LAS VEGAS — The improvements to Microsoft Corp.'s next version of Windows may be incremental, but they could go a long way toward improving the software giant's reputation.
Microsoft on Wednesday released to programmers a trial version of Windows 7, the follow-up to the Windows Vista operating system, which bruised the company with bad reviews and disappointing sales. A version of Windows 7 for consumers to test on their personal computers is expected Friday.
New features are designed to make operating a computer less frustrating and to work better with gadgets. Microsoft is betting that the final version of Windows 7, expected to arrive in stores in a year, will address some of the flaws that have dogged Vista -- and have been lampooned famously in Apple Inc. commercials.
"We are on track to deliver the best Windows ever," Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said during his keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show. "Windows will remain the center of people's technological solar system."
Microsoft also edged out rival Google Inc. on two search-engine deals that Ballmer announced Wednesday. The first was with Dell Inc. to load Microsoft's search engine on new PCs. The second was an exclusive five-year agreement to install Windows Live search software on most cellphones sold by Verizon Wireless, which, when it completes its acquisition of Alltel Corp., will be the nation's largest cellular carrier with more than 71 million subscribers.
But Microsoft, the Redmond, Wash., technology powerhouse, still gets the lion's share of its profit from its operating system and office productivity software.
"Vista created a pretty negative impression," said Matt Rosoff, an analyst with independent consulting firm Directions on Microsoft. "Microsoft wants to make Windows 7 just work, right out of the box."
That alone would differentiate it from Vista, which required so much computing power when it was introduced in January 2007 that many PCs were too slow to run it. The operating system also had trouble interacting with many gadgets, such as cameras and cellphones, that can be connected to computers.
Because Vista required some customers to buy more powerful PCs, many shunned the software.
"Vista meant a lot of upgrades, and when you have to replace the PC it substantially increases the cost of upgrading," said Charles Di Bona, a longtime Microsoft analyst. "People were reluctant to do it, and that hurt [its] penetration rate."
