Microsoft’s New “I’m a PC” Ad Focuses on Children

The following ad is the first in a series of three new “I’m a PC” commercials from Microsoft that will feature young kids using Microsoft software. The video below shows a young girl hooking up a camera to her computer, pressing a magic “fix” button to improve the picture quality, and then sending the adjusted photo to her parents.

Click here to view commercial.

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Microsoft's Ballmer touts 'best version of Windows ever'

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (CNN) -- Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer kicked off the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show on Wednesday with an impassioned endorsement of PCs and a sneak peek at the company's future Windows 7 operating system.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says Windows 7 will make PCs easier to use.

As expected, Ballmer announced that Microsoft is releasing a beta version of Windows 7, which will be available for download beginning Friday. The news suggests the world's largest software maker may be giving up efforts to rehabilitate its often-maligned Vista operating system, which was released worldwide in January 2007.

"We are on track to deliver the best version of Windows ever," Ballmer told an audience of several thousand tech professionals and journalists inside a cavernous ballroom at the Venetian hotel. "We're working hard to get it right and get it ready."

Without mentioning the security and compatibility issues that have dogged Vista, Ballmer promised that Windows 7 will make PCs faster and easier to use. He didn't offer a timetable for its official release, although Windows Vista went on sale more than two years after it was issued in beta form.

Early reviews of Windows 7, which was leaked to the Internet in beta form in late December, have been positive.

The forthcoming operating system will have touch-screen capability, side-by-side windows for comparison shopping and a "Peek" feature that makes open windows transparent, allowing users to see the icons on their desktop.

"Windows 7 makes it easier to move between the things on your desktop," said Microsoft group project manager Charlotte Jones, who gave a brief demonstration of the system on the hall's giant display screens. Jones said the new system also makes it easier to send files back and forth between home computers.


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MS Offers 1st Hints at Anti-Apple Marketing Blitz for Vista

Microsoft this week offered a window into the first phase of a mega million dollar advertising campaign designed to clear up 'misconceptions' about the quality of its Windows Vista operating system exacerbated by in-your-face marketing efforts on the part of longtime rival Apple.The first series of ads in the campaign were reportedly met with rave reviews last week when they were previewed at Microsoft’s employees-only Global Exchange conference.

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