Microsoft Across America Tour Marks Vista Launch in Boise: With 2,000 Participants, Event Had Largest Turnout of Launch
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By Ken Dey, The Idaho Statesman, Boise  Jan. 31--The long-awaited Microsoft Vista operating system went on sale Tuesday to consumers nationwide.
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By Robert Evatt, Tulsa World, Okla.  Jan. 31--After 5 1/2 years, Microsoft Corp. finally unleashed its new computer operating system, Windows Vista, at local stores Tuesday.
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Forget the people lining up at Best Buy to get Microsoft's new Windows Vista operating system. The real selling took place yesterday in a packed ballroom at the Washington Hilton, where more than 3,000 people from local companies and government agencies gathered to catch a glimpse of the new...
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By Benjamin J. Romano, The Seattle Times  Jan. 29--NEW YORK -- Microsoft is calling for the world's attention today  as it launches Windows Vista and Office 2007, new versions of the two products  used by millions and responsible for most of the company's profits.
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Microsoft has released a new build of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 to about 15,000 testers, lending credence to recent speculation that the final code release is fast approaching.
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Microsoft Corp. MSFT.O announced on   Tuesday U.S. prices for Windows Vista, the long-awaited new   version of the operating system that sits on more than 90   percent of the world's PCs.
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Talking the talk Analysis Microsoft's $500m Windows Vista launch on Monday was the culmination of months' of heavy sell intended to persuade the company, as much as everyone else, that not only is the operating systems is essential to users' computing needs but also that it will translate into sales gold.â¦
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MS says the 'Wow' starts now - audience says ssshhh... Vista has been delayed so many times that the audience didn't seem surprised that the start time slipped back by twenty minutes. About two hundred journalists and Microsoft partners gathered at the British Library conference centre for the launch event this morning.â¦
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US sales of computers carrying Microsoft's new operating system Vista soared in the week after it was launched, defying the expectations of analysts who gave Vista lackluster reviews.
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(InfoWorld) - After five years and numerous delays, customers can now get their hands on the final version of the Windows Vista operating system. Well, business customers can at least. Though Microsoft celebrated theÂ launch of VistaÂ -- as well as Office 2007 and Exchange 2007 -- at events across the globe Thursday, both Vista and Office 2007 won't be generally available through retail in the U.S. until Jan. 30, 2007. Thursday marked the day business customers could purchase those products through Microsoft's volume licensing program. And though business customers can begin ordering Exchange 2007 Thursday, the new version of Microsoft's messaging server software won't be released to manufacturing until the end of December. Not only was Thursday's launch party for all three products a bit premature and anticlimactic after so long a wait for Vista, it could also be the last of its kind, according to industry watchers. With more software being pushed out to customers over the Web as services, launch parties for packaged software products may soon be a thing of the past, they said. "This is a big launch for them but for everyone else it's ho-hum," said James McQuivey, a professor for Boston University's College of Communication who specializes in marketing research and business management. "It's the biggest wait-and-see event of the week. Customers are going to wait and see when they need [Vista] and if they need it." These concerns aside, Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer was on hand with his usual enthusiasm at the New York launch event to promote what is arguably the industry'sÂ most highly anticipated product launchÂ of the year. "It's an exciting thing to finally be here," Ballmer said. "That's all I'll say about the past." He had previously promised that Microsoft will never again have another lengthy gap between the major releases of its client operating system. The vendor debuted Windows XP, the previous version of its client OS, in October 2001. "This is the biggest launch in our company's history," Ballmer said. "These are frankly the most significant releases of these two products [Vista and Office] we've ever done." Vista was the big star of Thursday's event, though Microsoft teamed the OS launch with Office 2007 and Exchange 2007 for several reasons. One is that the company is trying to promote the technology links between the products to show how they can bring better worker productivity and cost savings to business customers in the hopes companies will purchase and deploy all three at once. Another reason for the triple product launch is that Vista has been so long coming, Microsoft felt it had to give customers a little extra incentive to be excited about it, said Sunil Misra, vice president of Getronics. The provider of managed services and consulting has been helping business customers prepare for Vista deployment. "It's the love campaign," Misra said, referring to the launch of all three products together. "People have been waiting a long time for Vista." The last time Microsoft released Windows and Office together was with Windows 95. But during that time in the heyday of Windows, customers would have flocked to the new OS release even without its tie to Office. "It's not nearly as exciting as it used to be in the old days," said McQuivey. "With Windows 95 and 98, you actually had people waiting in line at [retail store] Best Buy" to purchase the OS. This certainly isn't the case now, as consumers can't purchase Vista until January. And it may not even be the case then, as consumers in addition to business customers have said they may hold off on purchasing Vista until they need a new PC. Many of those new PCs are bought during the busy holiday shopping season that is currently in progress, but since Vista is not available yet in retail outlets, it can't benefit from that rush. In lieu of that, Microsoft's hardware partners such as Hewlett-Packard and DellÂ are offering discount coupons for the OS if customers buy PCs that are capable of running it this holiday season. On the business side, customers will likely continue their Vista planning process throughout the end of the year and most of 2007, Misra said. Indeed, most analysts think the bulk of Vista business deployments won't happen until 2008. (China Martens in Boston contributed to this story.)
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Microsoft's long, strange trip with Windows Vista came closer to an end Friday as the company released the first release candidate of its next-generation operating system. Jim Allchin made the announcement in an e-mail to TechNet subscribers.
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By Pete Bach, The Post-Crescent, Appleton, Wis.  Feb. 20--Microsoft's new Vista operating system is wowing buyers less  intensely than expected, but a couple of Fox Cities computer professionals say  it's got a lot of pluses.
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By Bob Mims, The Salt Lake Tribune  Jan. 31--Microsoft's retail launch of its new Vista computer operating  system was marked Tuesday not with a bang, but with something more than a  whimper.
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By Jessica Mintz  Acrobatics, blaring music and plenty of hype accompanied Microsoft Corp.'s long-delayed debut of its new Windows Vista operating system.
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Microsoft Corp. MSFT.O said on Tuesday   that is has begun widespread testing of Windows Vista, the   long-awaited new version of the operating system that sits on   more than 90 percent of the world's PCs.
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Resistance to Vista was expected among the large companies that have leverage with large PC vendors, but even in the consumer and SMB ranks, the clamor for XP is significant. The beneficiaries? Possibly, "white-box" system builders and direct-sales channels.
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With Windows Vista set to become available nationwide at 12am this evening and already on store shelves across Asia, Microsoft is preparing a slew of events to kick off its next-generation operating system, including a celebration in New York City today with both Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer.