This sounds like a good way to meet nerdy chicks at your local Starbucks.

Whenever Windows Vista computers arrive, they will have their own special way of talking to one another. Microsoft’s new operating system, which won’t arrive for consumers until early next year, has a new collaboration feature that allows laptops to share information with other nearby machines. The underlying technology is known as “People Near Me” and is being used by Microsoft for its own software projects and by other developers. The company has built one program based on it into Vista–Windows MeetingSpace–that lets people share and view files.

The new collaboration tools are among a host of features, topped by improved search and new graphics abilities, that Microsoft is hoping will convince people to either upgrade from Windows XP or buy a new Vista-equipped PC. It had hoped to have the new operating system on store shelves in time for the 2006 holiday season, but is now shooting to be ready for a January mainstream launch.