Hundreds of people braved chilly weather in Tokyo on Monday night and the early hours of Tuesday to be among the first in the world to buy a retail copy of the Windows Vista operating system.Major electronics retailers across the city and specialist PC retailers in the electronics mecca of Akihabara were open at midnight to sell the first copies. At Tsukumo Denki in Akihabara, a crowd of about 200 people had built up around 10 p.m. in anticipation of the launch. An equally large line of people queued at the nearby Yodobashi Camera store, which is Japan’s largest electronics store.Outside Bic Camera in the Yurakucho district of Tokyo, a couple hundred people also waited. Some were there to buy Vista, and others appeared to be office workers on the way home who had stopped to take in the scene and watch the comedy duo the store had hired to entertain those waiting. “I feel great,” said Darren Huston, president and chief executive officer of Microsoft’s Japanese unit, in an interview at 1 a.m. Tuesday, local time, just after Vista went on sale. “It’s a real testament to Japan. I don’t know what other people are coming out on a cold Tuesday night in January to celebrate a new operating system.”Microsoft ran several promotional events in Akihabara up to Tuesday’s launch in an attempt to build buzz for the operating system. The company views the PC enthusiasts who inhabit the districts parts, electronics and hobby stores as influential users who can drive sales among a wider user base. “These are all just anecdotal data points, but the sell-through of Vista Ultimate tonight, it really is the product that is in demand in Akihabara. And it really shows the PC enthusiasts wanting to get the very, very best in their hands,” he said. “Really, just dramatic sell-through and certainly above anything I expected, but they’re a really, really critical audience to test, put their hands on and write their blogs about it and say what they like and they don’t like and give feedback, but as they do that I think they will influence a much bigger community around them.”Japan got a head start on most of the rest of the world due to its position just three hours west of the international dateline and the popularity with which Japanese people often greet the newest products.Vista was due to first go on sale in New Zealand, where All Blacks rugby star Daniel Carter bought the first computer loaded with Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office system and put it up for charity auction. The auction is to benefit Cure Kids, a charity for children with life- threatening illnesses.As of the time of writing—just a couple of hours into the new day—the laptop had attracted 20 bids and the price was sitting at New Zealand $1,250 (US$871). Copies of Windows Vista Ultimate Edition “digitally signed” by Bill Gates had attracted six bids and were at NZ$500.-Martyn Williams, IDG News Service (Tokyo Bureau)Related Links: Microsoft Windows Vista: The OS Has Landed Beyond Vista Windows Vista Holds Clues to Microsoft’s FutureCheck out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content opinion Website spoofing: risks, threats, and mitigation strategies for CIOs In this article, we take a look at how CIOs can tackle website spoofing attacks and the best ways to prevent them. By Yash Mehta Dec 01, 2023 5 mins CIO Cyberattacks Security brandpost Sponsored by Catchpoint Systems Inc. Gain full visibility across the Internet Stack with IPM (Internet Performance Monitoring) Today’s IT systems have more points of failure than ever before. Internet Performance Monitoring provides visibility over external networks and services to mitigate outages. By Neal Weinberg Dec 01, 2023 3 mins IT Operations brandpost Sponsored by Zscaler How customers can save money during periods of economic uncertainty Now is the time to overcome the challenges of perimeter-based architectures and reduce costs with zero trust. By Zscaler Dec 01, 2023 4 mins Security feature LexisNexis rises to the generative AI challenge With generative AI, the legal information services giant faces its most formidable disruptor yet. That’s why CTO Jeff Reihl is embracing and enhancing the technology swiftly to keep in front of the competition. By Paula Rooney Dec 01, 2023 6 mins Generative AI Digital Transformation Cloud Computing Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe