Global release tomorrow for what Gates calls 'best ever' OS
Wednesday, October 24, 2001
By DAN RICHMAN
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
LOS ANGELES -- It's revolutionary, it's extraordinary, it's unprecedented.
Oh, wait. It isn't.
In fact, Windows XP -- due for its gala release tomorrow -- is just one of a dozen Microsoft operating systems released in the company's 25 years.
In an example of how the software industry only disses products it's about to replace, each version is touted as vastly superior to its predecessor.
But don't tell that to the Windows XP zealots here at Microsoft's Professional Developers' Conference, who are busy evangelizing the latest and greatest version of Windows.
Foremost among them is co-founder and Chairman Bill Gates. Addressing about 6,500 developers at the company's annual conference yesterday, Gates ticked off the ways Windows XP trounces both Windows 2000, the company's current business-oriented desktop operating system, and Windows Me, its latest personal operating system.
"It's easier to use, more stable, more secure, provides better privacy, supports photos, music and video, and is the best environment for developing new applications," said Gates, who is also the company's chief software architect. "It's the best operating system we've ever released."
Windows XP is set for national retail release, and a high-profile coming-out party in New York City, tomorrow morning. Seattle will have its own event at 9 a.m.
Computers based on Windows XP have already been shipping for a month. Copies of Windows XP are expected to retail for between $99 and $299.
There are indeed some special features in the new operating system. For one thing, it is the first Microsoft operating system to merge the home and corporate code lines, making writing widely usable programs for it a simpler task..
Although offered in both a home and a professional version, with differing network capabilities, at base the versions are identical. Windows XP also bundles so many capabilities -- among them, improved audio and video editing, built-in instant messaging, and support for recordable optical drives -- that antitrust regulators and competitors complain it's anticompetitive.
Does that make it worth lining up for at midnight tonight? If you think so, you'll have to make an effort.
Those who remember Windows 95, the last operating system to make a big splash, will recall that many retailers offered it at midnight the night before its official release.
But Circuit City stores here won't be open specially tonight. They'll open, as usual, tomorrow at 10 a.m., just as they did for Windows 95, said a manager in the Lynnwood store yesterday. Same with Best Buy stores. But CompUSA in Bellevue will be open tonight from midnight until 2 a.m.
In New York, Mayor Rudy Giuliani will join Bill Gates at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square at 7:30 a.m. PDT tomorrow. A panel of industry leaders will be on hand, including Intel's Craig Barrett, Hewlett-Packard's Carly Fiorina, Gateway's Ted Waitt, Dell Computer's Michael Dell, and Compaq Computer's Michael Capellas.
About 1,500 partners, business and personal customers will be present, lead product manager Mark Croft said yesterday.
Then, three blocks away at Bryant Park, Sting will perform for a crowd that could swell to 500,000. The concert will be begin at 10 a.m. PDT and will be Webcast at music.msn.com
Launch events are also scheduled in Chicago, San Francisco and 60 other American cities. Abroad, events will be held in London, Paris and Tokyo, to name a few. In Seattle, there will be product demonstrations and speeches on the sixth floor of the Washington State Convention and Trade Center between 9 a.m. and 3:45 p.m.
Copies of Windows XP will not be available for sale at the event. The worldwide total budget for tomorrow's launch is $250 million. About 500,000 people, including Microsoft employees, are expected to participate in launch events worldwide.
Windows XP represents a Herculean effort. Between 5,000 and 6,000 Microsoft employees labored for 32 months on the software, writing about 30 million lines of code to produce the final versions, said Jim Allchin, who heads Windows development, when the product was released to PC makers in August. The stakes are correspondingly high. Microsoft hopes Windows XP will reboot PC sales, which have declined this year for the first time since 1986. When Microsoft introduced Windows 95, in August of that year, PC makers saw unit shipments increase 26 percent from the previous quarter, according to International Data Corp.
Few analysts expect those results to recur with Windows XP, which has to counter a saturated domestic PC market and a national economy teetering on recession. But even without expanding the PC market, Windows XP could produce a significant revenue bump for Microsoft, says International Data Corp. It predicts that within 14 months, 66 percent of all Windows sales will be XP sales -- a significantly faster adoption rate than any prior version of Windows, said Microsoft's Croft.
Sounds good. In fact, what could possibly be better than Windows XP? Hint: It's code-named "Longhorn."
Give up? It's the successor to Windows XP, due out in 2003.
"Developers are already at work on it. But we can't say what's in it," spokesman Adam Sohn said.
BUYING WINDOWS XP
Upgrade from Windows 98 or Windows Me to Windows XP Home Edition: $99.
New installation of Home Edition: $199
Upgrade from Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000 to Windows XP Professional Edition: $199.
New installation of Professional Edition: $299.
Source: Microsoft. Estimated retail prices
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P-I reporter Dan Richman can be reached at 206-448-8032 or danrichman@seattlepi.com |
