Office 2010 to come in Ad-supported version!

With the coming 14th version of Office, Microsoft is introducing new models for people to try out and buy the suite, which include a web-based Click-to-Run approach and an Ad-based model.No doubt Microsoft Office is popular, and a large number of its users, especially in India, use unlicensed versions. Few here can afford even the cheapest Home and Student Edition which comes for around Rs. 300 after spending 5,000 to 10,000 on a Windows license (if they even bought that).

According to Microsoft's statistics, 500 million people around the world use Office, and that the last two years have seen s boost in sales of their entry-level product, the Home and Student edition of Office.

Now they plan to introduce another edition of Office, the Starter Edition. Much like the starter editions of Windows, they plan to have this product available only on new PCs. This version will be ad-supported, and will only include Word 2010 and Excel 2010, and offer "basic functionality for creating, viewing and editing documents."

Till now new laptop or PC buyers often found themselves with either a trial version of Microsoft Office, or a Microsoft Works, which is another office suite by Microsoft which has a rather poor workflow with the Microsoft Office suite. The new Starter edition of Office will replace Microsoft Works and eliminate the need for a trial by straight away giving people a version of Office which doesn't expire.

This is a smart way of raking in money from those who are uninterested or uninclined to purchase a full copy of the Office suite, and to get some money from an audience which would otherwise have just installed a pirated version.

Another new optimization in Microsofts approach towards Office is the introduction of a new "Product Key Card". It is essentially just the serial key you need to activate the version of Office bundled with your PC, and does away with everything else which is inessential, such as the DVD itself!

These new models are mostly to the benefit of those buying a new PC bundled with Office. For the people who already have PCs, Microsoft will offer a new Click-to-Run Office 2010 version, which will allow people to install and run a trial of Office 2010 with ease, and in fact it even uses virtualization technology which allows you to try Office 2010 even with an older version installed.

It is nice to see Microsoft realizing that piracy will not stop no matter how much protection you add, as people will find a way around it. The answer lies instead social engineering, providing people with something they need or want is such a way as to still make a profit, but Microsoft still needs to cater to those not buying new PCs, and provide a downloadable version, we're sure it'll end up on the web anyway.



Source: Digit

Xbox 360 Elite price drops: 250GB model rumoured!

With the Sony PlayStation 3 Slim and the price cut for the PS3 grabbing all the headlines recently, Microsoft’s retaliatory trimming of its own prices doesn’t come as a surprise.Come Friday, the Xbox 360 Elite (with a 120GB hard drive) will be getting a price cut in the US and the Asia-Pacific region, as prices drop by $100 in America to bring the console’s cost to $299.99; and in Singapore, the price will be slashed to Sing $499, which is about Rs 17,000.

The Xbox 360 Pro will also be cheaper in the US as prices fall to $249.99. Microsoft announced that this model will be phased out and no new units will be produced once the current lot of Pro consoles sell out.

Going forward, Microsoft will offer only the $299 Xbox 360 Elite with its 120GB hard drive, and the $199 Xbox 360 Arcade which comes bundled with five games and a 256MB memory unit.

There is a catch, though: The new, cheaper Xbox 360 Elite package will not include an HDMI cable in the bundle, like the current ones have. Microsoft's director of product management for Xbox 360 and Xbox Live, Aaron Greenberg, defended the company against talk of this being a retaliatory move to Sony's new product and prices.

"I'm sure some will think this is a response to competitor pricing," Greenberg told CNET. "But we had planned this reduction months in advance. Retail circular ads and store merchandising were all lined up."

A 250GB Xbox 360 Elite?
Meanwhile, Engadget was tipped by one of its readers about Amazon Germany listing a new Xbox 360 Elite console on their site, packaged with a 250GB hard drive.
As the gadget blog points out, Amazon Germany also previously listed the PlayStation 3 Slim a good 20 days before the official debut (it still has the same Amazon Stock Identification Number as it did when leaked).



The package is listed to come with two wireless controllers and Forza Motorsport 3 (which is due out in October), and is priced at 279 euros.

Source:CNET,Digit

Microsoft Windows 7 Cost and Price !!!

Microsoft has announced the pricing for it's upcoming Windows 7 Operating System, due for release on October 22nd, and it has an attractive offer for those opting to upgrade right away.

Early upgraders may be able to get a Windows 7 upgrade for as little as
$49.99 in lieu of $119.99 for Windows 7 Home Premium, and $99.99 in lieu of $199.99 for those upgrading to Windows 7 Professional. The Windows 7 Ultimate adopters currently see no benefit from this scheme.

This offer is set to run for a limited amount of time or more accurately, based on the number of units sold. Microsoft plans to have this offer available only for a limited number of units, which it claims is quite a generous amount.

Windows 7 SKU Home Premium
Full retail price - 199.99
"Special" Upgrade Price - 49.99
Standard Upgrade Price - 119.99

Windows 7 SKU Professional
Full retail price - 299.99
"Special" Upgrade Price - 99.99
Standard Upgrade Price - 199.99
Windows 7 SKU Ultimate
Full retail price - 319.99
"Special" Upgrade Price - 219.99
Standard Upgrade Price - 219.99

Microsoft takes on Google!!!

With the next revolution of the internet with Web 3.0 already dubbed as the “Semantic Web”. Google has been in the search field longer, and has much more data about people and their search patterns, so going semantic might not be as big a step for them. However if Microsoft has found the gaps present in the search engines of today and aims to create a search engine that fills all these gaps, they need to make sure not to introduce any gaps of their own.

The purse strings are loosening, and it appears as much as $80 to $100 million is likely to fall out, as Microsoft decides to boldly enter what is clearly Google's domain; Search. They intend to create a new search engine which they believe will show people what they've always been missing in search results. Although casual observer might ask “based on what experience”?

Search engines are the center of most people interaction with the web nowadays. For most, interaction with the Internet begins with the Google prompt, for many Google is synonymous for search. It is this giant that Microsoft aims not only reach parity with but also overtake. Is this even possible?

Google is a perfect example of a product that has sold itself, with people's attraction to it being more as result of it's usefulness than as a result of advertisement bombarded at them from all possible angles. With Microsoft's over $80 million advertisement budget for this venture, it wont be much of a problem for them to get people there, and with a name like “Bing” a few (including me) are sure to turn up just for the laughs. With Microsoft's hammer of money almost every nail becomes malleable. The question left to answer is how many people with stick.

Microsoft's is basing this search engine on data that people quite often don't refine search results enough, requiring multiple rounds of going back and forth with the search terms before getting the desired results. From what little information there is about “Bing” it seems to be a semantic search engine, with results that are sensitive to the context of the search terms stemming probably from their purchase of Powerset, which too was a semantic search engine.

Ref: Digit