David Shapshak
This week’s launch of Microsoft’s flagship operating system, Windows XP, is either a blessing or curse, depending on your stance on what the world’s largest software manufacturer is up to.
What is certain is that Microsoft’s launch is probably the most controversial release in an already controversial company’s history.
But Microsoft is not in unfamiliar territory. No launch, it seems, has ever gone smoothly, with a hostile press and angry consumer groups always waiting to point out its failings. And, there have been many. Most releases have been hurriedly followed with numerous ”patches” to fix deficiencies in the software.
This time round most angry fingers are being pointed at Microsoft’s attempts to introduce an activation code into XP, which the software-maker says is part of its anti-piracy campaign and consumer rights groups say smacks of undue influence. The policy will prevent home users from installing the software on two machines as previously allowed, meaning users who own more than one computer (a desktop and a laptop) will need to buy a copy for each machine.
Most users, says Ian Hatton, group product marketing manager at Microsoft South Africa, will never need to activate their machine, but if any of 10 possible hardware elements change, then reactivation will be required.
”All we’re trying to do is combat casual copying. For most of our purchases, activation is not going to be an issue.”
Activation is only necessary if changes are made, and then only after 30 days. Reactivation will be as simple as a phone call, he says.
XP builds on the solidity and ease of use of Windows 2000, Microsoft’s most reliable operating system so far, around which much of the software is written.
It is Microsoft’s most ambitious project to date, drawing together the disparate strands of home and corporate software that the company has been forced to produce to meet the requirements of each market.
XP is aimed at an ”incredibly broad target market” and comes in two versions: a home and a professional one.
But there are other concerns: too few drivers for old programs (Microsoft says it has more drivers than any other launch, 25 000 compared to the 12000 for Windows 2000), that old machines will not be able to run it (MS has an ”upgrade adviser” checker that will tell you if you can), that users will need more memory (don’t try it with less than 128-megabytes of RAM, Hatton warns), and most alarmingly, that all roads point back to Microsoft. Or rather, towards other Microsoft products, including its portal, MSN.
Part of the Redmond firm’s Internet strategy is .NET, which aims to allow users to access their information across any device (from PC to cellphone). To do this Microsoft wants you to have an account with Passport, its online verification system, which can be used for signing on with its instant messaging application messenger, or getting free e-mail through the Microsoft-owned Hotmail. All your personal information, including credit card numbers, would be housed there. Privacy advocates fear that Microsoft, with its record of being hacked, is hardly safe.
Additionally, in the words of a reviewer of influential online site ZDNet: ”XP has more hooks than my grandfather’s fishing hat all leading to MSN. Whether it’s [a push for] Windows Media Player, Windows Messenger, Passport, or Internet Explorer 6’s answer to 404 pages, XP drives a lot of traffic to XP. Those hits are good for selling ads and selling stuff to consumers. Is this an OS, or a rip-off version of AOL? Sometimes XP makes you wonder.”
Topping concerns about further dominance is the integration of additional Microsoft products (Media Player and Messenger) into the operating system. Both represent massive industries in their own right. Windows Media Player’s main competitor is the market-leading Real, which is used in media streaming. Critics point to Microsoft’s bundling of the media player as a repeat of the ”browser wars” when the Redmond firm incorporated its Internet Explorer into the then Windows 98 for which it was sued by several American states for anti-competitive behaviour.
The case ultimately went Microsoft’s way, but the software-maker has been accused of rushing the launch of XP to see off further appeals and any other complaints.
Similar concerns are raised about the inclusion of Messenger, Microsoft’s instant messaging package, which is only one of many such programs that are as huge a communication ”killer app” as e-mail.