Microsoft Committed To Thailand Growth

[george]

Microsoft committed to Thailand growth

BANGKOK: -- Having been optimistic that opportunities can always be found in an economic crisis, Microsoft (Thailand) is committed to continued investment in Thailand by working with the government bringing technology to serve vital sectors.

While the growth of the overall software market in Thailand in 2009 and 2010 was estimated to be around 11% and 9% respectively, Microsoft (Thailand) expected that its performance would be 26% in 2009 and 35% in 2010 (from July to June).

"That high growth was not from Microsoft products alone, but it was based on the value of partners' applications that have developed add-ons to Microsoft products," according to Microsoft (Thailand) managing director Patama Chantaruck.

There would be more collaborative projects involving Microsoft and the government sector, she said, noting that the company had a plan to bring IT to the healthcare sector, and so far Microsoft has approached three public hospitals, in Bangkok and the provinces.

"We will figure out what the benefits are to Thailand and will try to connect Thai doctors to foreign doctors based on the IT usage," the managing director said, adding that a pilot project between Microsoft and the hospitals would be announced soon.

Meanwhile, Microsoft and the Labour Ministry, the Industry Ministry and the Science and Technology Ministry will cooperate in coping with the present unemployment situation. The company has asked headquarters in the US for a grant to run project with the three ministries. "The three-year project is not just about training, but also creating jobs and opportunities for those people in their communities," she said, but declined to disclose any details.

Patama added that for Microsoft, there was still a lot of opportunity of Thailand and the company was committed to continued investment here.

Recently, Microsoft has shifted its localisation centre and testing centre from the US to Thailand, and there are now 14 people working on 28 languages at the localisation centre and 10 people at the testing centre.

"We are now recruiting some more people for the testing centre," she said, explaining that the function of the testing centre was to test the interoperability of the localised products with other Microsoft products.

"Thailand is now on the Microsoft road map, and the software programs developed by independent Thai software vendors have been recognised in the global market," she said.

Currently, six ISVs in Thailand have entered the global market with applications ranging from RFID and virtualisation to workflow and unified communications.

"Those companies have joined the Microsoft Worldwide Partners' Conference so that they could figure out their solutions and adjust their strategies to serve the international market," the managing director said, adding that Microsoft was hoping to add 14 more ISVs this year.

2010 would be the breakthrough year for Microsoft (Thailand), as a critical number of Thai companies join its partners' programme and help create a new ecosystem.

"Microsoft does not do it alone, but we have collaborated with such organisations as the Association of Thai Software Industry (ATSI) and Software Park," Patama said.

The company, meanwhile, is still working on its iCafe project, an initiative to serve Internet cafes by providing services with legal software.

The iCafe is what Microsoft calls a "clean internet cafe", where the company also supports general educational programmes related to work and daily life, including studies using Windows XP, Windows Vista, MS Office 2007 and a digital literacy programme. "So parents do not have to worry about inappropriate content their children could be exposed to," Patama concluded.

-- Bangkok Post 2009-03-04

[phaethon]

Well, my no-end-of-trouble legitimate copy of Vista has just started bitching about being in Thailand and therefore not genuine so I should spend 90,000THB to make it genuine again. I'm posting this from my new Ubuntu installation....

[t.s]

Well, my no-end-of-trouble legitimate copy of Vista has just started bitching about being in Thailand and therefore not genuine so I should spend 90,000THB to make it genuine again. I'm posting this from my new Ubuntu installation....

uh, yeah, sure.

[wxpwzrd]

Well, my no-end-of-trouble legitimate copy of Vista has just started bitching about being in Thailand and therefore not genuine so I should spend 90,000THB to make it genuine again. I'm posting this from my new Ubuntu installation....

My zero-problem installs of legitimate Vista have never complained in Thailand.

[Phil Conners]

Vista lovers out in force again. There's a reason why M$ Vista sales have been poor to say the least, and why Win7 is pushed so strongly ... Vista sucks!

[Crushdepth]

I just think Microsoft needs to offer Windows at a price that the *locals can afford*. That'll help growth.

[wxpwzrd]

Vista lovers out in force again. There's a reason why M$ Vista sales have been poor to say the least, and why Win7 is pushed so strongly ... Vista sucks!

Vista haters out in force too.