Bill G lands, action-packed day ahead

Bill G lands, action-packed day ahead
Neeraj Saxena

SEPT 13: Bill Gates has an action-packed day out in Delhi on Thursday that includes an announcement of a joint initiative with Infosys.

Impressed by the widely-publicised software success story of Infosys, the Microsoft chairman and chief software architect is believed to have asked his India office to work with Infosys. Sources said final touches were being given to an agreement that will be signed between Gates and Infosys chief N R Narayanamurthy for setting up a joint application development project in Bangalore as part of Microsoft's .Net strategy.

``There is, however, no possibility of joint research and development as that involves passing on software source codes and Microsoft remains as steadfastly guarded about its source codes as ever. It will be an application development project outsourced to Infosys,'' said an insider.

Gates landed in Delhi on Wednesday night in his private jet. He came from Malaysia and will be flying on Thursday just in time for the Olympics in Sydney. Within two hours of his touchdown, Gates is scheduled to attend a CEOs' dinner at Maurya Sheraton. He is staying at the executive wing of Maurya Sheraton Towers.

Besides Infosys, Bangalore is also expected to make a strong pitch to Gates for setting up Microsoft's second development centre in India. Any commitment in this regard is unlikely as Microsoft is keen on augmenting its Hyderabad centre, rather than having another development location.

While Gates will be meeting chief ministers from 10 states immediately after meeting the Infotech Minister Pramod Mahajan, Karnataka chief minister SM Krishna and Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu who are slated to meet him separately.

Another individual meeting is lined up with Tata Sons chairman Ratan Tata, giving rise to speculation that a joint initiative with TCS could also be in the works.

Besides, he might launch msn.co.in, the India-specific portal of Microsoft which has been in a beta testing mode since February this year. It was to be launched in March, but the company later claimed that the launch was being postponed as the site required further testing.

Though the company officials have been very tight-lipped, it is unlikely that they would want to let go of the opportunity to get Gates to launch it, said industry observers. The official line taken by Microsoft is that Gates is here essentially to outline his .Net strategy.

Thursday's meeting will be the first-ever between Mahajan and Gates. Unlike in 1997, India now has a window in the Ministry of Information Technology for Gates to log in. ``With Oracle and Sun chiefs widely expected to visit India in the near future, Gates' visit is in a way also meant to take its biggest rivals head on. And he knows that,'' said a senior MIT official.

At the meeting, Mahajan will point out to Gates that with the key infrastructure and policy framework in place and given the proven IT expertise, India was the ideal destination for Microsoft to make larger investments and also help wedge the country's `digital divide'. Gates has already committed to do his bit by agreeing to donate $1 million worth of education software to the government.

Unlike in his previous visit when the pitch was all Microsoft and no charity, Gates is likely to open his first window towards the hapless of the society.

Sources said Gates' first engagement on Thursday morning will be a philanthropic one. Along with Microsoft India managing director Sanjay Mirchandani, he would visit a Delhi-based charitable institution.

He is expected to make what could be the first large donation from the Bill Gates Philanthropy programme. As part of this programme, Gates has already donated over $4 billion to charity projects worldwide.

Of course, Bill Gates of 1997 and Bill Gates of 2000 can be expected to be almost two different people. Then, Microsoft was on a roll. Post-DoJ ruling and a recommended division later, the world's largest software icon unveiled .Net as the biggest gamble for its survival in June. Observers say the company might even agree to a limited opening of its well-guarded source codes later.

But given the company officials' reluctance to talk about anything related to Big G's visit, treating it as a state secret, it is anybody's guess if Microsoft will ever open up. Break it might, but open windows it never will!