Pratima Harigunani from CyberMedia News catches up on the happenings at Microsoft India Development Center (MSIDC)in Hyderabad and his division at Microsoft. Excerpts from an interview:

CMN: How has the work at India GDC panned out for Microsoft so far?

Jon DeVaan: India definitely has the top engineering talent. Microsoft's workforce too is increasingly becoming a global workforce and MSIDC is Microsoft's largest development center outside Redmond which, apart from being strategic for shared development, also has end-to- end responsibility on several Microsoft products, features and components. One major shift that's happening is that we have started developing senior mangers in India that report directly to the executive for each product.

For instance, senior brass here has been developed for Windows (that is directly under me), live engineering and sustained engineering group. MSIDC was a start-up of 20 people, and is about 1300 strong now. It has shown a strong track record of shipping products and technologies across all Microsoft divisions, of successful incubations and thought leaderships. We have seen 180 patents filed in last three years.

CMN: What's brewing here next?

JD: The future focus areas are networking, mobility, storage and RFID. Storage, virtualisation (server data management, data center management and enterprise management) etc are part of our COE thrust. India also helps to generate technologies and features for Windows Live. You will soon see some announcements in RFID and adaptors. We have just completed he XP Beta 3 successfully.

CMN: Can you share the path ahead for Windows?

JD: As part of our ongoing outreach to enterprise customers and partners, we recently created a new presentation that we began sharing at our annual sales conference. The presentation focuses on the progress that we have made over the last year or so in creating added value in our Software Assurance program, with offers such as the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack. We are scoping Windows '7' -- the internal name used to reference the next version of the Windows Client operating system -- development to an approximately three-year timeframe, with the specific release date ultimately determined by meeting our quality bar. In the meantime, we are dedicated to helping customers get the most business value from their PCs using Windows Vista and related technologies like the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack, and we're encouraged by the response and adoption of these products so far.

CMN: What direction is Windows Mobile taking?

JD: As per Moore's Law the prices will come down, the smart phone category will grow at phenomenal rates. The next bit will be about how we can deliver Internet services increasingly on this platform.

CMN: Are there any apprehensions from iPhone?

JD: Apple has done some good things but the numbers will themselves speak of the success of Windows smart phones. It would be a more friendly offering from the point of view of business communication.

CMN: How does this category blend with Zune?

JD: A lot of technology is and will be shared between the two. There's a lot of work expected on that front specially when it comes to features for customers. Live service, for example, may be an addition.

CMN: What's new at MSTV?

JD: This category is growing a lot. We will see shift from proprietary to open network technologies, better TV and IP networking, higher levels of user interface, better navigation capabilities and a multitude of applications. We have, so far, major contracts around the world, like the AT&T in the US. Right now we are working on a new brand.