Microsoft to support India’s digital divide initiatives

Microsoft will offer versions of Windows XP Starter Edition in nine Indian languages besides English in India, it announced Thursday.

The Indian language versions of the Windows XP Starter Edition are among a number of new initiatives by Microsoft to support India’s efforts to bridge the digital divide, the company said.

The new initiatives are an offshoot of discussions Wednesday at Microsoft’s Redmond, Washington, headquarters between senior executives of Microsoft, including the company’s chairman Bill Gates, and a visiting Indian delegation led by Dayanidhi Maran, India’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology, the company said.

In June, Microsoft rolled out its Windows XP Starter Edition in India. The software is a low cost, stripped-down version of Windows XP for emerging economies. The Starter Edition was introduced in Hindi, and the company said at the time that versions of the Starter Edition in other Indian languages may also be considered depending on user response.

Microsoft decided to offer an English language version of the Starter Edition in India because of the large number of English-speaking people in the country, a spokeswoman for Microsoft India said on Thursday. The company received requests from a large number of people that they would like to have an English version of the Starter Edition, including from some parents who prefer that their children use English when they start using computers, she added.

In other countries where the Starter Edition has been introduced, it is being offered in the local language only, according to the spokeswoman. The new versions of the Starter Edition for India are expected to roll out early next year, she added.

As part of its agreement with the government to support the country’s initiatives to bridge the digital divide in the country, Microsoft also plans to adopt 100 schools in six states in India to provide an interactive learning environment based on PCs and projectors in the classroom. The plan is to roll out this program across the country, the spokeswoman said.

Microsoft’s earlier computer literacy initiative with the Indian federal and state governments, called Project Shiksha, focused on training teachers in the use of computers. “We are now taking computers and computer-based training to classrooms,” said the spokeswoman, adding that Microsoft would also supply local language content for this project. Over 50,000 teachers have been trained under Project Shiksha since its launch in 2002, and through these teachers over two million students were also trained, she said.

Microsoft is also supporting a program of India’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology to establish 100,000 rural kiosks, by offering a range of affordable products, services, consultancy, training and support, the company announced Thursday. The company is also teaming with Indian PC vendors, financial institutions and Internet service providers to deliver a “broadband and PC package” on monthly installments to customers, particularly first time users of PCs. Microsoft will make its education content available under this program, the company said.

The company is also setting up an e-governance center of excellence with an undisclosed Indian institution, and has committed funding of over US$2 million over three years for pilots of IT applications. Microsoft also plans to collaborate with Indian government agencies, including the Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) in Pune, and the Indian scientific community to conduct research in Indian language computing technologies.

Microsoft did not disclose the size of its investment in these various programs. The new investment will however be in addition to the $400 million that Microsoft announced it would invest in India during a visit to the country by Gates in 2002, the spokeswoman said. The $400 million investment would cover computer literacy programs, localization of its software products, and increasing the size of its software development center, Gates said at the time.

Although it is under considerable pressure from organizations supporting open source software, the Indian federal government as well as state governments have declined to take a decision favoring either open source or proprietary software in education and e-governance projects.

A number of multinational technology companies have announced projects in India for bridging the digital divide. Motorola in Schaumburg, Illinois announced earlier this year an online education project in India, that will provide children in remote areas access to quality education.