Windows Archive

Microsoft's next-generation OS is finally here. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is walking the streets of London calling Windows XP the 'no compromise' operating system--both reliable, and compatible while Bill Gates officially launches the product, and what could be the company's most important product in more than six years.

"Down at the bottom of Bill Gates' keynote to the Professional Developers Conference yesterday lies confirmation that the wheels have come off the Windows rollout wagon." TheRegister reports. Windows Longhorn is scheduled for release in 2003, while Blackcomb, which will be the real .NET OS, is scheduled for sometime due to 2005. WindowsXP is not far away though, as the official retail release is due tomorrow.

In an interview with the St Petersburg Times, Microsoft's Steve Ballmer stressed most emphatically (is he ever not emphatic?) that his company is not an "Evil Empire." He says, "I don't think it's right and I think it causes people to make decisions which are not even in their best interest . . . A, we're not evil. B, we're not an empire." A Siliconvalley.com article has the entire interview with Microsoft's energetic CEO.

PC Makers have already begun taking orders for Windows XP machines, though without much fanfare. Even before the terrorist attacks, the weak economy and dismal PC sales numbers have dampened expectations for the XP roll-out, and analysts have not been particularly ebullient about Windows XP's technical prowess, though it has received favoriable reviews. Analysts note that the PC market is very saturated, and that Windows XP is unlikely to spur huge PC sales. Of course, revenues from sales of Windows XP upgrades to existing Windows users are sure to be a boon to Microsoft, but not to the struggling PC industry. An eWeek article has more information.

"Windows XP is more than just a pretty face. This top-to-bottom overhaul of the Windows operating system has something for everyone from families to business users." Read the whole of the exhaustive review of Microsoft's new product over at ZDNet.

News.com is reporting that Microsoft will be announcing two new versions of its PocketPC OS in a few days. The new versions (a high-end and a low-end) will sport an XP-esque look, 802.11 drivers and VPN support. It's all part of Microsoft's strategy to beat Palm in a race to widespread adoption in large corporations.

The company announced that its Windows Advanced Server, Limited Edition, is now available for computers based on Intel's 64-bit Itanium chip. Microsoft said that Compaq Computer, Dell Computer, HP and IBM will start shipping servers running the new operating system within 30 days. The OS is based on the Win2000 codebase, while its 64-bit WindowsXP version will be available next year. In the meantime, Internet Explorer 6 was made available for download yesterday, and it includes several new features. Our Take: While most of the new IE6 features are pretty reduntant for me, the new version fixes an important crashing bug I had with the browser when browsing specific sites (Sourceforge and even Apple to mention a few) that utilized, through javascript, the PC clock. The bug was only reproducible when some special ASP server software was also installed in the same PC (which I had installed). Glad to see at least that specific bug (DLL-hell, to be more specific) go away!

Microsoft announced that its WindowsXP operating system is now complete and that the company will present the final "gold code" version to computer manufacturers today. Windows XP is scheduled for widespread release on October 25th and will be available in several versions: WindowsXP Home Edition will be available as an upgrade for Windows 98/ME users while WindowsXP Professional will be available as an upgrade for Windows 2000/NT users. In the meantime, this month 10 years ago, Linus Torvalds first invited open-source folks to play with his free operating system. Now Linux has grown a lot and it is serious business for giants like IBM, Compaq and HP and competes straight with Microsoft's OS offerings.