Not much new, but less annoying

Microsoft's CEO, Steve Balmer, gave his first keynote address at CES 2009 today. If you thought Apple's keynote was underwhelming, Microsoft's will really leave you guessing. The biggest thing Microsoft does is Windows, so of course, Mr. Balmer had to announce that Windows 7 (that's the version that comes after Vista - you know 3, 95, 98, Millenium, 2000, XP, Vista, 7 - yup those names make sense) will enter user beta tomorrow.

He announced that it would boot faster, use less battery, and display fewer annoying user messages. Yup, that's it. So I thought I'd visit Microsoft's Windows 7 page to see if that was all. (The page is weird - they list faster response time as a "Work your way" feature instead of a "Faster and easier" feature - go figure.)

Steve sold himself short in his announcement. You also get a new taskbar, a new version of Internet Explorer (which almost does everything that Firefox or Safari for Windows does), makes it easier to violate copyright by making music and video sharing easier, and supports a touch interface (like an iPhone).

Gee, is that the most impressive new features to talk about? For many, upgrading to Vista offered little other than giant headaches. Looks like Windows 7 will offer even less value than Vista.