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The most significant product launch in Microsoft’s history culminated with the release of Windows Vista and the 2007 Office System to consumers.

The two flagship products — which were released to business customers on November 30th 2006 —will be available for consumers starting today in retail stores across thirty countries. In India specifically, Original Equipment manufacturers (OEMs) including HCL, HP, Lenovo Sahara, Wipro and Zenith are launching a range of Vista compatible PCs to provide people with the widest range of hardware options.

Windows Vista is available in four consumers editions, starting with the most expensive and feature rich to lesser expensive versions — Windows Vista Ultimate, Windows Home Premium, Windows Vista Home Basic and Windows Vista Starter. At launch Vista is being shipped in 18 languages including Hindi. Among the Indian languages, support for 13 more Indian languages including Telugu and Marathi, is expected by early 2008. Microsoft 2007 Office System with an all new intuitive user interface includes two consumer editions — Office Home & Student 2007 and Office Basic 2007.

According to Microsoft, Vista is priced comparably to Windows XP. For example, Windows Vista Home Basic is priced the same as Windows XP Home. Genuine Windows Vista loaded PCs in India will retail at a starting price of Rs. 22,000 while the pricing for the Microsoft 2007 Office consumer editions starts at Rs. 6000.

There has been a significant involvement in developing the product from Microsoft India Development Centre (MSIDC) and involvement from engineers at the Indian Global Technical Support Centre (GTSC) in the Beta phase of the product.