Living In A Vista World

We know what was on your mind today. The radio phone lines were jammed with Vista questions today. Mostly asking if their machines had the minimum specs to add the new OS.

Thanks to Jennifer Heard, Microsoft's Southwest Region GM based in Houston, for calling in. I asked her if the public was going to grab copies like hotcakes or if the anticipation was a bit tempered. Now there's compelling radio!

I received several calls and emails from people who "camped out" at stores Monday night. Here's an excerpt from frequent listener Marc Nathan:

Last night was really was ridiculous and there were more staffers there than customers. At 9:20 - less than 40 minutes before the opening
there were 8people in line - and two were self-proclaimed Mac Guys.
Microsoft and HP represented strongly and there was one guy from Sony. The
event company was playing Kenny G (I swear) while we were waiting in line. There
was no demo's or giveaways for the two hours up to the midnight sale but Mario
Williams was a good sport about taking photos with the fans.

When it came time for the grand prize laptop drawing at 12:15- there was no
build up, just an announcement and then everyone left. That came from the
regional VP of marketing from Microsoft, who really needs to get his team in
check. I saw a lot of people milling around in the Mac section in the back
of the store and they still had XP and Office 2003 boxes on the shelf - along
with Linux OS's right next to the 2007 boxes.

I've been to tons of product launches, and this ranked in the lower third
of them. Also, no good deals. The same Jabra Bluetooth headset I bought for $30
with a $30 rebate two weeks ago, was $60 with a $60 rebate last night. I
did get a $20 gift card and a 256mb USB key - so at least the schwag was worth
the time.

Seems like this was the norm across the country.

More Vista talk and questions sure to come this week. Waiting to receive a shipment of Vista cases and then we'll start giving them away. But just because you may win one doesn't mean you should use it yourself. Check your machine specs first.