Avowed computer aficionado Alina Libova said her buddies kept pestering her with questions about Windows Vista, Microsoft's new computer operating system.

So what did the 17-year-old Mountain View High School senior decide to do?

Why, throw a Vista Party, of course.

For 500 people.

With Microsoft picking up the tab.

Registration for the shindig starts at 9:30 a.m. today at Foothill Community College in Los Altos Hills. Experts from Microsoft and elsewhere will lead workshops on topics including how to integrate Vista with mobile devices such as cell phones and how the new operating system can boost the computer game experience.

Alina said the event came together as ``kind of a chain reaction.''

The daughter of a computer architect at Polaris Wireless and a midwife at El Camino Hospital, Alina first met up with Microsoft officials last year while attending an event the company organized. The day was designed so a few dozen high-achieving Bay Area high school students could meet with the company's computer scientists and mathematicians in the hope of maybe someday working for Microsoft.

``I didn't give any specification other than the kids should have an aptitude and interest in math and science,'' said Microsoft media spokesman Doug Free, who said attendees were urged to keep in touch.

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