History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.

Winston Churchill

This seems to have been the motto of Microsoft worldwide till date, and India was no exception. Times though are changing. And with it the mindset. Not just in Redmond (where Gates finally hung up his boots), but also in Microsofts India HO in Gurgaon.

There is suddenly a realization (borne out of business necessities) that software monopoly is now history and there is need to be more inclusive. Like elsewhere globally, this seems to have been the leit motif of Microsoft Indias style of functioning in FY 08.

Nothing illustrates this changed mindset better than the scenario post the conclusion of the ODF vs OXML battle. Though OXML won the current round, India voted against it. Microsoft Indias call to maintain neutrality and focus on interoperability (Office 2007 support for ODF) was probably less to do with magnanimity and more with strategy.

With state governments like Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and a few in the northeast joining the Linux bandwagon, and the power corridors veering more toward an open standards-based regime, Microsoft India realized the possible loss of an extremely lucrative constituency.

Rank-17
l Start-up Year: 1981 l Products & Services: IT services, software & consulting l Address: 9th Floor, Tower A, DLF Cyber Greens, DLF Cyber Citi, Sector 25A, Gurgaon 122 002 l Branches: 14 l Tel: 0124-4158000 / 2567000 l Fax: 0124-4158888 l Website: www.microsoft.com/in
Highlights n Vista operations crossed 2 mn n Windows Mobile 6.1 crossed 100,000 units within 15 months of launch n Largest Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server launched at TCS n Open Value licensing initiative announced offering staggered payment option for software purchases in India Strengths p Undisputed leadership still in Windows Vista and Office 2007 p Unified Communications turning to be a big hit p Sharepoint license revenues growing by 83% Weaknesses q The departure of Neelam Dhawan and other senior executives created confusion in the market q Xbox and MSN business did not take off as expected		Ravi Venkatesan, Chairman Tarun Gulati, Business and Marketing Operations Rajiv Srivastava, GM, Enterprise Sales Rajeev Mittal, GM, SMS&P Sales Karan Bajwa, director, Public Sector Sales Abhijit Bhaduri, HR Director

Industry grapevines has it that Steve Ballmer was in India on the day the BIS was voting (though it went against Microsoft), and some even associate the exit of some senior executives to the failure to convince the Indian government to go the Windows way.

All this doesnt mean that Microsoft India has taken a beating. In the government sector itself, Microsoft partnered 14 states and could boast of more than 300 e-gov applications running on Windows. It also roped in Karan Bajwa from Cisco to head the government practice.

In terms of revenue, both Windows Vista and Office 2007 contributed. The fact that piracy had come down by more than two points had some impact too. While Vista adoption in India crossed 2 mn, large deployments included Infosys, TCS, Satyam, and L&T, among others.

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