Comments on: Is this Microsoft site legit?

By: Brandon Moses

Brandon Moses — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 05:36:14 +0000

whois information from Network Solutions:
The windowsandme.com domain was registered by GoDaddy.com to:
NetCarrots.com Pvt. Ltd.
E-19, 1st floor, Hauz Khas
New Delhi, 110016
India

The domain expires on December 21st, 2008.

According to the netcarrots.com website they are a marketing and customer relationship management firm which does business in the Dubai, India, UK and USA. I imagine Netcarrots is doing a little marketing in India for Microsoft. Go to netcarrots.com and click on a link in the menu or at the bottom of the page… you will get a page of javascript code!! I guess netcarrot is working so hard for Microsoft they are neglecting their own website

By: Lee

Lee — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:12:07 +0000

Just check the whois info – tells you all you need to know!

By: Kevin

Kevin — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:05:26 +0000

I think MS India has gone rogue.

By: Martin

Martin — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:48:48 +0000

The site is not hosted by microsoft.
take a look at the name servers.
NOT microsoft official.

By: Danny

Danny — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:00:14 +0000

I dont think its real, whats the give away you ask? They are using Flash instead of SilverLight.

Case closed.

By: Ed Bott

Ed Bott — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:18:21 +0000

Thanks, Amit. If it’s intended to be regional site for customers of Microsoft India, the designers need to go back and do a bit more work.

By: Amit Agarwal

Amit Agarwal — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 08:55:10 +0000

Ed, I am a Microsoft MVP from India and our MVP lead shared this site with us sometime back though under embargo.

It’s done by Microsoft India and is now open for public.

By: Cory

Cory — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 03:12:49 +0000

Sorry for getting off-topic Ed, but I do want to defend my comments

Vickas: the site you linked to shows more people speak English, but that’s not saying much considering there are over 1 billion people there. If you click on the “Per capita” link it tells quite a different story. In fact Canada, Australia, Ireland, all of Great Britain and many others are above India. It says that 9.26% of the population speaks English. I’d hardly call that an “English” speaking nation.

Anyway that’s all beside the point. I was simply making an observation that an “English” site for a foreign nation seems unnecessary.

By: Vickas

Vickas — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 04:19:04 +0000

Actually I am Indian and have lived in India my whole life, English is taught from 8th grade up (every year). Although the people have heavy accents, most can speak and understand English, especially those who go job hunting. The manner of English that is taught in India is European English and not American English which have their own differences. The reason that could be established for not knowing English is for forgetting it.

Source 1:
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/lan_eng_spe-language-english-speakers

Source 2:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_English-speaking_population

There you have it second to only the United States of America. Though it does matter where your company is based and what kind of positions are being filled.

By: Cory

Cory — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 03:17:33 +0000

On the contrary, I worked for a company that dealt with India quite a bit (a LOT of out sourcing), and I therefore worked with quite a few companies in India. Most of them had to be taught English before we could do business with each other, and very few already knew English… actually, very few knew English well even after learning :/

I can assure you there aren’t nearly as many people that speak English in India as there are in Canada, Australia, England, Ireland and Scotland (being Scottish myself )

By: Maxwell Senior

Maxwell Senior — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 23:53:51 +0000

Cory seems rather ignorant about India. English is one of India’s official languages. There are probably as many English speakers there as in England, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, and Australia put together.

By: Danny

Danny — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 21:01:12 +0000

Why schlep around in the humdrum “loyalty space” when you can dance like Fred & Ginger in the ever-so-more-fashionable “loyalty gamut”? ; )

I suppose CRM is a big field for developers in India. I’m leery about advances one might claim to make in this arena. Especially when they are merely improved electronic RM systems.

I totally understand why it’s written in the English for the developers. …of the software for the company of the planet.

By: Cory

Cory — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 19:18:07 +0000

Honestly, looking at the site I wouldn’t trust it at first glance. The header image has a crummy, old-style Windows logo and has even be re-scaled and now looks pixelated and doesn’t match up with the background. It’s little attentions to detail that make me skeptical.

There are other little things about it too. The navigation is funky, the Windows Logo in the flash movie wasn’t designed well and, although I suppose this is possible, if the site is meant for people in India (which I’m not sure it is) then why is it writtten in English? If it’s in India but made for the U.S. then why does it even exist? The whole site seems unnecessary…

WindowsAndMe may be real, but I’m really starting to wonder about WindowsAndMore.