While at the Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago, I had an opportunity to sit down and discuss with Microsoft some issues it faces as Vista and Office 2007 hit the streets just a few days from now. Though not much in the way of new information was imparted, I was impressed by a simple fact: Microsoft understands and has come to accept that customer acceptance will take time.

In the parking lot just outside the Las Vegas Convention Center, Microsoft set up a tent nearly big enough to have its own ZIP Code, just for its press and media operations. Simply getting in the door requires presenting one's show badge to prove you are accredited media. The Press Tent, after all, is no place for regular show attendees. Next is check-in at the reception desk -- being accredited media isn't enough, there's no access to the Big Top unless you have a scheduled appointment. I did.

In my 30 minutes with Julie Larson-Green, corporate vice president of program management for Microsoft's Windows Experience, we covered a lot of ground. It is Larson-Green who has lead the user-interface design for Office XP, Office 2003, and now the revolutionary 2007 Office System. You'll not easily find anyone more brilliant or pleasant in Redmond. We agreed on some points, disagreed on others, and had a few chuckles along the way.

We discussed something I've written about before, the concept of "good enoughness." (Yes, I'm aware that enoughness is not an actual word. Call me innovative.) It's easy to find businesses ranging from mom-and-pops to corporations that never made the switch to Windows XP. There's a lot of Windows 2000 still running out there. And on those systems, there's still widespread use of Office XP and Office 2003. Now here we are in 2007, yet these ancient products (as measured in either dog years or computer years), long since amortized and requiring zero new investment in user training, still get the job done. For millions, Windows 2000 or XP along with Office XP or 2003 are, well, good enough.

This isn't exactly haunting Microsoft, but while acknowledging these facts of life, anyone inside Microsoft is quick to point out that the one-two combo of Vista and Office 2007 presents enormous advantages, perhaps most notably security. For Larson-Green, looking at it from an applications viewpoint, the key advantages encompass collaboration and productivity. Of course, let's not lose sight of a key to Microsoft's strategy, using Office 2007 as the springboard for selling lots of big-bucks server products, such as Forms Server, Groove Server, Live Communications Server, PerformancePoint Server, Project Portfolio Server, Project Server, SharePoint Server, and SharePoint Server for Search. You get the idea.

Though I don't disagree, I view Vista as a more compelling move than Office 2007, due to its improved security. Add to this the fact that Office 2003 runs perfectly well on Vista, and you have a scenario for companies to finally junk their Windows 2000 machines for a spiffy new

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