Microsoft hypes Vista, Office launch bash

Microsoft plans to mark the business launch of Windows Vista and Office 2007 with an event in New York on 30 November.

The software behemoth also plans to tout the launch of Exchange 2007 at the "New Day for Business" event, to be held at the Nasdaq stock exchange and starring CEO Steve Ballmer.

Both Vista and Office had originally been slated to arrive on store shelves and new PCs in time for this year's holiday season. However, in March, Microsoft said it would delay the mainstream launch of the products until January, with large businesses still having access to the two products this year.

Despite plans to tout Exchange at the event, a Microsoft representative said the code won't actually be finished until December. Businesses will be able to place orders for the software on 1 December, the representative said.

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Microsoft had said the business launch of Vista would take place this month. Until June, Office had been slated to be finalised by October but Microsoft said then that it was being pushed back until some time before the end of the year.

As for Exchange, Microsoft executives had been hoping it would be ready this year but, officially, the company has been slating late this year or early next year as the time frame for its release.

Redmond is looking to generate some additional buzz from the fact its flagship products are arriving at the same time. It said: "Launching together for the first time in 10 years, these releases will invigorate the IT industry, while enabling businesses to fully utilise their greatest resource: their people."

The mainstream launch is still slated to occur in January, at which time Vista and Office 2007 will start showing up on retailers' shelves and on new PCs.

Ina Fried writes for CNET News.com