Photos: Windows 7 launches in New York
Steve Ballmer, Tami Reller, Brad Brooks, Mike Angiulo, and 5-year-old Kylie take the stage to tout the new Microsoft operating system.
Tami Reller introduces Windows 7
At the New York launch of Windows 7 on Thursday, the stage is lit up with colorful screens. The new Microsoft operating system's top saleswoman, Vice President Tami Reller, says Windows 7 had 8 million beta testers.
Reller and Kylie
Reller introduces to the stage a very cute 5-and-a-half-year-old, Kylie, a breakout star of a recent Microsoft ad campaign. She has come to New York to introduce today's main speaker, CEO Steve Ballmer.
Kylie and Ballmer
"I'm a PC, and here's Steve Ballmer," Kylie says.
As Ballmer discusses a meeting with Kylie, she interrupts to say, "You were late." But the CEO has a present for the starlet: a small pink PC.
Beta testers for Windows 7
As Reller had mentioned, Microsoft solicited the help of 8 million Windows 7 beta testers, with 3,000 Microsoft engineers and 50,000 partners--not a small undertaking.
Brad Brooks shows off Media Center
Ballmer introduces to the stage Brad Brooks, Windows' vice president of marketing. He demonstrates Media Center on an HP TouchSmart all-in-one PC. A deal with CBS, publisher of CNET News, means that all of its TV shows will be available over the Internet in Media Center. He also shows off a new touch-capable Kindle application from Amazon.com due to be available in beta-test form next month.
Homegroup
Brooks then demonstrates how a Windows 7 feature called HomeGroup, designed to simplify home networking, can be set up in real time. The downside is that the feature requires all connected machines to run Windows 7.
Family Guy and Windows Live
Brooks then uses Windows Live to play a recorded episode of the "Family Guy" from his home machine in Redmond, Wash. Microsoft recently announced a partnership with News Corp.'s Fox that will see Microsoft sponsoring a TV show that will merge a pitch for Windows 7 with the comedic stylings of "Family Guy" voices Seth MacFarlane and Alex Borstein. The show, "Family Guy Presents: Seth & Alex's Almost Live Comedy Show," is scheduled to air Sunday, November 8, at 8:30 p.m. (ET and PT), sans commercials.
Play To
The last feature Brooks demonstrates, called Play To, lets users control media from a Windows 7 PC, playing on other devices, such as a sound system, digital photo frame, or TV. He uses a single Dell laptop to stream media to seven different screens. Yes, the term "man cave" is used.
Ballmer gets bullish
Ballmer, back on stage, notes that 300 million PCs are predicted to be sold this year, with an "unsurpassed" range and diversity of software. "Ninety-five out of 100 times, when people choose a device, they are choosing a Windows PC," he says.
There's a PC for that
Ballmer added that today, there's a PC "for every room, for every scenario, and for every person in every facet of their lives."
Mike Anguilo
Windows General Manager Mike Angiulo takes the stage to show off some of the new PCs debuting with Windows 7, including an Acer AspireRevo, designed to boot up in 15 seconds. He also shows a Dell machine that charges and docks wirelessly, as well as several touch-screen laptops and, finally, Dell's 9.9-millimeter-thin Adamo laptop.
Mike Angiulo and Steve Ballmer
Angiulo shows Ballmer some of the Windows 7 hardware on display. "I'm Steve Ballmer, and I'm a Windows 7 PC, effective immediately," the CEO had said earlier.
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