Vista Debuts Without Huge Fuss

(CBS/AP)  Retailers across the country stayed open through the wee hours of Tuesday morning to sell the long-awaited Windows Vista operating system, even though most knew customers wouldn't be lining up out the door for the midnight launch of Microsoft Corp.'s latest product.

At a CompUSA store in Raleigh, N.C., only about a dozen people waited around to be among the first to get Vista. The store reopened at 10 p.m., offering customers coffee and discounts on other items including printers and recordable DVDs, and planned to stay open until at least 2 a.m.

The low turnout wasn't surprising, especially after Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said the company wasn't pushing the midnight sales events.

CompUSA manager Damon Didier said the midnight sales met his expectations, especially given the late hour with temperatures in the upper 20s.

"I think we'll see sales pick up throughout the rest of the week, especially on Friday and over the weekend when people have more time to download it," Didier said.

Employees decorated the store with balloons and set up bright new displays featuring computers equipped with Vista. There was a five-second countdown over the public-address system to let customers know they could buy the software.

Those who came for the midnight launch were almost as enthusiastic.

"I guess I'm a geek at heart," said Chad Janko, 29. "I wanted to process the whole thing myself before all the reviews surface about it."

Mike Johnson, 29, of nearby Rolesville, bought a laptop computer with the new software preinstalled.

"The biggest reason for me is the new interface. It looks so much better than XP," he said. "Apple computers have had nice graphical interfaces for some time. But it's the first time Windows has even approached that level."

New Apple ads poke fun at Windows Vista, and New York Times technology columnist David Pogue says there's good reason for that.

"I don't mean to imply that Vista is nothing but copies from Apple, but there are some certain similarities that are unmistakable," he told CBS News science and technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg, pointing to new features in Vista that are already available on Macintosh computers.

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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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"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."

Microsoft celebrated the Vista launch Monday with a Times Square bash complete with acrobatics and blaring music. 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.

Vista went on sale in 70 countries Tuesday, along with new versions of Microsoft Exchange e-mail software and the flagship Office business suite, which includes Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

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

"You don't really need to stand in line on this one, because you can download it over the Internet, and that wasn't possible back in 1995," Gates told CBS News correspondent Lou Miliano, saying the launch of Windows Vista is bigger than that of Windows 95. "If you're going to buy a physical product like an X-box, you bet, you've got to line up for that."

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CBS News Correspondent Lou Miliano speaks to Microsoft's Bill Gates

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"It's a very different world than in 1995," said Gates.

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[brinker24]

Sure I could buy Vista, but who would buy a whole new house just to get another refrigerator?

[Free Citizen]

I think the most significant development here is the the very much belated release from Microsoft a 64-bit OS. Digital, SGI and Sun had that more than ten years ago. The sad reality is that most of the current software that is runing on Windows now isn't written to take advantage of the 64-bit environment. So, it is not only a matter of upgrading to Vista but we need to upgrade our Application softwares as well, in order to have any meaningful benefit out of this release. New UGI notwithstanding.

[talkingham]

I've read that in the Microsoft effort to get control of what they call "premium digital content" many existing hardware components including audi spdif ports and video in/out ports of a variety of types on existing hardware will no longer work. This is done I suppose to make that only the Chinese can copy stuff.

I have no plans to by VISTA any tiem in the near future. It is a totally overblown pile of manure.

[rf35]

Well, by no means will I buy anything Steve Jobs put his mark on. I found out a few years ago that I'm not Mac-compatible. If I get within about 10 feet of a Mac, it either crashes or starts malfunctioning in some other way. I can%u2019t even use an i-pod. I%u2019ve had one die completely and another that I have to restore every few months to keep running. It now stays in my wife%u2019s car.
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.

[toshi43]

I wonder how many people actually bothered to see if there were any hardware compatibility issues with Vista before they bought it. Just for the heck of it, I ran the Vista Upgrade Advisor and lo and behold, all kinds of compatibility problemss popped up, from my scanner, mouse and webcam, which the Advisor said wouldn't work in Vista, to installed programs that have 'minor' problems. All this in spite of the fact that I have a new 'Vista-ready' computer.

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.

[tigeros]

Vista is way overpriced and still a copy of Apple. An upgrade should be more like $50 for home and $100 for business. I have 6 computers running XP which is stable, my children have 5 and my grandchildren have 13. Does Gates REALLY think I'm going to upgrade all of these? Not a chance. I also run Linux on 3 of these and my favorite, Mac OS 10, which has never crashed and always advises me of updates automatically. The updates also aren't 600 megs like Windows. The only way to get Vista "affordably" is to buy a new computer. I will delay that as long as possible too. Sounds like Gates wants his $6 billion development cost back right away. signed, happy with XP.

[random_radar]

There were a lot more people lined up to buy the World of Warcraft expansion at midnight than there were to get Microsoft Vista. I am not planning to buy Vista at all. I will limp along with Windows XP until the next thing after Vista.

[CBSTV]

It seems to me that unless there's an overwhelming reason for using Microsoft Windows, the Macintosh is the sensible choice. Most home computer users don't want to become security experts to keep their PCs running smoothly. Macs today can even run Microsoft Windows programs at full speed via Boot Camp or Parallels software.

When it's time to upgrade/replace the PC, a Mac will take its place here.