In his opening keynote address today at the company’s second annual Microsoft® Office System Developers Conference, Microsoft Corp. Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates emphasized the upcoming release of the 2007 Microsoft Office system as a “major breakthrough” for developers. The platform-level innovations delivered in the next release will provide developers with building blocks for custom solutions that bridge the gap between information workers and the information they need to be more effective. Specifically, Gates detailed developer-focused investments spanning client and server technologies, Ecma Office Open XML Formats, as well as new tools for developers, including the “Orcas” release of Visual Studio® Tools for the Microsoft Office system, which supports innovation in the 2007 release. “The 2007 Microsoft Office system will provide a complete platform for solutions ranging from collaboration and enterprise content management to business intelligence, enterprise project management and more,” Gates said. “By connecting enterprise applications to the software tools that people use every day, the 2007 Office system will enable organizations to finally realize the value of their technology investments.”