XP teaser gives hint of potential

By PETER GRIFFIN

The next generation in the Windows family is due for release before the end of the year.

But with $US1 billion spent on its development and Bill Gates keen to avoid a repeat of the lukewarm response to its predecessor, Windows 2000, Microsoft is keeping "Windows XP" close to its chest.

A beta version of XP is virtually impossible to find in New Zealand and international journalists have had only skin-deep access to the operating system that is expected to drive Microsoft sales for the next year.

Microsoft shared the stage with Intel at last week's developer forum in San Jose to give journalists yet another "sneak-peek" at Windows XP, which is due for a US release in the second half of this year.

A brief look at the XP interface indicates Microsoft has noted the upsurge in use of mp3 music downloads and digital editing suites. The new software resembles a big, easy-to-navigate media player.

The "Start" menu, the navigational backbone of the Windows platform, has changed to give internet, e-mail and multimedia applications priority.

Jim Allchin, the vice-president of Microsoft's platforms division, unveiled a desktop account system allowing different platform settings for different users.

A couple of accounts can be opened at the same time so several people using the same Machine have access to their individual settings.

"It's almost a lifestyle upgrade," said Mr Allchin.

He continued with the multimedia emphasis, using XP's photo application to download pictures taken in his dining room on a digital camera. A menu bar allowed the pictures to be edited, distributed via e-mail and high-quality prints to be ordered through the web.

The multi-tasking element of Windows remains in the forefront.

Mr Allchin was compiling code in one window, playing Tomb Raider in another as he listened to U2's Beautiful Day on Windows' Media Player.

Not surprisingly, all ran smoothly and very fast on a Pentium IV with 256 megabytes of memory.

Microsoft says it has optimised XP to work on the Pentium IV, but say a quick Pentium III will run it just fine. Beta testers indicate that at least 64Mb of memory is needed.

But the really interesting aspects of XP were not demonstrated.

There was no sign of voice-recognition technology that will allow mouse-free navigating through Windows and voice-generated text input in Word and other applications. Nor was there a look at the remote assistance function that allows a user to take control of another XP desktop interface through a peer-to-peer connection.

How the product will integrate with Microsoft's MSN instant messaging and Hotmail web-based e-mail services was also glossed over. The talked-of XML-based web services also remained veiled.

Mr Allchin said XP would be much more reliable than its ancestors. US advertisements say existing Windows users can kiss goodbye to "the blue screen of death."

Coinciding with the launch of Apple's new operating system Mac OS X, Windows XP may be the closest Microsoft has come to challenging its rival's multimedia user-friendly dominance.

As one US analyst observed: "Visually, it's finally getting up there with competing with Mac. That's a first for Microsoft."

Microsoft will ship both consumer and professional editions of Windows XP. There are also plans for server editions, to supersede products such as Windows NT. A 64-bit XP version designed to run on Intel's Itanium processor is also on the way.