WinInsider

Microsoft designed Windows XP--from its inception--to be extensible and easily updateable, ensuring that users always have access to the latest security fixes, new features, and other product updates. So with today's public launch of XP, Microsoft is unleashing a wide range of XP product updates, available from the Windows Update Web site, that enhance and expand your out-of-the-box experience. "One of the advantages of Windows XP is its ability to be dynamically updated--giving users updates without making them wait between service packs or for the next version," a Microsoft representative told me yesterday. "[Today's] launch demonstrates this capability: Even as the product is becoming available to users for the first time, a variety of updates are already available."

Microsoft on Thursday officially launched Windows XP, the newest version of its operating system and what could be the company's most important product in more than six years. The long-anticipated operating system, which Microsoft said improves performance, reliability and ease of use, is available at retail as of Thursday. Microsoft ushered in Windows XP with a lavish extravaganza in New York on Thursday. Microsoft, chipmaker Intel and PC makers combined, are expected to spend more than $1 billion on marketing for Windows XP. Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates accompanied by PC industry executives and New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani announced Windows XP at Times Square's Marriott Marquis Theatre.

Windows XP will not surpass previous versions of the operating system for at least two more years, market researcher Gartner predicted Wednesday. Windows XP, set to arrive on store shelves Thursday, will dominate business PCs in 2003 and home PCs in 2004, Gartner said in a new report. The report paints a sobering picture for Microsoft, PC makers or anyone else expecting Windows sales to take off with XP the way they did with Windows 95 six years ago. Despite rich new features for the two versions of XP--Home for consumers and Professional for businesses--most users won't switch operating systems until they buy new PCs, Gartner said.

Can lightning strike the same place twice? Maybe it will for Microsoft. In an announcement with eerie similarities to Microsoft's first major salvo in the browser wars, the software giant revealed Wednesday that 150 companies will support Windows XP's media technology and formats. The deals, announced on the eve of the operating system's launch, could help Microsoft's ongoing battle with streaming-media rival RealNetworks and the MP3 digital music format. Microsoft's roster of supporters lacks marquee names such as AOL Time Warner and Walt Disney, but nevertheless cuts a wide swath across the computer, Internet and entertainment industries. Partners planning to build products or deliver services specifically around digital media technologies found in Windows XP include AMG, Aiwa, CinemaNow, Compaq Computer, Kenwood, Pressplay and Sonicblue.

The newly assigned judge who will determine the antitrust fate of Microsoft Corp. sold stock this year worth $45,000 to $165,000 in technology companies whose fortunes could be affected by her verdict. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sold all her family's technology holdings between Jan. 1 and Sept. 28 to avoid potential ethical conflicts, she said in response to questions from The Associated Press. Kollar-Kotelly sold the shares in the midst of a serious slump in the technology sector - the Nasdaq composite index is down roughly 31 percent since January - but her losses would be less if she sold the stock early in the year.

Excite@Home said Wednesday that AT&T removed four executives from the troubled high-speed Internet service provider's board of directors and relinquished its rights to replace them. An AT&T representative said Wednesday that the board members were removed to avoid a conflict of interest since the telecom company is bidding for Excite@Home's assets. The AT&T executives who left the board effective Oct. 1 are Chief Executive C. Michael Armstrong; Frank Ianna, president of AT&T network services; Chief Financial Officer Charles H. Noski; and Daniel E. Somers, who was replaced as CEO of AT&T Broadband on Tuesday by William Schleyer, a former Media One executive.

Thursday's launch of Microsoft's Windows XP operating system promises to be the most hyped software product introduction in memory. In the British capital alone, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will hit more stops than a campaigning politician Thursday morning, greeting the press and public at stops at the Royal Festival Hall and along London's famed Oxford Street shopping district. Ballmer's aim is to ensure that the $250 million Microsoft and its business partners are spending to promote the new computer operating system is money well spent.

Microsoft Corp.'s Windows XP, to be launched this week, will be better able to fend off the hackers and viruses that have successfully breached previous versions of Windows, analysts say. The Internet Connection Firewall will enable people with high-speed cable or digital subscriber line connections, which are more susceptible to hacking because of their perpetual Internet connections, to be "invisible" on the Web, said Mark Croft, lead product manager for Windows XP. The fundamental architecture of the operating system has also been "hardened," or made more secure, according to Croft and analysts.

In its first major attempt at pushing .NET to developers, Microsoft pulled out all the stops this week at its Professional Developers Conference (PDC) in Los Angeles, telling the 6800 attendees that they were key to the company's Web services future. Microsoft introduced a wide range of information about the .NET technologies Tuesday, including new security features, features for consumers and businesses, and how it will integrate with non-PC devices such as cell phones and PDAs. The company also rolled out a near final version of Visual Studio .NET, its upcoming developer suite.

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. Again. Actually, we all already knew that the Big One, Blackcomb, has been knocked back in the general direction of 2005, and we already knew that the interim XP+1, Longhorn, was 2003, but Bill saying it - or something pretty close to it, anyway - is confirmation that it's going quiet for a while, and there will be no interim release next year.