New packaging for Vista and Office

Over at the Windows Vista Team Blog they're showing off some renders of the new retail packaging that Windows Vista and Office 2007 will be shipping in. Is this news? Well... no. But the packages are pretty and clearly show the direction Windows is going in, i.e. away from this and toward this. Says Microsoft's Nick White: "Designed to be user-friendly, the new packaging is a small, hard, plastic container that's designed to protect the software inside for life-long use. It provides a convenient and attractive place for you to permanently store both discs and documentation." Microsoft intends to extend the same style to the rest of its product lines in the coming year.

Check out some bigger pix after the jump.

Update: Reader Don alerts us that Neowin.net has some additional shots, including Vista Ultimate, Home Premium, and Business. I've updated the images above and below the cut to include them.