Following the availability of Windows Vista for businesses in late 2006 and for the consumers in early 2007, Microsoft has built an ecosystem of offerings orbiting around the operating system and designed to streamline migration to the latest Window platform. The Redmond company refers to all the software products spawned as a need to support the planning and deployment processes associated with upgrading to Windows Vista as Solutions Accelerators. One illustrative example in this context is the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment. The tool is essentially set up to deliver inventories, assessments and reports in accordance with the Vista and Office 2007 readiness of computers across a corporate network. In mid August, Microsoft made available for download version 2.1 of the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment, emphasizing the global character of the release.

"We've heard that some of you are very interested in getting the localized version of the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 2.1 but was not sure how the download process works for this globalized integrated download. To clarify, the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 2.1 is available in any of the SEVEN languages from a single download (not just English). That includes North American English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Latin American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. No more hunting around for 2 different localized versions of the download. This is especially convenient for those of you who are multi-lingual in US, Europe and Latin America," revealed Baldwin Ng, Product Manager., Microsoft Solution Accelerators.

Responding to customer feedback, Baldwin Ng clarified the download and installation process of Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 2.1. One important aspect that you have to keep in mind is that Microsoft has built all the seven localized versions of the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 2.1 into a single globalized integrated version. All you have to do is access the English download of the tool and only then settle on the actual language that you want the utility to be deployed in.

"Install the globalized integrated download on a computer with the matching localized operating system. Double-click the download and complete the installation process. When you are ready to use Windows Vista Hardware Assessment [in a localized language], make sure that your DISPLAY LANGUAGE is set [accordingly]. If you want to switch to a different language and, for example, create readiness assessment report in English, you may change the display language to English and then re-launch Windows Vista Hardware Assessment," Baldwin Ng added.