Microsoft Rolls Out Vista Across the Globe

Microsoft Corp rolled out Windows Vista at retailers in 70 countries yesterday, delivering a new computer operating system that aims to better manage the explosion of digital media and protect users from the dangers of the Internet.

The world’s biggest software maker marked the launch of its first all-new Windows operating system in five years with a marketing blitz, including commercials featuring basketball star Lebron James and appearances by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on morning and late-night chat shows.

Windows runs on more than 95 percent of the world’s computers, and the long-delayed new version is the first major release of a new Microsoft operating system since it introduced Windows XP in 2001.

Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft called Vista the most important release of its dominant operating system since Windows 95 more than a decade ago, when shoppers waited for hours to be among the first to run the new software.

Consumer fanfare of that magnitude seems unlikely since Vista is not the dramatic leap in technology of past releases, but the new Windows could ultimately be just as successful.

The most obvious change is the new look. Vista’s “Aero” interface uses 3-D graphics to create translucent windows that appear to float above the background screen.

Other changes are more subtle like improved security, search bars to help users find information easier and a new multimedia platform for digital video, music and pictures.

Apple Inc calls Vista a copycat version of its Mac OS X Tiger operating system that introduced many of those new features. The iPod maker plans to introduce a new operating system of its own later this year.

In the first year of its release, Vista, which required a $6 billion investment from Microsoft, will be installed on more than 100 million PCs worldwide, according to research reports.

But because only about 15 percent of existing computers have memory and graphics cards powerful enough to run premium versions of Vista, most users will have to buy a whole new computer if they want to upgrade.

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer rebuffed the notion advocated by some that this may be the last hurrah for a monolithic Windows operating system release, as Web-based services and companies like Google Inc shift the focus away from the need for a powerful PC.

“It’s just wrong,” he said of that belief. “There is still a lot of innovation that needs to come, and that innovation needs to come in the operating system. We are doing new releases, and we are excited about the innovation we are bringing to Windows.”

Gates led a theatrical promotion of Windows Vista in New York on Monday (local time) as Microsoft kicked off a global campaign to hype the home version of its new operating system.

Gates took to a stage in a grand and dramatically orchestrated event for the new software before leaving for Europe where he was to begin a Vista-touting tour with stops in London, Edinburgh, Bucharest and Paris.

Ballmer and Gates had a US family that helped test Vista come on stage and touch a computer icon that signaled electronic billboards throughout Times Square to blaze with “The Wow Starts Now” advertisements.

The event was the beginning of what promises to be a flashy and expensive campaign by Microsoft to promote an operating system that took five years and $6 billion to ready for the world.

Agencies-AFP

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