mimo2005

NEW YORK (AP) -- Acrobatics, blaring music and plenty of hype accompanied Microsoft Corp.'s long-delayed debut of its new Windows Vista operating system.

Hours before the software went on sale in New York, dancers clad in Microsoft colors dangled from ropes high above street level and unfurled flags to form the red, green, blue and yellow Windows logo against a building wall. At a swank midtown eatery, speakers pumped out a hit from hip-hop hotshot Snoop Dogg before Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's chief executive officer, took to stage.

"Vista is the center, the launching point for the next generation of connected entertainment in the home," Ballmer said.

Vista was set to go on sale around the globe Tuesday, along with new versions of Microsoft Exchange e-mail software and the flagship Office business suite, which includes Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Several retailers had even scheduled midnight openings.

But unlike the recent launches of next-generation game machines like Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3, customers haven't been camping out for days.

"When I look at Windows Vista, I see a technology that is interesting, that is relevant, but to some extent is evolutionary," said Al Gillen, an analyst at the technology research group IDC. "I do not believe it will create a lot of motivation for people to rush out and get a new operating system."

In an interview, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said the company actually wasn't pushing midnight sales events - after all, the software will be available as a download over the Web for the first time. Even that route will be relatively rarely taken - Ballmer acknowledged that, as in the past, most consumers will switch to Vista only when they buy new computers.

More than five years in the making, Vista was released for businesses Nov. 30, but the unveiling for consumers of the latest edition of Windows - which runs more than 90 percent of the world's PCs - only came Tuesday. Vista retails for $100 to $400, depending on the version and whether the user is upgrading from Windows XP.

The Redmond, Wash.-based software maker contends that Vista is such a huge improvement over previous computing platforms that users inevitably say "Wow" when they see it.

Gates ticked off some examples, such as how Vista presents a slick 3-D graphical user interface and document icons that give at-a-glance previews. Gates said the next wow comes when people start using a system-wide search program that Microsoft's engineers built into both the operating system and new versions of Office.

Vista comes as changing dynamics of computing - notably the rise of open-source software and Web-based services that replicate what traditionally could be done only on a desktop computer - are threatening Microsoft's dominance in the industry.

But Gates contended that the operating system has a higher profile than ever before, as the PC has morphed from a souped-up typewriter to a networked entertainment center, personal media library and gateway to the Internet.

"When people think about their PC, they think about Windows even more than who the manufacturer is. That determines how it looks, how you navigate, what the applications are that are available," Gates told The Associated Press. And in this case, Vista has folded in programs that users once bought separately - including automated backup systems and some spyware protections.

Microsoft built Vista so that different layers could be upgraded separately, so it's possible that this is the last massive, all-in-one update for Windows. No matter how Microsoft chooses to roll out Vista's successor, Ballmer said there's still work to be done.

"There's so many areas in which we need innovation. Developers need a richer platform if we're going to get speech, voice, natural language, and more rich 3-D-type graphics into the user interface," Ballmer said. Plus, the technologies around the PC - chips, storage, high-definition DVD will all evolve, he said. "The operating system will need to evolve with them."

"Frankly, we've got a very long list of stuff our engineers want to do, a long list of stuff that the companies here want us to do," he said.

Over the weekend, Dell Inc. started taking orders for PCs with Vista. Kevin Rollins, Dell's chief executive, said the company's Web site saw a 20 percent jump in traffic, with "tens of thousands of copies" of Vista sold for delivery Tuesday or later.

In Tokyo, about 80 people lined up Monday night at the Bic Camera Department Store to become among the world's first consumers to own Vista. Celebrities and executives were on hand as a large-screen TV displayed a countdown to the midnight launch (10 a.m. EST).

The second person in line, Fumihiko Koyama, 33, waited three hours and was hoping the new operating system will make his work in Web design easier.

"My expectations are very high for Vista," he said. "I want to try it out because it's new."

For a Tuesday morning store celebration, DSG International PLC's flagship PC World store in central London hired costumed characters, including Sherlock Holmes for security and a movie star for multimedia.

PC World spokesman Hamish Thompson said some retailers are banking on Vista to push customers toward the higher-end machines needed to run Vista - which imposes such hardware requirements as 1 gigabyte of system memory, or RAM.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...I&SECTION=HOME

carsey

Isnt it the same as XP but with different menus etc?? I doubt i'll ever get it not unless i get a free copy.

So how many features have been stolen from other OS's such as linux, mac etc and ruined in Vi$ta??

I wonder how good your computer will need to be to run it. And we thought XP was bad enough.

I dont know how he can dare say that. My 2 cents is that he hasnt even done anything with the making of the OS apart from a few little test here and there. That was why we had BETA testers, I seriously doubt he had anything to do with it. For hells sake....he doesnt even own the place anymore.

Suppose everyone is going to be 'WOWing' when they released the first service pack out within a day or 2. Shows how good M$ stuff is.

bruiser

They said the same kind of things about Windows 95, 98, Me, 2000, and XP.

sinclair_tm

i wasn't wowed. it did look nice, but i wasn't wowed. oh wait, i'm not a pc user, i'm a mac user. so thats why i didn't go wow, i've already been using the wow features for a couple years now...

Tumbleweed36

Hi,

Uhh, Sinclair, did I notice a little bit of hautiness in that statement?

Midnight Tech

It wow'ed me....with the price! Seems a bit overpriced to me.

Kalim

I have them -- it didn't wow but distressed me further.

sinclair_tm

who, me?

Ariesjill

I get Sinclair was being luvingly sardonic, not Yo Mamma.....which being accurate and rubbing it in....can BE! Also truth-nailing and perspective-enhancing......re Vista esp.

They can hire the whole cast of Cirque de Soleil, paint each in MS colors....drop them from the Space Station.....it is wut it IS. Aaaaan wut it is NOT. VISTA.

Again, do not pee on my leg and tell me it is raining, OK?
Or try to hype an OS ironically requiring more juice than most people have in the systems they already own & R happy with, re their applications....forget with neo MAC graphics......when we can not only C thru the windows in the "new" OS.....but also thru MS!

Hah.

Besides.....I have too much investment in the wut, 75 hotfixes for XP to start all ovah again.....with new hotfixes. U think that isn't IMPENNNNNDING?

ok HOW ABOUT their "improved SECURITY" RE ANTI VIRUS....is AVG, OMG! Total PT Barnum!!!!!

Who R we gonna believe....our own eyes and sensibilities or MS's???????

Only recently learned from Linderman of this site.....that my ignorance-based lust for dual core....sidedstepped getting that o yeah....more multitasking, but also diminished juice in each chip core!!!!!

Get me a firewall with a BS detector, please....and wake me up when the dogs and ponies, snake oil salesmen & current administration leave Or R hotfixed into the slammer, OK?

Jill

PS....I know Snoop is shrewd businessman, & part PT Barnum no question..---O! just like MS!...but I luv him less learning he was down for this gig. Maybe Chris Rock can use it in HIS next gig! Chris.....not 4 sale. Doesn't need 2 wear bling....he IS bling. And a mac.

crazijoe

I think we'll hear alot of that.
I haven't tried it yet but fear a WinME senario. I just don't want an over glorified XP.

Tumbleweed36

Hi,

My take on this is that my XP Pro is not broken, so don't guess it is a good idea to try and fix it with Vista.

mimo2005

CHECK THIS OUT !


There is no noticable performance differance between XP and Vista




link : ( 11 pages )
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/01/29/xp-vs-vista/

K-B

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070130/...t_vista_launch

Nothing like when Fedora Core 6 was released. It hit one million downloads in 74 day. That's approx. 9 downloads per minute, ten weeks straight.
But, if Vista was free, can you imagine how many dowloads there would be?

carsey

none....as it will be the biggest load of rubbish there is. If it took them 6billion pounds to make vi$ta the way it is, very poor and already in need of critical updates, I dread to think what a free one would be like.

Ariesjill

OMG.....all of U above have made my day. Awake humans! Wut makes me feel safer???? Not much!!!!!! Forget my darkest instincts from jump werer not only confirmed.....but exacerbated in specifics!!!
Holes discovered already???? Even I thought it might take another 6 weeks or so.

Nowwww....U fabulous guys shyould maybe focus on that those humanjs who have abandoned their "vehicles" in life.....called Fundamentalists, those terrified replicants who continue to preclude even hope for the slowing down of global warming, and the inevitable results. Again, nobody will be able to employ ANY OS....while under water, OK? UNLESS, THAT IS.....SALMON & crustaceans R smarter than we think....and someone can make a waterproof lappy tiny enuff to fit inside a clam shell and how to power it without electricity/batteries. Maybe with algae!

Re Mr. Barnum's pithy pronouncement, "There's a sucker born every minute"......given all of the above AWAKE HUMANS...cynicism-defining pronouncement might be morphing into.....well, every OTHER MINUTE!!!

Fodder for hope...which, OK, is indigenous & springs eternal.....if, that is, SPRING does, literally.....down the road.

Jill

carsey

Lets start a disadvantages of Vista debate....should be interesting. Ill start us off

Premium edition has a stupid gadgets bar down the right which covers many things up such as scrolling bars etc.

Hogs more system resources

Basically the same as XP but worse as Mimo's post confirmed

Stuffs dual boot up as it removes the file

Internet required

Its a bloated OS... 6 Gigs of space, 50 million lines of code!!!!

Costs well too much money

Ariesjill

Carsey:

While I think the above is truly valuable....the resource hog issue was obvious a year back....I address this in many threads here, in fact, and waaay back on another site, for which I was naturally accused of MS bashing by the craven and the stuck on autopilot.....postulating that VISTA.....was, in part, A scam to resurrect the plummeting PC market worldwide.....given most humans worldwide....have all the puter they need now.....which is lwhy sales tanked way back.

Capitalism works in the thrust of its pure essence: response to the marketplace....which then properly determines the precise value of a given item or service.

MS has defined abrogation of this......and by any means necessary.....holds world hostage thereby.....and via a litigation budget big enuff to run a medium sized country. And that via ill-gotten gains/blood money/exploitation of the brilliance of others.

This.,....is the essence of corruption.....with no revoution at the grass roots in response. Maybe, re the above....until NOW!!!!!!

Those breathlessly touting the lucky recipients of the apportioned revenues of the Bill & Melinda and Warren fund.....are the heart of the problerm.....they delight Mr. Barnum in his grave wherevah the hell he is.

The late Mr. Gotti.....also generated herd of supplicants in his immediate & far smaller environment......with HIS "GENEROSITY." Same deal.

But the specificsof VISTA REALITY are way fascinating.....so do let us nail each and every one until the smoke & mirrors R all gone; it's good....and GRATIFYING. Nothing like truth/ACCURACY In exhaustive detail!!!!

Jill

ok WAIT! Just remembered this last of mine....and it was very recent:
http://www.techsupportforum.com/micr...36942-fyi.html

C that? Raised defensive hackles RIGHT OUT OF THE GATE(S).......AND RIGHT HERE, ok?

ebackhus

Carsey, if you hate MS products so much then why do you use XP?

I won't get it until I get myself a DX10 video card which will likely be later in the year. I'm spending my tax refund on a 4800+ and a 7950, plus some RAM. 1GB or 2GB? 4GB?

carsey

I want to go Ubuntu...but its hard to get out and get a HDD for it. Als, I think I may need to find some drivers for my graphics card.

Believe it or not, Ubuntu is in my disc tray of my DVD drive.

ebackhus

*has a cabinet full of HDDS rangin from a few megs to multi-gig* You can get a 160GB for like $40 now.

I had Ubuntu installed but left it once I found out that I couldn't do anything but go on the web with it. For a person like me, open-source OS's are utterly useless.