to App-only strategy seems eminently wise. However, there are many who think otherwise.They say that Flipkart, after going app-only, will follow Amazon's Kindle strategy and integrate vertically with its own hardware, a dedicated software and an entire ecosystem around it. Innovations like cash-less transactions, an app which can function in negligible bandwidth, geo-tagging et al will likely follow suit.Something strange also catches the keen eye of these market followers - Shortly before Myntra announced its app-only move, Flipkart signed up for Airtel Zero. The tie-up would have let its customers use its app, without having to pay Airtel for the data. Flipkart, after days of vigorously defending its move, opted out when it saw the public mood turn against the so-called violations of net neutrality. Yet, the episode led to the theory that Flipkart was trying to use a combination of the app and Airtel Zero to score a point over its competitors.Some also say that regular desktop-based ecommerce cannot be ignored. Lakhs of professionals are on the desktop eight to nine hours every day in their offices! Can Flipkart afford to ignore this knowing many will migrate to a Snapdeal instead?Some customers point out that smartphones support only limited apps and once overloaded, hangs and craves for memory and battery. They also point to the high uninstall rate for apps. Checking pricing of an iPad Air - a 16GB storage model costs USD 499 whereas 32GB model costs USD 599. This means that the extra 16 GB costs INR 6000. Not loose change!From a finance perspective, valuation of mcommerce companies is running ahead of pure-play ecommerce companies - given the steep USD 15 billion valuation that Flipkart has been given, carrying mcommerce multiples can lend greater justification to its hefty price tag.The biggest pointer to app-only strategy being a colossal mistake, is the latest from WhatApp! One of the biggest mobile only app, it moved to desktop recently! From that angle, app-only takes away the choice and does not seem to be the right strategy, going forward.In all, I think that the final word is yet to be written whether app-only is the right way forward - The outcome of Myntra and Flipkart will point the right way out.According to media reports, Flipkart has put its app-only move on hold on back of skepticism from retailers of big-ticket category products.Tushar Kansal
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The rapid advance of industrial technologies has transformed our lives. Ever since the diversification of our agrarian economies into the production of goods and services, industrial technology has helped increase productivity and the standard of living in both developed and emerging countries. Today, the manufacture of industrial goods still accounts for 16 per cent of gross world product and is estimated to reach 25 per cent by 2022. A major technological development is again about to turn the industrial world upside down - this time in the form of the digitization of the factory.Whether in terms of the safety, quality or affordability of our everyday products, we consume, without a second thought, goods which would have seemed miraculous to past generations. The technology that powers our modern transport facilities, smartphones, medical equipment and food supplies is at the height of current industrial innovation.The latest wave of this industrial innovation has been described in various terms, such as "Industry 4.0," the "Industrial Internet of Things," or even the "4th industrial revolution." The underlying objective is the same - to establish constant connectivity between the Internet and each resource involved in the manufacture and delivery of goods. Going beyond this connectivity, the "digital factory" creates a shared virtual world in which realistic simulations and better decision making are possible with regards to, for example, reducing consumption of resources, energy and time.The stakes: refocusing on global value creationWhile the digital revolution has already significantly impacted industry, its benefits do not yet extend to the planet's 7 billion inhabitants. Dare we hope that this new wave of innovation will provide a better quality of life for civilization? And can we reduce industry's environmental impact at the same time? Yes, I believe it is possible - and this is the vision that we want to share with our customers over the coming decades.Companies in the industrial sector are often seen by their shareholders simply as sources of profit. But for citizens and employees - and their countries as a whole - they have greater responsibilities. Over the past 40 years, the intense focus that has been placed on beating the competition and reducing costs has not only damaged the social fabric but has also adversely affected industry itself, and its ability to change. This disillusionment can be tackled effectively if we adopt a more long-term and sustainable vision which is not limited to the confines of the factory walls.Emerging countries such as Brazil, Russia, India and China have already recognized the value of this and have seen enormous economic returns, not only by developing their manufacturing capacities, but also in terms of design. But they are now faced with rising wages, environmental concerns and quality control compliance.If we work together, the wealth created by industry could serve the needs of everyone on the planet. For this to be achieved, we must produce the right goods for each region, at the right price, of the right quality and in the right quantity. These goods could be created using new and more sustainable processes, with more highly skilled jobs and thereby sustain the growth of the economy in each region. For each country and for each company, the key factor for success will be the capability of adapting to rapid changes in demand.The digital factory will make it possible to address these issues. By implementing the digital factory concept, humans again become the key focus, their cognitive functions are given free rein and they can concentrate on innovation.The digitization of industrial processes is already underway. But the sums invested up to now continue to be small as compared with the digitization of other corporate functions, such as finance and engineering. Manufacturing is now gaining importance and is looking set to distribute more globally the wealth it generates.This trend has important implications for industry and national leaders. Industrial processes can easily be connected, tailored and dynamically changed across a network of industrial companies. This strategy, referred to as "Manufacturing as a Service" or MaaS, gives companies the possibility of responding rapidly to changes in demand or in market conditions. Industrial companies can now remain connected with their customers, providing them with value throughout the entire life of the product - thereby also extending industry's impact from the products themselves to the services which support them.Industrial companies applying a MaaS approach can create high value-added experiences for other companies or for their clients throughout the product life cycle - from delivery, support, repairs or changes, to its end-of-life.The digital factory also has the potential to create a large number of skilled jobs - that is to say "knowledge workers" - that will be freed from repetitive tasks thanks to digitization, computer systems, equipment connected directly to the Internet and advances in automation.In addition to generic digital infrastructures, such as access to high-speed Internet, industrial companies must invest in other digital manufacturing technologies. The result, in terms of the creation of skilled industrial jobs, will make it possible to develop more sustainable manufacturing, with harmonious and sparing use of necessary resources throughout the product life cycle.Workers must be trained for these opportunities and their jobs must evolve relatively rapidly, since this new world of production is capable of creating a new economy, for the benefit of all.Like the "Lean" revolution and other initiatives for continued improvement, this change will take some time. But with a positive mind-set and determination to invest in this future, the "digital factory" has the potential to offer unprecedented growth and riches for our planet.The author, Chandan Chowdhury, is managing director-India at Dassault Systèmes
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Functional programming languages are not exclusive to the Java/JVM world. The Microsoft technology stack supports all the appropriate paradigms and capabilities to enable functional programming through the .NET framework. Developers can use C# or F# on the Common Language Runtime (CLR) to satisfy all of their functional needs.The capabilities and benefits of functional programming on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) through supported programming languages (like Scala) are well known. The real world is much more diverse, with many organizations choosing to fully invest in the Microsoft technology stack. The Microsoft ecosystem provides a very complete and capable JVM equivalent known as the Common Language Runtime (CLR). The CLR provides virtual machine-like functionality including garbage collected memory, an intermediate language (Microsoft IL), core system libraries, and support for a high-level of interoperability with native code. Amongst other things, the CLR supports languages and constructs with object-oriented and functional programming capabilities.Microsoft created the .NET framework of technologies to support building and running applications on the CLR. One such language in the .NET framework on the CLR is C#, which is to the CLR what Java is to the JVM. Microsoft designed the C# language with some useful functional capabilities from early on. C# allows the developer to use a function object as any other object type, define function types, assign values to function objects (references), and create complex functions through strongly typed delegates.Language Integrated Query (LINQ) is a powerful extension of the .NET framework that can be used to conveniently extract and process data from standard data structures in a functional manner that resembles SQL code written against a database. Other uses include the construction of event handlers or monadic parsers. LINQ also defines a set of standard query/sequence operators to translate fluent-style query expressions into lambda expressions and anonymous types.The functional options on the .NET framework don’t end with C# and LINQ. The CLR supports F#, a strongly typed functional language (with object-oriented capabilities) influenced by a host of other functional languages, like OCaml, Haskell, Scala and Erlang. F# is an expression-based language using eager evaluation, type inference, function currying, partial function application, algebraic data types, lambda expressions, continuation passing, and true tail call optimization. Microsoft is actively supporting and evolving F# to keep it relevant in today’s object-oriented and functional programming world. Not surprisingly, F# is popular in complex algorithmic programming, financial and scientific applications.The CLR is a powerful, open platform. Clojure has been ported from the JVM to run on the CLR. There is an implementation of Python on the CLR called IronPython. Similarly IronRuby is an implementation of the Ruby language on the CLR. There is IronScheme and a host of other ported languages. Developers can seamlessly incorporate code and libraries from the various CLR languages into their application. The CLR, C#, LINQ, and F# clearly demonstrate that the Microsoft ecosystem is fully enabled and capable of supporting first-class functional development on par with the Java / JVM world.The author, Dharmendra Kapadia, is senior director-solutioning at Ness Software Engineering Services (SES)
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A nasdaq listed compnay FireEye, has revealed the details of an advanced campaign which appears to target information about ongoing border disputes and other diplomatic matters.The advanced persistent threat (APT) group behind the operation, which FireEye believes is most likely based in China, sent targeted spear phishing emails containing Microsoft Word attachments to its intended victims.These documents pertained to regional issues and contained a script called Watermain, which creates backdoors on infected machines. The campaign’s attacks were also detected in April 2015, about one month ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first state visit to China.FireEye has observed Watermain activity since 2011. Over the past four years, this threat group has used Watermain to target over 100 victims, approximately 70 percent of which were in India. The group launching Watermain attacks has also targeted Tibetan activists and others in Southeast Asia, with a focus on governmental, diplomatic, scientific and educational organizations.“Collecting intelligence on India remains a key strategic goal for China-based APT groups, and these attacks on India and its neighbouring countries reflect growing interest in its foreign affairs,” said Bryce Boland, FireEye chief technology officer for Asia Pacific. “Organizations should redouble their cyber security efforts and ensure they can prevent, detect and respond to attacks in order to protect themselves.”APT attacks on organizations in India and neighbouring countries are now commonplace. In April, FireEye revealed the details of APT30, a decade-long cyber espionage campaign by suspected China-based threat actors that compromised an aerospace and defence company in India among others.(BW Online Bureau)
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Mobile payments are here and in the next couple of years will emerge as a standard choice of payment solution for business owners. By accepting card payments, business owners can not only give their customers an added convenience but can also reap in the multiple benefits it offers. It's a win-win situation.Many small and medium businesses still rely on cash as the preferred mode of payment and due to certain limiting factors cannot opt for a traditional POS system. There is also a huge gap in the number of POS terminals deployed (11, 25, 715) by banks in India and the number of cards (2.12 crore credit &56.5 crore debit cards - as of April 2015) been issued so far. With the objective of bridging this gap and to provide an affordable/easy to use solution, 'Paynear mPay'mobile point of sale solution was launched keeping all the businesses in mind. With 'Paynear mPay' merchants not only require less up-front investment but also getmany important featuresthat improve their sales and business. Prabhu RamThe key components - mPay app, card reader and a self-service merchant portal combined together make any merchants card acceptance more simple, secure and affordable. Features like multi language interface (app in 7 languages), maintaining and managing customer data, downloading reports, viewing transaction details, tip collection and pre-authorization all help scale merchants business and improve customer retention.The 'mPay' app has been developed after thorough research & careful understanding of various businesses. Various technologies work in the backend to make mPOS transactions happen in the real time. Transactions through mPay are secure and no data is saved in the app or the smartphone/tablet. The passwords used are also not stored either on the smart phone or on the card reader. When you enter the password during the transaction they are encrypted and then sent over to complete the transaction.Android devices with 2.3.3 and above versions can use mPay but for security purpose rooted Android devices cannot use mPay.The portable card reader has undergone rigorous testing and development, making it a highly secure and compliant device with all the latest security requirements for mobile payment solutions. Every transaction performed on the card reader is 100 per cent safe and secure. Certifications include PCI PTS V3.0, UKCC, MasterCard TQM, EMV Level I & II.With the proliferation of smartphones, merchants can now quickly transform their smart devices into a smart mPOS solution that can create a more personalized, convenient and memorable shopping experience for their customers. It also gives them the edge to stay competitive and achieve operational efficiency.The author, Prabhu Ram, is managing director and chief strategy officer at Paynear Solution
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Not for the first time in its 40-year of corporate history, Microsoft Corporation finds itself at a crossroads. The Redmond-based software giant, once synonymous with the very word “monopoly”, is becoming increasingly sidelined by a post-personal computer (PC) world gone mobile whizzing past to leave the $340.8-billion company of Bill Gates and Paul Allen in a bit of a tail-spin.Microsoft is still one of the most-valued brands in the world and its software is still on 90 per cent of the computers on the planet. But then, as the company’s Indian-born chief executive officer, Satya Nadella, admitted, Microsoft has made the mistake of thinking everything revolved around the PC, and that was just not true any longer. Nadella took over the charge in February 2014, what everyone said was the thoroughly unenviable job of steering Microsoft away from looming irrelevancy after an era under Steve Ballmer — the former CEO. By then, it was obvious that Windows 8 was an unloved schizophrenic mess of an operating system (OS) that no one wanted to operate, and Microsoft’s mobile business, with Nokia like a millstone around the neck, was sinking into quicksand. Nadella immediately began speaking a different language and of the need for a complete culture change at Microsoft. Over the past year, many from the old guard began to exit — and are still doing so even today. That includes Stephen Elop, responsible for Microsoft Devices and the Nokia acquisition and recent write-off resulting in the loss of about 7,800 jobs.Power PlayAn unfazed Nadella gripped the whole mess by the throat and set off on a different course, armed with a new strategy: one that means the company and its customers must recognise that computing is going to be everywhere in a ‘mobile-first, cloud-first’ world. “When we talk about mobile-first, we’re talking about the mobility of the experience,” he said in his keynote address at the company’s Worldwide Partner Conference. “As we look out, the computing that we’re going to interface with, at home and at work, is going to be ubiquitous. We’re going to have sensors that recognise us, we’re going to have computers that we wear on us, computers that we touch, computers that we talk to, computers that we interact with as holograms. There’s going to be computing everywhere. And what we need across all these computers is out experiences, out applications, our data, and what enables that is, in fact, the cloud…” “We Have No Plans To Charge Consumers A Subscription For Windows 10”Vineet Durani, Director, Windows Business Group, Microsoft IndiaAnd that’s the backdrop against which Windows 10 was launched. It’s already installed on 50 million computers, the fact that the upgrade is free, no doubt spurring users to go ahead and download the new operating system. There’s some confusion over what happens after a year of the free upgrade is up. “We have no plans to charge consumers a subscription for Windows 10,” says Vineet Durani, director, Windows Business Group, Microsoft India. “A free upgrade to Windows 10 will be available to qualified new and existing genuine Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 devices. We want an engaged customer base on the latest version of Windows 10 and we will continue to keep it up to date for the supported lifetime of the device, keeping it more secure, and introducing new features and functionality over time — at no cost.”Search Gets WiderThe upgrade must be done within the first year for this however and Microsoft has been criticised about their messaging regarding this point. There are still dozens of unanswered questions on different upgrade scenarios.To be sure, this is the first time Microsoft is offering its OS free, where once it was expensive enough to spark off a whole industry of piracy. That doesn’t mean everything is free, however. Users are beginning to discover, for example, that they have to pay a monthly fee for Solitaire. Windows Media Center has now disappeared but at a cost, one can buy a DVD playing add-on, which everyone is pointing out is both unfair and unnecessary.But by and large, those who have upgraded to Windows 10 give it a thumbs-up. The first thing anyone will tell you when you ask them how they like the re-imagined OS is: “The Start button is back.” You wouldn’t think a little interface feature like a menu button would be so critical to users, but it is. The Start button is now beautifully arranged and can be popped up from the lower left corner, just where users before Windows 8 expect to see it. It’s eminently customisable.In one section, you have most-frequently used applications. This looks like a mini-version of the tiled desktop from Windows 8. You can pin apps and move live tiles around on it and resize it. In another, you have the whole list. It’s an elegant implementation and one that looks both modernised and familiar against the desktop style users have always known.Built into the Start menu is also one of Windows 10 most interesting features, Cortana — a chatty voice assistant. An answer to Apple’s Siri and Google Now, Cortana will give you the same kind of information they do, like the weather, sports scores, etc. But Cortana is meant to be most useful when you move across devices, which is when she can help you retrieve information she knows from one system into another. The more you use Cortana and allow her to know more information about you, the more useful you will find her over time. Cortana is the one feature that really does most to bridge the gap between personal and work information. “Microsoft has made the mistake of thinking everything revolved around the PC, and that was just not true any longer”Satya Nadella, CEO, MicrosoftOf course, whether people will use Cortana at workplaces or in public is difficult to say. “It’s cool but sorry, I can’t talk out loud to my laptop at work,” says Mala Sarkar, a young HR professional. “I’m sure my colleagues would look at me strangely and if we all start talking to our computers, it would just be chaotic.” While voice assistants are getting more powerful and contextual, it remains difficult to use them outside private spaces, at least in India. All the same, Cortana would make Microsoft’s Continuum concept work smoother, as a user is assisted to take up where he left off on one device to another. Continuum refers to the way Windows 10 will format itself to fit on different devices going from a PC-friendly mode to a tablet-friendly one and, after a few months, a phone-friendly one as well.Filling GapsWindows 10 actually has new features baked right into every aspect and it also includes a new browser, Edge, which kicks the bug-ridden Internet Explorer out of the way.There are many other bold moves Microsoft is making to catch up with the rest of the mobile world. The company has all but stopped trying to run down Android and Apple products and is instead making apps — free at that — for these platforms. And Android apps will be able to run on Windows-based phones, when they get their act together.Will Windows 10 and Microsoft’s new open strategies mark a turnaround for the company? Especially with the enterprise where Microsoft will make its revenues, selling various services around Windows and Office 365. “Corporates will need to be dragged kicking and screaming away from Windows XP,” says Prasanto Roy, writer and speaker on technology and head of media at Trivone. “They’ve just about begun to figure out Windows 7 and how to get their IT departments trained on support. So the thing is corporates never see any real advantage to upgrading.Consumers may be happy with new features and so on, but in an organisation where you have people doing specific work with dedicated software, there’s little point to a snazzier and cloud-first OS,” he adds. “In fact, if they were to get PCs with a newer Windows, it will be difficult to stop them from downgrading.”Migrating, for enterprises, is more than just downloading a new OS on to PCs. “Windows 10 will not have any disruptive impact on the market,” says Vishal Tripathi, IT analyst with Gartner. “There is no denying that with Windows 10, there is definitely a value-addition in terms of security and some licensing benefits. But enterprises will adopt a wait-and-watch strategy unless they have a compelling business reason to migrate.”Farooq Kwaoosa, lead analyst at CyberMedia Research, feels that one doesn’t really have any other option, but Windows. “On technical parameters, I don’t think there are any issues,” he says. “It’s the first operating system from Microsoft to cater to an entire ecosystem — it can be used for the Internet of Thing, for tablets and computers. But I don’t see any scenario whereby it makes for a turning point in mobile. And I don’t see that changing any time soon.”Tripathi agrees on the criticality of getting mobility right. “Microsoft needs to build value and uniqueness around Windows Phones, where people can really benefit with the same experience across devices,” he says. “Otherwise organisations will not be able to reap the real benefits, which Windows 10 brings to the table and it will remain another operating system.” mala@businessworld.in; @malabhargava(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 07-09-2015)
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