Microsoft also announced a couple of new partnerships for VoIP phones that will tie into its upcoming Windows Live Messenger.
The long-delayed Vista OS will ship by year’s end, Gates said. In the meantime, Microsoft would continue to refine the user interface, get feedback, make sure we’ve got this exactly right, he said.
Among the new Vista features shown were dynamic protection and parental control services in Internet Explorer 7.
We’ve made huge investments in Windows Vista in terms of the security, making and hardening the Web experience, including things like the anti-phishing browser, said Aaron Woodman, a Microsoft group product manager, demonstrated Vista, during the keynote.
The browser promises to help protect users against malicious web sites, while built-in parental controls — a first for Windows — enable time limits online and the restriction of certain Web sites.
In Windows Vista, a Flip 3D tool was also demonstrated, which enables a user to quickly switch between open windows and applications. The idea is to move all applications into a 3-D space so users can scroll through them quickly using the mouse or arrow keys.
Gates also said that, in addition to its much-ballyhooed partnership with Palm, Microsoft has several new mobile device partnerships in the works. Gates noted that Windows Mobile now ships on more than 100 smart phones in 55 countries.
We will have more variety of devices coming out this year, he said. We’ll have a lot, some of which will bring high-resolution cameras in, music capability in, a lot of innovation there.
Microsoft announced two partnerships for wireless phones, including with Uniden America Corp to develop a cordless IP phone for the upcoming Windows Live Messenger.
Uniden is working on a WIN 1200, 5.8GHz wireless VoIP phone that enables PC-to-PC calling through Windows Live Messenger and PC-to-phone outbound calling through MCI Web Calling and Messenger, as well as traditional PSTN service.
The phone, which would retail for just under $100, also enables three-way IP conference calls, said the companies. The device is currently in beta and is slated for release later this year.
Microsoft also announced a partnership with Royal Phillips Electronics to develop a VoIP phone that would also serve as a traditional telephony phone. The forthcoming VOIP433 device would use Microsoft Windows Live for its IP calling capabilities, including presence, in a similar way to the Uniden device.
The VOIP433 will first be available in Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America in the spring, Phillips said.
Gates also said Microsoft was working on a tablet version of the OS. He said there were dozens of new Tablet PCs being developed by OEMs that would help breathe life into the market for Tablet machines. In fact, there are some new technologies that are going to make that price premium for this tablet capability very, very small, Gates said.
Part of the way that we’re getting this premium down is we’re using new digitizers that are called passive, and that means that it will be a simple decision to say, yes, I want to get that tablet capability.
He said Microsoft had invested a lot in the Tablet version of Vista, including into how to automatically adjust to users’ handwriting style.
