Vista takes the world by storm

E-Brief News reports that the operating system that took five years and $6bn to develop, hit the shops in 70 countries around the world. Steven Ballmer, the company\'s CE, called the event ‘the biggest product launch in Microsoft’s history’. Few would disagree, but not everyone is happy about it. More than 5 000 software and hardware products are ready to run on Vista, and Microsoft has more than 500 000 industry partners worldwide, including resellers, retailers and consultants as well as hardware and software companies. The consensus is that Vista has some impressive new features. But, according to an e-academy report, Vista’s trump card is its security. Windows XP can be retrofitted with some of Vista’s technologies – but not the major leap forward that Vista has taken with security. In efforts to make Windows easy to use, previous versions have given the default user administrative rights – and, in doing so, have made it far too easy to compromise the machine. No amount of closing stable doors can fix that one – so Windows Vista takes its approach to security so seriously that even security companies feel they’ve been locked out. The New York Times reports that Microsoft’s industry partners described Vista as a watershed. Hector Ruiz, the chairman of Advanced Micro Devices, a microprocessor maker, said the new Microsoft operating system would usher in ‘the visualisation age of computing’ with rich 3-D graphics entering the mainstream. Sean Maloney, executive vice president of Intel, said that Vista’s abilities combined with rapidly advancing technology in microchips would lead to a ‘golden age for PCs,’ allowing them to serve as a central hub for storing, managing and sending digital media like movies and music to television sets and music players in the home. Full e-academy report Full report in The New York Times

The Vista operating system has already hit the streets of China – in pirated form. In an electronic market in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, scores of sellers were offering the brand new software for as little as 10 yuan ($1.3), along with Microsoft Office, anti-virus software and others. According to a report on the iafrica.com site, the sellers said Vista was available even several weeks before its launch, although they would not say how they got hold of the version. Described as the ‘official version of the new generation operating system’ on its cover, the pirated copy offered an identification code at the back of the disk for downloading the software. Full report on the iafrica.com site

Microsoft risks a new showdown with EU regulators with the rollout of Vista nearly three years after a landmark antitrust ruling against the US software giant. According to a report on the IoL site, rivals are preparing to do battle again with the IT colossus after already winning one victory in March 2004 in which Microsoft was fined a record €497m by the European Commission. ‘With Vista, Microsoft has clearly chosen to ignore the fundamental principles of the commission\'s March 2004 decision,’ said Simon Awde, the chairman of the ECIS trade association that opposes Microsoft in its antitrust troubles. ECIS, which includes such tech giants as Oracle, IBM and Nokia, filed a complaint with EU regulators in February 2006 targeting Vista and Office and updated their action with details on Vista last month. Full report on the IoL site

In other developments, the Green Party has claimed that Vista could lead to a mass upgrade of PCs that will result in old machines being dumped in landfill sites. Speaking ahead of the official UK consumer launch of Vista, Derek Wall, Green Party male principal speaker, warned that migrating to the operating system would result in many consumers and businesses having to buy new hardware and bin perfectly usable old kit. ‘Vista requires more expensive and energy-hungry hardware, passing the cost on to consumers and the environment’, notes Silicon.com. Full Silicon.com report