Steve Ballmer took the stage at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to talk about innovation and technology in people’s lives, without of course forgetting to mention Bill Gates, who has been delivering Microsoft’s traditional CES keynote before switching his full attention to helping people around the world.
Although we’re witnessing tough economic times, Ball said, companies and industries should continue to pursue innovation and not hold back. This is what Microsoft continues to do, he said, and the opportunity to change people’s lives through technology is more powerful today than ever before.
The center of attention in Ballmer’s keynote was of course Windows 7, Microsoft’s pride and joy, and the best version of Windows yet, as the company likes to call it. Windows 7 can be resumed in a few words: speed, reliability, simplicity, and is designed to make users fall in love with their computers again, by promising faster boos times, longer battery life, improved entertainment, innovative interface and more.
After releasing a pre-beta version of the operating system in October 2008, and after copies of Windows 7 made their way onto torrent sites just last week, Microsoft did what everyone expected them to do at CES: announce the availability of Windows 7 beta, which will become widely and fully available until the end of the week.
Together with some video demos, Microsoft showcased some of the features they hope will convince users to download Windows 7 and try it out on their computers at home.
First and foremost, the new operating system was designed to deliver the experience the user wants, in terms of performance, reliability, compatibility, battery life and so on. For users, this will mean less frustration and compatibility complaints than in Vista, and more time to actually do what they need to do.
Secondly, Windows 7 was intended to make tasks faster and easier to complete, and help users get around an interface that used to be extremely crowded, but is now simple to navigate through. Windows 7 comes with new features, such as Jumplist, Previews and the new Taskbar.
Windows 7 also comes with a new Home Group that makes it easier for consumers to connect multiple home PCs together to share printers and access files, music, photos and videos, Microsoft said.
In addition to that, the new operating system also comes with a multi-touch interface, so don’t forget to buy a touch-screen monitor if you want to experience it to the full.
As far as the entertainment goes, Microsoft promised an enhanced experience, with access to more digital media, turning the personal computer into the center of their electronic experience.
Windows Media Player and Windows Media Center now offer support for more media formats, while the “Play-to” feature allows the streaming of music, video and photos to devices in a home network. Synchronization with other devices has never been easier, and the accessibility of media content has never been greater, the company believes.
