The Hindu Business Line : Microsoft rolls out Windows 7

Hardware requirements
Processor speeds of 1GHz or higher
512 KB RAM works but try a 1GB RAM (32-bit)/2GB RAM (64-bit)
16GB of free disk space (32-bit)/20GB (64-bit) and
DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

— Kamal Narang

New number: The Chairman of Microsoft India, Mr Ravi Venkatesan, at the launch of Windows 7 in the Capital on Thursday.

Our Bureaus

New Delhi/Bangalore, Oct. 22 Want your PC to instantly hide everything on the screen when boss peeps over your shoulder? Microsoft’s new Operating System Windows 7, released on Thursday, allows you to do that, and more. You could be a globe-trotter wanting to access music or photos residing on your home computer. Or looking to share files across the PCs and devices at home, just as if all of it was on a single hard drive. Well, look no further.

Windows 7 offers some cool features (Aero Shake, Jump Lists, revamped intuitive taskbar et al), is less resource-hungry and simpler to use.

Different devices

PC makers including HP, Toshiba, Acer and HCL are lining up new products that come pre-loaded with Windows 7. As many as 100 different devices sporting the new OS will hit the market in the next 30 days. HCL, for instance, said that four of its ranges will come pre-loaded with the latest OS — notebooks start from Rs 22,000, and desktops from Rs 15,000 onwards.

If retailers’ claims are anything to go by, Windows 7 machines are catching consumers’ fancy. Computer Planet, a dealer in Bangalore, has started selling HP Pavilion laptops pre-loaded with Windows 7. According to Mr Zulifikhar, Manager at Computer Planet, people are curious about Windows 7; he has sold two laptops with the new OS and is looking to beef up his inventory soon.

However, if you are a user wanting an upgrade to Windows 7 on your existing machine by buying an off-the-shelf OS pack, you may have to wait a bit. This is because although the OS pack shipments have landed in India, they are pending Customs clearance. The industry says that Customs field offices are insisting on a physical proof of the licence for all packaged software, after the recent Budget stipulated that right to use (licence) component of such software will attract service tax, while the value of the media (CD) will attract a CVD levy. Compounding the “confusion” is the fact that there is no standard nomenclature in the industry for ‘right to use’, some manufacturers call it a licence, others royalty, and so on. A large distributor Business Line spoke to said that the OS consignments were still held up due to some ‘internal’ clarification that authorities were expecting.

“A delay of a few days is unlikely to have an impact on sales, as the OS is a long-term product,” the distributor said.

Says Mr Praveen Mehta of Computer Warehouse, a computer dealer: “Last week, Microsoft had promised that the product would arrive on October 22. But it has not yet arrived owing to some hurdles. We had booked for 50 numbers but the product is yet to reach us. I expect it will take another week…”

‘Not a concern’

On its part Microsoft claims that the delay in the OS pack hitting retail store shelves is “not a major concern” and that it expects Customs clearance soon. Besides, the company points out that most of the consumption happens through purchase of new machines, and that retail pack purchases are a small fraction of overall sales.

In India, over 1,000 companies have dabbled with the Windows 7 pre-release versions. Microsoft claims that business users of Windows 7 can save up to Rs 5,000-8,000 on each PC/laptop — by way of additional software on security and connectivity, and on energy savings.

The new OS is available in six variants including Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, and Ultimate for consumers and Professional and Enterprise for businesses. Windows 7 Starter only comes pre-loaded on new machines, but others can be purchased off-the-shelf with prices starting from Rs 5,800-5,900 (for Home Basic version).