Ballmer touts Windows 7 beta, new deals
LAS VEGAS--As he takes the stage Wednesday, Steve Ballmer has a mighty big task ahead of him.
Not only is he taking over Consumer Electronics Show keynote duties from Bill Gates, he is also aiming to convince the tech world that Microsoft is serious about defending its turf on the PC as well as making headway on the Web, television and phone. Oh yeah, and then there's that whole economy-melting-down thing.
Ballmer hasn't arrived in Sin City empty handed, however. In perhaps the biggest announcement of the night, he will announce Microsoft is ready with a beta version of Windows 7 and he will show off some of its key consumer features.
Microsoft will also announce new deals for Windows Live that will see Microsoft's search engine become the default on PCs from Dell as well as touting a deal with Verizon Wireless that leaked earlier in the day. The company is also counting on two Halo game releases this year to help keep the Xbox 360 going in the right direction.
But Microsoft faces considerable competition in each of the areas Ballmer is discussing. On the PC front, a resurgent Apple has increased its share. In search, Google continues to dominate. In the phone market, Apple's iPhone has grabbed much of the spotlight, not to mention significant market share. Google also has joined the fray, while longtime competitors such as Research in Motion and Palm are trying to maintain their slices of the pie as well.
And then, of course, there's the substantial financial headwind. Ballmer is expected to express his usual optimism--despite the global financial outlook--and discuss the company's commitment to research and development in both good times and bad. That said, Microsoft is clearly not immune from the problems that led Intel Wednesday to announce that fourth-quarter revenues were down 23 percent from the same quarter a year ago.
On the PC side, Microsoft is looking to turn the page from Vista to its successor, Windows 7. Microsoft isn't talking about any new features of Windows 7, saying it talked about all of the key features at the Professional Developer Conference last year. Instead, it will attempt to demonstrate what features like improved home networking really mean for the average household.
As for the beta of Windows 7, Microsoft said it will be immediately available for technical beta testers and those in Microsoft's TechNet and MSDN developer programs and will be made publicly available on Friday. The company still isn't officially committing to a final release in time for this year's holiday season, although the company is clearly still aiming for that.
Ballmer will also discuss Windows Live. In addition to the global PC deal with Dell and the five year U.S. deal with Verizon Wireless, Microsoft has expanded its relationship with Facebook to allow users to see within their Windows Live homepage certain of their buddies' Facebook updates. The company is also stripping the beta tag off many of its Web-based and downloadable Windows Live products.
On the phone side, Ballmer is expected to talk about the improved mobile browser Microsoft released at the end of last year, but the company is not talking yet about when to expect a serious upgrade to the Windows Mobile operating system, which has grown rather long in the tooth. Microsoft has made reference to an interim Windows 6.5 release that could serve as a bridge until the more significant overhaul of the operating system--Windows Mobile 7--makes its delayed debut.
On the automotive side, Microsoft is announcing a new version of its Ford Sync entertainment system that uses voice recognition software from its Tellme acquisition.
While that's the main news of the show, check out our live blog to get some live quotes, our commentary, as well as updates on any celebrity guests or funny videos that are often the hallmark of Microsoft's keynotes.
See also: Windows 7 beta: First impressions
During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried has changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley. These days, most of her attention is focused on Microsoft. E-mail Ina.
Pretty simple, right.
Oh and it does network with Macs.
You really don't know the answer?
Microsoft cares if you buy a Mac.
I do consider myself a 'power user' and on my current laptop I run XP and Fedora. I also have an older desktop running Ubuntu. I also consider myself a PC Gamer and if I get a mac I will just dual boot XP for games. Vista is a disaster, I do the IT at my job and other than the one vista laptop that the boss owns I have told people that I refuse to work on any Vista machine. I spent a good part of a day on tech support just trying to get Autocad lite 2007 to work properly on Vista... then I tried to get a 2yr old plot printer to work under vista... after wasting a day I let it be known that there was to be no more Vista machines allowed in the office unless they were to do the tech support themselves.
I am now telling everyone I know to buy a Mac (if they aren't 'techies') and if they are 'computer enthusiasts ', install Linux.
You really don't know the answer?
Microsoft cares if you buy a Mac.
You get the point.
When Win 2000 came out at retail it was $700
There were a lot of problems with Vista not the least of which was the multi versions and pricing. How many copies of Windows do they sell? They should at least try to compete with Apple and make one version for the same price as OSX. MS is using it's dominance in the OS market to finance losing products like Zune. I would call this the MS tax.
Ipod fair enough they missed that. Adding the phone to the Ipod was something they should have considered when doing the zune.
A sign that Microsoft is not as innovative in the past. This is partly due to where the whole computing world is at of course.
I would suggest that Microsoft would do better to adopt a stable platform and get the kinks out of it. Then they can adapt and improve it. This requires more times between major updates.
Apple does this. It went from Tiger to Leapord. Both OSX. Next is Snow Leopard.
This helps defray the cost of software. Making Apple competitive over the life of a computer I believe.
The more frequent changes in Microsoft Operating systems is too much. Hopefully the focus on convergence will mean poor MS users will get less frequent changes to the entire operating system as has happened on the traditional PC platform.
Windows Vista is extremely, extremely slow compared to XP, and an incremental increase in speed might be great for the new boxes coming out with 3-6 Gb of RAM installed, but, you know, not everyone has the budget to double their computer capacity every 3 years just because Microsoft wants to incrementally improve an OS.
The drivers and software compatibility issue has never disappeared. An organization not only has to commit to Windows Vista (and its successor Windows 7), but also must commit upgrading every piece of hardware and software, in order to become compatible with it. That is a major investment, and is the reason 80-85% of Windows users stay with XP. You may note that one of Microsoft's pitches is "Why wait to upgrade to Windows 7 -- start upgrading your hardware and software (to Vista) early so you'll be ready!"
(This goes for the .NET framework, too, but fortunately enough, that is free. )
Each version of Windows often takes out a lot of useful features. As a small example, Windows Vista crippled Windows Movie Maker, taking out the ability to digitize analogue video. This was important to our small company. (Fortunately, there are free open-source alternatives that are better and run on both Linux and Windows).
We discovered that the major committment to transition from XP to Vista (and subsequently Windows 7) was the same commitment to transition to Linux (Kubuntu/Ubuntu), where software and upgrades are free, and support is everywhere, through infinite forums and user groups (which is easier to access than expensive tech support from a proprietary company).
Kubuntu/Ubuntu Linux is far faster, easier to customize, and has far more compatible software than Windows Vista. Software companies are now writing software that is compatible with all three major platforms (Windows, Mac, and Linux), and with virtualization, we can run Windows anyway (through Linux virtualization) if we decide to upgrade our PCs to super-powerful boxes.
So there is no advantage to committing to Windows 7 (or Vista). It is better to commit to Linux and then use Windows 7 in a virtualized instance on a few powerful boxes, should we really see a need for a Windows OS in the future.
Nah, I'm not buying that one. Try harder.
Vista is usable, but it turns out that it required 2x the RAM (a 4GB CoreDuo laptop instead of a 2GB one), and half the services need to be stripped (plus more than a few custom registry tweaks) to get there.
If Windows 7 can avoid that, then it'll be what was promised with Vista (minus goodies like WinFS and such, but hey - at least it'll work for the average person).
The problem is, just working isn't going to be good enough - without the 'wow' factor, it'll be like trying to tout a Geo Metro as if it were some sort of Mercedes Benz... so what do they intend to do to address that?
OTOH, it took 2x the previous RAM just to get a laptop running Vista to have the same response times and performance as the same laptop running XP. Maybe you can tell us where "lockup" fits in...
And NO ONE can justify the $500 or more you would spend for an Apple to just surf and do email which is what a majority of users do. Because, regardless of what you believe (and it is belief not fact) about Vista - it does email and surfing just fine. It also does a darn good job with pics. And until recently - Vista with Picasa made a joke of iPhoto on Mac OS X. Now at least you can get Picasa for Mac, too.
I use both and find Microsoft haters and Apple lovers just hilarious because usually they are completely uninformed and blame some problem they created, or from a third-party on the OS.
Is Vista great? Nah ... but the problems are so over exaggerated it is hilarious.
The best is seeing Apple making boot camp a part of the Mac OS. And you have to install a retail copy of the Windows OS for it to work - yep MS is still making money and awesome to see everyone running Windows on their Mac because 90% of their corporate stuff won't work with a Mac.
Apple's just a niche. Until they can install the OS on millions of different form factors and devices to make the world run (yes it runs on Windows whether you want to admit it or not) it will be nothing more than a niche.
re: "Windows runs on millions of pieces of hardware and things you don't even think about"
Windows only runs on three architectures now: x86, Itanium, and ARM (for Windows CE/Mobile).
OSX can run on x86, PowerPC, and ARM. That makes the two pretty even.
Meanwhile, Linux happily runs on: x86, Itanium, ARM, MIPS, PowerPC/Cell, Sparc, zSeries, RISC, DSP, AVR, Blackfin, C167, Coldfire, COP8, eZ-series, FR-V, H8, HT48, M16C, M32C, MIPS, MSP430, PIC, PowerPC, R8C, SHARC, ST6, SuperH, TLCS,, Tricore, V850, XE8000, Z80, and etc. etc. etc. Pretty much anything from small embedded systems (many of which are listed here) up to mainframes... no sweat.
So, tell us more about how much more informed you are than the rest of us poor plebes...
/P
By millions we mean virtually every third party manufacturer of computer systems in the world producing multiple items with nearly infinitely configurable options. OS X runs on... Apple hardware.
Yeah. OK.
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by vsa1977
January 8, 2009 4:28 PM PST
- Microsoft is ready to release the Beta version on Windows 7. But it seems like Microsoft has copied most of its new features from Apple Mac OS X Leopard? Find out the new features taken from Mac OS X for yourself here...
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