Indian IT industry gets quality stamp from Gates

Thursday, 14 November 2002, 20:30 IST
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BANGALORE: India's IT industry got its biggest shot in the arm for the future with Microsoft chairman Bill Gates endorsing its prowess in producing quality software. The country's capability to do "mission critical" development work for U.S.- and Europe-based companies in a cost-effective manner came in for particular mention in a public address to developers by the man who quit Harvard at the age of 17 to set up the world's biggest software company. "In 2-3 years, it will be common sense for companies (in the U.S. and Europe) to insist they give all that (mission critical) work to leading Indian companies," Gates told developers at the amphitheatre of Infosys Technologies, where the "Bill Gates Live" programme was organised by Microsoft and National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom). Indian IT majors Infosys and Wipro came in for special mention at the two meetings of developers he addressed at their respective campuses. The future trend was a reversal of the opinion that giving out mission critical work to Indian companies involved "enormous risk". One of the major reasons for this, Gates said, was the investment India had made in technology, the communication network and the education system. "The key thing that has is leading India to become a software superpower was the quality of education at the primary level and university level." "I am impressed with the .NET applications that you are building," he said, amid thunderous applause from the 2,500 strong audience at the amphitheatre. "Microsoft is committed to reaching out and working with companies here." Gates, who got a standing ovation the minute he arrived for his first meeting with developers during his four-day India visit, told the developers the PC platform was reaching a level where it is building mainframe like capabilities. "What has happened to Sun (Microsystems) and HP in the server space will happen in the desktop space," he said amid laughter at Wipro's electronic city campus. Asked at a brief interaction with the media about how he planned to provide inexpensive software, Gates said: "It is the openness of the Windows platform that led the PC revolution. There has always been open software going back 20 years. But the success of the Windows platform has come from the overall richness of the platform. "Software by being comprehensive can save money by avoiding to take on other add on pieces of software. You can save money in terms of speed of development or run on less expensive hardware."
Source: IANS