MS, AMD prepare SA for Vista

By Dave Glazier for Microsoft
Johannesburg, 22 Nov 2006

Microsoft and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) have begun their South African partner roadshow, hoping to give the hundreds of local partner companies the necessary training ahead of the South African Windows Vista launch.

"Microsoft, with AMD as a partner, is pulling out all the stops to ensure local system builders are ready for the launch of Windows Vista," says Jonathan Hatchuel, Windows executive at Microsoft SA.

A first round of the roadshow, comprising technical, sales and marketing training, began last month in Johannesburg, and a new round continues over this week and the next, in Durban, Pretoria, Johannesburg and Cape Town.

The next round of training commences in February, and an AMD spokesman says the goal is to reach some of the smaller regions as well, such as Port Elizabeth, Bloemfontein, East London, Polokwane and Nelspruit.

The debut of Windows Vista and the 2007 release of Microsoft Office will present the greatest opportunity for growth in system builder sales since the launch of Windows 95 and Office for Microsoft Windows 95, says Hatchuel.

"We are delighted to have AMD as a partner in this training - Microsoft has a super-tight, win-win relationship with AMD that spans many years. For example, AMD invented the x64 instruction set which has become the standard for both client and server products at Microsoft," he adds.

Windows Vista is designed to take advantage of AMD's platform features to bring greater benefits to end-users than was possible before, he notes.

Jim Allchin, co-president of Microsoft's platforms and services division, recently said Vista is finally complete, and will be available to retail customers on 30 January.

However, Windows Vista, 2007 Office System and Exchange Server 2007 are expected to be available to local business customers by the end of this month.