Sports management administrator Spiros Giokaris became one of the first people in Australia to pick up a retail copy of the Windows 7 operating system at a midnight launch at retail giant Harvey Norman (see photo gallery right).
The purchase made Giokaris an instant celebrity among throngs of broadcast media in attendance.
"It's a different experience for the PC," he said."I hope it lives up to the hype."
Giokaris planned to return home immediately following the launch and install it on his Windows XP-based computer.
Another customer on the night, John Connors, said he was an early adopter that "wanted to stay on top of technology."
Door prizes and rebates were also big drawcards for Connors. He had previously attended the midnight launch for Vista where he won "two webcams". Last night his luck continued as he picked up a Navman GPS unit in the door prize draw.
He had taken the day off today to install the new operating system at home.
Prospective customers attended the Harvey Norman store at Alexandria in Sydney's south from 11pm yesterday, taking in demonstrations on new vendor hardware and the launch atmosphere.
One of the more popular demonstrations was of Sony's Windows 7 touch screen PC - a hybrid computer, TV and multimedia hub featuring a full high-definition panel display, digital tuner and wireless mouse and keyboard, among other capabilities.
"I think in the future all your desktop PCs will be touch screen and everything's going to be combined," a Sony sales consultant for Harvey Norman said.
"Since Windows 7 is optimised for touch screen functionality it's pretty much the way it's all going."
Issue: 276 | February, 2010