Good Morning Silicone Valley reports that when Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates appears tonight on “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart, it won’t be for  “Microsoft Spend Your Entire Day Installing Printer Drivers Day” but to plug Windows Vista an hour before its official midnight launch. Seems Microsoft has found wisdom in the words of former “Nightline” anchor Ted Koppel, who once whined, “A lot of television viewers — more, quite frankly, than I’m comfortable with — get their news from the Comedy Channel on a program called ‘The Daily Show.’”

Quite the PR stunt, no? It will be interesting to see how it plays out. Certainly there’s ample room for hijinks; Stewart’s had his way with Microsoft before, and John Hodgman (Apple’s “I’m a PC” guy) is a correspondent on the show…

In other Windows Vista launch news, The Associated Press reports that NBA star LeBron James is slated to make cameo ads for the product.