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Microsoft Vista and Office Due on November 30

New York City will host the launch of Microsoft's Vista flagship, as well as the new Office, on the last day of November.

"New Day for Business" is the name of the launch, the Nasdaq stock exchange is the location. The invitation read: "This event will mark the business availability of three major releases from Microsoft."

"Launching together for the first time in 10 years, these releases will invigorate the IT industry, while enabling businesses to fully utilize their greatest resource: their people."

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is expected to host the launch of the New York Stock Exchange event, which will be the first time in a decade when all three products (Vista, Office, and Exchange Server 2007) are launched together.

The consumer versions of Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007 are not to be released until January 2007.

In an effort to encourage holiday season PC sales, Microsoft announced it will be offering either free upgrades to Vista or rebates to consumers who buy new hardware bundled with Windows XP, to ensure that sales are not hindered by the much anticipated switch from XP to Vista.