MS delays launch of low cost Windows

The launch of a low-cost version of Microsoft Corp's Windows opera-ting
system in India has been postponed due to delays in adapting it for local users,
a senior company official said Tuesday.

The keenly awaited launch of the Windows XP Starter Edition will happen in
June, not during the first quarter of 2005 as earlier promised, said Ranjivjit
Singh, Marketing and Business Operations Director of Microsoft's Indian
subsidiary.

"We are still working on providing Indian language capability," he
said, "You can't underestimate the huge development work involved."

The company already sells the starter edition in Indo-nesia, Malaysia and
Thailand and has plans to launch it in Russia. India has only 16 mill-ion
computers for more than a billion people, but sales are growing 35 percent each
year.

US - based Microsoft enjoys 90 percent market share in India. It hopes that
cheaper software will help reduce piracy in a country where only 2 of 10
computers use more expensive licensed software.

The XP Starter Edition ena-bles users to run only three pro-grams
concurrently and offers lower resolution graphics. It also lacks capabilities
for home networking and multiple user accounts.

Singh said the Indian version would support India's dominant Hindi language
initially, adding that nine other languages will be added later. Microsoft has
not yet announced the price of the Starter Edition. Windows XP's full version
sells for about $ 5 in India.

CyberMedia News

Bangalore