It was minus four Celcius inside a downtown Toronto house of ice Microsoft built yesterday to showcase what Windows Vista can do for consumers’ PCs.
But the company hopes there will be no chill on sales when its flagship OS and 2007 Office System hit retail stores today.
Having missed holiday sales, the company is hoping that finally getting the consumer version of the operating system and the productivity suite will boost its bottom line.
Microsoft has been touting Vista’s improved security and integrated search as of the OS. But in addition it is counting on buyers being impressed with the 3D Aero effects of Vista Home Premium that they’ll be willing to pay extra over the base Home Basic edition.
Resellers are also hoping Vista will lead to peripheral sales as consumers realize Aero will need more memory, faster CPU power and speedier graphic cards.
Inside the 18,000 sq. ft. condo-style abode made of ice were also a few other Microsoft products that have been flying under the Vista radar.
For example, in the kitchen was a Tablet PC running Internet Explorer next to a microwave carved out of ice, and real refrigerator with built-in TV screen. According to Barnaby Jeans, senior technical advisor to Microsoft Canada, one in every 10 Canadian homes have a PC in the kitchen.
“It’s a little known fact but the kitchen has become the central hub of the digital lifestyle,” Jeans said.
He added that most searches are initially conceived in the kitchen, which is why the new Internet Explorer will have customizable search engines with the ability to do tab browsing and eliminate having several Windows open on a screen.
Internet Explorer also has some new printing features which let the software automatically shrink Web content to fit a page.
“It can also print just the selected text from a Web site, which can save on printer cartridges,” Jeans said.
The browser will also have new security features that can detect virus and phishing scams. Jeans said that when Internet Explorer detects a known phishing e-mail, the URL bright red. It then checks it and blocks it from view.
The URL bar will turn yellow if the software suspects it’s not a legitimate Web site. It will only turn red if the software knows it is not a legitimate site. Microsoft uses a third party to supply it with security information.
Jeans added that Internet Explorer has extended validation services so that Web site owners can certify their site through services such as VeriSign.
Internet Explorer also comes with OneNote, which can help those who are in the kitchen set up recipe tabs, to do tabs and other information tabs under a family notebook using pen technology.
“OneNote replaces the paper notebook,” Jeans said.
Moving over to the icy teen bedroom, Bruce Cowper, Microsoft Canada’s senior program manager/security initiative, showed Windows Live Spaces and OneCare.
Windows Live Spaces enables users to blog or upload 500 photos a month.
Windows Live OneCare is the security add-on to Windows Vista. Cowper said with OneCare you get extra anti-virus, firewall, anti-phishing and anti-spyware protection while begin able to back up and restore data, and do defragmentation tasks all in one single path.
Also available in this room was Chess Titan, with 3D graphics that can be manipulated in real time, he said.
Windows Live OneCare is available at an annual subscription rate of $59.99 for up to three PCs.
