On November 30, 2007, at a press conference at NASDAQ MarketSite in Times Square, New York, Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer took the wraps off of Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office System.

The Redmond Company was not shy on labeling the release of its flagship products along side an array of other product offerings as the most important product launch in Microsoft's history. And in fact those were the exact words of CEO Steve Ballmer: "This is the biggest launch in the company's history. That's for sure. These are frankly the most significant releases of these two products Vista and Office we've ever done. It's an exciting thing to finally be here. That's all I'll say about the past," he stated at a press conference at the Nasdaq stock exchange.

And although it was a concert of Microsoft software releases, Vista was the undisputed star of the day. Everything else paled in comparison. Even the 2007 Microsoft Office System and Exchange Server 2007.

In the image at the bottom you can see the actual moment when Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer (center), Microsoft CFO Christopher Liddell (left) and NASDAQ President and CEO Robert Greifeld (right) rang the NASDAQ opening bell celebrating the business availability of Windows Vista, the 2007 Microsoft Office system and Exchange Server 2007 to Microsoft Software Assurance (volume licensing) customers.