With Microsoft it used to be all about the PC. Even when the company acknowledged the rise of smart phones and interactive TV as alternative computing platforms, the PC was always the central hub where people would store their pictures and videos and manage other devices. Not any more.

Slideshow: The 2009 CES gadget gallery

In his speech at the start of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Wednesday, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer talked repeatedly about the convergence of computing around three screens -- the PC, the smart phone and the television. It is now Windows, not the desktop, that Microsoft hopes to see at the center of it all, linking the three devices.

"Now it's no longer just about the desktop but really a broader vision," Ballmer said, adding later: "Microsoft is transforming what Windows is, from a PC OS to a connected platform; an experience that spans the PC, the phone, the TV and the cloud."

It was an ironic message given that Ballmer's biggest announcement of the night was that the public can now download a beta of the next version of Microsoft's PC operating system, Windows 7, starting on Friday. But the PC still plays "a critical role" in Microsoft's vision, he said.

Windows 7 will make it faster to perform everyday tasks, boot up more quickly, have longer battery life, and display fewer alerts, Ballmer said, addressing some of the issues that have made Vista unpopular with users. Windows 7 is "on track to be the best Windows ever," he said.

In the end, though, it wasn't Windows 7 but a 12-year-old girl called Sparrow who stole the show. She was on stage to demonstrate an upcoming Xbox service called Kodu that allows non-programmers to create their own Xbox games. Her fingers flitted across the controls so fast that not even Robbie Bach, head of Microsoft's entertainment and devices division, seemed to have any idea what she was doing.

But after a dazzling display of how adept children have become with computers, she had produced an altered landscape in her game that won her a warm round of applause. "Now that's a generation-defining experience," Ballmer said afterwards.

He started his speech by acknowledging the tough economy the industry faces. But with his usual optimism he said it's an obstacle that can be overcome if companies are able to invest through the downturn.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.