'Vista is a platform, Google is just search'

Last week, in Las Vegas, Microsoft boss Bill Gates unveiled the Windows Vista, the new operating system that will replace the XP. Business Standard spoke to Rishi Srivastava, director, Windows client business group, Microsoft, to get some insights into not just the new operating system but to see what else Microsoft has in store for India. Excerpts:

How is Vista different from the existing operating system?

It will be the centre of digital entertainment. It has a seamless user interface, so if you're looking for a file, setting up a business trip or managing your photos, the user interface will offer a lot of clarity that will help get the information fast.

Vista will also offer a brand new email experience. Windows Mail, which will replace Outlook Express, will have several unique features. The introduction of "Meta Data" will help organise photos. You can tag your photos with this on, say, your trip to Kerala and access all of them by just typing in Kerala.

The other key differentiator would be the quality of gaming graphics that are going through a major enhancement. To make usage easier, Vista will have a sidebar where you can list all the things you want to have such as your calculator, clock, calendar and so on for easier access -- of course, this is available even now, but it is all in different files and takes time to search and use.

The calendar will have special features that allow you to share it with others such your spouse, friends or a business group.

Is Vista the answer to the growing popularity of Google that seems to have become your biggest challenger in the consumer mindspace?

Google today addresses only a small niche, which is search. It is not a platform where developers develop applications -- Vista is a platform that is available on the desktop, mobile and so on. Google is only in the area of search and in Web services.

There have been huge concerns about security on the Internet as well as issues such as what kids should be allowed to see. How will your new browsers address this?

We will launch the i7 this year, before the Vista. You'll see changes in three areas. One, the new browser will offer tab browsing -- currently, when you open multiple sites, you have to open several windows and then shuffle from one page to the other -- which makes viewing multiple sites much easier.

The new browser will have anti-phishing technology built into it, and so phishing sites that look very similar to the site you want to use (Citibank is the most phished site), cannot be opened at all. We have a comprehensive parental control system both in the browser as well as in the operating system.

So, if you don't want a particular game to be played on the PC, you can put in a parental control and your child will not be able to use the game. From a browsing perspective, all you have to do is to tab on sites of various age groups that you don't want your child to access. You can also get reports on the usage pattern of your child so that you know which sites he or she is getting into.

The Windows Media Centre that was launched a few months ago was supposed to convert the PC into an entertainment centre where you could see cable TV, movies and do your word processing, too. You could even do cool things such as pause and record TV programmes. Has that taken off in India?

The Media Centre has become a mainstream product giving us volumes since we launched it six months ago -- it is not the niche product many said it would be. About 1.5 million PCs have been shipped in the home segment of which around a third are for over Rs 30,000 (which is the average price of a PC loaded with Media Centre).

Already, all the HP Pavillion and the HCL Beanstalk are being sold loaded with the Media Centre. Sahara and LG have also joined in. And assemblers are positioning the Media Centre as the preferred option.

But in this journey, we've realised the retail experience for the product has been poor. Consumers have not been able to go to a retailer and experience the Media Centre. So, we decided to get into the retailing area so that consumers could demo the product. Today we have 190-200 retail outlets already between our partners in eight cities. We will cover 500 by June.

After the Media Centre, what is the next big consumer product on the horizon? When are you introducing the X Box in India?

After the Media Centre, the second successful product has been the Office Starter and Teacher edition that you can buy at a cheaper price. There is a lot of momentum around smart phones and pocket PCs with Windows mobile devices.

Our partners such as iRiver have launched music devices with national distributors for music and video that work seamlessly with the Windows platform. We have launched the X Box in the US, Europe, Japan and fulfilling that demand is a bit of a challenge at the moment. We have some work to do before we bring it to other markets.