Digitising Da Vinci: the launch of Windows Vista
A report from Tuesday’s launch event of Windows Vista by Matt Bradfield, MSN News Editor. Microsoft is the owner of news.uk.MSN.com and the publisher of MSN News.
It’s fair to assume that for most of the people packed into the conference centre of the British Library, this will not be their first view of Windows Vista, Microsoft’s new operating system. Five years in the making, the scrutiny that has accompanied Vista’s development has ensured it has never been far from the headlines, a level of media interest culminating in today’s joint launch of Windows Vista and 2007 Microsoft Office.
We're here for the Wow
Five million people have already had first-hand experience of the various Vista betas, a fact not lost on Bill Gates who takes time out to thank the multitudes who have already grappled with the operating system. With so many already familiar with Vista, why all the interest? It’s simple, we’re here for the wow.
Microsoft has been feeling the wow around Vista for some time, the task in hand now is to share the wow with the masses who will need to part with the cash necessary to secure a copy of Vista. Will the press reporters in attendance be wowed?
Digitising Da Vinci
As Bill Gates and Lynne Brindley, chief executive of the British Library take to the stage the choice of the library as the venue for launch becomes apparent. The two speakers are here to announce the digital reunification of Leonardo Da Vinci’s Codices, the notebooks in which the famous thinker scribbled his thoughts and diagrams. Following his death 500 years ago, the two parts of Da Vinci’s notebooks went their separate ways, with one eventually ending up in the basement of the British Library, (Codex Arundel) and the other finding a home in the private collection of Bill Gates (Codex Leicester).
A British Library technology called ‘Turning The Pages 2.0’, running on Windows Vista, has made it possible to bring the two parts of Da Vinci’s notebook together for the first time since his death. The scanning process also involves a detailed analysis of the physical aspects of the subject to ensure that the digital facsimile is as close to perfect as it is possible to get.
True, the two sacred texts are not physically in the room, but it provides an opportunity to demonstrate how Turning The Pages and Vista combine. Pages dragged with a mouse ripple and fall like those of a well-thumbed hardback. Zooming in on the pages offers a detailed viewing of 500-year-old illustrations while a community wiki system allows online browsers of the document to offer their own commentary or share their observations with scholars around the world.
Spinning Codices
I have to say that I’m suitably impressed. Although no scholar of antiquity, the idea that I am able to browse historic manuscripts which never usually see the light of day is enough to get me excited. Some may prefer to pore over the priceless originals with a pair of tweezers, fearful that a mistimed exhalation could blow a hole clean through one of the pages. But what could be more fun than spinning a Da Vinci Codice around your browser in glorious 3D as fast as your mouse will allow you?
A handful of other precious texts are available for online viewing now and the arrival of Vista means many thousands more are set to follow. The technology is also available as a tool kit so that libraries across the globe can digitise their entire collections, making priceless texts literally just that, free and accessible by all without charge.
Turn the pages on the British Library website
Vista demonstrations
Further demonstrations of Vista confirm what we already knew, namely that the new OS is very easy on the eye. The 3D Aero user interface is an example of Vista’s graphical ability, allowing users to display running programs at different angles (your PC’s graphics card will need to be of a high-enough spec to run this feature).
The search tool is smart and intuitive, the simple and many graphical representations make navigation easy and the security features, particularly the new beefed-up parental controls, will delight mums and dads and dismay teenagers across the land. The new side bar is also a very welcome addition, providing a space for indispensable and addictive ‘gadgets’, a kind of super-charged RSS with bells, whistles and video.
The only factor likely to prompt more ows than wows is the presence of Universal, one of Vista’s key launch partners, which provides the soundtrack for the day, including a live performance from UK band, The Feeling. It provokes a reminder of one of the criticisms levelled at Vista, namely the digital rights management systems integrated into the operating system.
You can view an article which discusses this issue further via the link below:
So was the world’s press wowed by the Da Vinci digitisation and by Vista itself? Here are some links.
The verdict on Vista
BBC News: bloggers react to Windows Vista
Times Online: comment on the launch
The Guardian: virus warnings as Microsoft launches Vista
The Register: Vista launches to muted applause
PC Advisor: Vista focuses on security over compatability
The Independent: Microsoft milks the cow one last time with Vista
Silicon.com: Vista unravels the Da Vinci codex
MSNBC: A Mac user switches to Vista
The Telegraph: little online enthusiasm for Vista