[Indic-computing-users] NEWS: Gates talks of localization in India...

[Frederick N. <fr...@by...>]

Gates to invest $400 million in India, unveils Tablet PC (EVENING LEAD)

>From Indo-Asian News Service

New Delhi, Nov 12 (IANS) Microsoft chief Bill Gates Tuesday unveiled an
ambitious plan to invest $400 million in India on education, software
localisation and development even as he launched a new gizmo - "Tablet PC".

The $400 million will be invested over the next three years, Gates announced
at a function here where he launched the Tablet PC and detailed Microsoft's
India plans.

Contending that it was very important to localise software in India, Gates
announced plans to market "Microsoft XP" and its next version "Office 11" --
code named "cash cow" -- in Indian languages like Hindi, Bengali and
Malayalam and extend it to nine more Indian languages in 2003.

Work on this is underway at Microsoft's development centre in Hyderabad. The
company plans to invest $100 million of the $400 million on the centre,
which will have 500 employees by 2005, up from the current 200.

The company will spend $20 million on a programme to "train the trainers".

This is "Project Siksha", which aims to accelerate computer literacy in
India and educate over 80,000 schoolteachers in IT - besides 3.5 million
school students over five years.

In this, Gates said Microsoft would partner with state education departments
to set up 10 "Microsoft Academy Centres" and collaborate with over 2,000
partner-driven school labs.

He said Microsoft also planned to work with its Indian partners to develop
its .NET-ready software solutions and market them globally.

Speaking about the Tablet PC, Gates said its launch "marks an exciting new
era of mobile computing that is limited only by the imagination of its
users".

The Tablet PC can be used both as a notebook PC and a notepad - with users
actually writing on the screen by flipping it horizontally.

"The Tablet PC is a great example of how computers are adapting to how
people really work, whether they're taking notes in a meeting, collaborating
wirelessly with colleagues or reading on screen. We're just scratching the
surface of what is possible," Gates maintained.

The gizmo was launched in the U.S. only last week, along with Microsoft's
hardware partners like Compaq, Toshiba and HP, Acer Inc., Fujitsu PC Corp.,
HP, Motion Computing Inc., NEC Corp. and Tatung Co.

--Indo-Asian News Service