Associated Press
SEATTLE — Microsoft Corp. executives introduced the company’s new Windows XP operating system yesterday, emphasizing its compatibility with digital cameras and music players and the ease with which personal computer users will be able to move files to and from the Internet.
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said Windows XP, which is to be released in the second half of this year, would "meet the demand that the Windows setup be the center" of any personal computing system.
The new operating system allows multiple users to save files on one computer, but keep those files private from others using the same computer. It also allows an authorized person on one computer to access another computer over the Internet, to fix problems. Also with Windows XP, people can access their own computer from another computer through a new remote-access function.
Gates said XP cost more than $1 billion to develop, above the cost of the Windows 2000 system it is based on, but declined to disclose a retail price. It is the first consumer-oriented system to use the more reliable Windows 2000 software code, which was designed for heavier-duty corporate and Internet users.
Rob Enderle, research fellow with Giga Information Systems, said Microsoft’s marketing is similar to the push it gave Windows 95.
But Enderle said the market has changed greatly since 1995. Sales might be hurt by a softening economy and the rising price of electricity in the West, he said.
People are more focused on getting on networks and the Internet, which are relatively slow, Enderle said. "It doesn’t do you any good to have a Ferrari when the speed limit is 20 miles an hour," he said.
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