Windows XP ready for manufacturers
| • | New judge named for Microsoft case |
By Allison Linn
Associated Press
REDMOND, Wash. — Microsoft Corp. yesterday released the final code for Windows XP to manufacturers, marking the last production step before the software giant's new operating system can hit the shelves in October.
Associated Press
Five major computer manufacturers picked up their master copies of Windows XP and left the company's Redmond, Wash., headquarters aboard a helicopter bound for Boeing Field in Seattle.
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates holds a master copy of the Windows XP operating system released to PC makers yesterday.
The desktop operating system will now be mass-produced for distribution on new computers and in stores. The home edition will retail for $99 for upgrades to existing versions of Windows, and at $199 for the more extensive professional upgrade.
Microsoft's suggested retail price for upgrading to Windows ME, the most recent operating system for home users, was $109. An upgrade to the professional operating system Windows 2000 was $219. Most retailers offer steep discounts from those suggested prices.
As the party was beginning in Redmond, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia sent the software giant's antitrust case back to a lower court, appointing U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly to decide what penalty Microsoft should face for antitrust violations.
Politicians, competitors and some of the attorneys general who brought suit against Microsoft have charged that with Windows XP, Microsoft continues to use its dominance in the desktop PC market to muscle-out competition. The official signoff virtually eradicates the possibility that Microsoft will tweak Windows XP in response to those concerns.
Competitors and critics also have accused Microsoft of trying to delay the court case — and speed up the Windows XP launch — to get the product out before a penalty is decided.
Jim Allchin, group vice president for Windows at Microsoft, emphatically denied that is the case.
"I've been surprised that people have tried to relate what we're doing to anything in the court case," Allchin said. "We can't turn on a dime. We've been marching down this path for a very long time."
Between 5,000 and 6,000 people have spent the past couple of years working on Windows XP, Allchin said, including many who were up all night Thursday fixing a last-minute bug found in the code. One employee left around 12:15 a.m. because his wife was giving birth and was back in the office by 7 a.m., Allchin said.
Yesterday, the team took the day off for an outdoor party at the company's headquarters. Several programmers dyed their hair green for the occasion.
But after the party, the next huge challenge will begin: selling Windows XP in a much-weakened technology market where demand for personal computers is at its lowest level in years.
Microsoft and many computer makers hope the consumer-friendly Windows XP system will reinvigorate the entire industry. Microsoft plans to spend $200 million over the next four months to market Windows XP, Allchin said.
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates kicked off the publicity yesterday, calling Windows XP "the best operating system Microsoft as ever built."
"I really don't think we can measure (its success) by millions of lines of code, but rather by the things people can do with it and what it's going to do for the industry," Gates said.
