Windows 7 Delayed Ship - Intentional?

I blogged back in June, I think it was, that I had participated in a special pre-order opportunity to buy Windows 7 for $49.99. I expected the DVD to be in today's mail, or even yesterday's. First availability was yesterday.

But, at 5:30 PM today I received an e-mail from Amazon informing me that my order had shipped and is expected to arrive at my home on October 28! Now that is what I call a poorly-planned marketing effort. I was actually anxiously awaiting its arrival. Now I get to wait another week.

Microsoft Online Store

Of course today is a big day for Microsoft. Windows 7 is launched today!

I also read where Microsoft is starting to sell PCs online. This is an interesting turn. I thought at first that maybe they were selling their own line of PCs, but they are simply selling the big name brands. It might be worth a visit to their store at http://store.microsoft.com/microsoft/Computers/category/4 if you are now, or will soon be, in the market for a new machine. I have not done any comparison of prices so don't know if they will ever be the low cost supplier.

SeniorNet of Vermont

For my Vermont friends, are you aware of SeniorNet? This is a very valuable resource located within an easy ride to anyone living in Chittenden County, and when I was teaching there we had students who traveled in from other surrounding counties. They found it worth the trip.

SeniorNet is a non-profit staffed entirely by volunteers. It offers low-cost computer courses for seniors 50 and over. (With each passing year I think more and more of 50 year-olds as kids!) Take a look at the wide-ranging menu of courses and seminars offered this coming November. There are some excellent offerings there, being taught by seasoned professionals who love teaching others what they know. You should give SeniorNet a close look and seriously consider registering (online) for a course or seminar.

The SeniorNet web site can be found here: http://seniornetvt.org/

Vista

I worked on 3 customer machines today. All 3 had Vista installed, and were otherwise very nice machines. But if working on 3 Vista machines in one day isn't equivalent to a day in Hell, it surely must be equivalent to a day in Purgatory. Microsoft's Vista is an abomination, and I am thrilled that as of this coming Thursday no one will be sold a new machine with Vista on it.

If you are lucky enough to have an XP machine, keep it running and hang onto it as long as you can.

If you need to buy a new machine, from all accounts I have read the new Windows 7, available on new machines starting Thursday, 10/22, is much better. Even if you have to be a pioneer and be one of the first users, you should be better off.