Microsoft system builders offering Vista holiday bundles

System builders -- "white box" PC vendors who build customized systems -- are offering new holiday bundles designed to entice consumers to take the Windows Vista plunge.

As part of its fourth "Buy Local" campaign -- known as the "Consumer Preference Campaign" -- Microsoft is working with its system builder partners to create new digital home, gaming and home-server configurations. Microsoft and its partners plan to focus these new offerings around "some key areas of demand," said John Ball, general manager of Microsoft's U.S. System Builder Partners group.

Microsoft is encouraging its partners to build systems that are aimed at particular "user experiences." Digital-photography-optimized systems come bundled with a photo-inkjet printer, Ball said. Gaming systems feature in a wireless gaming router.

Once customers validate their copies of Vista as "genuine," using Vista's integrated Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) mechanism, they are provided with Bonus Pack Rebate codes they can use to offset the cost of the bundled components.

Microsoft also is encouraging its system-builder partners to offer deals built around the recently shipped Windows Home Server SKU, as well as its Windows Live OneCare, the company's all-in-one consumer security/backup service.

Would any of these new consumer bundles persuade you to give Windows Vista a try? Any other bundles you'd like to see Microsoft and its partners deliver?