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Hartnett speaks openly about those dark days because he’s sure they’re well past. He and his colleagues contend the company is about to give businesses compelling reasons to not just tolerate Microsoft, but to be thrilled with it.

The occasion is the launch of crucial upgrades to Microsoft’s most widely used and most profitable products. All at once, Microsoft is releasing a new Windows operating system known as Vista; an update of the Office "productivity" package, which includes Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint; and server software that handles behind-the-scenes functions.

The products became available for business users Thursday, with a consumer release of Windows and Office on Jan. 30.

Vista has been delayed so long that it has been five years since the last overhaul of the operating system, which runs 90 percent of the world’s personal computers. Office last got refreshed in 2003.

The stakes are particularly high now. Competitors are challenging Microsoft’s status as computing’s vital plumbing provider. Meanwhile, Microsoft is spending some of the fortune it has amassed in desktop software to branch out with expensive splashes in video games and music players.

In other words, this is no time for Microsoft to deliver a dud.

Microsoft executives claim that computer users who upgrade to Vista or Office will be dazzled by how much more productive they can become. The company spent years studying how people use its programs and retooled the user interface accordingly.

It also worked to make its software sturdier than ever - less prone to crashes and less vulnerable to hackers. Microsoft estimates the labor costs of supporting a machine running Vista will be $507 per PC a year, down from $542 with Windows XP.

Despite the improvements, many analysts don’t expect corporate technology buyers to rush to buy PCs with Vista or Office 2007 upgrades. Surveys have found that fewer than half plan to adopt Vista in its first year of release.

"If you look at Vista, you say, ‘What’s the killer app?’ " Forrester Research analyst Ted Schadler said. "Somebody else will build a killer app on it, but until you get a killer app, you don’t see the power of the platform."

His Forrester colleague Kyle McNabb believes the most powerful new item from Microsoft won’t be something users can see. It’s Microsoft’s server software - particularly the Sharepoint document-management service - that McNabb believes has been best reshaped.

This is no small matter. Together, Sharepoint, the Exchange e-mail offering and Office software rang up $14.5 billion of Redmond’s $44.3 billion in revenue in the last fiscal year, which ended June 30. That exceeded Windows sales of $13.2 billion. These segments are so profitable that they all but float the company, letting the entertainment and online divisions lose money.

Still, competitors have made important inroads - one reason that Microsoft stock remains cheaper today than when Windows XP launched in 2001.

Open-source offerings such as e-mail service Zimbra have grabbed customers with lower sales prices and a more flexible delivery method. Other rivals, including Google Inc., are hosting Office-like applications over the Web for free, supported by ads.