January 2007 - Posts
Calling all parents, students and administrators
Learn how Windows Vista makes computing easier, safer and more entertaining with built-in controls designed to provide greater peace of mind and confidence in managing PC usage.
Spread the word - increase the odds of your school winning
Visit the designated store location in your area on January 30, 2007 between 3:00-7:00 p.m. local time and enter your school for a chance to win a computer lab worth $25,000. Share this information with your friends, parents and teachers to increase the odds of your school winning. One lucky school at each participating retail location will win a computer lab. See official rules more information.
Bonus: Four Xbox 360 consoles will be awarded in-store to individuals (one per hour between 4:00-7:00 p.m. local time).
Windows Vista. The Wow Starts Now!
Participating store locations
Arizona
▪ Phoenix - Best Buy, 8290 W Bell Road, Glendale, AZ 85308
California
▪ Los Angeles - Comp USA, 745 West Huntington Dr, Monrovia, CA 91016
▪ Oakland - Comp USA, 1250 El Camino Real #m3, San Bruno, CA 94066
▪ San Diego - Best Buy, 5151 Mission Center Rd, San Diego, CA 92108
▪ San Francisco - Comp USA, 750 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94102
Colorado
▪ Denver - Comp USA, 8691 Park Meadows Center Dr, Littleton, CO 80124
Delaware
▪ Philadelphia - Circuit City, 4130 Concord Pike, Wilmington, DE 19803
Florida
▪ Miami - Circuit City, 6001 West Sample Road, Coral Springs, FL 33067
▪ Miami - Staples, 8811 SW 107th Avenue, Miami, FL 33176
▪ Tampa - Circuit City, 18061 Highwoods Preserve, Tampa, FL 33647
Georgia
▪ Atlanta - Best Buy, 975 N Point Drive, Alpharetta, GA 30005
Illinois
▪ Chicago - Circuit City, 1420 East Golf Road, Schaumburg, IL 60173
Indiana
▪ Indianapolis - Best Buy, 5820 E 82nd St, Indianapolis, IN 46250
Kansas
▪ Kansas City - Best Buy, 9301 Quivira Rd, Overland Park, KS 66124
Kentucky
▪ Cincinnati - Best Buy, 100 Meijer Drive, Florence, KY 41042
Louisiana
▪ New Orleans - Circuit City, 61119 Airport Road, Slidell, LA 70460
Maryland
▪ Baltimore - Circuit City, 17766 Garland Groh Blvd, Hagerstown, MD 21740
Massachusetts
▪ Boston - Circuit City, 1398 Worcester St, Natick, MA 01760
Michigan
▪ Detroit - Best Buy, 45520 Utica Park Blvd, Utica, MI 48315
Minnesota
▪ Minneapolis - Best Buy, 1000 W 78th Street, Richfield, MN 55423
Missouri
▪ St. Louis - Best Buy, 178 Thf Blvd, Chesterfield, MO 63005
Ohio
▪ Cleveland - Best Buy, 7400 Brookpark Road, Cleveland, OH 44129
New York
▪ Buffalo - Best Buy, J107 Walden Galleria, Cheektowaga, NY 14225
▪ New York City - Best Buy, 529 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10017
▪ New York City - J & R, 15 Park Row, New York, NY 10038
▪ New York City - Staples, 1065 Avenue of Americas, New York, NY 10018
North Carolina
▪ Charlotte - Best Buy, 8813 JW Clay Blvd, Charlotte, NC 28262
Tennessee
▪ Nashville - Circuit City, 545 Cool Springs Blvd, Franklin, TN 37067
Texas
▪ Dallas - Comp USA, 721 Central Expressway, Plano, TX 75075
▪ Houston - Comp USA, 5000 Westheimer, Ste 500, Houston, TX 77057
Virginia
▪ Richmond - Circuit City, 11732 West Broad Street, Glen Allen, VA 23233
▪ Washington, DC - Circuit City, 8520 C Leesburg Pike #3735, Vienna, VA 22182
Washington
▪ Seattle - Best Buy, 457 120th Ave NE, Bellevue, WA 98005
Wisconsin
▪ Milwaukee - Best Buy, 2401 N Mayfair Rd, Wauwatosa, WI 53226
Microsoft intends that the use of its products awarded as part of this contest comply with applicable federal, state, and local government gift and ethics rules. If you are a government employee (including an employee of a public education institution), Microsoft products may be used solely for the benefit of your agency/institution, and not for the personal use or benefit of any individual. You should consult with your agency/institution counsel or ethics officer prior to entering the contest and using such products. You may return Microsoft products to Microsoft at its expense.
Vista Won't Add To PC Prices
At some e-retailers, the price of versions of Vista being sold to smaller computer makers is on average $10 more than comparable versions of Windows XP.
By
Gregg KeizerInformationWeek Jan 23, 2007 03:20 PM
Online retailers have marked OEM editions of Microsoft's Windows Vista with price tags close to those for Windows XP, backing up an analyst's prediction that the new operating system won't add to the cost of computers debuting with the software next week.
At such e-retailers as Newegg.com, the price of so-called OEM editions of Vista -- those sold to smaller-scale system builders as opposed to large computer makers like Dell or Hewlett-Packard -- are on average $10 more than comparable versions of Windows XP. The OEM price for Vista Home Basic, for example, is $100, while Windows XP Home costs $90. Vista Premium ($120) and Vista Business ($150) also compare closely with their XP cousins, Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 ($110) and Windows XP Professional ($140). OEM it stands for original equipment manufacturer.
"No, Vista won't add to the price of PCs," says George Shiffler, a research director at Gartner who tracks PC prices and sales numbers. "Prices will, in fact, fall, but that's forged by larger forces in the market, such as saturation and an attempt to expand the market, not Vista."
One of the exceptions to that rule will likely be computers with Vista Ultimate preinstalled; there is no Windows XP comparable for Ultimate, which sells in an OEM edition at Newegg.com for $200, 33% more than the next-lower-priced version, Vista Business.
PC makers, who will put Vista systems on sale in retail and online starting Jan. 30, have not disclosed pricing for those machines.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=196903020&subSection=Breaking+News
Ensure your applications are compatible with the Windows Vista operating system and the 2007 Microsoft Office system. Get your 2007 Office release solutions to market faster and more cost-effectively. Qualify your applications for the "Certified for Windows Vista" logo, and take advantage of free certification testing on eligible submissions.
For more details: http://microsoft.mrmpslc.com/InnovateOnWindowsVista/Default.aspx?LangType=1033
Date: Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007
Time: 2pm ET / 11am PT
Are you thinking of ways to grow your business? Then this NetSeminar is for you!
According to market research, Resellers and Solution Providers who take advantage of growing segments with both small and large deals are proven to have better overall profitability.
Join CRN Vice President/Editor Heather Clancy on Tuesday, Jan. 23, at 2pm EST/ 11am PST, for this moderated NetSeminar panel discussion with two growing tech providers along with a Microsoft channel expert.
The panelists will analyze how leaders are setting up their businesses for success around growing segments such as virtualization or storage solutions, while also generating new sales and services in some unexpected and innovative ways that might be relevant to your business. Also learn how technology platform choice is impacting their business.
To register, please visit http://cmpnetseminars.com/TSG/?Q=494&K=1AA1A.
By Ina Fried
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: January 11, 2007, 10:40 AM PST
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update Sales of Windows Vista to businesses were stronger than expected during the operating system's debut month, according to a report from NPD Group.
The sales outpaced the first month's tally for Windows 2000 and only slightly trailed that for Windows XP, the market researcher said Thursday. Commercial revenue from Vista in December was 62.5 percent above that racked up by Windows 2000 in March 2000, its first month after launch. But Vista's total is 3.7 percent below what Microsoft got in the commercial channel for Windows XP in November 2001, its first month on the market.
In addition, the average price of Vista was about 4 percent higher than of Windows 2000 and roughly similar to that of Windows XP, NPD said.
"I think these results could be classified as 'strong,' or at least 'stronger than expected,'" NPD analyst Chris Swenson said in an e-mail interview. "Although Vista dollars were slightly lower than XP dollars in its first full month, I consider Microsoft's December results to be very impressive, given the commercial-only 'soft launch' approach that Microsoft took with the OS."
The results track only U.S. licenses sold indirectly to businesses, through resellers such as Soft Mart, Software Spectrum and CompuCom, Swenson said; NPD does not track software licensed directly from Microsoft. Vista went on sale to businesses at the end of November and should start showing up on new PCs and on retail shelves at the end of this month.
The marketing muscle behind the consumer launch should allow Vista sales to businesses to start eclipsing what Microsoft saw with Windows XP.
"Sometime after January 30, when Microsoft makes Vista available to the general public and ratchets up the marketing campaign, I suspect that we will likely see sales of Vista in the commercial channel begin to meet or surpass levels previously set by XP," Swenson said.
A key question around Vista is how quickly businesses will move to the new operating system. Microsoft has said that a year after Vista's launch, it expects twice the number of business users it had in the first year after Windows XP launched.
Microsoft did not say exactly how many PCs that would be. It did point to figures from analyst firm IDC, which said about 10 percent of business PCs were running Windows XP a year after launch. IDC has said it does not expect 20 percent of businesses to be running Vista in a year's time.
One of the key factors as to whether Microsoft can meet its goal is the pace of sales of new computers for the remainder of the year. Microsoft recently noted that in the unit that sells Windows for laptops and desktops, 80 percent of revenue comes from new PCs.
"Thus, although the commercial software sales figures are a telling indicator of corporate behavior, the real key to predicting the success of the new operating system among businesses will be to look at sales of PCs in the commercial channel over the next few months," Swenson said.
Ultimate popularity
Swenson noted that not many businesses opted for Windows Vista Ultimate Edition--not terribly surprising, since the ultrahigh-end version is targeted mainly at consumers.
However, he also noted that buying Ultimate is "the only way a small business can get their hands on one of the most compelling features of the new operating system: the new BitLocker security feature that fully encrypts an OS volume, similar in some respects to Apple's FileVault."
Now on News.com:
BitLocker is also available in the Enterprise Edition of Vista, but that is sold only to volume license customers and therefore not an option for most small businesses.
"Assuming Microsoft does a better job of marketing Ultimate to small businesses and other organizations, we might actually see sales of Ultimate increase in the commercial channel over time," he said.
The Microsoft Across America team invites you to host your next event in a technology showroom on wheels. The Microsoft Across America truck is an exciting offering from MicrosoftPartnerEvents.com. Our 42-foot truck is fully equipped with the latest innovations from Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Avery, CardScan, Cisco, Citrix, and Verizon Wireless. From hardware to software, it features state-of-the-art solutions for small and midsize businesses.
Get Ready for a New Day.
Now is the time to create an event that spotlights your own launch of the new Microsoft software solutions, including Windows Vista™ and the 2007 Microsoft® Office system. In addition to our revamped truck, Launch Central provides resources to help you benefit from the rising demand surrounding the new product launches.
As a partner, you can reserve the truck (including driver) at no cost.* For more details, click here. Microsoft also provides:
• A highly trained Microsoft Technology Specialist to assist you with on-board presentations and demonstrations
• A Microsoft Event Manager to assist you with the planning and logistics for your event
• Customizable marketing resources to help you promote your event
This is just one of many unique opportunities available to you through the Microsoft Partner Events website.
Here's what partners are saying about the Microsoft Across America truck:
"We had over 250 people through the truck. From that, we gained 50 new leads."
—Amy Luby, Mobitech
"We received a same-day sale of $20,000."
—Philip Alfrey,
Solid Networks,
Inc.
"Events like this really speak volumes about Microsoft's commitment to its partners."
—Michael Eberhardt,
Intelli-Tech
*As a partner, there is no cost to use the Microsoft Across America truck, but you must agree to pay for any costs associated with hosting the truck for your event, including, but not limited to, permits, parking, security services, show space, food and beverages, and giveaways. You are also responsible for planning and marketing the event. Registration of the trucks is done on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Get the partner-related information you want from Microsoft–manage your Communication Preferences:
1) Sign in to the Microsoft Partner Program website with the Windows Live ID (Passport) used to enroll in the Partner Program
2) From "Your Individual Account Page," choose "Edit Profile"
3) Scroll down to "Your Communication Options," and select your contact preferences for the areas listed
4) To save your preferences, click the checkbox and then select the "Update" button at the bottom of the page
Trouble accessing the Microsoft Partner Program website link?
You may be signed in with a Windows Live ID (Passport) account not associated with your Microsoft Partner Program membership. Sign out of any other Live ID-enabled sites, and then sign in with the credentials used to enroll in the Microsoft Partner Program. If you still can not open the link, please contact our support team. You will receive a response within 24 hours (Monday-Friday, Pacific Time).
Protect Your PC: 4 steps to help ensure your PC is protected Microsoft wants to help ensure your PC is protected from viruses and worms like Mydoom and Blaster, as well as from future threats. Please visit Protect Your Computer and follow these easy steps today:
1. Use an Internet Firewall
2. Update Your Computer
3. Use Up-to-Date Antivirus Software
4. Use antispyware technology
To get more information and resources about how to help protect your PC, go to www.microsoft.com/protect.
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