For Better or Worse, New Windows Takes on Web
Tuesday June 12 2:32 PM ET
news.yahoo.com
By Scott Hillis
SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) is
known for packing more and more features into its Windows operating
system, and the upcoming version, Windows XP (news - web sites),
promises to live up to that precedent with a host of Web-oriented
goodies.
But those same features, which include a supercharged instant message service, a high-quality media
player, and dynamic links shown on Web pages, have left some rivals and industry observers crying
foul.
Windows XP is not due out until October, but Microsoft has already stirred up complaints that by
bundling in new capabilities it is repeating the kind of anti-competitive behavior that landed it in hot
water with the U.S. government.
The software giant says XP will give customers more bang for their buck and that it needs to keep
adding to Windows to stay relevant in the fast-changing technology marketplace.
The most significant upgrade to the consumer line since Windows 95 six years ago, XP is based on the
same programming technology used in Windows 2000 (news - web sites), the business operating
system that won praise for its stability and security.
That should mean relief for home users fed up with frequent encounters with ``the blue screen of
death'', jargon for the system crash warning spit out by the so-called Windows 9x group of products
that include Windows 95, 98, and Me.
``It's a huge release, being the first release of a consumer operating system not based on 9x,'' said
David Smith, an analyst with Gartner Group, a technology consultancy.
WINDOWS MAKEOVER
Microsoft seems to have embarked on a focus group binge, drastically reworking the look and feel of
Windows.
It has erased almost all icons from the main screen, and has ditched the default green background in
favor of a soothing desert landscape. Users can add icons if they want.
``We're really cleaning up and taking away some of the clutter and confusion,'' said Shawn Sanford,
group product manager for Windows. ``We really want to give power back to the user to configure the
thing.''
Most applications will be accessed through the familiar ''start'' button in the lower left-hand corner. But
this start button is also smart: it keeps track of which programs are used most, and tucks less-used
ones in a secondary menu.
Another change is that many actions once accessed by right-clicking the mouse are now displayed
automatically in a pane left of the main window. So if a user opens a picture, the pane shows options
for printing, e-mailing, and other actions.
``I think it's going be successful in that it's something that consumers are going to be able to use,'' Smith
said.
TAKING AIM AT AIM
But Microsoft has also spiced up the Windows soup with new ingredients, some of which aren't sitting
well with rivals.
Such add-ons now receive intense scrutiny, a result of Microsoft's antitrust battle in which it is
appealing a federal judge's ruling that the company abused its Windows monopoly by tying its Internet
Explorer Web browser to its operating system, thereby unfairly competing with rival Netscape.
``Those changes (in XP) are causing a firestorm among those quick to point out anti-competitive
practices,'' Smith said.
XP's biggest addition is an instant messaging program called Windows Messenger, which supercharges
Microsoft's current software for sending short notes in real time over the Internet with video and voice
capabilities.
The move clearly targets AOL-Time Warner Inc.'s (NYSE:AOL - news) AOL Instant Messenger
(AIM), which dominates the key U.S. market but has seen Microsoft's service gain ground.
``That is very much a preemptive strike on AOL,'' Smith said, noting that as one condition of its $106
billion purchase of Time Warner, AOL promised to make AIM interoperable with other services if it
added major new features such as video.
``So Microsoft raises the bar, and if AOL jumps over the bar and offers video, they will be under
scrutiny,'' Smith said.
Microsoft is also swinging at rivals in digital media.
Last year, Microsoft declared war on RealNetworks Inc. (NasdaqNM:RNWK - news), the top
maker of software for playing audio and video on a PC, when it included its own new player in
Windows Me.
In XP, the Windows Media Player is beefed up with Microsoft's latest codecs, shorthand for
``compression-decompression'', or the technology for shrinking video and music into a smaller package
so it can be sent quickly over the Web.
But what has some competitors up in arms is that consumers will have to buy XP to get the latest
player, a tactic they maintain is like Windows and Internet Explorer because it conditions the sale of
one product on another.
Microsoft says people who use earlier versions of the media player can update their software with the
new codecs.
ARE SMART TAGS A DUMB IDEA?
A trickier issue surfaced recently when it was discovered that Microsoft is including a technology called
``smart tags'' in a new version of the Explorer browser that will also be in XP.
Microsoft made a big deal about smart tags in its other money-spinner, the Office package of
productivity software. Office uses smart tags so users can easily add data from the Web to documents
they are working on.
For instance, if someone types ``MSFT'', the ticker symbol for Microsoft, a small icon appears next to
it. Clicking on the icon shows options such as getting a stock quote.
Although it hadn't publicized the fact, Microsoft also put smart tags in the latest test version of
Explorer, though they were turned off by default.
When activated, the browser highlights certain words on a Web page. Clicking on a word opens a new
window to a different Web site -- potentially a Microsoft one such as its MoneyCentral finance site or
Expedia travel service -- with information about that word.
Smart tags were denounced by Walter Mossberg, a widely followed technology reviewer for the Wall
Street Journal who blasted their use in the browser as ``dangerous'' and a threat to the editorial
integrity of Web sites.
Microsoft's Sanford said several things in the company's defense. First, smart tags will be turned off by
default. Second, Microsoft will not control smart tag development. Other companies can write smart
tags to do different things, such as linking to a dictionary of medical or pharmaceutical terms. Third,
users can choose which tags they want to install.
``Of all the things in XP I thought might be firestarters, smart tags wasn't one of them,'' Sanford said.
``The point on this is that users are making the choice.''
Sanford said in the end, XP is simply trying to keep up with new trends and an insatiable appetite for
more features.
``They (consumers) are ready and want more. The more you deliver the more they want. If you take
your eye off the ball you miss an opportunity,'' Sanford said. |
