At 2.30 PM on Thursday 11 May, the lengthy queue of curious businessmen, retailers, scruffy coders and geeks alike were ushered into Microsoft"s cosy enclosure in the middle of the hall. In front of us - a projected version of Windows Vista (build 5381), partially obscured by Microsoft"s James Akrigg and Dave Overton darting past and preparing our 30-minute presentation.
I"d not actually seen either Vista, IE7 or Office first-hand before - and now I really believe you need to before passing comment, because despite numerous delays and dropping of features, Microsoft"s new operating system seems to be coming together nicely.
James kicked things off with a brief introduction, and set a friendly familiar tone as he invited everyone in the makeshift-seminar to stick their hands up if they use Windows XP. After a brief joke or two he launched into a rather unexpected plug for Windows Desktop Search – stressing that this was the direction Microsoft were taking in the future, apparent later in the Office 2007 demonstration. For those of you unfamiliar with the technology, it aims to simplify searching for files, email, calendar appointments and just about anything else on your computer.
To ensure his strategy had worked, he asked: "Who wants to go and install Windows Desktop Search now?" A satisfying handful of people raised their arms, to which he replied: "Good. Go and do it."
Keen to stress Microsoft were not abandoning current standards, he outlined how Microsoft continued to add "value" to present day XP with downloads from Microsoft.com. Absent from this portion of the speech was the reasoning behind Microsoft"s updates – security holes, bugs and outdated compatibility, which are of course to be expected of the world"s most successful operating system.
Hasta-la-Vista
The room twitched as James handed over to his colleague, the "UKSBS (Small Business Specialist) Guy" Dave Overton for the juiciest part of the presentation – Microsoft"s new operating system, Vista. He kicked things off by briefly introducing us to the three areas Microsoft claim they based their operating system on. Now Microsoft blurb can possibly be the most annoying of all blurb ever produced, but this time it seemed to make sense. Their first focus was that of confidence.
"Who here has ever put their laptop into standby, only to return to it and it"s doing something completely random like restarting?" A scattering of hands were raised, at which point I got the impression that Microsoft"s employees were somewhat disgruntled at their older technology. We were then assured that with Vista, our PCs would do exactly what they should be doing – probably what they should have done all along. Dave went on to describe the "blanket of security" Microsoft would provide, ensuring users had enough confidence that they would not damage their computers.
He went on to Microsoft PR"s next point of clarity. Do forgive my sceptical outlook, but for anyone who"s never encountered Microsoft"s spin in the past – it gets a little tiring. He outlined searching, and came back to his point about Windows Desktop Search, which will feature prominently in Windows" next coming. His final bullet point tackled connection – touching on the improved security features of Vista"s gateway to the internet.
"Right so I"m not going to bore you any more, lets see what Vista can do," Dave said, exiting the PowerPoint presentation and bringing us to a familiar, yet fluffier Windows Desktop. Fluffier in the sense that every window he maximized or button he hovered behaved in a smoother and sexier fashion. Fluffier in the way that big clumsy "Start" button has been replaced with a round, anti-aliased shiny orb. In fact until you see Vista first-hand, you don"t realise how well Microsoft have retained their trademark simplicity yet still managed to dip the whole thing in chocolate sauce and even add a few sprinkles. Sure, it"s nothing radical – but isn"t that a good thing?
"Ok, so the first thing you"ll notice is the new UI [or user interface]," he said, bringing up the new, rather useful looking, sidebar. He explained that the sidebar had the ability to download and use gadgets from Live.com – of which there were around 650. Live.com is Microsoft"s answer to Apple"s "Widgets" – a compendium of clocks, weather forecasters and email indicators alike. Syndicated news from websites will also appear in the sidebar, allowing you to read your RSS feeds with ease.
Another poll revealed nearly everyone in the room was aware of Alt+Tab – the easiest way to switch between windows on your desktop, without lifting your lazy hand off the keyboard. Now your old and rather basic Alt+Tab interface has been transformed into a live preview of all the windows open and they"ve even added the desktop to the menu for effortless multi-tasking. Indeed, if Vista had a sex – it would be female, the naturally superior multi-tasker.
Not only do we have Alt+Tab but now Windows+Tab, which enables a tilted 3D live view of your programs. After speaking to a Microsoft representative after the presentation I was assured that "this is the thing everyone wants to know how to do" as the desktop "rollerdexed" across my screen. New features like this accompany modifications to existing components, such as the improved Start Menu. No longer a sprawling mess of panes, the hub of all Windows activity is now self-contained in its own private rectangle.
We then got to see the new version of the world"s most popular browser – Internet Explorer 7. "At last," Dave began, "we now have tabbed browsing, something that was much asked of Microsoft." This was followed by a short laugh as if to say: we know what you want, you"ve wanted it for a while. Security was naturally on the menu as we received a live demonstration of how the browser reacts when it stumbles across a phishing scam. After a brief explanation of how phishing involves the tricking of unwitting internet users into "verifying" their private details by clicking unusual links in emails, he asked: "Who here has clicked those links?" Naturally, the entire room remained still. "Good. The truth is, 4 million people a year do click those links," he retorted, which was followed by a stifled laugh, gasp and sigh from every corner of the room. The browser blocked the phishing site, displaying a warning message instead with the option to close the window. Nothing was mentioned of Internet Explorer"s current security holes or ActiveX exploits, but we"ll assume the team are hard at work fighting off the copious amount of spyware, adware and malware that plagues today"s internet.
One of the most talked about features of Vista is the new User Account Protection, which aims to ensure that users who aren"t logged in as the local administrator are kept in check and unable to damage the system. Despite being a naysayer of restrictions, I must admit the system seems very effective. Via the control panel the admin can manage any user"s program access, the type of websites accessed (with humorous categories such as "hate speech" and "bomb making"), time slots for when the PC can be used and even restrict younger users" gaming habits using the ESRB"s rating system. It"s a bit "1984 in your living room" for my liking, but for some it will prove a useful tool.
The final feature we were shown was the Performance Diagnostic tool, which monitors your computer"s every move. Dave showed the room how the PC had a list of application crashes (on which Explorer.exe appeared, the crash occurring a few hours prior), improper shutdowns and recent driver changes – information that makes diagnosing a problem much easier.
The final portion of the Vista showcase focused on Microsoft"s many versions of the new operating system. On paper (virtual, PowerPoint flavoured paper at least) it doesn"t look quite so confusing. You"ve got your Starter version (which will apparently not ship in Europe), Home Basic and Home Premium – the key difference being the lack of the Media Centre capabilities and a few flashy window effects in the Basic version. There are also two business versions – Professional and Enterprise, adding tablet PC functionality and doing away with many of Home"s restrictions. Naturally there"s more to separate the pack than a few missing features, but the important thing is the Windows team have put a lot of effort into providing for the main categories of PC user. For the enthusiast who has to have everything there"s the "uber version" – Windows Vista Ultimate. This will incorporate the whole package, which will inevitably be reflected in the price.
The Office
The last, rushed ten-minutes were spent focusing on the new version of Office. James took the stand once more, before once more telling us that "this is just beta code", which of course the whole room should have known anyway. He explained how the Office team have employed social engineers (as well as software engineers) in this development of Office, and stressed how Microsoft is focusing on what its customerbase wants.
"Office is evolving into a complete solution," he said. Considering Office already is Microsoft"s complete solution (to the business side anyway), this seemed a strange bit of PR to reiterate. "I only got this on Monday," he told us (it was Thursday by this point), "and I"ve managed pretty well, its easy and quick to learn!"
Learn? At this point the whole room must have sensed that he was building up to something pretty big. The suspense was marred slightly by the fact that he loaded up Outlook first, and showed off the flashy new to-do bar. Fiddling with a calendar view he demonstrated a useful-looking timetable planner, but nothing too radical. He then took a poll of those who used folders within their email client – a smattering of business types raised their arms. Explaining that it was tedious having to move messages from one folder to the next, he demonstrated Outlook"s new search bar – which is designed to rid the need of folders. I don"t see how a search bar will remove the need to file your emails, but then again I don"t file mine anyway.
"We"ve listened to your feedback," he told us again, firing up Word 2007. Instantly noticeable were the lack of drop down menus, and the inclusion of the funky new "Ribbon bar". It all looks rather basic, and simplified. James told us he had some sad news – that drop-down menus were on the way out, and Office 2007 was to start the trend (perhaps a hint at Microsoft"s future software plans?). Things seem to appear when you need them, so for example if you"re formatting some text simply highlighting and hovering it will bring up a mini-formatting panel, allowing you to tweak to your heart"s content. It"s all rather new and interesting, and I adjusted pretty quickly – but will my dad? That"s my only worry about this facelift – will Microsoft"s lesser computer-savvy customers be deterred?
Well seeing as they"ve simplified it to the rafters, I"d hope not. There"s a few nice new features worth noting, such as the inclusion of blogging within Word and James" final point: "You can now export straight to PDF – does that look good?"
Yes it does.
We then got a quick play around with Excel – conditional formatting was demonstrated, allowing simpler yet effective cell formatting to rank data via heat charts, and all sorts of pretty little bars to make any lover of statistics cringe. Excel now also supports up to a million rows, to make any hater of statistics cringe.
It was at this point we ran out of time. The presentation was packed, so much so that he rushed through what many considered to be the many the most important part – release dates. In the pipeline Microsoft are planning to release Beta 2 "very soon, in May" and the final product is on track for a January 2007 release. Retailers will begin receiving their copies in November 2006, but will be unable to sell or ship systems with the new software until January.
Microsoft had provided us with a jam-packed, well thought out presentation which has given me a full understanding of what to expect from Vista.
I can"t wait to see what they"ll come up with at next year"s show.