Windows Experience Countdown
  03/26/2001 6:35:39 PM MST Albuquerque, Nm
  By Dustin D. Brand; Owner AMO

Windows XP Beta 2 Released at WinHEC 2001   ANAHEIM, CALIF. -- As more details of Microsoft's Windows XP operating system trickle out here at WinHEC 2001, Greg Sullivan, a lead product manager for Microsoft, said the new OS will eventually replace all of the company's previous operating systems.

  The release of a Beta 2 version of XP was announced Monday at WinHEC, Microsoft's annual hardware developers' conference.

  By the end of the year, Microsoft will roll out a Windows XP Home Edition, which will eventually replace the recently released Windows Millennium Edition, Sullivan said. A 64-bit edition of XP will also arrive later this year for client terminals attached to 64-bit servers as well as an embedded version of XP, Sullivan said.

  Microsoft has a huge schedule for Fall 2001. MS is launching the XBOX, the most advanced home gaming system in existance, and going head to head with Sony and Nintendo, MS is launching Windows XP Home Edition and their first Whistler Server for business, with as of yet an unnamed final release. By the year 2002, MS will have their first entirely new OS since Windows 95, and will be entering new markets including that of the home gaming market by way of a standalone machine commonly called a console, but really a Computer designed to play only games.

  On Microsoft's schedule for the next few months include:

   Japan (Tokyo Game Show) March 29-31 Tokyo, Japan 2001
   USA, E3 (Electronics and Entertainment Expo) May 18-23 LA 2001
   May, 2001 Final XBOX Hardware/Software ships to developers
   August 2001, 10,000 XBOX kiosks arrive at Electronic stores
   August 2001, Whistler Server gets a name?
   September 2001-October 2001 XBOX Launches in Japan and the USA
   November 2001 Windows XP Home Edition and Professional launch
   Nov-Dec, 2001 Whistler Server (unnamed as of yet) ships

  As you can see, Microsoft is going to be quite busy in the last half of 2001. With a budget of 1/2 a Billion dollars just for the launch of the XBOX, you can imagine Windows Experience will get a similar budget. With the approach of 2002, Whistler Server and the Intel 64 Bit chip Itanium will also launch.

  Although Microsoft will continue its support for Windows 2000, Sullivan said the upgrade path for Windows 2000 is Windows XP Professional and that companies should not wait to begin working with Windows XP, even if they continue to deploy Windows 2000. In the same way many users continue to run older operating systems like Windows 95, users are not required to upgrade to XP.

  Sullivan said Windows XP is "not the next version of Windows, but a whole new Windows." However, the core kernel of the XP is essentially the Windows NT kernel, according to Sullivan.

  The advantage of having a single Windows NT-based operating system running every type of computer system is simplicity, explained Laemmel. "With XP, companies have one platform to support, which is more reliable and [supports] all of the connected peripherals, all without the legacy issues from the earliest PC days," Laemmel said.

  Help desks will also benefit from some of the features of XP. Versions of the operating system will offer a feature called "shared desktop" that lets users permit other users to manipulate their PCs over the Internet. Shared Desktop puts a third party, remote user in control of the PC interface, sparing the user the time and aggravation of having to explain a problem verbally over the phone when the help desk cannot see the problem, Sullivan said

  From a programmers point of view, the next versions of Windows will allow myself to incorporate features not available in todays computers because of Windows current limitations.

  Related AMO Articles:
   Windows XP is revealed! 02/15/2001 5:31:00 AM MT