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To: kapkan4u who wrote (49250)	7/27/2001 9:14:10 PM
From: SteveC	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 275872

Windows XP will make a splashy entrance By Bob Keefe American-Statesman West Coast Staff Friday, July 27, 2001 REDMOND, Wash. -- If you thought Microsoft Corp.'s marketing machine was inescapable during past software rollouts, brace yourself. In the next four months, the company plans to spend more than $200 million pushing its new Windows XP operating system, double what it spent on the mega-marketing rollout of Windows 95. Most of that will go to global television and print campaigns, but the world's biggest software company also will spend heavily on promotional events. On Oct. 25, the day the software hits store shelves, Microsoft plans to sponsor parties in 60 cities around the globe. "With consistent messages around the globe, we think we'll hit about 85 percent of our target audience about five times," Jim Allchin, vice president of Microsoft's platforms group, said Thursday at the company's annual meeting with computer industry analysts. Microsoft hasn't said what it will charge for XP, which promises to make everything from computer networking to working with music and video files easier. In November, the company will introduce Xbox, its highly touted entry into the video game console business. Microsoft hasn't yet said how big a marketing splash it plans for that product. But even as Microsoft prepares for its biggest product rollouts in years, it is facing some worrisome uncertainty, including about how consumers and federal regulators will handle privacy concerns associated with XP and other Microsoft initiatives. On Thursday, 13 consumer and privacy groups filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission concerning the Passport feature that will come with every copy of XP. Earlier this week, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said he would seek to block the release of Windows XP unless Microsoft makes it more open to other software companies' applications. Passport and a related technology Microsoft calls Hailstorm are designed to help users move more easily around the Internet and between different computers by letting them create and manage a customized, central database of personal information such as passwords, Social Security numbers, and bank account information. Microsoft claims it already has 100 million registered Passport users, many through its Hotmail e-mail program. But critics charge that Passport and Hailstorm also allow Microsoft -- and potentially other companies and hackers -- to track users' habits and access their private information. Microsoft officials spent much of Thursday trying to convince industry analysts that Passport is secure and that the company will keep users' information safe. XP "is more reliable, more secure" than any operating system Microsoft has ever produced, Allchin said. Nonetheless, the growing storm around Passport is causing questions about whether Microsoft can introduce XP as scheduled. "I think their overarching vision is good, but they've got a lot of roadblocks to getting it all done," said John Meyer of research company Giga Information Group. "The personal privacy issue is going to be a huge one." If the rollout is delayed, it could be a major blow. IDC, another research company, is forecasting about 5 percent growth in PC sales in the fourth quarter from the third. If XP's release is delayed, the growth would probably be just half that, said IDC analyst Roger Kay. "XP is an uncertain proposition for everybody. They don't know what it's going be or when it's going to come out (because of the Schumer inquiry). If that occurs, then all bets are off."

To: kapkan4u who wrote (49250)	7/28/2001 9:30:38 AM
From: niceguy767	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 275872

kapkan4u: In retrospect the signs were definately there for outiders, albeit, much fuzzier in definition than for insiders...In retrospect, there didn't appear to be any fuzz from an insider's perspective in April/May, and for that reason the delayed warning is wholly inexplicable...The delayed warning seems all that much more reprehensible in light of the relatively huge insider sales in May by a relatively small group of insiders...Just doesn't "shine" from my vantage point!