Gates: Software will better support hardware

IDG News Service - Maintaining that "software today does not take full advantage of capabilities offered by hardware," Microsoft Corp. Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates today showcased a number of upcoming products at the start of Microsoft's Windows Engineering Hardware Conference (WinHEC) in New Orleans.
On the desktop, the successor to Windows XP, code-named Longhorn, will take a leap forward and fully exploit graphics hardware, while in the data center, Microsoft's recently announced Dynamic Data Center (DDC) will simplify management and application deployment, Gates said in a keynote address at the conference.
WinHEC is the annual conference where Microsoft tells hardware makers about its plans for the Windows operating system. In his presentation, Gates touched on Microsoft software for devices including watches, mobile phones, PDAs, desktop computers and high-end servers.
In one of the first presentations of DDC, an application was deployed onto industry-standard Hewlett-Packard Co. servers and storage hardware with just a few clicks of the mouse.
The DDC is an important part of Microsoft's Dynamic Systems Initiative (DSI), the company's push into the data center. Like efforts under way at Sun Microsystems Inc., HP and IBM, DSI aims to make it easier to deploy and manage software across large groups of servers and storage equipment. Microsoft first discussed its efforts in March, saying the various components would be rolled out over three to five years.
"The quality of applications will be much higher and the cost of running them will be much lower," Gates said.
Microsoft today separately announced that Fujitsu Ltd., IBM, NEC Corp. and Newisys Inc. have joined HP and Dell Computer Corp. as hardware partners for DSI.
On a stage cluttered with hardware, "Athens," a concept PC with a phone and video camera attached to a 23-in. flat-panel display, took a prime spot. The system, envisioned by Microsoft to replace standard office phones and videoconferencing equipment, was created by Microsoft and HP.
"Really, Athens is a nexus for business communications," said Chad Magendanz, lead program manager for Microsoft's Hardware Innovation group, who demonstrated the system.
For device makers, Microsoft introduced a new license for Windows CE .Net 4.2 called Windows CE .Net Version 4.2 Core. Under the license, priced at $3, the software can be used in low-cost devices such as gateways, voice-over-IP phones and digital cameras, Microsoft said. A new, free version of Windows CE .Net for testing purposes was also announced.
WinHEC in New Orleans runs until Thursday.