Golic and the Geeks

Brooklyn's Best Buy, which proudly bills itself as the "home of the Geek Squad," lived up to its name last week when it stayed open till midnight to start selling the newly arrived shipment of Vista, Microsoft's newest operating system. The long-awaited replacement for Windows XP comes with lots of fun bells and whistles, including a new security system, which designers say can only be hacked by children 14 and older. Brooklyn was one of only 15 Best Buy stores across the country that stayed open for the launch. January 31st was the first day Microsoft allowed the systems to be sold. To entice people to come out in the blistery weather, managers offered free hot dogs and the chance to receive an autograph from former Cleveland Browns player Bob Golic. Of course, this being a geek gathering, the honor of being in the presence of the football great was lost on some people. "Bob who?" asked one technophile. She also passed on the free hotdogs, since she was a vegetarian. But she was super excited about the new Vista system. — Rebecca Meiser