We're still puzzled why Bill Gates passed on the geek capital of the world for the launch of Windows Vista and opted for an event in New York instead. As a reward Silicon Valley has responded to Microsoft's biggest software launch ever... by completely ignoring it.

Microsoft chose Time Square in New York for the official unveiling, but in San Francisco it settled for a basement bound CompUSA computer store in the downtown area. The shop opened its doors at 10pm for a special event featuring San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith. For nerds with jobs, the store opened early this morning at 7am with a special performance by local radio personality Joe Rock.

The nightly opening brought out a small crowd, which reportedly didn't buy more than a dozen of Vista boxes/systems (it went for discounted printers and memory instead). The morning event meanwhile can be described only as a Complete Failure.

30 Jan 2007

We showed up bright and early, hoping to witness a stampede for this revolutionary software, or at least some excited Microsoft fans eagerly waiting to get a copy of the first new Windows operating system in more than five years.

Store shelves were stocked to the rim. Demo machines were finely tuned to show off the next-gen operating system and the staff was ready to pitch their wares. But not a customer in sight.

Maybe it was because many customers were hesitant to migrate to a new and largely unproven Windows version that in many cases requires costly graphic card updates. Or perhaps is a 7am release event just another demonstration of Microsoft's continued misunderstanding of its customers.

Microsoft marketeers resort to Starbucks, as Windows Vista failed to provide any eye-opening experiences this Tuesday morning.