Today, the Vaio project I’ve been working on kicked off when I handed over the first laptop to the first blogger in the project. The setup of the project is rather simple. There are 10 laptops, and on all of them runs a Vista Ultimate. Besides the Vista, there’s also an Office Ultimate 2007 installed (the complete edition with OneNote, Grooves, and Outlook with Business Contact Manager). Those are the basic tools. The extras I installed are Windows Live Toolbar, Windows Live OneCare (90 day trial, Microsoft points will be sent out later on to have a 12 month subscription) and Windows Live Writer beta.

Other than that I preinstalled the most common web tools like a recent Flash player, a Shockwave player, an Adobe Reader and a QuickTime standalone player without iTunes so that the laptops are really ready to use and the bloggers don’t have to start their experience with downloading all sorts of things.

As an extra, I downloaded all the original drivers and utilities that were installed on the laptop when I got them delivered with the Windows XP on, so that in case of a system problem, the orginal drivers are within reach. I also added all the released Vista compatiblity patches that Sony listed on their site. Everything is working fine, and I only had to install one XP driver, the one for the Mass Storage Controller. There wasn’t a Vista driver for that yet.

In the favorites folder of IE7, I added links to the Vaio Help Center, so the bloggers can check for theirselves if they want to update that driver, but like I said, everything is running smooth, normally there should be no need to reinstall or update the drivers. It’s just a service in the spirit of ‘precaution’.

For the sidebar, I added over 40 gadgets the bloggers can play with, going from Soapbox -, iStockPhoto - and Wikipedia search to a quick-play Media Player and Outlook alerts. The list of gadgets (gadget name + version / creator / description):

• Alarm Clock + 1.1 / link8506 / provides visual feedback when alarm rings
• BarCode Clock + 1.0.0.0 / Loke Uei / cool barcode clock
• Binsearch + 0.0.0.1 / Andrew Haigh / Find the binaries you want
• Bloglines Feeds + 1.0 / Jim Rogers / Keep track of bloglines feeds
• Bubble Wrap + 1.0.0.0 / Tim Blackshirt / Pop! Pop! Pop!
• Color Swatches + 1.0.0.0 / Tim Blackshirt / Slowly changing color combinations (copy RGB values)
• Contacts + 1.0.0.0 / Microsoft Corporation / See list of Windows contacts, search contacts etc
• CPU Meter + 1.0.0.0 / Microsoft Corporation / See current CPU and memory use
• Currency + 1.0.0.0 / Microsoft Corporation / Convert from one currency to another
• Digital World Clock + 1.5 / Sanwar / place multiple clocks, edit the description and timezones
• Empty Space + 2.0.0.0 / All in One Computer Center / make empty space between gadgets
• Feng Shui Gadget + 1.0.1 / Techie Type Guy / Improve your energy flow, Feng Shui your desktop
• FTP Access + 1.0 / Rick Robey / easy to use FTP sever access gadget
• Future Clock + 1.0.0.0 / Mark Van Beek / Modern clock of the future
• Gmail checker + 1.1.0.0 / Jack Chapple / checks your Gmail account for new email periodically
• Gmail Inbox Reader + 1.0.0.0 / Microsoft Corporation / Stay up to date on your Gmail inbox
• Gmail Quick Login + 1.0 / Justin Vaillancourt / Allows you to quickly login to Gmail
• Google Search Bar + 1.1.0.0 / Tijl Deneut / Search google for text or images
• IP Config + 1.0 / Vinod Unny / Displays your machine’s IP Address info
• iSee + 3.0 / Herman Amiune / Sidebar access to last YouTube, Google Videos and iTunes podcasts
• iStat Battery + 1.01 / iSlayer / Monitor battery usage
• iStockphoto Search + 1.0 / François Sachs / Search for stockphotos on istockphotos.com
• Live Messenger Gadget + 0.5 / Gary Zhao / Chat from the sidebar, see status of friends
• Live Search + 1.0.0.0 / Ross Dargan / Search the web using Live.com
• Live Search Maps + 1.0.0.0 / Microsoft Corporation / Monitor Traffic Flow in your area (US)
• Magic 8-Ball + 0.5 / B. Rasmussen / Can’t decide or problems prediciting the future? The Magic Ball has it all!
• Memory Meter + 1.0 / SFkilla / Show memery stats (used, total, available), has 33 skins
• Notes + 1.0.0.0 / Microsoft Corporation / Sticky notes – Post-its for the sidebar
• Outlook Info + 1.5.5 / Kelly Daamen / number of unread mail, upcoming appointments and tasks
• Outlook Tasks + 1.0.121.0 / Microsoft Corporation / See your daily tasks
• Phone Notify + 1.0.0.0 / CDYNE Corporation / Calls any phone in US + Canada and speaks the text you type
• Picture Puzzle + 1.0.0.0 / Microsoft Corporation / Basic sliding puzzle
• Polaroid + 1.6.0.0 / Jonathan Abbott / place photos on your desktop, with some basic editing functions
• Run Program + 1.0.0.1 / Dima / type the name of a program, document, folder or internet resource and open it
• Say It! + 1.0.0.0 / LiveGadgets.net / Enjoy mindless fun listening to your computer swear
• Sidebar Pong + 1.0 / SJB / Sidebar Pong
• SlideShow 1.0.0.0 / Microsoft Corporation / show a continuous slide of your pictures
• Soapbox on MSN Video Search + 1.0.0.0 / Todd Ostermeier / Search for videos on MSN Video
• Sphere Timer + 1.0.0.0 / Rogério Tomio Hirooka / Absolute TimeControl: clock-alarm-count-chrono
• Stocks + 1.0.0.0 / Microsoft Corporation / Monitor your favorite stocks
• Systran Gadget + 1.0.7 / Systran / Translator and dictionary for 14 languages
• Terror Alert + 0.0.0.1 / Benjamin F. Beideman / Displays the current Homeland Security Advisory level
• TwentyFourClock + 0.1 / Rick Martinez / Tells the current time, 24 style (from the tv series)
• Unread Live Mail + 1.0 / Lawrence James / view unread mail items in Lever Messenger account
• Voodoo Doll + 1.0.0.0 / Team Blackshirt / Don’t get mad, get evil ! Mwahahahaha…
• Weather + 1.0.0.0 / Microsoft Corporation / Weather from around the world
• Wikipedia + 1.0 / Eric Malamisura / Search Wikipedia for info
• Windows Media Player Gadget + 2.0 / David Thompson / Play files without opening WinMP

The purpose of this campaign is to collect feedback from bloggers with different social backgrounds, who also have different professional needs and different private needs when they use ‘our’ technology and software. Bloggers from all over Europe have been selected to participate, from Denmark, UK, Ireland, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Spain… Obviously ‘we’ aimed for influential bloggers with a rather large audience in the hopes they would write about their experience with Vista, Office and the Live services. However, the bloggers are not committed to write anything. It’s not an exchange of goods for buzz or services. They are free to write what they want and if they want.

The big difference with the Ferarri campaign that ran in the US is that in this case, a personal line of communication is established between the bloggers and myself BEFORE the products are shipped, that I will ping them on a regular basis (every 2 or 3 weeks) for the coming months to help them out should anything happen or should they have questions. I will collect the feedback online through email and by following their blogs and offline as well, through meetings and phone calls, to stay in touch with them. I personally send out the laptops with my cell phone number and email address included, not some marketing agency with a call center or a ‘hold’ button, and the bloggers know exactly what ‘we’ (as Microsoft) expect when they sign up for the project. Only bloggers who have agreed to be part of this project will receive a laptop.

Starting next week on Monday, the shipping begins! I’m so excited! I really hope all goes well…