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by Anna Marie Kukec Daily Herald Business
Writer Posted on Friday, June 01, 2001
Microsoft Corp.' s No. 2 chief stopped in
Chicago on Thursday to help nationally launch Office XP amid
a rock-concert atmosphere at the United Center.
With music blaring, colored lights beaming
on stage and a vendor selling Microsoft T-shirts and caps
for $12 each, Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer kicked
off the new software for businesses flanked by leaders from
Microsoft and other companies, including Elk Grove Village-based
Genisys Consulting Inc. About 100 such galas will continue
through Saturday as Ballmer and Chairman Bill Gates travel
to major markets to unveil Microsoft's latest offering that
integrates word processing, spreadsheet, e-mail and other
popular packages with instant Internet access and speech recognition.
"This is just one product in a wave
of products that we'll bring to market this year," Ballmer
told a crowd of about 5,000 information technology professionals,
software vendors and consultants.
According to Ballmer, major companies such
as UPS, CNN, Lexis Nexis, WestGroup and Turner Broadcasting
have given their nod to this latest version of Office. Office
XP is now available in 15 countries and costs $239 for the
upgrade and $479 for the complete package for new users.
With Thursday's general release of Office
XP, Ballmer promised more efficiency for office workers, especially
those who want to collaborate while instantly tapping into
the Internet and communicating in real time.
"I want Office XP to be the thing that
most people need to organize information, dissect information
and research information," Ballmer said. "This will
be the core tool to use for a variety of things."
More features are promised for future versions,
Ballmer said.
He also offered a sneak preview of Windows
XP, which will debut in October to replace other Windows operating
systems. A home version and two business versions will include
DVD, home video and MP3 music capabilities for both home and
business versions.
Joining Ballmer on stage was Rick Parham,
director, and Dave Stewart, vice president of sales, for Genisys
Consulting Inc., based in Elk Grove Village.
Genisys, a certified Microsoft partner,
won Microsoft's Midwest competition to develop a problem and
a solution using Office XP. The Northwest suburban firm competed
against 30 other Midwest firms to catch Microsoft's eye and
the golden opportunity to rub elbows with Ballmer on stage
at United Center.
"We focused on how to solve an inefficient
sales cycle," Stewart said. "And the struggle to
keep sales-opportunity pipeline full."
Within 1 1/2 months, Genisys built a custom
application using Office XP to track sales people, including
their work in the field, their calls and appointments.
"We were able to find and remove the
inefficiencies with the Office XP," Stewart said.
In June, Genisys will compete against 18
other district winners nationwide in the Office XP National
Solutions Challenge at the Microsoft headquarters in Redmond,
Wash.
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