Vista: Consumer market's wait finally over

After months of delays, Microsoft’s Vista operating system and Microsoft Office 2007 are finally available to the Australian consumer market.

Speaking at the Sydney launched of Vista, Tracey Fellows, the newly appointed Microsoft managing director for Australia and New Zealand said the launch was an exciting day for herself, Microsoft and the whole of Australia.

“We have done extensive Beta testing across Australia. We didn’t want to guess what people wanted. We wanted to ask and then deliver this,” said Fellows.

Kevin Johnson, president of Microsoft’s platforms and services division said safety and security acted as important pillars within Vista.

“We have created Vista to protect the PC against threats, and it also has back-up and recovery built-in,” he said.

Australian partnerships for Vista include Telstra BigPond Movies content being integrated into Windows Vista Media Centre; an online music subscription service with Australian retailer Sanity; and the incorporation of the Print@Kodak online printing wizard in the new Windows Vista Photo Gallery.

“Microsoft Vista has 1.5 million compatible devices and there are over 2000 Windows Vista certified products in the market,” added Johnson.

Rita Alexandrou, product marketing manager for Microsoft Office in Australia, added the new Office offering was built around the ethos of 'giving better results, faster'.

“The guiding principles we were worked to were about creating great looking documents, find and help commands, working with confidence and security, and how to manage information more effectively,” added Alexandrou.

Jeff Li, managing director of Pioneer Computers Australia, said: “Customers will be delighted that the wait is finally over and Vista is here.”