We're settling in for the late afternoon portion of Microsoft's Windows Vista and Office 2007 launch event here. From the line of folks waiting outside in the freezing cold to gain entrance to the event to the dim lighting and neon decorations inside the theater here in Times Square, the event feels more like a visit to a nightclub than anything else.
Bill Gates has just taken the stage to cheers. Like Steve Ballmer at today's lunch event, Gates spends some time talking about the history of both Windows and Office. He recalls 1983, when Microsoft committed to creating a graphical user interface. Twelve years later, he says, "Finally, we could say our vision of a graphical user interface had succeeded" with Windows 95. He recalled the excitement around the launch of Windows 95, which--as he notes--brought us long file names and 32-bit computing.
At that time, Gates recalls, your computing tasks centered around things like creating documents and then hoping you were able to print. Fonts, he recalls, were an amazing innovation. Tasks like digital photography and online shopping were just a gleam in our eye, he says.
Today, everything has become digital, he says, noting that as things have gone digital, people have high expectations. In 1995, there were no portable computers. Now, people want their PCs to run with their phones, he says. And, of course, he believes that Windows Vista is the key to the era we have today.
Gates highlights the four key innovations in the new software. They are the same four that Steve Ballmer mentioned and that I blogged about earlier today: Features that make it easier (things like search, and the Office 2007 ribbon); features that make it safer (such as antiphishing, antispyware, and parental controls); features for entertainment (including new ways to tag and organize photos and make DVDs); and features that keep you better connected (like finding Wi-Fi resources and RSS support).
Mike Sievert of Microsoft is now on stage to demonstrate Vista and Office. Stay tuned.
(Read my earlier blog entries from PC World's coverage of the Microsoft U.S. Vista launch event: Vista Launch Begins, Focus on Vista's Security, and Live from the Vista Event Lounge.) And for all the latest news, reviews, and video concerning Windows Vista, visit PC World's Vista and XP Windows Info Center.
