Quote of the day:
"Always be wary of any helpful item that weighs less than its operating manual." -- Terry Pratchett

1. Editor's Note: Call For Participants: What's Your Opinion On Vista?

OK, I realize that most of us have had news/features/reviews/blogs/videos/whatever about Vista pretty much up the wazoo and that a lot of you are thinking, "OK, already. Enough is enough! Just release the operating system to the public, let us decide what's good/bad/indifferent about it, and leave us alone!"

Sorry, folks. It's not quite that simple.

First of all, Microsoft is certainly not going to let you alone. There's going to be a huge--and well-publicized--blowout in New York City on Jan. 29 to which lots of reporters, bloggers, and other media folks are invited so that they can help Microsoft spread the good news.

And then, once this particular rabbit is out of the hat, we're going to see how well it actually operates. How will Vista work for people who buy new computers that come preinstalled with the new operating system? How many people are going to actually go out and buy it? And how many people are going to be reasonably sure that their systems can handle it? All this will not come from the media pundits who have been opining thus far, but from the thousands of users who now have to decide what they want to do.

So what we'd like to do is get a conversation going with some of the people who are actually going to be using Vista--or choosing not to use it. We're looking for corporate managers, IT staffers, small-business owners, and home users who have tried Vista, are thinking about trying it, or, after reading all the reviews, features, and blogs that have been cramming the Web, have decided to (at least for now) leave it alone. We're going to conduct an e-mail roundtable so that people can trade opinions, agree and/or disagree with each other, and let us (and you) know the impression that this brouhaha has left on them.

Are you interested? We're going to pull this together sometime in the next couple of weeks. We're looking for people who will be able to join in the conversation at least two or three times a day over the course of a few days. And, of course, who have an opinion on the matter. If you'd like to volunteer, send me an e-mail at bkrasnoff@cmp.com and let me know. We'll contact possible participants within the next few days.

Barbara Krasnoff
bkrasnoff@cmp.com
www.informationweek.com