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The first major pack of fixes and updates for Microsoft Windows XP is scheduled for release during the second half of this year, a Microsoft product manager said Thursday.

The release, known as a service pack, is often considered the turning point for when major corporate customers will begin widely adopting a new operating system. This first service pack for Windows XP will include all of the security patches and software updates for tuning the operating system, said Charmaine Gravning, product manager for Microsoft's Windows division.

While this service pack will include a comprehensive collection of security patches and updates when it is released, Microsoft said it will continue issuing patches for security holes in the meantime as they come up. Microsoft has already grappled with one major Windows XP bug. It was discovered that an attacker could take control of a user's PC by way of the universal Plug-and-Play service, a technology used to identify peripheral devices such as digital cameras when they are plugged into a PC.

Court-Imposed Changes?

Service Pack 1 for Windows XP will also contain a unique set of updates compared to service packs for previous versions of Windows, Gravning said. It will include any changes or alterations to the operating system imposed upon Microsoft by terms of its proposed antitrust settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice and nine states.

Terms of the proposed settlement, which is known in legal-speak as a consent decree, require Microsoft to disclose certain application program interfaces for the operating system within a year of the deal being approved, or in the first Windows XP service pack (whichever comes first). A judge could decide whether to approve that settlement as early as next week.

Microsoft typically releases the first service pack for a product about six months after the product has been launched, Michael Silver, a research director at Gartner, said recently. With Windows XP released in October, users could have expected the first service pack to come out in April.

However, the additional updates that would bring the company into compliance with terms of the consent decree have delayed the service pack from being released in its typical six-month cycle by at least a few months, he added.

Also in the service pack is additional support for several new technologies that allow Windows XP to support more wireless devices and multimedia applications.

The service pack will contain technologies that enable the operating system to support Microsoft's new portable display, code-named "Mira." That technology will support a portable flat-panel display Microsoft is developing so that users can carry around the display and access their computer files or the Internet using an 802.11 wireless connection. It was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in January.

The service pack also adds support for Microsoft's new graphical interface, code-named "Freestyle," which enables a Windows PC to be used as a controller for launching multimedia applications. Additionally, a new update in the Service Pack will tune Windows XP so it can run on new PC devices such as the company's prototype Tablet PC.

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