Amazon Halts Preorders for Windows XP

Amazon.com on Tuesday closed the shutters on its page offering preorders for Microsoft's Windows XP operating system, admitting that it had made a mistake by taking the orders too far in advance.

Amazon began taking advance orders for the operating system on Monday, and in the process published pricing for the product even though Microsoft had not officially released that information. Amazon priced Windows XP Home Edition at $199.99 for the full version and $99 for an upgrade; Windows XP Professional carried a $299 price tag.

"We made a mistake by taking preorders too early," Amazon spokesperson Ling Hong says. Amazon will offer the software again closer to the announcement date, when Microsoft makes final pricing available, Hong says. "Those were preliminary prices."

Those who did preorder Windows XP may actually get a pricing break. If Microsoft's pricing ends up being higher than the Amazon price, customers who preordered the software will be charged the lower price, Hong says. If Microsoft's pricing turns out to be lower, users will pay Microsoft's price, she says.

Windows Me, the current version of Microsoft's consumer operating system, carries a list price of $109 for the upgrade and $209 for the full version. Amazon charges $99.99 for an upgrade edition of Windows Me and $164.99 for a full version.

Hong would not say how many customers preordered the XP software.

Here Comes .Net

Windows XP will be the first operating system from Microsoft to incorporate parts of its .Net initiative, including its Passport authentication service, as well as a new media player, and instant messaging software. The company last week made available the first release candidate--containing all features that will be in the shipping version.

The prices touted by Amazon earlier this week for Windows XP are in line with standard Microsoft pricing, says Rob Enderle, a research fellow with Giga Information Group.

"It's pretty much the same price as [Windows] ME," Enderle notes. "The professional version is mapped back to Windows 2000 and NT, which carried the $300 price point."

The pricing won't make much difference to many users who will get their hands on the new operating system by buying it bundled with new PCs. Vendors, including Compaq, Dell, Gateway, and Hewlett-Packard, are expected to offer the operating system preinstalled on systems later in the year.