Q&A: Tomorrow's triple launch of business availability of Windows Vista, 2007 Office system and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 underscores Microsoft’s ongoing commitment to providing customers and partners with even greater platform opportunities.

With tomorrow’s launch of three key products – Microsoft Windows Vista operating system, 2007 Microsoft Office system client and server applications, and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 – Microsoft is creating vibrant opportunities for both new and existing partners and customers through platform innovation.

To learn more about the launches from the platform perspective, PressPass spoke with Sanjay Parthasarathy, corporate vice president with Microsoft’s Developer and Platform Evangelism Group.

PressPass:  There’s a lot of anticipation for the launch of Microsoft Windows Vista, 2007 Office system and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007.  How do these releases shape the overall platform opportunity for partners and customers?

Sanjay Parthasarathy, Corporate Vice President, Developer & Platform Evangelism Group

Parthasarathy:  While the new IT and end-user features of these products get a lot of attention, there’s also a lot going on with the underlying platform that creates new opportunities for developers and ISVs to build applications and grow their businesses on the Microsoft platform. The release of Windows Vista is really critical to extending the capabilities of Web-based applications due to breakthrough innovation to the underlying infrastructure in the .NET Framework. On the Office front, there’s a lot of excitement around the new platform capabilities in the 2007 Office system which is, in a lot of ways, a culmination of our “Office as a platform” vision. And Exchange Server 2007 is raising the bar in terms of how Web services are being used for more sophisticated message sharing, delivery and management.

PressPass: What is the significance of the Windows Vista release?

Parthasarathy: Any time there’s a major release of Windows it’s significant because it raises the floor for the whole industry. For example, Windows 95 provided a standard TCP/IP stack which was a critical enabler of the Internet revolution. With Windows Vista, the .NET Framework 3.0 brings a rich set of platform enablers that span the Web services architecture, enhance user experience, and improve business process.  Already we are seeing great innovation on the .NET Framework 3.0. A great example of this is an application built by the New York Times called “Times Reader” that takes advantage of the capabilities of Windows Presentation Foundation for richer delivery and readability of online content.

Also, the security and manageability features in Windows Vista will raise the bar on customer expectations in those categories, so the impact of Windows Vista tends to extend out not only to the customers who use it, but the partners who build on it.

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