Consumers can now buy the first major overhaul of Microsoft's Windows operating system since 2001 today, as Windows Vista is formally launched to the home user.
The launch is extremely important to Microsoft. More than $6 billion and five years of development went into Vista's 50 million lines of computer code. The business edition of Vista has been on the market since November.
Windows, which runs on more than 90 per cent of the world's computers, remains the single most important product in Microsoft's portfolio, generating 30 per cent of the company's sales revenue and 60 per cent of its operating profit.
US consumers can buy either an upgrade to Windows XP for $159 (€123) or the Home Premium edition of Vista at $239 (€185), which is intended to be the standard home version. There is a Basic version that lacks home digital media and 3D user interface elements, among other features.
"I think we have a fantastic product for the consumer, but also for all the companies that want to innovate around Vista," Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's chef executive officer, told a launch audience in New York yesterday.
Microsoft and HP said the first Vista was sold preinstalled on a new HP laptop on Monday at 11.01am GMT - in Auckland, New Zealand, where it was already one minute past midnight on Vista's Tuesday launch date.
Analysts say most home users will get their first crack at Vista when they buy a new PC. According to analyst Gartner, only 15 per cent of home can run Vista because of the demands the operating system imposes on hardware.
Analysts and reviewers have generally liked Vista's improved security, reliability and productivity although many security experts have criticised elements of its inbuilt security protection.
Dell chief executive Kevin Rollins, who attended the launch, said Dell was pleased with early orders. He added that two-thirds of customers who bought Dell PCs in the past four months registered for the Vista upgrade.
Vista is unlikely to provoke the excitement and anticipation that came with Windows 95 in 1995 - Microsoft's first major rethink of Windows - when buyers formed queues around computer stores.
