WINDOWS VISTA AT CES 2006

Gates opens Windows to Vistas

CES gets a preview of Windows Vista from Bill Gates.

7 January, 2006
LAS VEGAS

Bill Gates opened his firm’s windows to give the tech world a sneak peek into the world’s largest software maker’s next generation operating system -- Windows Vista.

Launching the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Gates unveiled the features of the upcoming version of Windows.

With Windows Vista, Microsoft aims to connect and manage different digital home entertainments, from hi-fi stereo systems, game console to high-definition digital video content, according to media reports.

In an apparent indication that Microsoft is considering competition from search engine behemoth Google, the Windows Vista features have been designed to include faster, improved searches for media files and data.

Windows Vista will also have an updated media player allowing necessitating easy playback digital content from any personal computer.

"The software is where the magic is. As broadband and high-definition content becomes ever more ubiquitous, if you're going to have all this power to be simple enough, appealing enough and cool enough, it's going to be because the software is right," Gates, the world’s richest man, said.

Windows Vista is expected to be available in the market in the second half of 2006. Gates has promised a more stable performance from Windows Vista. The promise comes in the backdrop of security concerns raised about Windows.

Even Gates was put in a fix when the operating system at the Windows XP Media Centre crashed twice when he was making a demonstration during his keynote speech in last year’s Consumer Electronics Show.This time Gates avoided a demonstration without running the software.The CES is the world's largest annual tradeshow of new consumer technologies. It is organized by US Consumer Electronics Association.