At the Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles, Microsoft announced the launch of its Windows 7, Live Services, Windows Azure and applications for Microsoft Office. Each of these is designed to enable developers to launch business programmes.
The moves take aim at Microsoft’s growing number of competitors, both on the web and off.
For example, its updated Office programmes are web-based and provide similar functions as Google Docs, which has created word processors and spreadsheets for web browsers. And Microsoft’s Windows 7 replaces Vista, which has met a lukewarm response following a series of ads by Apple highlighting Vista’s flaws.
