Microsoft rolled out its new operating system Windows Vista to the Irish business market in Dublin today at an event attended by astronaut Neil Armstrong.
Some 3,000 of Microsoft's customers attended the event at Croke Park. Windows Vista is available to business customers immediately and will be available for home users at the end of January 2007.
In conjunction with the Microsoft launch, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) published a report entitled The New World of Work, examining the changing nature of the workplace.
The report includes interviews with Irish business leaders and examines what the future holds as Ireland moves from a low-cost to a knowledge economy.
Pierre Liautaud, vice president of Microsoft Western Europe, said Ireland had changed "beyond recognition" over the past two decades.