Windows XP Update Is Ready

Microsoft has delivered the first Service Pack update for Microsoft Windows XP to manufacturers, where it will be put on CDs and sent to PC vendors and premiere Microsoft customers in the next few days.

The update is expected to give end users more control over applications that launch by default on PCs, as well as more-advanced wireless connectivity. Users are expected to be able to download it from Microsoft's Web site by September 9. It will also be available for purchase on a CD for $9.95, says Charmaine Gravning, product manager with Microsoft's Windows division.

Antitrust Compliance

Service packs are a standard element in Microsoft's operating system release cycle. The package of updates for Windows XP, however, is especially notable because it will introduce changes to the operating system that bring Microsoft into compliance with the proposed antitrust settlement. For example, users will be able to manually set the default "middleware" applications that open when Windows XP machines boot up.

The company is required to make the service pack available to all users by November 6 in order to satisfy its proposed antitrust settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice and nine state attorneys general.

Microsoft has built two new tools into the Start menu to help it comply with the proposed settlement deal. One is a function that allows users to add and remove their Microsoft middleware applications. The other is a menu designed to allow users to "set program access and defaults" that specify which middleware applications open by default. For example, instead of launching Internet Explorer to view a Web page, the user could set the default to launch the Netscape browser; or the user could launch RealPlayer instead of the Windows Media Player to play back audio or video files.

In its early incarnation, however, the menu will give users limited applications (other than those from Microsoft) to choose from when they try to set new defaults. To make their applications appear in the new menu, third-party vendors must tune them with a set of APIs that Microsoft has disclosed under additional terms of the proposed consent decree.

So far, no third-party vendor has made use of those APIs, Gravning said. Users who have already set a third-party application as a default by some other means will be able to use their current settings as the default, she said.

License Price Drops

The noticeable changes will occur on vendor-configured PCs, according to Rob Enderle, research fellow with Giga Information Group.

"This is more targeted at the OEM installation, so when they ship a PC they will provide a load of software to choose from," Enderle said. Software vendors are expected to work with PC vendors to outfit their applications to appear in the default setting menu, he said.

Other minor upgrades to Windows XP include some changes to the controversial product-activation feature, created to prevent a single copy of Windows from being illegally installed on multiple machines. That feature requires a user to have a unique product key to run the software.

Users will be prevented from installing a single copy of Windows XP on a second PC, and will now be referred to a Microsoft Web site where they can purchase a second product key online. Microsoft plans to begin discounting the price of these additional product keys by $5, so a second license will cost $15 to $30 less than buying another full copy of the OS, Gravning said.

With the service pack, Microsoft will outfit its latest operating system to work with new technology that supports a remote control, known by its code name Freestyle.

Windows XP Service Pack 1 will also add support for new systems such as the Tablet PC and the Mira desktop PC, officially known as the Windows Powered Smart Display. Its monitor and CPU are connected wirelessly, allowing users to access their hard drive and the Internet from the detached monitor.

These technical changes won't be apparent to current Windows XP users because both Mira and Freestyle (officially known as the Windows XP Media Center Edition) will work only on specialized PCs in development by some vendors. Hewlett-Packard, for example, will release an entertainment-laden PC with TV and VCR functions based on Freestyle.