BIOS: Technology Means Business

Software developers converging in Los Angeles this week for Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference (PDC) have heard fresh news about the upcoming Windows Vista operating system and Office '12'. Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates underscored how together Windows Vista and Office '12' will represent a major step forward in terms of what people can do with software, and the solutions developers can build.

Gates went on to highlight the growing impact software developers have on how we live, work and play, and encouraged developers to take the next step with the newly unveiled capabilities across the Microsoft platform. 'It's a great time to be a developer,' Gates said. 'The developer community, the industry and Microsoft have built an incredible foundation with Microsoft .NET and Web services, and now with Office '12' and Windows Vista it's time to build on that foundation and take software to new heights.'

As a part of the keynote address, Microsoft unveiled the biggest advance for Office in more than a decade with the next version of Office applications, code-named Office '12.' The software, demonstrated for the first time, will deliver a thoroughly redesigned, results-oriented user interface (UI) that enables people to focus on what they want to do rather than how they do it.

The new design is based on customer insight gained through the company's usability research. For example, the new UI replaces traditional menus and toolbars with a set of highly graphical command tabs that correspond to the tasks people want to accomplish. Command tabs containing features and functionality for specialised tasks appear when customers need them and disappear when they are not relevant. This approach to organising and presenting commands will make it simpler for people to find and use more Office capabilities to get the results they want, claims Microsoft.

In addition to more effectively organising and presenting Office functionality, the new UI design was also driven by the desire to help people create professional-looking documents. Instead of editing and formatting one element of a document at a time, new graphical galleries in Office '12' should simplify the process by presenting a selection of potential layout results from which people can simply pick and click. 'Live Preview' technology removes the guesswork to show how each possible selection will change the document.

Gates also discussed the significant platform investments the company is making in Windows Vista to empower developers and ISVs to create next-generation desktop applications that will drive new business opportunities. The Windows Vista Community Technology Preview (CTP) program, will involve customers and partners in the early stage of Windows Vista development with the ultimate goal of delivering the highest-quality final product to the public.

The first Windows Vista CTP build introduces many new features, including innovations in visualisation and organisation that promises to bring clarity to the customer experience and give developers better tools for building the next generation of desktop applications. In addition, the first Windows Vista CTP will enable developers to use WinFX, the new programming model for Windows Vista, to build applications that take advantage of the Windows Presentation Foundation and the Windows Communication Foundation.

The company announced that the first Windows Vista CTP build will be distributed to all PDC attendees, as well as to participants in the Windows Vista technical beta program and to Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) and Microsoft TechNet subscribers. Microsoft will continue to release CTP builds on a monthly basis throughout the Windows Vista development process, and all feedback will be processed through the MSDN Product Feedback Center.

Jim Allchin, group vice president of the Platforms Group at Microsoft, outlined the industry opportunity around Windows Vista, emphasising the potential for Windows Vista to become the fasted-adopted operating system in the history of the PC industry and meet a new generation of customer needs.

As a part of the commitment to support partner opportunities around Windows Vista, Microsoft announced the Windows Vista Partner Showcase Program, a new $100 million co-marketing effort for the ISV community. The program is designed to drive a wave of enterprise, small-business and customer ISV applications built on Windows Vista. Participating ISVs will have access to new distribution channels, co-marketing opportunities and financial incentives.

In addition to the advancements with Windows Vista and Office '12,' Microsoft unveiled a handful of new platform technologies, designed to give developers even more capabilities when building on the Microsoft platform.

'Atlas' is the code-name for a Web client framework for building Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX)-style applications using Dynamic HTML (DHTML), XML and script. Well integrated with Visual Studio 2005 and ASP.NET 2.0, 'Atlas' claims to simplify development of richer and more interactive Web applications that can run in any modern browser.

The Language Integrated Query (LINQ) Project is a set of language innovations for the Microsoft .NET Framework that promises to make it simpler for developers to access data. LINQ comprises a set of language extensions to C# and Visual Basic and a unified programming model that extends the .NET Framework to offer integrated querying for objects, databases and XML. LINQ enables developers to write queries for accessing data natively in C# or Visual Basic without having to use other languages, such as Structured Query Language (SQL) or XQuery.

Windows Presentation Foundation 'Everywhere' is a subset of the full Windows Presentation Foundation, a platform-level presentation and display engine. Windows Presentation Foundation 'Everywhere' enables the ubiquitous delivery of content-rich scenarios on different platforms and form factors.