Microsoft loses ground to Linux in Kanpur

Over the last two months, dealers in Kanpur market are observing a gradual
shift from proprietary to open-source adoption. Customers are

now enquiring about Linux and its applications, and are keen to try it out.
Partners failed to comment on the specific ratio of Linux purchase but

said that this shift in the buying trend is actually the boomerang effect of
dealers promoting genuine MS software in the market. SOHO and SMB buyers are
looking at Linux as a good alternative to Microsoft.

For the last two years, the Kanpur Computer Dealers Association (KCDA) has
been making efforts to support the 'Genuine Software' campaign driven by
Microsoft. However, the high prices of original software are causing customers
to give it a thought while making purchase decision.

Dealers also claimed that they are not impressed by the vendor's modus
operandi of trapping dealers into selling pirated software to a decoy customer
and then penalizing them. Besides this, they get calls from the company's
representatives incessantly to push original software.

While this might have led to an increased awareness amongst customers,
partners find it annoying.

"Partners are caught between customers and the vendor. They cannot promote
piracy, as Microsoft has been insisting that dealers should go for genuine
products while customers on the other hand are not ready to buy the original
software, due to its high cost. At the end of the day, we have to keep both of
them happy and this causes inconvenience for us," commented Arun Bhargava,
President, KCDA.

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