Okay… I admit it. If it hadn’t have been for the shiny press release that arrived on my doorstep today, I might have actually completely forgotten that today was that day. The day that Vista gets launched and Microsoft realizes they just shipped an operating system which will cost their patching team goodness knows how many million dollars. Nevertheless, there is hope in Vista, the flagship operating system that Microsoft is banking on to take the world forward into the most critical part of computing history yet. The coming years will be not only a test of fate, wit and courage for the Redmond based company, but will also no doubt decide the future face for Microsoft.

Today, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, rang the NASDAQ opening bell along with NASDAQ president and CEO, Robert Greifeld. Supposedly the start of a new era, November 30 has come and gone as quickly as any other day in my memory. Not even a ten page advert in the Metro. A pity really. Microsoft thought that Windows Live Search deserved a quadruple page spread the other day, over the front page, the second page the back page and the second to back page. Hopes obviously aren’t riding high at Vista. As usual though, Microsoft are banking on the businesses to lead the way, suggesting that all business will see their productivity soar with the new operating system in place. If only it were that simple.

Joining Ballmer at NASDAQ MarketSite was Michael Wolf, president and chief oprating officer of MTV Networks. “In the highly competitive and fast-moving media and entertainment industry, our advantage comes from our people,” Wolf said. “These new products provide rich collaboration tools and powerful information-discovery capabilities that will help our employees be more productive and more creative. This will strengthen our competitive edge, and that’s why we’ll deploy the new products to 3,000 desktops in the coming six months.”