SOURCE: CNET NEWS.com
Microsoft preps XP push, mulls Longhorn 'priorities'
Published: August 26, 2004, 4:00 AM PDT
By Ina Fried , Paul Festa and John G. Spooner
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
With a long-awaited security update to Windows XP now complete, Microsoft is preparing a holiday season push for the 3-year-old operating system--and is set to revisit ambitious plans for the next major revision, News.com has learned.
That revision, code-named Longhorn, one of the most difficult and complicated in the company's history, has fallen further behind this year, as Microsoft shifted developers from the project and onto Windows XP Service Pack 2, which took longer than expected. Now the company faces the task of getting Longhorn under control and making XP seem fresh during a longer-than-usual wait between operating system updates.
Entertainment center
For now, Microsoft is preparing a slew of new consumer products and services designed to spur sales of Windows XP, which debuted in October 2001.
The company is focused on making the PC more of an entertainment hub. Apple Computer has invigorated its own sales with its "digital hub" plan, and Windows-based PC makers are selling everything from plasma televisions to portable media devices. Hewlett-Packard, for example, is expected to soon unveil an HP-branded iPod.
For its part, Microsoft will soon announce its MSN Music download store and Windows Media Player 10, a new version of its jukebox software. The company also has been quietly preparing an update of Windows XP Media Center edition, an entertainment-themed version of the OS that allows consumers to watch videos and view pictures via a remote control.
Microsoft started testing the new version--code-named Symphony--early this year. The company has sent the finished software to computer makers, with a goal of having the new version of Media Center in PCs by October, according to a PC industry source. Microsoft declined to comment on the matter.
Besides enhancing the user interface, Microsoft is considering two steps aimed at making the Media Center edition of the operating more widely adopted: lowering the price it charges PC makers for the software and removing the requirement that it ship with a TV tuner, an industry source said.
Longhorn's long journey
Beyond sprucing up Windows XP with more advanced multimedia features, Microsoft has to complete a road map for Longhorn and decide what to do further with XP before the next major operating system update. Microsoft has already scaled back its Longhorn ambitions. In April, the company said it would trim Longhorn around the edges, hoping to allow the operating system to ship by 2006.
Other companies, such as Apple, have tried to update their operating systems with smaller, more frequent revisions. Apple has been averaging roughly one new release of the Mac OS X per year since the first version debuted in 2000. The latest edition, Mac OS X 10.3 Panther, shipped in October 2003, while "Tiger," with its improved search capabilities, is due out in the first half of next year.
For more, click on the link provided...