Like it or not, Microsoft Vista is now out there, and in spades if only because it a given that it's a given on just about every new PC being sold commercially, like it or not, although as Matt points out here, wiping Vista off of the computer and demanding a EULA-entitled refund is one way around it.

But one aspect which doesn't seem to be getting much, if any, attention is so-called Vista p2p 'People Near Me' (PNM) Collaboration.

It, "allows applications to discover people connected to the local subnet and easily invite them into a collaborative activity," said Bill and the Boyz last year. "People Near Me provides a common user experience for sending and receiving invitations and application programming interfaces (APIs) for discovering people and publishing information."

PNM uses Web Service Discovery to publish a user's "friendly name," computer name, IP address, and the port on which the service is listening and, "Developers can use the People Near Me APIs to collect this information from everyone on the local subnet," says Microsoft. "The Windows Meeting Space invitation dialog box uses the People Near Me APIs to find nearby people and invite them into a meeting."

What's it all about, at length and in detail? Adrian Moore, development manager for the SCADA Vision system developed by ABB Inc in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and a Microsoft MVP for Windows Networking, goes into chapter and verse on the Code Project.

There's also detail on the Windows Peer-to-Peer Networking site.

How much?

So, what's Vista going to cost in Canada? In August last year the Canadian Microsoft site released pricing before it was supposed to.

"Windows Vista Ultimate is listed at $499 Canadian which translates into $450.36 in USD," said neowin.net. "Home Premium is listed at $299 or $269.86 USD, Vista Ultimate Upgrade is priced at $299 or $269.86 USD, while Home Premium Upgrade is $199 or $179.60 USD."

So what's the official CA price? Windows Vista Home Basic is $260, Home Premium, $300 and Vista Ultimate, $500.

Meanwhile, as a p2pnet reader said in a comment post to the Canadian price leak story:

I meant to add my agreement with the first two posters, about there being no truly good reason to upgrade to Vista. I don't care for the activation in XP at all mind you, especially since I format every few months and reinstall the OS (what with being a hardware enthusiast and all), but I'm sure it's not nearly as bad as Vista is going to be, which is going to be chock full of DRM, activation, and user spying schemes.

I've considered Linux, and have even tried the various flavors of Ubuntu here and there occasionally (which are all pretty sweet), but Linux is just not user friendly enough to make the switch permanently. Even if I did, there is still the issue of games, most of which are DirectX these days. I'm a hardcore PC gamer and have been since my Apple II+ days. The possibility of switching to Linux at some point in the near future is why I'm starting to look more closely at console gaming lately. Sadly, the Microsoft Xbox360 I just picked up a few days ago, though a fairly nice improvement over all past consoles, looks way too jaggy, even on my Dell 2405FPW LCD monitor at 1080i (actually 540p-upconvert-to-1080i trick, and why the sold separately VGA cable doesn't allow 1080i). It's going back for a refund soon, and hopefully the Sony PS3 and/or Nintendo Wii will be better.

The ultimate OS would include virtualization, if I understand that term correctly. Being able to run all my Windows applications (including all PC games) on Linux would definitely make me try a lot harder to switch to it. But another problem I have, besides it being not so friendly, is drivers, and this is a big issue for me what with owning four completely different PC's.

As soon as I install Linux, I run into problems regarding non-existent drivers, and especially with getting what drivers there are available installed at all. For example, the Nvidia Forceware ones, which are always the first I try to get installed and working correctly after installing Linux, are a huge pain in the butt, especially since I'm a Linux noob. But, nevertheless, they are a necessity due to my large widescreen LCD monitor. This is exactly the kind of thing that will keep the masses away I think, and why Windows is remains so popular with the average folk (ease of use being the primary reason it's not secure of course, and why linux is secure but a PITA).

So, I'll probably stick with XP Pro for as long as I can, and I have no doubt a lot of other Windows users will try to as well. That is until XP is no longer supported, and Microsoft does all those things they always do to force everyone to move to their newest OS. It is very likely that this will be the breaking point at which I finally move to Linux for good despite the issues I have with it. I do so very hope it's matured enough by then, or I very well may end up with Vista simply because I have no other choice left to me.

Back to the current Vista, New York City DefectiveByDesign members spent their Vista launch day spreading the message that Vista's DRM is a danger to computer users. With them were other Vista non-enthusiasts from BadVista.org.

. Slashdot it!

Also See:
released pricing - Microsoft Vista: $450, August 29, 2006
neowin.net - Vista Ultimate Priced at $450 on Microsoft.com Canada, August 28, 2006