Sensex up marginally in early trade

Rising for the third day in a row, the BSE benchmark Sensex gained over 32 points in early trade on Friday on sustained buying by funds and retailers on hopes of economic reforms amid a firming trend in Asian region.

The 30—share barometer, which had gained over 188 points in the previous two sessions, added 32.17 points, or 0.17 per cent, to 18,549.51 with stocks of power, capital goods, metal and oil and gas sectors extending support.

Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty moved up by 6.80 points, or 0.12 per cent, to 5,634.55.

Brokers said trading sentiment remained firm on continued buying by funds and retail investors largely on hopes that the government will take more reform measures amid a firming trend in the Asian region in line with overnight gains on the European markets.

Stocks of Hindustan Copper, which had rallied by 11.33 per cent in yesterday’s trade after the government announced plans to divest 4 per cent equity in the company, came under selling pressure and plunged over 16 per cent to Rs 223.55.

In the Asian region, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose by 0.40 per cent, while Japanese markets closed for a public holiday.

The US markets remained closed on Thursday for ‘Thanksgiving’

Microsoft offers Windows 8 for Rs 1,999 to cajole users of pirated OS

NEW DELHI: Offer a sophisticated operating system for the price of a pair of branded jeans. This seems to be Microsoft’s strategy to cajole millions of users running pirated copies of its flagship Windows operating system (OS) to turn a leaf and become legitimate, paying customers.

The Redmond, Washington-based software giant is offering a deep discount on Windows 8 for a few months, selling a copy priced at Rs 11,999 for Rs 1,999. From a computer that runs Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7 – pirated or otherwise – users can download a licensed copy of Windows 8 Pro, the version with all the bells and whistles, for an 83% discount. No questions asked.

The offer is valid till January 31, 2013. An upgrade DVD costs Rs 3,499 and if you bought a Windows 7 computer after June 2012, an upgrade is yours for Rs 699.

Microsoft is silent on whether this is a security loophole or a deliberate strategy. Company officials declined comment. Raju PP, editor of tech blog Techpp.com, who installed Windows 8 on a non-activated Windows 7 installation by paying Rs 1,999, said: “I have strong reasons to believe that this was a deliberate move to push up initial sales. Microsoft is big and wise enough to do a basic check for legitimacy of Windows 7 installation. They could have done a background check of the installation or could have asked for the Windows 7 licence key. But they didn’t”.

For years, the hordes of users who used pirated copies of the flagship Windows OS represented a tricky knot for software giant Microsoft. They were potentially robbing the company of billions of dollars in revenue. And yet, cracking down would have made them turn to free, open-source platforms.

This would have diluted the immense network effect that benefits Microsoft and helps preserve its market dominance. So, Microsoft mostly cracked down on piracy among companies and enterprise users and left personal users alone.

That seems to be changing as the company unveiled Windows 8, a touchscreen-optimised OS that marks a radical departure in its user interface to usher in a tile-based system common to personal computers, tablets and mobile devices. With these upgrade offers, within four days of its launch, 4 million licences of Windows 8 have been bought and downloaded globally.

The deep discount is likely to find many takers among users in emerging economies who run pirated versions of the OS. “They are obviously trying to lure pirated users, which is a big market. Not many enterprises plan to move to Windows 8 as they are still in the process of moving from Windows XP to Windows 7. Microsoft is trying to tap into the big market of pirated Windows, which is much bigger than their enterprise market,” said Vishal Tripathi, principal research analyst, Gartner.

As per Netmarkershare.com, Windows currently has over 80% market share worldwide in desktop OS. The main reason for piracy is the high price of a legitimate Windows copy. A genuine Windows 7 OS costs at least 5,000 (Home Basic) even today, while a pirated copy of Windows 7 Ultimate, legally priced at 11,488, can be bought for a few hundred rupees in the grey market. There has been great consumer interest in Windows 8, which clocked 16 million downloads for preview.

Tech wars take Microsoft, Apple and Amazon out of their comfort zones

Watch out for the snafus and the mess-ups. When Apple released its version of a maps app for iOS, it received a reaction quite out of sync with the usual fawning adulation that an Apple product launch gets.

Noticeably inferior to Google maps, or even the kind of mapping app available on (gasp!) Nokia phones, it drew howls of derision, led to a public apology by chief executive Tim Cook, and earlier this week, to the sacking of the company’s head of iOS software, Scott Forstall.

Also watch out for the confused messaging. Microsoft launched Windows 8 earlier this week, and along with that, the Windows Surface, its bid for tablet market dominance.

Given that Surface is being heavily marketed along with a range of colourful covers which double up as keyboards, Microsoft seems to be at least hinting at the fact that Surface, unlike iPad or Android tablets, could be used for something more productive than simply checking mail or playing Angry Birds. Indeed, the tablet will ship with versions of Excel, Word and PowerPoint.

A New Microsoft?

But it won’t run Outlook, an odd omission, for those who would like to take it along on business trips rather than lug a bulky laptop around (though there are alternatives). And the version of Windows on Surface won’t run most Windows applications on the desktop — they will be incompatible.

Institutional investors call Wipro demerger a fair deal

BANGALORE: Wipro’s demerger of its non-IT businesses has received a thumbs-up from institutional shareholders in the company, contrary to claims by a proxy advisory firm.

“Over the past week, we have been meeting investors in WiproBSE -1.11 % and all of them appreciated the de-merger and the way it is being done,” said Viju George, executive director at the equities-brokerage arm of JP Morgan, an institutional investor in Bangalore-based Wipro, India’s third largest IT services company. “I don’t understand where the bit about shareholder angst is coming from.” Another institutional investor, CLSA, said the demerger “favoured minority shareholders, probably a first in restructuring of any kind in corporate India.” Recently, Mumbai-based proxy-advisory Stakeholders Empowerment Services had suggested that the hived-off entity should ideally be listed for minority shareholders to fully benefit.

On November 1, Wipro carved out its non-IT businesses, which contribute 14% to its $7.3 billion revenues and 6% of its operating profits, into a private company called Wipro Enterprises. Besides giving the IT business a sharper focus, the demerger will help Azim Premji to pare his stake to 75% in compliance with Indian laws that require the public to own at least 25% in listed companies. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re an individual investor or an institutional holder, there is no reason to be concerned,” said Sandeep Muthangi, vice-president at IIFL Capital. In effect, CLSA advised its clients that the promoter is taking out 6% of profits but is offering additional value of about 12% to existing shareholders who chose to exchange shares in the unlisted company for Wipro shares.

Shareholders could receive one share of Rs 10 face value in Wipro Enterprises for every five Rs 2 shares of Wipro, or opt for one 7% redeemable preference share in Wipro Enterprises with face value of Rs 50 for every five Wipro shares. Redeemable share will fetch Rs 235 at maturity in one year. Alternatively, investors could exchange the equity shares of Wipro Enterprises for Wipro shares held by the promoter, at an exchange ratio of one Wipro share for every 1.65 Wipro Enterprises shares. “We are sure the shareholders will appreciate the rationale and fairness of the scheme as they get a better and deeper understanding of the scheme,” Wipro said in a statement. “We are encouraged by the positive response received so far from the investors, financial analysts and media.”

Some shareholders may want to hold the shares in the unlisted entity assuming it is primarily in the consumer business, which is a growth sector in the economy, but will have limited options of realising full value as that company is not listed. JP Morgan, however, said the new entity is a “hodge-podge” including other unrelated businesses besides consumer business, and thus may not make much of an investment case.