The Martians are laughing
Imagine you a Martian, and you could see earthlings from your cubbyhole telescope shop in some crater on the red planet. Imagine you looking at them furiously working on their computers day in and day out. Imagine a revolutionary product. Imagine that revolutionary product never got replaced or updated for six years. Now imagine yourself laughing at those technologically-challenged earthlings who cannot even update a piece of technology that purportedly runs the world (or at least most of the computers that run the world).
On Earth, you need not imagine. Microsoft has announced that it will delay Windows Vista's retail launch to January 2007, six years after it launched Windows XP, its last operating system.
Are we neanderthal, or what? The delay is surprising because it was originally to be launched this year. Usually, when you have market-defining product, you'd want to get it out in the market as early as possible. But Microsoft says it has security issues, and its product quality concerns over-ride its commercial gains by launching early.
American opinion says Microsoft has lost the plot, especially since this will impact PC sales worldwide (why would you buy a PC now, only to upgrade it later?).
The Indian opinion is much simpler. Whether Microsoft launches Vista or not, piracy and Windows 98 still rule in India. I have several friends who still use Windows 95, and swear by it. To them, and to lakhs of others who have not bought a legal copy of any Microsoft OS, the slogan is: Ki pharak penda?
Sad, but true.
Imagine you a Martian, and you could see earthlings from your cubbyhole telescope shop in some crater on the red planet. Imagine you looking at them furiously working on their computers day in and day out. Imagine a revolutionary product. Imagine that revolutionary product never got replaced or updated for six years. Now imagine yourself laughing at those technologically-challenged earthlings who cannot even update a piece of technology that purportedly runs the world (or at least most of the computers that run the world).
On Earth, you need not imagine. Microsoft has announced that it will delay Windows Vista's retail launch to January 2007, six years after it launched Windows XP, its last operating system.
Are we neanderthal, or what? The delay is surprising because it was originally to be launched this year. Usually, when you have market-defining product, you'd want to get it out in the market as early as possible. But Microsoft says it has security issues, and its product quality concerns over-ride its commercial gains by launching early.
American opinion says Microsoft has lost the plot, especially since this will impact PC sales worldwide (why would you buy a PC now, only to upgrade it later?).
The Indian opinion is much simpler. Whether Microsoft launches Vista or not, piracy and Windows 98 still rule in India. I have several friends who still use Windows 95, and swear by it. To them, and to lakhs of others who have not bought a legal copy of any Microsoft OS, the slogan is: Ki pharak penda?
Sad, but true.
posted by Sachin Kalbag at 7:03 am
1 Comments:
Arré, a lot of pharak penda! Coz while it's true that piracy is rampant and we may use cracked copies of bestselling sw, a large number of new buyers of equipment get the OS bundled and hence use legit basic sw. So: the earlier Vista comes out, the better it is for us. Hence, lot of pharak penda!
Btw, wassup with these biggies. First, Sony. Now, Microsoft. Next?
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