Liveblogging Bill Gates WinHEC Keynote
QUICK UPDATE: The Office 2007 beta is now online for download. You’ll need to click the link and follow the instruction to install it. I will be reviewing the process later today.
Hat-tip: Devin
Starts off with a very ominous video likening Microsoft’s work to some of the largest projects of all time. I think I saw the transcontinental railroad in there.
Out come someone named Marshall something to talk about the conference and introduce Bill Gates. He mentions that they’ve turned off the wifi during the keynote, to avoid chances of it messing up the technical sides of the keynotes.
Wow, they gave out a lot of free stuff to attendees. I should move to Seattle, just for these things.
Gates comes out and starts talking about how Microsoft is taking advantage of trends in the industry, better chips. Bill even mentions online advertising driving a lot of growth. Says we have a cycle where software and hardware get better, and thus we come up with better ideas and uses, requiring even far better hardware and software.
Talks 64-bit, and says that every move in the past, from 8-bit to 16-bit or 16-bit to 20-bit, has been “messy”, but the current shift from 32-bit to 64-bit has been very smooth. Says some versions of their server systems will be 64-bit exclusive, including the next version of Exchange.
Mentions “mining of weblogs, which {chuckle} provide large amounts of data”. I wonder what Bill found funny?
He says that, since processor speed increases won’t be as big as they were in the future, it comes to other areas to find ways to improve performance.
Gates goes through all the various technologies that will help find savings, like SuperFetch, which will improve speed and power consumption, or virtualization technologies.
Someone comes out to demonstrate the new Windows Server virtualization technology. They show a VM made in the free version, then show one running Red Hat Linux, to demonstrate the wide range of VM they are willing to support. Their new virtualization now allows up to 32 gigs of memory per VM, almost ten times the previous limit, and allows quad processors.
They let you hot add memory to a machine, simply by allocating it. They demonstrate it: Literally, the guy clicks to change the memory from 4 to 5 gigs, and it is done. No other virtualization technology lets you do that.
Gates comes back out, and says this technology will be out about 100 days after Longhorn server. He shows off a Samsung Q1 UMPC, as well as a the new Motorola Q phone, and the iRiver Clix.
“Today is a milestone for us”. Announcing today the betas of three major products, the first time they’ve had this much syncronicity. Windows Vista Beta 2, the Windows Server Longhorn beta, and the 2007 Office System Beta 2.
Bill touts the search capabilities integrated accross the board in all their new products.
A Chevron exec comes out and talks about how his company uses Microsoft server products. As thanks, Bill hands him a plaque containing gold DVDs of all three new betas.
A woman comes out and runs through the features in Vista, including Sidebar, and a stand-alone picture frame running off Windows Sideshow. The frame not only shows pictures, but might let you know if you just got an IM. Shows off Internet Explorer 7. Shows off the New York Times Reader, to let you read their newspaper better in Vista.
A quick interruption: It appears there will not be a public beta of Windows Vista today. The Vista beta site seems to indicate a beta 2 release that, like previous beta and CTPs, is available to MSDN and TechNet subscribers. However, it also says that a public beta will be available in the coming weeks.
She also goes through some of the changes in Office, like the ribbon and better visual documents. She then walks away from the computer, and grabs a tablet, and keeps going, reading from the New York Times on it.
Since the wifi is off in the room, they use a new Vista feature, Collaboration Space, to use a peer-to-peer wifi connection between two tablets to share files and view presentations. Very nice. You can share and pass around anything with anyone in the room, including a “handout” feature that works the same way as paper handouts in a meeting, but replacing all the paper and time. Great job.
Shows off Vista Media Center, and seamless media sharing. The video that was just sent to her tablet is sitting in her desktop’s Media Center library, ready to stream.
Bill comes back out to talk web services and Windows Live. Says online services make people more likely to use digital services, because it means their data can be safe if their computers are damaged, and can move easily between machines.
Shows off a Motorola Windows Messenger phone.
A guy comes out to show off devices built to work with Windows Live. There’s a Philips phone that shipped yesterday, the Motorola phone, and a Uniden phone that’s been at Best Buy for two weeks. It runs off a regular phone network, or via USB through VOIP, simultaneously. You get your buddy list on a color screen. Since you are using Windows Live Contacts, your buddy’s phone number is updated whenever it changes.
Gates returns and talks pay-as-you-go PC model FlexGo. Shows a video of people from a country where the average income is $2-6,000 a year, which makes this method of computing the only way to get ownership for people used to going to internet cafes.
Bill thanks the audience, and leaves.
I’m in the process of downloading the 440.48 megabyte install file for Office 2007 Professional Plus, and I will have reports on it later today.
