· Freshdesk & Reach 360 receive $40000 grant each; runners-up $10000 each

Microsoft BizSpark Startup Challenge

Microsoft India, today announced the winners of the BizSpark Startup Challenge 2011. At an event that witnessed top 15 startups battling it out for the coveted prize, Freshdesk and Reach 360 emerged winners of the challenge. The two winners were rewarded with a grant of USD 40,000 and the runner-up teams; Zevenseas and Live Inbox got a grant of USD 10,000 each.

Microsoft BizSpark Challenge is a unique contest for start-ups in the field of product software to showcase their innovative business plans, receive feedback, and mentorship from top investors and Microsoft.  The challenge was open to startups that currently have product/IP and are leveraging Microsoft technologies. The participants were assessed on three key parameters; innovation, market potential of the business and a compelling story behind the idea. The challenge was launched in April 2011 and within six weeks of the launch, over 400 product start-ups enrolled for the challenge and 15 startups were shortlisted for the finals.

Congratulating the winners, Moorthy Uppaluri, General Manager, Developer and Platform Evangelism, Microsoft India, said, “We believe the entrepreneurial spirit will play a key role in driving the growth of the Indian economy – and it is essential that it be fostered. At Microsoft, it is our attempt to nurture the startup community in the country.

He further added, “There is undoubtedly a great opportunity in the mobile space for innovation, and the Cloud is where the future of IT is – both offer ample scope for startups to come up with new solutions or business models and take them to the market”

Freshdesk is an on-demand customer support software that combines a robust back-end help desk with a community management platform and knowledge base. Currently, Freshdesk is the only product in the category that offers multi-product support capability and has a separate dedicated knowledge base and community forums.

Reach 360 has developed a stack of interlocking technologies that delivers the maximum value to digital ad spends. Their innovative approach effectively addresses all forms of digital advertising – branding, performance and social media. Reach 360 is the first company to enable conversion of Static Banner Ads to Rich Media Ads and a homegrown technology of global standard that deliver ads up to 3 times faster.

Thrilled on winning the challenge, Girish Mathrubootham, Freshdesk, said, “This challenge has given us the opportunity to showcase our innovative business models as well as receive constructive feedback from our peersand Microsoft. The initiative has provided us some of the most important resources required by the startups to operate in this evolving business landscape. Our business plan focuses on on-demand customer support software that combines a robust back-end helpdesk with a community management platform and knowledge base. We are confident that the guidance and mentorship that we have received will go a long way in transforming our start-up into a robust business entity.”

Adding to this, Rajesh Agarwal, Reach 360, said, “The Bizspark Startup challenge was extremely competitive and a thrilling experience. Our business is centered around developing a stack of interlocking technologies that deliver the maximum value to digital ad spends and this grant will certainly help us grow our business and take it to the next level. We thank Microsoft for providing this opportunity to build connections and share ideas with the member startups and network partners in the BizSpark community.”

The Bizspark Startup challenge was introduced in line with Microsoft’s commitment to promote innovation and entrepreneurship and foster the growth of the local software ecosystem. Over the years through its ‘Spark Series’, Microsoft has consistently impacted several aspiring entrepreneurs at crucial stages of their lives- right from their education to the moment they begin their own ventures.

Microsoft Security Essentials

Survey conducted by Microsoft India finds that 74 per cent online users fear hacking of their social networking account followed by loss of personal data

Key survey findings: • 53 per cent Indians spend 5 hours or more online every day • 23 per cent Indians have been victims of cyber-attack in the past • 74 per cent Indians are worried about hacking of Social Networking account in a cyber attack and 16 per cent of data loss

As per an online usage and security survey conducted by Microsoft Corporation India Pvt. Ltd., 50 per cent of Indians online spend close to five hours on the internet daily. The survey reflects that connecting with people online is their top favourite when it comes to internet usage – as 40 per cent people spend this time on social networking sites. Other key activities where the Indian internet users invest their time is research (with 35 percent) and entertainment (22 percent) 1. The popularity of social networking also leads to the cyber threats associated with it – 74 per cent online users worry about the hacking of their social networking account as oppose to loss of their personal data, which accounts for just 16 per cent and credit card fraud (with a mere 5 per cent). The survey hosted on Microsoft India’s “Windows and Me” Facebook page with over 207,000+ fans – http://www.facebook.com/WindowsAndMe, garnered responses from over thousand 1000 consumers.

Further, with regard to cyber crime, the survey unveils that nearly one fourth of Indians (over 23 per cent) have suffered as the victims of cyber attacks.  If we look at the various kinds of cyber attacks – personal data loss tops the chart with 67 per cent of people followed by 19 per cent users witnessing email account hacking. The large number of cyber attacks has also led to people becoming more aware about online security threats and thus realising the need for online security and anti-virus solutions. While the survey unveils that almost 90 per cent Indians have an anti-virus installed on their PC, however, it is seen that majority of the users (62 per cent) feel that their job is done once they install an anti-virus on their PC. This reflects that the Indian consumers are still are not completely aware of the repercussions of cyber attacks.

Building further on this, Pankaj Ukey, Director – Windows Client, Consumer and Online Business, Microsoft India said “Consumers are becoming increasingly aware about security threats they are exposed to in the online environment and are looking for security solutions that work in the back-end and let them enjoy their online world without any worries or interruptions.”

He further added, “Today consumers are opting for free, subscription based model for anti-virus solutions. Realizing this need we offer the Microsoft Security Essentials which is a convenient security solution that consumers can trust and focus their energies on work instead of worrying about the online security.”

According to the survey, free anti-virus solutions are gaining the consumer’s confidence, with over 70 per cent respondents stating that they are moving towards the free anti-virus model (close to 60 per cent Indians  prefer free, subscription model while 11 per cent go for free anti-virus download). One such preferred antivirus offering is Microsoft Security Essentials – a free security solution that delivers a hassle-free and non-intrusive form of protection to consumers. Since its launch, over 30 million customers in 74 different countries around the world have benefitted with Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) and MSE has successfully detected nearly 400 million threats over the past one year. In India specifically, over 700,000 Indians have chosen Microsoft Security Essentials as their preferred Anti-Virus solution, which has more than doubled over the past 6 months. This solution can be freely downloaded by consumers at http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/.

Microsoft Imagine Cup 2011

Emerge as winners amongst nearly 90,000 students across the country

· Team Infiniti from University College of Engineering, Punjabi University, Patiala and  Team Drushti from V.E.S. Institute of Technology, Mumbai emerged as champions in the Software Design and Embedded development categories respectively

· Team Infiniti through their project WebAssist envisions to change the way disabled persons interact with the web and eliminate their problems pertaining to internet accessibility

· Team Drushti through their project iRIS intends to provide visually impaired users a natural way of interacting with a computing device and thus, facilitates ease of access

Team Infiniti from University College of Engineering, Punjabi University, Patiala and Team Drushti from V.E.S. Institute of Technology, Mumbai emerged as the winners at the India finals of Imagine Cup 2011, the world’s premier student technology competition. The teams will now represent India at the world finals in New York, USA, in July, this year. The teams were felicitated by Norman Judah, chief technology officer of Worldwide Services at Microsoft , P. Anandan, Managing Director, Microsoft Research India and Ashwin Karuhatty, World Wide Director, Technical Student Audience, Microsoft Corporation at one of the biggest student’s event that witnessed attendance of over 1500 students, faculty, academicians as well as parents of participating students.

Team Infiniti came up with a unique solution of changing the way disabled persons interact with the web and eliminate their problems pertaining to internet accessibility while Team Drushti devised a solution that provides visually impaired users a natural way of interacting with a computing device and thus, facilitates ease of access.

Microsoft Imagine Cup, now in its ninth year, saw more than 90,000 Indian students from colleges across the country, register for the competition. Out of these, after a series of shortlists, the top six teams from the ‘Software Design’ category and top seven teams from the ‘Embedded Development’ category remained to compete for the first prize and for the honor of representing the country at the global finals in July this year. These teams showcased their innovative projects before an eminent panel of judges with a mix of academicians and industry representatives. Team Infiniti and Team Drushti were chosen as the best in Software Design and Embedded Development category respectively.

Thrilled on winning the India finals in the Software Design category, one of the representatives from Team Infiniti, said, “This is a dream come true for us where we have been Text Box: PROJECT SYNOPSIS TEAM INFINITI intends to change the way disabled persons interact with the web and eliminate their problems pertaining to internet accessibility. The project named WebAssist is a framework which provides numerous Assistive Technology features in order to provide disabled people easier access to the information on the web. With the incorporation of these techniques on the Cloud, the project is envisioned to be a momentous step towards a truly ‘inclusive web’. TEAM DRUSHTI’S Project iRIS provides visually impaired users a natural way of interacting with a computing device and thus, facilitates ease of access. With ease of access, the users can learn and work better thus improving their standard of living by providing means of education and employment and becoming self-sufficient. able to showcase our innovation. Our project is a solution to change the way disabled persons interact with the web and eliminate their problems pertaining to internet accessibility. We hope that we will make the country proud at the Imagine Cup world finals in New York in July”.

Excited on the victory in the Embedded Development category, a representative from Team Drushti, said, “We are delighted to have been selected amongst 400 teams across the country in this category. Our project aims at providing visually impaired users a natural way of interacting with a computing device thus, facilitating the ease of access. We are excited and looking forward to represent the country at the world finals in New York.”

Commenting on the initiative, one of the judges, Shilpi Kapoor, BarrierBreak Technologies, said, “Imagine Cup is a unique platform to tap the imaginative talent of young minds by giving them an opportunity to think out-of-box and solve the toughest problems faced by the society today. It aims to infuse the spirit of discovery amongst the students, promote hands-on exploration and investigative learning in different areas of technology. I am particularly excited about the projects these students have developed to enhance the computing experience of people with disabilities. I am sure these talented students will do us proud”

Congratulating all the finalists on having made it to the shortlist from the thousands that registered, Pratima Amonkar, Director, Academia, Microsoft India, said, “We, at Microsoft believe that today’s youth are country’s future innovators and given the right opportunity, they can produce great results. Imagine Cup is a platform that encourages students to come up with path-breaking innovative technological solutions that help to solve problems faced by today’s world. The kind of projects these students have come up with, clearly showcases the talent for scientific accomplishments and innovation that exists in our country. We are hopeful that the teams from India will do us proud at Imagine Cup world finals in New York too.”

Imagine Cup is a year-long activity open to students across the globe. The competition begins with local, regional and online contests, followed by screening of best projects from each country and with winners from these legs participating in the global finals held at a different location every year.  In its ninth year in 2011, the competition challenged the students to help solve one of the many tough problems that the world is facing today, as identified by the United Nations in its Millennium Development Goals ranging from halving extreme poverty and halting the spread of HIV/AIDS to providing universal primary education.

Microsoft WebMatrix

Microsoft Corp. announced the availability of WebMatrix, a free Web development tool designed to help website developers of all skill levels easily create, customize and publish websites to the Internet. Microsoft has also made available a set of video tutorials, how-to tips and other resources for helping new Web developers get started.

WebMatrix – A free Web development tool makes it easy to create, customize and publish a website. WebMatrix is the easiest way to build, test and deploy Web sites. WebMatrix installs in minutes and elegantly integrates a Web server, database and programming frameworks into a single integrated experience. Connect from WebMatrix to Visual Studio or SQL Server Express to take advantage of Microsoft’s professional tools and servers.

WebMatrix is available  in nine languages and includes a set of tools to create new websites, using code provided through a variety of available templates or using existing free open source Web applications, such as WordPress, Joomla!, DotNetNuke and Umbraco.

For More Details Check Here

Win Big with Original

Over the past few years, India has witnessed a remarkable increase in Internet penetration. Conversely, this has increased the vulnerabilities of networks and the overall cyberspace infrastructure. Amid the growing concerns of cyber security where, malware, phishing and spyware are trends that are seen to be evolving by each passing day; an effective, real time, high quality, hassle-free security solution has become paramount to consumers.

Keeping in mind these multiplying trends in India, Microsoft along with The Times of India and Lodestar Universal has announced a 30 day long ‘Win BIG with Original’ campaign with the purpose of helping the consumer to identify the benefits of using original Windows 7 which now comes with the advantage of Microsoft Security Essentials. Available on genuine Windows software, it delivers a trusted no-cost security solution that will raise protection across the Windows ecosystem and help consumers better enjoy their Windows experience. Existing Windows users and consumers buying a new PC that is enabled with a Windows operating system can acquire Microsoft Security Essentials by simply logging on to http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials.

Expressing views on the same, Ranjiv Singh, Consumer and Online Marketing Officer, Microsoft India said, “With rising digital threats like phishing, malware and spyware attacks, a robust security solution is a must. With Microsoft Security Essentials we have anticipated consumers’ security needs and delivered a simple and non-intrusive PC protection by offering consumers a real-time, high-quality protection that is easy to get and easy to use, hence giving consumers a delightful experience that comes with genuine Windows.”

The ‘Win BIG with Original’ campaign program would target various IT hubs across 8 cities including Indore, Ahmedabad, Surat, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Patna and Vizag. Interrupt marketing would be used in this initiative as a tool for direct customer engagement.

Microsoft has brought into life its MSE robot which will be seen across various IT hubs not only reinforcing the benefits of using genuine Windows 7 software but also reinstating counterfeit discs and propagating promotional offers like trip to Thailand, LCD Television, x boxes on Purchase.

Elaborating on the initiative, Anindya Ray, General Manager Lodestar UM Delhi said: “Engaging and exciting the PC buying intender is the main reason why we wanted to drive this activity at the IT Hubs of key cities. The dual objective is to drive awareness of the benefits of using original Windows 7, which saves money & keeps the PC secure for life. . With this campaign, we are driving PC buyers to the retail stores where they can buy PCs with original Windows, ably supported by the Times of India platform and Radio FM channels both through advertisements as also by driving content”.

Further commenting on the association, Mr. CR Srinivasan, Director, Times of India, said, “We at Times Group are always motivated to add value to our client’s business. Our effort is invariably to support & deliver innovative solutions for our clients marketing objectives while keeping in mind our readers benefit. ‘Win BIG with Original’ is one such concept that BCCL co-created with Microsoft & Lodestar UM”.

This entire initiative has been designed & managed by Lodestar Universal with Microsoft and The Times of India.

For more info, please visit www.WindowsAndMe.com/original

Microsoft India

Microsoft India Empowers Your Computer to Interact in your Language

Showcases host of localization solutions to enhance IT accessibility

New Delhi, March 11, 2010: With over 33 major languages and 1652 dialects, India is a nation of diverse cultures and languages. About 95 percent of the nation’s population prefers working in their regional language – while just about five percent conducts its business in English. It is obvious that the disparity in language usage contributes to the digital divide. Since 1998, when Microsoft India identified localization as a key catalyst for effecting ushering in an IT revolution, the company has been working on overcoming the language barrier to computing since.

Today, Microsoft India showcased a host of custom made solutions for the Indian market under its ongoing effort of making technology accessible by localizing its flagship products. The solutions and tools include:

o The Indic Language Input tool is a set of tools that help users enter Indian language text into computers easily and quickly. For example, one can type, For example, one can type “bhaarat mein anek bhaashaein bolee jati hain” for obtaining 2

The Indic Language Input tool is available in two versions; the desktop version enables the user to enter Indian language text directly into any application running on Windows, such as Microsoft Word or Outlook. The web version allows the user to enter text on any web page – such as Live mail or Windows Live Messenger – without requiring software download. The Language Input tool’s visual keyboard enables users to visually select and directly enter Indian language characters. The beta version of the project is available for free download and currently supports ten languages – Hindi, Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Gujarati, Marathi, Telugu, Oriya and Punjabi.

o Windows 7 Hindi language interface pack (LiP) which allows users to experience the latest operating system and its features; Windows Taskbar (Go-to spot for launching programs and switching windows), Aero Shake (Click a window pane and shake your mouse to minimize all other open windows), Peek, Snap (Drag an open window to your screen’s border to automatically re-size it. Snap two different windows to the left and right borders for a perfect comparison), Jump Lists, Multitouch (Interact with your PC with a touch-screen monitor, using your fingers and multi-touch gestures, and Remote Media Streaming (Enables highly secure, remote Internet access to home-based digital media libraries from another Windows 7-based PC outside the home) in Hindi.

o MSN Yuva – One stop online Hindi channel for the globally connected youth of India. It offers a window into every aspect that interests Gen X, from sports, to entertainment, to career counseling, to the latest news. It offers features like Dosti – a social networking site in Hindi, Dil Se – An online confession box help that helps finding solutions to one’s most intimate/personal problems with the choice of keeping or revealing one’s identity and Fun Tadka – The fun quotient which provides Bollywood’s latest gossip, film reviews, tips on love & romance etc.

o Internet Explorer 8 in 18 additional languages on Windows Vista/Windows Server 2008 Language Packs which will allow users to access like InPrivate Browsing, Web Slices, Accelerators and Visual Search in Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Konkani, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu.

o Language Interface Packs (LIPs) in 12 Indian languages – Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Hindi, Kannada, Konkani, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Tamil and Telugu – for MS Office and Windows. A total of 45 additional soft (virtual) keyboards, which are free to download, are also available in these 12 languages.

o Windows Live, which includes e-mail, Instant Messenger, online storage, photo gallery, social networking, calendar, online storage, personal home page, and more, in seven Indian languages. The languages are Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu.

o In Microsoft’s most significant initiative to reach out to Indic developers, the Captions Language Interface Pack (or CLIP) has been launched for Hindi, Malayalam, Oriya, and Tamil. CLIP is a tool that uses a tooltip caption to display translations for user interface items in Visual Studio 2008. This is the first tool specifically designed to help students and beginner developers in India use the product in their own language.

o IL-POST (an annotation framework for Indian languages), wikiBABEL (a community-oriented multilingual content creation portal) and MINT (an algorithm for mining multilingual news corpora) developed by Microsoft Research India aimed at creating resources to enable computational linguistics research in Indian languages.

Microsoft has been working on language computing in India since 1998, since the first India visit of Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates. The idea was to usher in the IT revolution in the country in a phased manner – and localization was identified as the key catalyst for effecting this development. In 2003, Microsoft India launched Project Bhasha, a cohesive effort to bring together governments, the academia and research institutions, the local ISVs and developers and the industry associations on a common ground for promoting local language usage in IT. The www.bhashaindia.com portal is India’s leading community for Indian language computing.

For more information on Project Bhasha, please log on to: www.bhashaindia.com

For more information on Microsoft India, please log onto: www.microsoft.com/india

Microsoft India

Microsoft India invites you to get an exclusive experience of Indian Language Computing

With majority of Indians still opting to work in regional languages, localization of technology has emerged among the key catalysts to enhance IT usage.

Join us for an informative session showcasing the entire range of Microsoft India’s localized offerings that are redefining computing in India today. The session will provide you a hands-on-experience of products like Windows 7, Internet Explorer 8, the Indic language Input tool, MSN, Windows Live, MS Office in local languages.

Present at the occasion would be Mr. Sanjay Manchanda, Director – Business Division, Microsoft India and Meghashyam Karanam, Product Manager – Localization & Notes Compete, Microsoft India

Date: Thursday, March 11, 2010

Venue: Conference Room 3, India International Center, 40, Max Mueller Marg, New Delhi

Time: 11.30 am

With its operating system Windows 7 and other popular software products being increasingly targeted by cyber pirates, Microsoft has launched an initiative to curb the menace, primarily because customers are asking it to intervene.

“We are seeing an upsurge in consumers coming back to us and saying I have been a victim of piracy. So long as data pointing to the source of piracy is there, we will take some measure,” said Vipul Pant, director of Microsoft’s “genuine software initiative”.

“Since January, we have received over 2,000 complaints in India, and more than 150,000 from consumers across the world,” Pant told news agency.

According to a study by Business Software Alliance, a US-based non-profit trade association of software firms in over 80 countries, and market tracker IDC, piracy levels in India were pegged at 68 percent in 2008, while losses stood at $2.7 billion.

A 10-point reduction in personal computer (PC) software piracy would create an additional 44,000 jobs in India, $200 million in tax revenues, and $3.1 billion in economic growth.

However, with internet connectivity increasing, consumers are beginning to realise the potential risks of running a PC which runs pirated software like an operating system.

“India has 30 million installed PCs, with one-third being used in homes, and are connected to the internet, at least for some time of the day or week or month. If you add small offices, more than 10 million PCs are connected to the Net,” said Pant.

“The internet, however, also brings in malware and is becoming a syndicated criminalised industry. They figured out that the easiest way to get into somebody’s PC is to place malware in the pirated copies,” he added.

Malware or malicious software is software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner’s consent and can be used to steal the user’s financial or personal information.

“KPMG in a whitepaper figured out that 59 percent of crack tools and keygens they surveyed had embedded malware,” said Pant.

Microsoft said it has started a campaign to inform customers of the potential threats from buying pirated software in 70 countries.

The company has also initiated civil legal actions on errant re-sellers and involved the police in conducting surprise checks on known piracy vending locations like Lamington Road in Mumbai, Lalbagh in Lucknow and Krishna Nagar in New Delhi.

However, Prasanto Roy, chief editor of trade magazine CyberMedia, said Microsoft has not been very successful in its fight against piracy in the past compared to smaller software companies.

“Microsoft’s customer base is huge compared to others. Most systems have a Microsoft product — usually Windows. It will have to tread cautiously while taking action against the big sharks because some of them are likely to be members of their channels of distribution,” Roy told news agency.

“Any action needs to be gentle and persuasive as the ramifications can hit its business prospects,” said Roy.