The launch event for Windows 7 has just finished in New York and it’s been on a much smaller scale than previous launches. This time there was no huge stage and no big screen presentations, no rock band and no multiple speakers. Not even the customary long list of thanking the development team.
The one hour event is also shorter than previous launch events. The Vista launch was one hour, the same as this but the XP launch was a full two hour show.
There were several things about this launch that jump out to me as being unusual. The first is that this was entirely a consumer-focused event. There were no mentions of business at all. The other is the very first thing they showed off was Live Movie Maker, part of the Live Essentials Suite that doesn’t ship with Windows 7, but is instead an optional download.
This demonstrates that Microsoft clearly see Live Essentials as an important part of Windows 7. It should be, even though it’s not bundled.
One thing that really jumped out was the demonstration of Play to, this feature allows you stream media content, music, video and pictures from your Windows 7 PC to compatible devices around your home. They showed off a Dell laptop streaming 16 simultaneous video, photo and music streams, including some Hi-Def video. It was a very impressive spectacle.
The event wrapped in an Ikea’esque area with pseudo-rooms set up to demonstrate new and forthcoming Windows 7 hardware.
With the exception of some digital media and multi-touch displays, the event itself was light on content about the operating system. There was no talk about security, stability, compatibility or aero features like snap or shake. Microsoft were clearly determined to use just a few features to wow the crowd.
And in case you want to know, did anything go wrong? Sadly, no! For those of you who missed it live you should still be able to watch it here… http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/windows7/default.aspx
