Windows 7 launches in uncertain tech environment

SEATTLE — With Windows 7, Microsoft may have found its mojo again. Reviewers are giving the new operating system the thumbs-up, this after the technical and marketing blunders the company was unable to shake with the predecessor, Vista.

Still, even though Windows 7 has been lauded as everything Vista should have been, Microsoft is launching its flagship product Thursday into a vastly different and more uncertain technology landscape. While a billion people still use Windows today, the personal computer no longer reigns supreme as computing migrates to different devices and platforms.

Where people once relied on PCs for e-mail, for instance, many now get their messages on smartphones and Web browsers through services like Hotmail or Gmail. Developers are putting their juice into making iPhone apps rather than PC software, or into so-called cloud applications, which run online instead of in Windows.

Has Microsoft built a faster train while the rest of the industry is making planes and automobiles?

"Right now, the market is going through an awful lot of change," said industry analyst Rob Enderle, of the Silicon Valley-based Enderle Group.

"The potential market for personal computers is being challenged by other platforms; set-top boxes, connected TVs, smartphones, even game systems are all taking some of the emphasis away from personal computers," he said. "With that emphasis, Windows as we have always known it, a PC operating system, doesn't get the attention it once did."

For Microsoft, the stakes couldn't be higher. Not only does Windows contribute half of Microsoft's operating profit, it has an outsize role in the company's zeitgeist.

Windows in a launch year is like Ohio in a presidential election. As Windows goes, so goes the rest of Microsoft.

To the company's credit, Windows 7 has so far shown that Microsoft can again deliver an operating system on time.

When Vista launched in 2007, years late by some accounts, the operating system was plagued by compatibility problems with other devices.

Apple saw an opening and launched its "I'm a Mac" television ads, hammering on Microsoft as glitchy and bloated.

While Microsoft fixed most of the problems through software updates, the image was indelible. The ads defined Microsoft as a sad sack played by "The Daily Show" reporter John Hodgman in a bad suit, even though the typical Microsoft employee looks as unpressed and floppy-haired as actor Justin Long, who plays Mac.

As the company began building Windows 7, Microsoft went on a listening tour. CEO Steve Ballmer took the reins of the Windows group, running it through three senior vice presidents.

The result was an operating system focused on making the technology reliable, trimmer and easier to use.

"We did over 15,000 individual user sessions where we had people come in and use their Windows experience and used XP and Vista," said Brad Brooks, corporate vice president for Windows consumer marketing.

"We also talked to a lot of partners, our PC partners, OEM (computer-maker) partners, device manufacturers. It led to a lot of insights that then our engineering team took and put into practice and created new features around."

Users typically have five to 15 windows open at any one time, and Microsoft has built features to make managing them easier.

"Snap" resizes two windows with two mouse swipes so that they equally fill the screen.

"Aero Shake" allows the user to close all but one window by wiggling the mouse back and forth. When the mouse hovers over the taskbar, small preview screens of each window pop up.

HomeGroup, another feature, simplifies connecting computers at home through a wireless network and makes it easy to access photos, video and other files stored on different computers.

A Windows 7 user also can stream video and music to other devices with a feature called "Play To." Videos can be played on television, for instance, if the TV is connected to the Internet via an Xbox 360.

"It's really going to drive innovation not only in the PC ecosystem, but also in the entertainment-devices ecosystem," Brooks said. "This is where it really breaks through to next level."