Microsoft Paving Way for Vista

As the major release of Vista approaches, Microsoft has officially announced that it will be buying back $16.2 billion worth of its stock by June of 2011. The move comes just hours after the close of its first tender, which included 155 million shares at a rate of $3.6 billion. All of these moves are said to be for the sole purpose of stimulating a rather dormant stock in the quiet moments before the release of Microsoft's anxiously awaited Vista.

By officially adding the $16.2 billion buyback to its stock plans, Microsoft has now grown its total future expenditure to $36 billion. The move shows investors that despite some recent controversy (like the Windows Genuine Advantage, plus antitrust fines) and a rather sluggish stock, that Microsoft is serious about making the coming period and its new operating system a success. (Source: betanews.com)

The move comes at the same time as some of the first screenshots of Vista are becoming available to the public. Viewers can now see screens of the new system's start menu, first boot, and control panel, all of which display the abundance of new Windows Live features and an array of general visual upgrades. (Source: microsoft-watch.com)

Clearly, Vista emphasizes Microsoft's recent interest in both customization and personalization as well as security issues. All of these concerns can be quickly and easily accessed -- it appears from this recent build (5506) -- from the control panel.

In addition, the start menu being shown in these recent shots displays the multimedia and micro-management abilities of the new operating system, including a Movie Maker and a reminder option called "sticky notes". You can check out some of these screens by clicking here for a series of slides by eweek.com.

Without a doubt, the most recent news on Microsoft is going to get both stock and tech junkies talking. With Vista just over the horizon, that's exactly what the Redmond-based company wants.