Microsoft releases Vista, Office 2007 to businesses

NEW YORK -- Microsoft Corp. launched its first computer operating system in five years Thursday, contending that the software and other new products will help people deal with information overload and become more productive.\nAcknowledging Windows Vista's delays, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer kicked off a demonstration of the software by saying, "It's an exciting thing to finally be here," adding, "This is the biggest launch in our company's history, that's for sure."\nBusinesses that buy Windows licenses in bulk have first crack at the new operating system. Consumers won't be able to get Vista on home PCs until Jan. 30.\nMicrosoft and computer vendors contend that Vista will make computers more secure, powerful and graphically dynamic, especially when combined with other products Microsoft is releasing simultaneously. Those include new back-end server software for businesses, as well as Office 2007, which brings sweeping changes to widely used programs such as Word, Outlook, Excel and PowerPoint.\nBallmer repeatedly said the new offerings were suited to businesses that need to link staff, partners, documents and corporate data in far-flung locales.\n"Giving people better tools to do their job is a bigger job than ever before," Ballmer said. "I think we really have the most comprehensive lineup our company has ever put in place."\nMuch is at stake for Microsoft. Most of its revenue and almost all of its profit comes from Windows and Office, funding the company's sexier ventures in video games and music players. Microsoft shares were down 16 cents, 0.5 percent, at $29.41 in midday trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.\nEven with all the touted improvements, analysts expect Vista to only gradually appear on corporate PCs, especially in big organizations where upgrading can be a costly, complicated affair. Gartner Dataquest predicts it will be 2010 before Vista outnumbers the previous operating system, Windows XP, on business computers.\nBig companies need to test internal business applications on Vista before a company can switch its PCs to the new operating system, a process that Gartner analyst Michael Silver estimates at 12 to 18 months in many cases.\nIn the meantime, the last operating system, Windows XP, works just fine for most companies.\nKamal Anand, chief technology officer for TradeStone Software Inc., a Gloucester, Mass.-based provider of supply-chain software, examined test versions of Vista and Office and found "no compelling need" to upgrade his company's 100 PCs and laptops anytime soon. Instead, Anand expects Vista and Office to slowly permeate TradeStone as it buys new PCs for employees in coming years.\n"Nobody wants to go through the extra time and effort and money to upgrade an existing, well-working system," he said.\nThe programs in Office 2007 have been overhauled in many ways. Generally, they can make it easier for people to collaborate on documents and to manage information from multiple sources. Excel in particular packs a wallop, with vastly increased number-crunching abilities. The Outlook e-mail program performs noticeably faster searches for tidbits buried in messages.