January 30th, the day set by Microsoft for the consumer release of Windows Vista is already upon us... depending on where you live.  If you live in New Zealand, you were in the first market to be able to walk to a store and purchase yourself a copy of the new operating system.  A few hours behind the New Zealanders, comes our friends down under in Australia, and then almost a full day later, those of us in North America will get our chance.

GeekZone has the story of the New Zealand launch event in Auckland.

Most people expect the adoption rate for Windows Vista to largely depend on people purchasing new systems rather than those upgrading older ones.  Well, if you're in that group and were just waiting for your opportunity to order a PC preloaded with Vista, the wait is over.  Dell quietly began selling machines preloaded with Vista this past weekend. 

Now, since Vista is available at retail in various parts of the world, Microsoft has finally flipped the switch on the new, and vastly more informative, Windows Vista Home Page.  Gone is the bleak page featuring only the most brief bits of information about what edition you might theoretically want, replaced by something that might actually be successful at selling the product.  Through this new site you can get an even better idea of what comes on that little DVD that you're getting ready to shell out so much money for. 

Check out the new Vista Home Page.