By the eve of January 29, 2007, Microsoft, along with retail partners and FOXSports.com, will host red-carpet events for sports fans and excited customers. The events will feature DJs and pro football appearances. The program will also include a whole day affair the next day, January 30, to commemorate the release of the consumer editions of the Vista platform and Office 2007.

The line up includes hourly hardware and software giveaways including XBox 360 giveaways from 4 to 7 p.m. local time. And guess what? Participants need not be present to win. There will be Microsoft experts in the stores to provide a hands-on demonstration of the products being released, from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Also, customers can sign up their local K-12 schools for a computer lab makeover worth 25,000 big ones... err, US$ 25,000.

The events will be held in 30 locations across the U.S. Some of the locations will feature a spokesperson from Microsoft who will be available for interview. The locations include:

• New York: Best Buy, 529 5th Ave. (44th St. and 5th Ave.) - with CEO Steve Balmer for interview from 10 a.m.
  
• Los Angeles: CompUSA, Monrovia, California (with Michael Dix for interview)
• Chicago: Circuit City, Schaumburg, III (with Greg Sullivan for interview)
• Philadelphia: Circuit City, Wilmington, Del. (with Barry Goff for interview)
• San Francisco and San Bruno, California: CompUSA (with Dave Wascha for interview)
• Dallas-Fort Worth: CompUSA, Plano, Texas (with Gary Schare for interview)
• Boston: Circuit City, Natick, Massachussetts (with Pete McKiernan for interview)
• Atlanta: Best Buy, Alpharetta, Georgia (with Chris Flores for interview)
• Seattle-Tacoma: Best Buy, Bellevue, Washington (with Kevin Kutz and Brian Marr for interview)
• Houston: CompUSA
• Detroit: Best Buy, Utica, Michigan
• Tampa, Florida: Circuit City
• Phoenix: Best Buy, Glendale, Arizona
• Minneapolis-St. Paul: Best Buy, Richfield, Minnesota
• Ft. Lauderdale-Miami: Circuit City, Coral Springs, Florida
• Cleveland: Best Buy
• Denver: CompUSA, Littleton, Colorado
• St. Louis: Best Buy, Chesterfield, Missouri
• Indianapolis: Best Buy
• Charlotte, North Carolina: Best Buy
• San Diego: Best Buy, Oceanside, California
• Nashville: Circuit City, Franklin, Tennessee
• Kansas City, Mo.: Best Buy, Overland Park, Missouri
• Cincinnati: Best Buy, Springdale, Ohio
• Milwaukee: Best Buy, Wauwatosa, Wisconsin
• Buffalo, New York: Best Buy, Amherst, New York
• New Orleans: Circuit City, Slidell, Louisiana
• Baltimore: Circuit City, Hagerstown, Maryland
• Richmond, Virginia: Circuit City, Glen Allen, Virginia
• Washington, D.C.: Circuit City, Vienna, Virginia