LAS VEGAS, the United States, Jan. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates Wednesday evening took the wraps off the company's next-generation operating system, Windows Vista, in front of a packed audience.

    In his 10th keynote to kick off the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Gates displayed the hitting features of this upcoming version of Windows: connecting and managing different digital home entertainments, from Hi-Fi stereo systems, game console to High-definition digital video content.

    Features of Windows Vista will include faster, improved searches for media files and data, challenging the search giant Google, Gates said. The software will also install an updated media player allowing users to more easily playback digital content from any PC in the house.

    Gates defined the Windows Vista a "magic." "The software is where the magic is. As broadband and high-definition content becomes ever more ubiquitous, if you're going to have all this power be simple enough, appealing enough and cool enough, it's going to be because the software is right," he said.

    Gates also promised safer and more stable performance of the software, which is set to hit stores in the second half of this year.

    Security weakness of the Windows operating system has always aroused worries. Although Microsoft publishes security alerts and updates monthly to patch the leaked software, many professional computer users have turned to the open-sourced Linux operating system.

    Instability of the Windows software also made the Microsoft co-founder himself a gaffe occasionally. Before last year's CES, the Windows XP Media Center operating system crashed two times when Gates performed a demonstration during his keynote speech in front of hundreds of spectators.

    Learning from past lessons, this evening Gates just made a vocal presentation with a nice-looking demonstration of Windows Vista, without running the software in a computer indeed.

    The CES, organized by U.S. Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) , is the world's largest annual trade show of new consumer technologies.

    About 2,500 exhibitors will exhibit new products and services in audio, digital imaging, electronic game, home entertainment and home networking from Thursday to Sunday. And 130,000 attendees are expected at the event, according to the CEA. Enditem