5 hot smartphones under Rs 20,000

5 hot smartphones under Rs 20,000.

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.

President Pranab Mukherjee launches low cost Aakash-2 tablet

NEW DELHI: The advanced version of low cost tablet Aakash was launched here today by President Pranab Mukherjee.

Coming at a price tag of Rs 1,130 for students, the new version ‘Aakash 2’, which will be made available to students of engineering colleges and universities to begin with, is now powered by a processor running at 1 GHz, has a 512 MB, a 7 inch capacitative touch screen and a battery working for three hours of normal operations.

It has been developed under the aegis of IIT Bombay with the active support of C-DAC. Datawind is rolling out the device.

“The price is Rs 2,263 at which the government purchases the device from us. The government subsidises it by 50 per cent and it will be distributed to students at Rs 1,130,” said Datawind CEO Suneet Tuli.

He said the government is also trying to encourage the state governments to chip in by subsidising it further so that the device can eventually be available to students free of cost.

The first one lakh devices will be provided to students of engineering colleges and universities and subsequently these will be distributed to others.

About 22 crore students will get the device across the country in the next five to six years. By coming Monday alone, 20,000 devices are expected to reach out to the students.

The device, which can also run on Linux operating system, do Aadhar authentication and control a robot from a distant place, said HRD Ministry officials.

China to become world’s largest robot consumer in 2014

BEIJING: Demand for industrial robots is predicted to hit 32,000 units in China by 2014, making the manufacturing giant the world’s largest robotics consumer.

According to the International Federation of Robotics, the sector’s technology and production have gained momentum amid higher labour costs and China’s efforts to restructure its economic growth pattern and improve energy efficiency.

At the China International Industry Fair, which ended yesterday, China’s robot manufacturers exhibited their models in direct competition with their foreign counterparts.

The fair attracted more than 1,800 participants over the five-day exhibition, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

At the event, a Chinese company, SIASUN Robot & Automation Co demonstrated their new models, which are integrated with numerical control machines that can accomplish multi-procedure processes.

The company’s self-designed products have been exported to overseas markets including the US, Canada, Russia and India, the report said.

Despite the growing sector, the industry warned that a lack of core technology will stall the development of robot manufacturing in China