Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO, kickstarted the keynote address at the Consumer Electronic Show 2009 with a bunch of whacky messages on his new Windows Mobile phone. Later, Windows-related announcements and updates were shared. As anticipated, Ballmer splashed the news that the Windows 7 beta will be available for public download on January 9, 2009, and showed off a demo of the Windows 7 beta's features.

Ballmer promised that Windows 7 would boot quickly without giving any pop-up alerts, and would also help in giving the battery of mobiles a longer life. Microsoft boasts that Windows 7 offers wider multimedia content format support for synchronization with a large number of devices.

On the Windows Mobile front, Tim McDonough, senior director for Windows Mobile, updated the attendees that the Internet Explorer Mobile browser will now have full support for Adobe Flash. Microsoft has signed a deal with Verizon Wireless to include Live Search on all Verizon-branded mobile phones in the US.

 

 

The Windows Live Essentials suite has been updated and the suite components, Windows Live Mail, Live Messenger, Live Photo Gallery, and Live Writer, are out of the beta stage. But, the Windows Live Movie Maker still remains in the beta stage. Dell signed an agreement with Microsoft to pre-install Windows Live Essentials in their systems targeted at the consumer and business sectors from February.

The Microsoft-Facebook deal will enable users to syndicate their Facebook content to Windows Live.

Microsoft's announcement about Windows 7 beta's availability is an example of a company bowing down to global pressure or choosing the best time to release a product. Check out Microsoft's activities at the CES 2009 here.