Shops gearing up for Vista retail launch

Retailers are gearing up for next week's Vista launch but it appears the "midnight madness" will be kept to a minimum.

CompUSA plans to keep its stores open past midnight on 30 January so shoppers can get the new operating system as soon as it goes on sale. Best Buy and Circuit City will each keep a handful of stores open late but most of their stores and those of other retailers are planning normal hours.

That's a far cry from the epic August 1995 launch of Windows 95, when Microsoft managed to get people to line up for blocks to buy its latest release. But that doesn't mean retailers aren't counting on Vista. While the new operating system didn't arrive in time for last year's holiday shopping season, retailers are hoping something special in January might draw buyers at a time that is not.

Carlos Fojo, senior director of technology services for CompUSA, said: "It's a once-in-five-years opportunity to have the [chance] for incremental business. It also gives an opportunity to have an event, to drive extra awareness and extra sales."

Releases of new operating systems may not have quite the same appeal as in years past but Microsoft has a couple of things going for it this time around. First of all, a new version of Office - Office 2007 - is being released at the same time. Also, Vista is hitting store shelves at the same time it lands on new PCs. With Windows XP, the operating system started showing up on PCs in September 2001, while the formal retail launch didn't occur until October. Microsoft did start selling Vista and Office 2007 to large businesses in November.

Retailers will be doing their part. Many are keeping their offers close to their chest but Circuit City vice president Elliot Becker said to expect plenty of cheap PCs and specials drawing people into stores. As is typical, those who buy the new products can anticipate other freebies as well.

CompUSA said it is planning "doorbuster" deals on a variety of add-ons that go well with Vista, such as LCD screens, video cards, memory cards and hard drives.

Best Buy said it has trained 60,000 employees on Vista so workers in every department can help tout the OS' specialised capabilities.

Online stores are also trying to get in on the act. Retailer Amazon.com is hoping to woo enthusiast buyers by offering a limited-edition version of Vista Ultimate Edition that's signed by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates.

Microsoft itself is offering Vista online through its Windows Marketplace software site. That's not expected to be a major source of Windows sales this time around but the company is clearly paying attention to studies that show the majority of consumer software purchases are projected to take place electronically within a few years.

Ina Fried writes for CNET News.com