Jan. 30, 2007
Vista Debuts Without Huge Fuss
New Microsoft Operating System Goes On Sale, But There's No Rush To Buy It
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Play CBS Video Video The Copycat Clash Only On The Web: New York Times technology columnist David Pogue shows Daniel Sieberg the similarities between Microsoft's Vista and Apple's most recent operating system.
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Video Microsoft To Release Vista The wait is finally over. Microsoft will release Windows Vista, its latest operating system, on Tuesday after years of delays. Anthony Mason reports.
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Video Windows Vista Up to the Minute Computer Consultant John Quain takes a look at Windows Vista and weighs the pros and cons of Microsoft's new operating system.
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Richard Woodard purchases several boxes of Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system, at a Best Buy store in San Jose, Calif., just a few minutes after midnight on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2007. (AP)
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Boxes of Microsoft Vista at a Best Buy store in Bellevue, Wash., Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2007. (AP)
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Dancers scale the wall of a New York building to promote Vista's launch Jan. 29, 2007. (AP Photo)
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In Raleigh, CompUSA advertised its special sale in Sunday newspapers and ran radio ads letting people know it was the only place in the area where people could get their hands on Vista at midnight.
"For geeks like us, this is very exciting," Didier said, adding that he expected Vista's launch to boost computer sales. "It gives people a compelling reason to buy a computer now."
The easiest way to see if your machine is compatible is to go to www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready and download a free program that will scan your system and tell you what, if anything, you need to do to make your machine Vista ready, says CBSNews.com technology analyst Larry Magid (story).
Though consumers can download Vista over the Web for the first time, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told one audience 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 only came Tuesday. The software retails for $100 to $400, depending on the version and whether the user is upgrading from Windows XP.
Microsoft contends that Vista is such a huge improvement over previous computing platforms that users inevitably say "Wow" when they see it.
"Today's a big day, because we put so much into this one, and people really underestimate what it's going to do for the industry," Gates said.
"This is an important product in terms of its future legs," Brian Cooley of CNET told CBS News correspondent Anthony Mason. "It's the system we're all going to be running, corporate and personal, a few years out."
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.CBS News' Anthony Mason Checks Out Vista's Features
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.
"People are using the Windows PC more than they're watching TV. They're doing more than just creating documents," Gates told Miliano (audio). "They're instant-messaging, they're digital music, digital photos."
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.
"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."
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 to signify security and a movie star to emphasize 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. Consumers will also need to upgrade older software and devices to work with Vista.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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I have no plans to by VISTA any tiem in the near future. It is a totally overblown pile of manure.
I don%u2019t like the few Macs I've met. Not enough buttons on the mouse and the keyboards just seem strange to me. I have issues with their OS even when it does work. PC%u2019s work fine for me. My home system is fast, reliable, has never had any security problems, and does what I ask it to 99% of the time. The worst problem I%u2019ve had was due to a hardware manufacturing defect. I need to upgrade the graphics card and memory soon. I%u2019m not sure, but is that even possible with a Mac or do you have to buy a whole new system? My brothers use Macs and they seem to be buying new ones every 2-3 years. In any case, I%u2019m in no rush to buy Vista. Maybe in a year or two when I need it to run some new bit of software I want or if a massive design breakthrough makes a 6+ gig processor and I decide to spring for a new computer, but for now I%u2019ll stick to good old XP.
Another major issue that no one seems to be aware of involves the integration of DRM into Vista. I can hardly wait to see the line-ups of people returning their brand new OS when they find they can't play premium content on their non-HDCP compliant monitors.
XP works just fine. I'm not about to spend hundreds of dollars to give MS and Hollywood control of what I do with my computer, not to mention the money to 'upgrade' my hardware.
When it's time to upgrade/replace the PC, a Mac will take its place here.