Bonners Ferry Local Guide including all of Boundary County Idaho

Microsoft Across America Tour marks Vista launch in Boise

Wednesday, January 31, 2007; IDST

The long-awaited Microsoft Vista operating system went on sale Tuesday to consumers nationwide. In Boise, more than 2,000 business owners and information-technology professionals converged on the Boise Centre on The Grove for the Microsoft Across America tour. The tour offered a series of free seminars to introduce Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Office, which includes Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Vista has been offered to businesses since Nov. 30, but became available to consumers only Tuesday. It retails for $100 to $400, depending on the version and whether the user is upgrading from Windows XP. Julia White, director of Microsoft's U.S. Partner Group, said the Boise event was a chance for participants to see the products in action and to ask questions or raise concerns with Microsoft experts. White conceded that Microsoft had been "beaten up" in previous launches because of problems with its operating systems. The software giant doesn't want to repeat that with Vista. "We want to make sure it's a seamless upgrade," White said. The company is touting the improved features of Vista, including better multimedia offerings and better security to protect data from theft. - Full Story