Windows 7 launches first in NZ

New Zealand computer users were the first in the world to get their hands on Windows 7 this morning.

Hundreds of people descended on events in Auckland and Wellington this morning to mark the world's first launch of Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system.

In Auckland's Queen Elizabeth Square in the CBD throngs of people tried to win Hewlett-Packard computers loaded with the new operating system, given away every 10 minutes throughout the event by All Black captain Richie McCaw.

Others seemed less enthused about a 7am discussion on the immediate future of Windows computing and shuffled past, looking more concerned about where their first flat white was coming from.

McCaw admitted that he hadn't been interviewed about computers "for quite a while" and said that he was probably drafted in on the strength of the number 7 on the back of his shirt.

He says he's been using the Windows 7 predecessor Vista up until now but looks forward to spending more time on the new system.

"It looks really good but haven't a lot of time to play with it just yet," said McCaw, who has signed an HP Pavilion dv7 laptop which will be auctioned on TradeMe, benefiting the Lifeline charity.

Ben Green, Windows 7 business group manager at Microsoft New Zealand said he was pleasantly surprised by the large turnout.

About 10 photographers were perched sniper-like around the square to take a high-res stitched together PhotoSynth image of the event, with members of the public holding up hundreds of umbrellas in the Windows colours of red, green, blue and yellow.

In Wellington's Civic Square a similar exercise was taking place, with a huge Windows 7 sign to be reassembled from 96 metre-square cards held up by members of the public.

"We want to take basically a 3D model of our Windows 7 launch which will be put on Bing Maps later," he said. "We had to do a little bit of geek."

Green has been demonstrating the replacement for Vista to industry members and computer users for the past month and says the reaction has been extremely positive.

"It's a very simple operating system for most users," he explains, "it takes less clicks, is fast and easy to use and it offers much better performance. It delivers a user-experience unlike anything Microsoft has offered before."

Eight million PC users around the world took part in an open test of Windows 7, helping to refine the experience by offering their feedback on its performance and usability.

Michael McLaughlan, an IT professional at this morning's Auckland launch has been using the system for several months and agrees that it is a vast improvement over Vista.

"It's like 17th century versus the 21st century," he said.

New Zealand kicked off Microsoft's global October 22 launch, with hundreds of events planned around the world over the next 24 hours.

- NZ HERALD STAFF