…. And It’s Only The Beginning

Microsoft  launched Vista, its new operating system,
and Office 2007 today.

But that barely touches the more than 30 applications it plans to rollout
between now and the end of next year.

Brad Goldberg, general manager of Windows Product Management, noted that
“Windows and Office 2007 are key pieces for upgrading core infrastructure
for an organization.”

Some of those products, he told internetnews.com, are based on what
Microsoft likes to term “software plus service.”

He said Microsoft is focusing on “services that are about experiences that
are running on the client.”

According to Goldberg, Microsoft will release a service-like application
called Desktop Optimization Pack in January.

“That will provide application streaming and application virtualization so
users can access applications that aren’t installed on their clients,” he
said.

Goldberg said the service allows users to access remote applications more
quickly and completely than traditional thin-client applications.

During his press conference this morning, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer ticked
off a partial list of other new products and significant enhancements to
existing products, including Office Communications Server, voice call
management, business intelligence application PerformancePoint Server, and
security application suite ForeFront.