Windows 7 X86 Microsoft's message to IT pros Meet

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is assured about Windows 7. But he;s nowhere near as outwardly cocky about the company prospective customers for that working method as he and other Microsoft execs were with previous Windows releases.Actually,Office Home And Business 2010, Ballmer informed IT pros in the course of a low-key September 29 business-launch kick-off event “thanks for your consideration of Windows 7.”Ballmer and a handful of invited corporate Microsoft customers took to the stage for Microsoft;s “The New Efficiency” occasion today. The overall theme of the hour-and-a-half event — which was live in San Francisco and Webcast,Buy Windows 7, as well — was how IT pros can, with less, do more.The products that Microsoft touted during the occasion included Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack, Exchange Server 2010,Windows 7 X86, and, to a lesser extent, the Forefront enterprise security suite and Program Center management line.Ballmer said it was Microsoft;s job to help IT pros get corporate buy-in for Windows 7. He said Microsoft was responsible for half that effort (really, he pegged the number at 60 percent). But the other 40 percent of the job was up to enterprise users. They;re the ones who need to convince their purse-string-controlling bosses that it;s worth upgrading to Windows 7, in spite of tight budgets and cost-cutting pressures.“We have to help you make the organization case,” Ballmer said.Ballmer;s push for Microsoft;s soon-to-be-introduced products boiled down to a few crucial messages. Windows seven: It makes everyday tasks easier to achieve anywhereWindows Server 2008 R2: It provides next-generation and control (and Hyper-V offers users more options for consolidating servers)MDOP: It helps streamline PC managementExchange 2010: Its new back-end storage management are a boon Because I write so often about Microsoft;s enterprise products and strategy, none of what Ballmer said today was a surprise. It;s the Microsoft “better together” messaging in new bottles.The only thing that surprised me was I noticed in the course of the demo that Microsoft has renamed its Outlook Web Access (OWA) feature in Exchange 2010 to “Outlook Web App.” I discovered that the business had done this in August of this year. Given Microsoft;s recent acknowledgment that it is going to keep the “Office Web Apps” name for its forthcoming suite of Webified Office products, I find the new OWA name rather confusing. Word Web App,Office 2010 Standard Key, PowerPoint Web App,Windows 7 Ultimate Product Key, OneNote Web App and Excel Web App are all part of Office Web Apps. Outlook Web App is not.Microsoft is making case study information and trial versions of its Windows 7 and final and/or beta releases of its related enterprise products available on its New Efficiency Web site.