Windows Vista, Office 2007 Launched

Madhavi Gokhlay, Jan 30, 2007 2020 hrs IST

As per plan, Microsoft today announced the launch of Windows Vista and the 2007 Office System to consumers.

As per plan, Microsoft today announced the launch of Windows Vista and the 2007 Office System to consumers.

That these are the most innovative and widely tested software products in the company's history has been oft repeated. According to Microsoft, Windows Vista and 2007 Office will "wow" consumers with their new user interface (UI), greatly enhanced security, integrated search, and improved overall performance.

Launching the flagship products, Chairman of Microsoft India, Ravi Venkatesan, said, "Today's global launch of Windows Vista and Microsoft 2007 Office System truly gives credence to our vision for the future of personal computing. We want to see technology help each individual in unlocking their true potential, and these new desktop technologies which are intuitive, easier to use, more secure, and much, much more fun overall, will truly redefine user experience."

Venkatesan informed that nearly 1 billion hours of user feedback has gone into the final versions of the two products.

Earlier released to business customers on Nov 30, 2006, Windows Vista and Office 2007 will now be available through retail stores across 30 countries, including India. In India, OEMs such as HCL, HP, Lenovo, Sahara, Wipro, and Zenith will be launching a range of Vista compatible personal computers for consumers.

Windows Vista will be available in four consumer editions; namely, Windows Vista Ultimate, Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Home Basic, and Windows Vista Starter. And, it will be available in more than 18 languages, including Hindi. Support for 13 more Indian languages, including Telugu and Marathi, is expected by early 2008.

Meanwhile, Office 2007 will ship in two consumer editions; namely, Office Home & Student 2007, and Office Basic 2007.

Speaking at the launch, Managing Director of Microsoft India, Ms Neelam Dhawan, said, "We are excited about the support we have received from our partners. There are already more than 1.5 million devices and peripherals on the market that work with Windows Vista, including more than 2,000 that are Windows Vista Certified. This is an unprecedented momentum within the ecosystem, and we will continue to invest in the community, so that partners and customers can benefit from the myriad opportunities offered by Windows Vista and the 2007 Office System."

What contributes to the "wow" factor? For one, an innovative user interface that adds to visual appeal, while making the products easier to use. New capabilities that make creating and sharing digital content easier and more fun. And, entertainment possibilities, plus enhanced communication and productivity.

Advances that need mention are the Parental Control Panel, which allows parents manage their children's Internet and computer access; as also Windows Defender, which offers real time protection against spyware and malicious Web sites.

What are the minimum hardware requirements of Windows Vista? A modern processor (at least 800MHz1); 512 MB of system memory; and graphics processor which is DirectX 9 capable.

What about pricing? Windows Vista prices are comparable with those of Windows XP. Meanwhile, PCs loaded with genuine Windows Vista will retail in the country, for prices starting at Rs 22,000. Microsoft 2007 Office editions will ship for prices starting at Rs 6,000.

Will Microsoft Windows Vista succeed in replacing Microsoft Windows XP?

A confident Doug Hauger, Chief Operating Officer of Microsoft India, said that if they could get just 30 Windows Vista minutes with each Windows XP consumer, that consumer would never go back to using Windows XP. Hauger went on record, saying that already there are about 2,00,000 Windows Vista licenses plus around 8,50,000 Office 2007 licenses.

During the event, Microsoft gave away an HP Pavilion M7500 PC with pre-loaded Microsoft Windows Vista and Office 2007 to one Kaushik Ramachandran, winner of an earlier mobile quiz contest jointly conducted by NDTV and Microsoft.

USER COMMENTS

Can I upgrade my PC to Vist from XP.

by sadananda, pune, on Sep 07, 2007 11:11 AM, Report abuse Reply

Yeah! that is what all of us have been doing since computers came around, and sometimes more often than changing clothes.

by Rajhansa, Nagpur, on Feb 02, 2008 01:11 PM, Report abuse

Does anyone know if Vista is compatable with dc+

by peter, cornwall, on Apr 27, 2007 11:09 PM, Report abuse Reply

by parag, pune, on Mar 08, 2007 10:55 PM, Report abuse Reply

"The Vista Content Protection specification could very well constitute the longest suicide note in history." :-) there will be a predicted backlash from Software and Hardware Vendors - and MS is trying to do something that no can ever do "Pleasing all of the people ... all of the time"

by Polax, Bangalore, on Feb 19, 2007 10:11 AM, Report abuse Reply

Let us assume you buy a HD-DVD Drive or a Blue-Ray Drive. Now let us assume you pay good money and buy movie-titles for these HDTV compliant Disks. Let us further assume that you have spent a good large sum on that beautiful 19-21" LCD Display. You now buy Vista Ultimate to get the Ultimate pleasure for viewing the movie. Fabulous scenario right? Do you know that if you Graphics card is not digitally signed by Microsoft - then the quality of Video is intentionally degraded by Vista's Players (DRM Issues - I could go on for ever). There is a new Audio CD format called SACD (look it up on Google or Wikipedia) - supposed to deliver enhance sound on high end music players ... Play on it Windows Vista - you may just end up hearing NOTHING, that's right!!! Your Sound Card may not be DRM-SAFE, i.e if Vista believes that your hardware might compromise DRM protected content it WILL degrade or just not play Protected Audio/Video Content - Just do a google search for vista_cost.html <-- and read the fun stuff. It is really quite scary!! On the brighter side - I did get a beta of Windows Vista and installed on a IBM ThinkCenter Machine with 512 MB RAM, the interface is quite good - almost as good as MAC OS-X! There is a feeling of "coming home" to it - as XP users would definitely not find themselves at sea. Whether we like it or not - it is the next Flagship-OS from the world's leading OS supplier and it is here to stay. I for one will be sticking to my SuSE 10.2 for sometime.

by Polax, Bangalore, on Feb 19, 2007 09:41 AM, Report abuse Reply

Correction: SACD has been around a while - and Vista doesn't disable the sound it degrades it. "None of the AGP or PCI-E graphics cards that you can buy today support HDCP [...] If you've just spent $1000 on a pair of Radeon X1900 XT graphics cards expecting to be able to playback HD-DVD or Blu-Ray movies at 1920x1080 resolution in the future, you've just wasted your money [...] If you just spent $1500 on a pair of 7800GTX 512MB GPUs expecting to be able to play 1920x1080 HD-DVD or Blu-Ray movies in the future, you've just wasted your money".

by Polax, Bangalore, on Feb 19, 2007 09:45 AM, Report abuse

This foot-note from the same article seemed too good not to share ;) - The sheer obnoxiousness of Vista's content protection may end up being the biggest incentive to piracy yet created. Even without overt "piracy" (meaning bypassing restrictions in order to play legally-purchased media), it makes very sound business sense for companies to produce hardware that bypasses the problem, just as they have already with region-free play-anything DVD players. Perhaps Hollywood (and Microsoft) should heed the advice given in one of their most famous productions: "The more you tighten your grip, the more systems will slip through your fingers".

by Polax, Bangalore, on Feb 19, 2007 09:48 AM, Report abuse

What nobody is talking about is - how will vista affect a lot of us- with borrowed XP. I mean mine was borrowed from my comp wallah, and if I upgrade- how will MS dish my old XP, & what effect will security fo vista so tightly enforced by MS affect 90 oercent of us indians, sailing in my boat.

by vijayshimla, Shimla 171001, on Feb 04, 2007 09:31 PM, Report abuse Reply

By borrowed don't you mean pirated/stolen? You stole that software since you did not buy your own. So, your problems will be solve when you stop your "borrowing". I hope you don't borrow from your local book store or grocery either.

by Kia, New Delhi, on Feb 09, 2007 08:37 AM, Report abuse

com'on you cant borrow softwares like that. Vista ultimate costs you just over Rs.22000. Anyone can afford that. Its just an additional cost over the Rs.12k for the rig. And once you do pls let me borrow it from you.....

by Rahul, Pune, on Feb 16, 2007 12:07 PM, Report abuse

the best thing happening is that vista needs a graphics card to work thats cool as now it becomes even more easier to convince dad to get a graphics card for the system and most prolly a pciexpress mobo yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!

by rahul, mumbai, on Jan 31, 2007 02:51 AM, Report abuse Reply

Yeah Man I share your thoughts as well !!! Buying a snazzy graphics card was never this easy!!!

by Sukhad Pathak, Pune, on Feb 12, 2007 02:36 AM, Report abuse

i agree too. its easier to convince dad into buying one good graphics card. although i heard the OS will consume a major part of this GPU for its user interface...

by Sarath, Vsg, on Feb 16, 2007 12:01 PM, Report abuse

Check out this new service available with Vista for the first time in India. Now photo printing is really convenient. Microsoft Corp. has entered into an agreement with itasveer.com to offer itasveer's online photo printing services as part of the digital photography experience in the recently launched Microsoft Windows Vista operating system. This would allow customers to order high-quality photo prints of their digital images seamlessly from the Vista interface itself. http://savvybytes.com/2007/01/03/itasveer-indias-first-online-photo-priniting-shop/ isnt it cool??

by Anonymous, Delhi, on Feb 14, 2007 11:33 AM, Report abuse Reply

by Anonymous, Delhi, on Feb 13, 2007 06:24 PM, Report abuse Reply

by Anonymous, Delhi, on Feb 13, 2007 06:20 PM, Report abuse Reply

expensive as we thought

by suhad, bristol, on Jan 31, 2007 02:35 AM, Report abuse Reply

Guys you need at leats 1GB RAM, 15 GB Free Hard Drive Space, WDDM Supported Graphics Adapter to feel the Glass Effect Display supported by Aero Technology - WinSAt Technology. You can also download and run the Upgrade Advisor from www.microsoft.com website. In order to check what are the Softwares and Hardware Devices that are there in your systems which needs to be uninstalled or upgraded before Upgrading to Vista. Guys if you have got the Supported Hardware and are meeting the system requirements - Just grab it and install it's really awsome to work on a Vista PC ...... you will find the drastic changes, security wise, looks wise, performance, and lot more. Microsoft Windows Vista Consult. Rajesh Gupta

by Rajesh Gupta, Gurgaon, on Feb 09, 2007 08:00 PM, Report abuse

What are the individual prices of these softwares.

by srini1973, chennai, on Jan 31, 2007 01:09 AM, Report abuse Reply

Windows vista ultimate edition is the "ultimate" and is giving a full "wow" factor. I really like this edition. Upgrade version of utlimate edition costs $249.00

by Jacob, USA, on Feb 02, 2007 06:17 AM, Report abuse

I am asking the individual prices and not the upgrade prices also in INR and not in USD.

by srini1973, chennai, on Feb 03, 2007 11:44 PM, Report abuse

in true microsoft tradition it also appears to be yet another buggy version of windows better go for linux to make your life a lot easier

by azam, hyderabad, on Feb 03, 2007 10:52 PM, Report abuse Reply

salam

by masoud, iran, on Feb 02, 2007 04:01 PM, Report abuse Reply

The mentioned minimum hardware requirements of Windows Vista is surprisingly and encouragingly low! Will this specification enable the user to enjoy all the facilities and luxury Vista promises ?

by Dr. Thomas Geor, Pala, Kerala, on Jan 31, 2007 09:50 PM, Report abuse Reply

good

by Manoj Patel, chandigarh, on Jan 31, 2007 07:15 PM, Report abuse Reply

download

by farhan, karachi, on Jan 31, 2007 06:59 PM, Report abuse Reply

good

by MOHAN, trichy, on Jan 31, 2007 04:25 PM, Report abuse Reply

excellent kekka & expensive as i thought

by sridhar, raichur, on Jan 31, 2007 02:45 PM, Report abuse Reply

Its a good to make a new software but what's the good thing about this software

by VIKRAM SINGH, MUMBAI, on Jan 31, 2007 11:14 AM, Report abuse Reply

There are four editions of Windows Vista available for consumers, so here?s a breakdown: * Windows Vista Home Basic, $199/$99.95 (full/upgrade) Provides a basic platform for home users who want to keep tabs on email and Internet activity. Comes standard with Vista's new Search Explorer, Sidebar and Parental Controls. * Windows Vista Home Premium, $239/$159 Builds on Home Basic by adding the Windows Aero interface, Windows Media Center functionality, Windows Tablet PC technology and integrated DVD burning. * Windows Vista Business, $299/$199 Supports the Aero user interface, offers improved document managing and Windows Tablet PC functionality. * Windows Vista Ultimate, $399/$259 Vista Ultimate combines the functionality of Vista Home Premium and Vista Business. Likewise, there are five editions of Microsoft Office 2007 available to general consumers: * Microsoft Office Home and Student, $149/NA (full/upgrade) Excel 2007, PowerPoint 2007, Word 2007, OneNote 2007 * Microsoft Office Standard 2007, $399/$239 Excel 2007, PowerPoint 2007, Word 2007, Outlook 2007 * Microsoft Office Small Business 2007, $449/$279 Excel 2007, Accounting Express 2007, PowerPoint 2007, Publisher 2007, Word 2007, Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager * Microsoft Office Professional 2007, $499/$329 Excel 2007, Access 2007, Accounting Express 2007, PowerPoint 2007, Publisher 2007, Word 2007, Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager * Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007, $679/$539 Excel 2007, Access 2007, Accounting Express 2007, PowerPoint 2007, Publisher 2007, Word 2007, Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager, InfoPath 2007, Groove 2007, OneNote 2007

by punjab234, Moga, on Jan 31, 2007 01:57 AM, Report abuse Reply

Hi, Can you tell the individual prices and reseller from where it is available inside INDA

by Joseph, Trivandrum, on Jan 31, 2007 10:41 AM, Report abuse

BOTTOM LINE: Do not upgrade unless you are buying a new computer or upgrading. VISTA is nice i like it but takes up lots of resources... but very stable...

by Mike, Mumbai, on Jan 31, 2007 10:00 AM, Report abuse Reply

The thing is what microsoft has introduced now in vista all those widgets,these have been there with MAC years ago,but the bottom line is windows dominates the OS martek world over,Vista is good but some packs are oput there which will make XP look like a Vista/Mac without trouble.And its stable too. The real problem starts when microsoft will not provide packs and updates for XP,and this I can see coming very soon.

by Rishabh Bali, New Delhi, on Jan 31, 2007 09:47 AM, Report abuse Reply

test

by kcp, thanajvur, on Jan 31, 2007 08:29 AM, Report abuse Reply

really vista looks good with all the features.. but the thing is the people need some time to recognize the benefits of vista..

by Ravi Kanth, chennai, on Jan 31, 2007 07:18 AM, Report abuse Reply

good

by dinesh, pune, on Jan 31, 2007 03:03 AM, Report abuse Reply

I have tried windows vista and I am not impressed. I have run XP-64 for a year and it has nevered crashed and has performed great.

by David Graham, DeMotte, on Jan 31, 2007 02:53 AM, Report abuse Reply

ninguno

by Chistian, zapopan, on Jan 31, 2007 02:44 AM, Report abuse Reply