Windows XP - the overview

Windows XP is nearly upon us. After months of discussing the rights and wrongs of product activation, bundling, desktop icons and licensing policies the next incarnation of the well-loved operating system is about to hit the shelves/your wallet (delete as applicable) on 25 October.

The desktop system promises a whole host of new features including support for digital photography, music, video and DVDs - all written on the Windows 2000 code base. Yet controversy already surrounds the fact that support for many of the multimedia features will be included in later fixes.

In another controversial move Microsoft has decided to drop Java. It's a move that proved so unpopular with PC vendors they immediately made provisions to include Java Virtual Machines (JVMs) so users can run Java applets.

A big crowd pleaser promises to be the built in security including free personal firewalls and an encryption system. Security vendors are not so pleased, and claim many users won't trust the software to do the job properly.

However, silicon.com readers are far from enthused at the prospect of yet another upgrade.

"I spent considerable sums of money training my staff to MSCE standard in NT4. One was immediately poached the others have so far remained loyal. We need to consolidate our NT4 expertise and I cannot afford either the time or the money to upgrade. I'll be sticking to NT4 for at least another three more years," said one silicon.com user.

For many users Windows XP will have little effect on company strategy over the next two years. At this year's IT Directors Forum, the OS was a hot topic of conversation but few expressed plans to roll it out.

Speaking at the time, Steve Jones, head of IT at the National Gallery, claimed XP is something his organisation did not need or want. Cost and the effort involved in upgrading were his primary reasons for remaining on Windows 2000.

But he was resigned to the fact that considering the dearth of alternatives, an upgrade at some stage is a forgone conclusion.

However, one user claimed his company will hold out for as long as possible and is looking to move towards a Linux-based operating system. He said: "The cost, both in real money and time spent patching, fixing and generally wet nursing Microsoft operating systems and applications is really ridiculous."

Martha Bennett, VP at analyst house Giga, said there is a distinct sense of "the troops revolting" right now. People are saying they have had enough of endless upgrade cycles and the related expense involved with them.

But businesses are not the only ones up in arms. Consumers have also reached for their pitchforks.

Organisations including the Federation of America and the Consumers Union are considering launching an assault on Windows claiming it restricts user choice. Privacy groups have also joined the furore and filed a complaint to the US Federal Trade Commission about Microsoft's Passport service. It claims Microsoft has built in features into XP that allow it to track users - and not always in ways that simply make web services easier.

Yet in their defence Microsoft does have a whole bunch of user references praising the system for not being as buggy - read crashing less frequently - than its predecessors.

Phrases like amazingly stable, robust and less buggy litter the user testimonials. There is a tone of bemusement that the software behemoth actually managed to produce something that doesn't require continual rebooting. One over-enthused user even called it "the bee's knees".

To Bill Gates' credit his company delivered the ceremonial gold disks to PC vendors such as Compaq, Dell and HP a week ahead of schedule. It was an unprecedented move.

The commemorative disks winged their way via helicopter to the offices of Cappellas, Dell and Fiorina in plenty of time to enable the CEOs to greet the Christmas present buying frenzy.

The more cynical might claim the OS was rushed out to avoid any possible delay due to legal challenges from either US or European courts. Windows XP offers a number of bundled features including Internet Explorer and Media Player while acting as gateway to .NET - another controversial topic.

All these problems - and that's not to mention the outcry from the Infrastructure Forum over the alleged 'Windows tax' issue that arose after Microsoft changed its licensing policy, or the dumping of smart tagging following shouts of disapproval.

So who are the winners and losers? The users and the users. 'Ease of use at a price', should be this product's marketing tag line.