14 DAY TRIAL // There is no alternative for Microsoft with November around the corner but to kick in high gear its holiday pitch. And the Redmond company is more than ready to make up for the past holiday season which it managed to miss with the postponing of Vista's general release until the end of January 2007. Towards the end of 2006, all that Microsoft had to offer were coupons for Vista upgrades. Now, the Redmond company, together with its hardware partners, has the chance to hone Vista in order to ensure that its latest operating system will end up on the holiday gift lists. For this alone, Microsoft has made available a Windows Vista Holiday Product Guide.
"In time for the holidays, we invite you to open up your digital life by exploring the Windows Vista partner ecosystem. This holiday season, we're excited to bring you an array of beautiful PCs and devices designed with the Windows Vista operating system in mind. Whether you're a digital photo junkie or someone who is always staying connected to friends and family, we invite you to take a look at the Windows Vista family of products that help define your digital life," reads an excerpt of the Windows Vista Consumer Experience document.
The Windows Vista Holiday Product Guide is essentially a display of hardware devices designed to integrate seamlessly with Windows Vista. HP Pavilion dv2500 Entertainment, HP Pavilion dv9500 Entertainment, HP Blackbird 002, Gateway One, Dell Inspiron 1520/1521, Dell XPS 720, Dell XPS M1330, Sony VAIO CR, Sony VAIO SZ, Sony VGC-LT, The Satellite X205, Samsung SPF-72V Digital Photo Frame, Buffalo Wireless-N Nfiniti Dual Band Gigabit Router & Access Point, Canon HV20 HD Camcorder, Canon PowerShot SD870 IS Digital ELPH, Canon EOS Digital Rebel Xti, Canon PIXMA MP610 All-In-One Photo Printer, Kingston Technology 2Gb Data Traveler USB Flash Drive, Microsoft LifeCam VX-7000, Microsoft Wireless Entertainment Desktop 8000, Microsoft Wireless Notebook Laser Mouse 7000, SideWinder Gaming Mouse, Nikon D40X, Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 Webcam, Xbox 360 Wireless Controller for Windows, Xbox 360 Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows, and the Sony NWZ-A810 and NWZ-S610 Walkman digital music players are the products advertised along with Vista.
As a matter of fact, you can watch the video segment embedded at the bottom of this article featuring Microsoft Senior Product Manager Craig Cincotta at Peter White Studios in New York, October 23, 2007. "In New York City, Microsoft has invited over 200 members of the press to visit the Windows Consumer Experience Space at Peter White Studios. There, they got hands on demos of scenarios that both Windows Vista and Windows Live together enable for consumers. The scenarios at the Windows Consumer Experience Space include demos of the Windows Live apps (such as Windows Live Mail and Windows Live Photo Gallery), gaming on Windows Vista, and Windows Media Center and its home entertainment capabilities," revealed Microsoft's Brandon LeBlanc.
Microsoft has recently officially confirmed that it has shipped in excess of 88 million Vista licenses worldwide. That's 28 million more than the sales made public by the Redmond company in mid 2007. The 88 million figure is produced as Vista is just a few days short of celebrating its first nine months of general availability and with record revenue growth in the background.