“Twelve years ago, Microsoft introduced a new operating system, Windows 95, in a frenzied global marketing blitz that was unlike anything the industry had ever seen,” say Jeremy Peters and Thomas Crampton in an article today in the International Herald Tribune’s Tech section. “But Tuesday, shortly after midnight, when Microsoft put its latest Windows successor, Vista, on sale, there was considerably less hoopla.”

“The lights on the Empire State Building were not changed to hues of Microsoft red, yellow and green. The lines at stores were much shorter. In many ways, the change reflects how much Microsoft’s influence in the computer technology marketplace has faded as the fortunes of rivals like Google and Apple have grown. … ”