The FINANCIAL — Microsoft Corporation has decided to increase its investments in Georgia and is offering a Georgian version of Vista. The company has also signed a memorandum on a five year project with the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia (MES).
“Since 2007 we’ve increased our sales significantly which in total equaled USD 4,000,000. Microsoft has invested more than USD 500,000 in Georgia and is going to invest more.”, Zurab Munjishvili, the official representative of Microsoft in Georgia, told The FINANCIAL.
“We see that the demand for licensed versions is growing in Georgia and more corporate clients are seeking our products. Our new project will be part of a long-term campaign in Georgia designed to foster IT education,” Munjishvili said.
“If two years ago 99% on the Georgian software market was illegal, now this number has decreased dramatically. The amount of our users (Vista’s users) is over 25% of total licensed users in Georgia”
“Among our biggest clients are Bank of Georgia, the Ministry of Finance of Georgia, Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia (MES). Over the last 2 years the number of licensed software users has been increasing in Georgia. For this reason Microsoft Corporation is increasing its investments here,” said Mr. Munjishvili
You can run Vista on Mac too.
“Vista does run on Macs along with Mac”, explains Nata Davitashvili, CEO of Hamaki, CEO of the Apple Authorized Dealer.
“OS X Leopard using Apple’s Boot Camp technology with no difficulties whatsoever. Certainly, there are numerous problems involved in running Vista on any platform, Macs are no exception. However, Vista runs on Macs as well as PCs with no considerable difference. Apple has given its users the ability to compare side by side its own operating system to Microsoft’s. This comparison turns in favor of Apple in an overwhelming majority of cases,” commented Davitashvili.
“We do not view Microsoft as a competitor at this point”, continued the CEO of the Apple Authorized Dealer. ”My personal opinion is that localized products are never as successful as the original ones. I don't think localized Vista will be popular in Georgia,”
Windows Vista contains many changes and new features, including an updated graphical user interface and visual style dubbed Windows Aero, improved searching features, new multimedia creation tools such as Windows DVD Maker, and redesigned networking, audio, print, and display sub-systems. Vista also aims to increase the level of communication between machines on a home network.
Microsoft’s primary stated objective with Windows Vista, however, has been to improve the state of security in the Windows operating system. One common criticism of Windows XP and its predecessors has been their commonly exploited security vulnerabilities and overall susceptibility to viruses and buffer overflows.
Criticism of Windows Vista has targeted high system requirements, its more restrictive licensing terms, the inclusion of a number of new digital rights management technologies aimed at restricting the copying of protected digital media, lack of compatibility with certain pre-Vista hardware and software, and the number of authorization prompts for User Account Control.
”The Georgian interface will make it much easier to use the product and master special features of Vista,” said Zurab Munjishvili.
The whole project lasted 3 years and entailed the translation of glossary, the phrases, grammatical analysis of office programmes and testing the Beta version.
Microsoft’s General Manager in CEE (Central and Eastern Europe), Veronica Prikrylova took part in the presentation of Georgian Windows Vista, which was translated and localized by UGT, the leading IT infrastructure solutions provider in Georgia.
“Taking into consideration the Georgian Legislation on Georgian language, Microsoft Corporation is committed to create Vista’s and Microsoft Office 2007’s Georgian interface. This project of localization is Microsoft’s investment in the Georgian market. I want to thank our partner UGT for the successful and brilliant implementation of the project,” said Veronica Prikrylova, Microsoft’s General Manager in CEE.
Microsoft signed a memorandum with the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia on the social project “Partner in Learning”. This project entails conducting trainings for teachers, creating portals, and data localization. All the costs will be covered by Microsoft.
According to Mr. Zurab Munjishvili today 50-70% of windows users in CEE use Windows Vista. Georgian Vista has cost the company tens of thousands of USD. Munjishvili added that as it’s a language interface programme, it will be free for download.
“Apple business in Georgia has grown exponentially over the past 2 years and we are very optimistic about its future in Georgia,” said the CEO of the Apple Authorized Dealer.
Apple posted its fourth quarter’s results revenue of USD 7.9 billion and net quarterly profit of USD 1.14 billion, or USD 1.26 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of USD 6.22 billion and net quarterly profit of USD 904 million, or USD 1.01 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 34.7 percent, up from 33.6 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 41 percent of the quarter’s revenue.
Written By Levan Lomtadze
