Windows Lives!!  While there were no overwhelming surprises, nor any classic Ballmer moments, Microsoft’s CES 2011 keynote was a monumental improvement over previous years. They came out swinging.  And while Apple Fanboys may play down the downright impressiveness of the products shown during the demo, those that witnessed this event without those jaded eyes saw Microsoft exhibit an air of confidence in what they have been up to.

My initial expectation was to be disappointed (as I was last year)  but after having met personally with Microsoft earlier this week and actually seeing and handling the WP7 phone, I must say that for 1.0 product I was very impressed and definitely have crossed into “want” territory.  After having seen this keynote, it is clear that the future of Windows is bright. I’m backing off from what I’ve said before about Windows Mobile, the ARM devices at are emerging, the PC’s running on Intel’s Sandy Bridge processors, the tablets they demonstrated- all of it.  It’s slick, it’s fast, and it’s downright gorgeous.  For the first time in a long time, I was impressed and excited by what I had seen.

Ballmer introduced Mike Angiulo, who demonstrated several devices including some very impressive slate type of systems from manufacturers such as a dual screen Acer laptop, Samsung device that folds into a tablet, a very nice Asus Tablet PC and the Microsoft Surface 2.  And while the Surface 2 is not a normal consumer product, it is very neat and at some point we will be seeing those out in the wild.  Most importantly, the devices that were demonstrated are available for order now.  The Asus 12.1 Inch Tablet is  available here.

IE9 with graphics acceleration was also featured and impressed with its seamless video presentation of planetary video without any choppiness, lag, or anything that we expect video looks like today.  This portion was very impressive and surely had many drooling at the implementation.

Combined with the XBOX Kinect announcements, this keynote was very well-rounded.  Ballmer states: “Windows 7 PCs are the fastest selling PCs in history. They now represent 20% of all the PCs connected to the internet.”  He later claims: “Whatever device you use, Windows will be there” and “Windows 7 is the best new phone out there”.  Microsoft and Steve Ballmer came charging out of the gate with giant achievements and the right amount of polish.  No theatrics needed, no screaming Steve or other persona was called on.  It could be genuinely felt that the achievements stood on their own, perhaps amazed by their own work, Microsoft delivered one of the most memorable keynotes in recent memory.  For the first time in a long time I can see Microsoft’s vision.  This is a big win, Windows lives in a big way.