Home
Downloads
RSS
Windows XP (Service Pack 3 imminent), Windows Vista (Service Pack 1 just around the corner) and Windows 7, still on the distant horizon, but at the same time becoming increasingly palpable...
The good, the bad and the still-to-be-determined. Essentially, the three operating systems mark almost a decade of Microsoft history, starting in 2001 with XP RTM, jumping to 2004 with SP2, then to 2006/2007 with Vista and in the future, an estimated 2009/2010, with Windows 7. There is also a more subtle, underlying evolution to Windows in the past 10 years.
Microsoft has shifted its strategy of building Windows, moving from XP codename Whistler and from eXPerience to SP2 codename Springboard, then to Vista codename Longhorn and to the Wow, then to Windows version Next codename Vienna. From XP to Windows 7 via Vista, the Redmond company traveled from Whistler, made a short pit stop at the Longhorn watering hole, and moved on to Blackcomb. The Vienna codename for the Windows version to follow Vista indicated the first signs of an oscillation in the Windows development process. One that was complete with the stepping down of Jim Allchin from the role of Co-President, Platforms & Services Division in January 2007, shortly after the consumer launch of Vista, and with Steven Sinofsky taking on the position of Senior Vice President, Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group.
The eXPerience
It all started with Whistler. Windows XP is cozy, comfortable. XP is an integral part of the Windows landscape, more than any other version of the Microsoft operating system, at this point in time. With the worldwide install base for Windows flirting aggressively with the 1 billion milestone, XP can largely take almost all the credit. The operating system debuted back in 2001 and climbed to a market share of over 85% just before Vista was shipped. The largest impediment in Vista's way, XP's market share was slowly eroded throughout 2007 as Vista increased its audience.
At the end of 2007, according to statistics provided by Net Applications, XP still enjoyed the lion's share of the operating system market with over 76%. But of course that what made a success out of XP was by no means the RTM version of the operating system. XP RTM was just as badly received as Windows Vista and a true security faux pass. The turning point, however, was XP SP2. Back in 2004, Microsoft even offered XP SP2 as an excuse for further postponing Longhorn, saying that it had to shift resources to the service pack, and away from the upcoming Windows operating system.
Ahead of his retirement from Microsoft, Jim Allchin looked at XP SP2 as full release of Windows, and by no means just a service pack delivering an incremental upgrade. And Allchin was not far from the truth. XP SP2 turned XP around and made it what it is today, an operating system that can go head to head against Windows Vista and still hold its own. At this point, XP is so deeply rooted in the IT landscape that it will take more than Vista to dislodge it.
eXPiring...
Windows XP is not expiring, no matter how many hundred million Vistas Microsoft throws at it. Without a doubt, XP is on its way out the door. But it is still a long way before Microsoft will be able to boast that XP has left the building. An illustrative example in this context is the fact that we are now at just one week from the moment that would have signaled XP's end. Initially, January 31st, 2008 was marked as the end of availability date for Direct OEM and Retail Licenses. However, at the end of September 2007, Mike Nash, corporate vice president, Windows Product Management announced that the Redmond company would extend the Direct OEM and Retail License availability end date until June 30, 2008 due to customer demand and OEM pressure. It still remains to be seen if Microsoft will cave in yet again in mid 2008 and further prolong offering XP preloaded on OEM machines, or as boxed copies.
source: news.softpedia.com
The eXPerience XP SP3... The Wow Vista SP1... and the Seventh Windows 7
The eXPerience XP SP3... The Wow Vista SP1... and the Seventh Windows 7
2008-01-26T18:12:00-08:00
Bonitoo
Windows
|
