Bill Gates, chairman of the Microsoft, on Wednesday predicted that India's information technology would revolve around education, governance and productivity. Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Gates said that competition from rival companies is healthy for Microsoft.
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"Yahoo and Google are no longer young companies. They have matured into good competitors. The prices of the computers are coming down and ultimately it is the consumer who is the winner," he said in response to a question as to how he plans to face the challenges posed by budding companies like Yahoo and Google, and particularly their search engines.
He said that his company would be hiring over 3000 trained persons over the next few years. "In India thousands of people are working on various projects of Microsoft," he said.
He said that Microsoft will adopt 100 schools in six states to provide what he called 'interaction learning environment' that, when combined with in-classroom personal computers and projectors would provide an engaging and transformational learning experience for students in their local languages.
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Besides expanding its reach to 33 cities across India, Microsoft plans to set up 700 retail outlets.
Gates said that reliability of his company's software is simply amazing and his company would be spreading its activities to 12-14 countries in the next few years.
When asked why the prices of Microsoft software continue to be high, Gates said that personal computers 'are just one part of the connectivity'. The company has to compute for everyone and that needs research and development.
Union Minister for Communications and IT Dayanidhi Maran, who was also present at the press conference, welcomed the announcements made by Bill Gates.
" I am happy that Microsoft is making substantial investments in India. We regard this as an indicator of the value that Microsoft attaches to its development and research activities in the country as well as its recognition of the accelerating pace of growth of the information and communication technology sector in India," he said.
The minister also welcomed the offer of Microsoft in matters relating to security, which is a key area of concern as India moves into a digital era.