Source:TimesOfIndia.IndiaTimes.Com. As Microsoft, the once undisputed king of consumer software, prepares to launch Windows 8 - its operating system that will work across tablets, smartphones and computers - in the second half of this year, its global CEO Steve Ballmer made a strong pitch to Indian developers to build apps for the new OS. Microsoft's biggest bet for dominance in post-PC era, Windows 8, will owe a lot of its success to the apps that are available on it and which will make consumers come back for more. It is already a late entrant to devices, where Apple's iOS and Google's Andrioid dominate.
Ballmer, who addressed the gathering at the Microsoft Technology Summit in Mumbai through a video-link, was profusely apologetic for not being present in person. "I was really looking forward to seeing you today in Mumbai. Unfortunately, very unfortunately, am very sorry my schedule changed and I am not able to be there," he said, calling India an incredible bastion of software development and the launch of Windows 8 a big day in Microsoft's history - as big as the day it was founded and as big as its Windows 95 launch, which helped to make computers mainstream.