Microsoft Vista Dawn of a 'New Day'

Megan Manni Reporting

NEW YORK -- It's a new day.

So says Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who began Thursday by ringing the opening bell at NASDAQ and later fully unveiled the new features of the revamped Microsoft Office, Microsoft Exchange Server, Share Point Service and Microsoft Windows, otherwise now known as Windows Vista.

$\"\"$ In addition to business and professional "Pro" versions, there are enterprise versions of all four programs that have new capabilities for content management, security, and business development. Microsoft Windows Vista is intended primarily to increase productivity, and Ballmer stressed that Office is "dramatically updated."

Upon receiving feedback from current business users, Ballmer realized that users in general may only know 20 to 30 percent of Windows' capabilities. Even when reviewing the revamped Excel in Office 2007, Bill Gates himself thought some of its features were new, when in fact chagrined Microsoft software developers had to tell him those features had been in place for the last two releases.

Therefore, Ballmer said Microsoft\'s objective was to simplify the "user interface," allowing users to concentrate more on content and less on how to get something done. Windows Vista gives users instant access across the board to all of their documents regardless of type.

To view a quick User Interface video from Microsoft, click here and scroll down for The New UI in Action.

A new sidebar - literally vertically along the right side of one's screen - allows users to customize their desktop and add tools they use regularly like calculator, weather stats and real-time Microsoft Virtual Earth maps to instantly and visually pinpoint locations, thereby reducing the number of clicks a user has to complete his/her objective.

Microsoft Vista also has a new search field at the bottom of the Start menu, that if one were to type in "sales" would show the user every single thing on their computer that has the world Sales in it regardless of type, getting the information to the user quickly. From those results the user can sort by date modified, type, etc., watching as the document is instantly previewed as the mouse scrolls over the title. There is even breadcrumbing at the top of the search results to allow the user to go back to any group he/she wishes.

Live icons can also be enlarged on the desktop and in individual windows to the user's preference with the scroll function on his/her mouse. Windows are see-through so as not to distract the user's eye to the color rather than the contents of the window. Mac users might see a similarity there.

Pressing Alt and holding down the Tab button brings up a live preview of every document a user has open, so that he/she can scroll through to see which one he/she needs. The result is literally a "flip 3D" feature resembling a rolodex spinning on the screen. A similar feature exists with one click on the Start bar, bringing up a window with a thumbnail image of every open document so that a user can visually identify the window he/she needs to choose rather than guessing on the Start bar which is which, especially if a user has more than one Firefox window open or more than one Explorer window open and the title bar cannot be seen.

The preview feature for documents and open programs is a theme throughout the new redesign, as is the new "ribbon" at the top of each program. What was formerly one toolbar is now a grid of every possible function available, eliminating the dropdown menus if one clicks on File or View, rather having those File/View/Edit categories act as tabs that when selected show a whole new grid of options that is two to three times the size of the current toolbar.

Julie Larson-Green, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft, demonstrated Office 2007's new features at the launch press conference Thursday. Larson-Green showed the myriad of new options and functions in Word, for example: If one is typing a document, when one elects to change the font, as the mouse is run over different font types the document text will be previewed in that font type to aid the user in their choice and reduce the number of clicks necessary to select the best font for the document.

Users can also insert pictures in Word documents, and can scroll through a menu of possible locations within the document with a preview available of how the finished product will look with each location.

In Excel, software designers have set out to improve visual styling options for users to manipulate data and formulas, and as the user works Excel does calculations along the way. For example, a user can classify numbers with the click of a mouse to isolate the top 10 percent of their figures, and even color scale the numbers to differentiate high figures from low figures to more quickly point out the progress of a product, etc. Excel also features drastic improvements in chart design and layout, including previews and instant configuration of chart component addition rather than manual configuration of a new chart component.

The preview feature is also a huge benefit for Powerpoint users, who can now click on the "Design" tab and preview new layouts and "SmartArt diagrams" while instantly having an thumbnail initial image popup of what the finished product will look like.

Ballmer explained Microsoft's concentration for this project as how people work together in business, and the needs for unifying communication, increasing collaborative capabilities, and having parties stay in sync with each other's information. Microsoft has also concentrated on users with mobile PCs, making it more convenient to hook up and connect to various wireless networks. Ballmer said Office 2007 can enhance the way businesses process information, making it easier to find data, model it, visualize and analyze it between users.

Some of the biggest and most surprising developments will come in Microsoft Outlook, which is perhaps a microcosm of all the new Vista features implemented in 2007: the ribbon, the search tool, and a to-do bar on the side similar to the Vista sidebar, with flagged messages, tasks, calendars, notes, etc.

Microsoft's Diane Prescott demonstrated Outlook's new Voice Access technology, which will allow travelling users to access email from any telephone, anywhere, anytime. As a fun feature, the voice of Bill Gates greets the user upon dialup, presenting the options in the voice-activated system. A user can check his/her email and manipulate his/her calendar over the phone, and a friendly voice will read your emails to you in whatever language you select (hint: the demo was in Dutch.) The email sender's name is even presented in the sender's own voice, gleaned from the user's voicemail.

Prescott also showed the calendar feature, which if a user says "calendar," a voice will ask the user which day to check, and will read the appointments planned over the phone. The user can even say "I'll be 10 minutes late," and the system will confirm the choice and send an email back to the meeting's organizers relaying that message.

Lastly, Prescott said in a lost cellphone or blackberry scenario, users can through Outlook web access wipe their lost device of all sensitive information without having to call their company's help desk.

Ballmer introduced Professor Peter Kuhn, PhD from the Cell Biology Department at Scripps Research Institute to show how Windows Vista applications can be implemented in real world advancements. Kuhn, who explained that his team is involved in developing diagnostics and treatment options, said Scripps' objective is to "make cancer a manageable disease." Therefore, because of the seriousness of the goal, "We wanted a less than zero learning curve" for the new software.

Kuhn, along with Tim Huckaby, CEO of the contract software developing team InterKnowlogy, demonstrated a new 3D feature for research images. Researchers can view cancer molecules in 3D, rotate the image to get a full view, and click on a specific part of the picture such as a particular strand or component of the molecule and attach data to that particular spot. Therefore research can literally be embedded within an image, giving the 3D image context. What\'s more, Kuhn said, through SharePoint he can give a scientist in Austria access to the system using just her web browser if the scientist doesn\'t have the software.

Huckaby said the development of this tool was unprecedented, taking only 2 full-time and one part-time developer 6 weeks to complete the prototype.

$\"\"$ Ballmer re-took the stage to explain the new security features of the new software. Pointing out that Microsoft estimates that companies spend three to five percent of their IT budget on security, Ballmer said that the company set out to reduce the manual process for security and reduce IT costs as well, renaming the acronym SDLC Secure Design Life Cycle.

Users can encrypt laptops, encrypt disk drives to even specify which employees can and cannot remove a portable USB memory stick, quarantine who comes onto their network and how, manage their servers, manage retention and rights, protect and recover information, and take advance of Internet Explorer 7's new anti-phishing technology.

Companies such as Lockheed Martin, Hilton, Barnes and Noble, Chevron, MTV Networks, Verizon and Hyundai were part of the early adopter program for Microsoft Vista, Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft Office and Microsoft Share Point. Guest speaker Shaygan Kheradpir, CIO for Verizon's IT department, said his company's needs were for destruct-free, worry-free work.

"This is a quantum jump in layered security infrastructure," Kheradpir said. Among Verizon\'s noted experienced benefits were the ability to encrypt laptops with "Bit Locker," synchronize offline work that users do at home with their office computers, send a file with a specification of who can open it and who can print it, empty DVR recordings onto a PC, and create a hi-def experience in video.

Kheradpir runs a video blog for the IT employees at Verizon. "We were able to transform the video experience, enlarge the video image and increase the fidelity," he said. A 10-minute hi-definition video, which would ordinarily take 2 hours to upload and one hour to download, now takes 2 minutes to upload and less than one minute to download.

The new integrated set of software, along with the efforts of hundreds of hardware partners worldwide like HP, Dell, Intel, SAP and others, have moved computer capability forward. Many of Microsoft\'s new products are available today, with more developments being completed in the coming year such as "first class video conferences," Ballmer said.

So what caused the release date delay? Feedback from several hundred users in the early adopter program, said Microsoft software expert Jason Leznek. He added, "We wanted to really hit that quality bar."

To view the press conference launch video, click here.

To ask questions to Microsoft and receive posted answers from representatives, click here.