Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 12 are Microsoft's weapons in the battle with companies like Google or Apple. And could have done a better job presenting them in front of the PDC 2005 crowd, if not Bill Gates himself?

None of the products will be released sooner than the second half of 2006, but Bill Gates is already preparing himself for the wave of clients he foresees for the two applications.

In his speech, Bill Gates has outlined that this is not the first time when the company is competing against major companies. IBM's Lotus and Corel's WordPerfect were giving Microsoft a rough time, but in the end, they both had to acknowledge Microsoft's supremacy.

Windows is currently running on 90% of the world's PCs and Microsoft is expecting that Windows Vista, the next OS, will strengthen his leading position, perhaps even increase the company's market share.

Although the OS is famous for the delays, Microsoft is determined to stick to the schedule this time.

Gates also presented the new Office 12, which is expected in the same period. Having a translucent interface and reorganized and redrawn menu bars, Microsoft is hoping that Office will be the most important Office version.

Currently, there Microsoft is running a promoting campaign for Windows XP and Gates said that it will be followed by another one aimed at informing the users about the advantages of the new Windows Vista. Microsoft plans to invest $100 million into this marketing campaign.

Gates gave an interesting interview to SeattlePi.com, in which he talks about the role of Microsoft's products, ranging from Windows Vista to Xbox 360, in the new economic context.