Vista debuts, but outlook unclear

Microsoft released the long-awaited new versions of Windows and Office to large business customers yesterday and trotted out some of the big-name companies planning to use the software.

But now comes the real challenge - getting the rest of the business world to follow suit, reports the Seattle Post Intelligencer.

At a launch event in New York City, Microsoft marked the availability of Windows Vista and the 2007 Office System for businesses that buy software through its volume-licensing programme. For Windows Vista, the moment was a long time in the making, five years after the release of Windows XP.

An astronomical instrument built by the ancient Greeks in the second century BC has turned out to be a complex computer for calculating the relative position of the sun, the moon and the planets, says the New Zealand Herald.

Scientists studying the internal workings of the machine using a sophisticated medical scanner have concluded it was at least a thousand years ahead of its time.

The Antikythera Mechanism was recovered from a Roman shipwreck at the turn of the last century, but its precise function was little understood because it was broken into 82 incomplete fragments.

Electronic Arts (EA) CEO Larry Probst believes that just 200 000 PlayStation 3 units made it to the US for the console's launch - half the number promised by Sony, writes Eurogamer.

Speaking at the Reuters Media Summit, Probst said EA previously assumed the shipment figure would be lower than the 400 000 unit target set by Sony. However, he said: "Where they ended up was a bit of a surprise."

Sony has repeatedly stated that new shipments are being sent to the US on a continuous basis, and Probst predicted that between 500 000 and 800 000 units will have been shipped to the US by the end of the year. "We think they'll get into that range," he stated.

Microsoft's Zune portable audio player may not exactly be setting the sales charts ablaze, but it did make a respectable showing during its first few weeks on the market.

According to market research firm NPD Group, the Zune managed to capture second place in the digital audio player market in its first four days of availability, reports DailyTech.

For its first week, the Zune managed to grab 9% of the market, according to NPD. "Considering it is a new brand, it's a very good first-week showing," said Ross Rubin of NPD Group.