Thoughts from inside a packed ballroom at the gorgeous Venetian ballroom with about 3,000 of my closet tech-loving friends listening to Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer & friends deliver the pre-CES keynote:

-Wow! Microsoft has fans! Genuine fans! There was actual cheering when various products were announced! That shocked me. I thought only Apple had a rabid fan base like that. Way to go Redmond! [Amber's note: I've always loved Microsoft....]

-Windows 7 can be downloaded in beta form on Friday by everyone. Wow again! Pricing, trial length, or anything like that (read: details) was not mentioned, but still, that’s soon! All of a sudden I don’t care as much about my ongoing battle with Vista on my 8 month old laptop. Bring on Windows 7!

-They demoed some pretty cool features of Windows 7, combined with Windows Live, but I couldn’t help thinking- I’ve seen a lot of those features before! Oh yea, on a Mac, an iPhone, in Firefox, etc.

-There was a Microsoft mapping type program that was eerily reminiscent of Google Earth. You start in the stratosphere, then zoom, zoom, zoom, until you see the buildings in Manhattan. Been there, done that. But wait, then you drag your finger and move from an overhead camera angle to a street level view . Very cool. Advantage Microsoft.

-None of Windows 7 will mean a thing if it takes 3 minutes to boot like Vista does.

-One of the key points was how seamlessly all their products tie in together. And they showed an example using Hotmail, Windows Messenger, Internet Explorer 8, Windows Mobile & Windows Live. But all I could think was, hmm, I don’t use any of those products now, and nothing they just showed me has swayed me from Google, Gmail, GChat and BlackBerry. Points for effort, but nothing wowed me to the point where I’m thinking “when does that come out?!”

-You gotta hand it to Microsoft- they play the 3 million pound gorilla quite well. If you don’t like their products, they’ll be sure to remind you that:
---1 billion people have PCs
---20 million phones have been sold with Windows Mobile on them
---10 million people each month use Windows Media Center
---28 million Xbox consoles have been sold
---17 million people use Xbox live
---25 million units of Halo have been sold
---60 million music downloads have stemmed from bands working with 3 Xbox games (Lips, Guitar Hero & Rock Band- and fascinatingly, 80% of those are from Rock Band)
---45 movie studios and content partners are involved with Xbox Live

I just kept thinking, man, they’ll club you over the head with their sheer size! And don’t you forget it! (Those were all stats mentioned during the 90 minutes keynote.)

-They demoed a display that was the size & depth of a placemat- but had a full image on it. Amazing.

-Microsoft mentioned a number of new partnerships, but I sensed a continuing undertone from the companies who weren’t part of their new partnerships. It’s setting up to be a fascinating few years in the Microsoft vs Google vs Apple battle.

-My overall feeling walking away, though, was still one of awe. That one company can be so involved with our lives.

On to the expo floor!

-- Peter Szabo