MS denies plans for WinXP 'Second Edition'

[~*McoreD*~]

Microsoft Corp's senior vice president of the Windows division, Brian Valentine, has denied suggestions that the company is readying a second release of its Windows XP desktop operating system.

Following reports that Windows XP's replacement, codenamed Longhorn, had slipped to a 2005 release date, rumors have been growing that Microsoft is preparing a second edition of Windows XP for release in 2003. The speculation intensified this week with the leak of a new Windows desktop operating system build.

Valentine denied that the company is preparing a second edition of Windows XP, however, and stated that feature and function enhancements would be delivered via service packs, rather than a fully fledged code refresh.

Despite a great deal of interest from the assembled masses, Valentine declined to discuss the features that can be expected with Longhorn, adding that a lot could change between now and its release. One feature he did discuss was the increase in consistency in the storage subsystem to provide consistent naming between, for example, web and mail address books.

Valentine did, however, confirm earlier reports that there will not be a Longhorn version of the server operating system. With the next version of the server OS, Windows .NET Server 2003, due for general availability in April 2003, the delivery of server-side functionality to support Longhorn clients will come via feature or service packs, he said. The follow-up to Windows .NET Server is the long lost product codenamed Blackcomb, which currently has no scheduled or hinted release date.

[~*McoreD*~]

But see what was a week before

WinXP 'Second Edition' leaks
====================

Back in March we brought you the news that Microsoft was preparing enterprise customers for an evolutionary (read: "cashflow-friendly") upgrade to Windows XP, dubbed "XP Second Edition", as an interim before the much-vaunted Longhorn overhaul.

That looks a little more likely after the leak last night of a fresh Longhorn build that Neowin reckons is the first sighting of "XP Plus". Microsoft execs spent the spring vehemently denying any such thing, instead referring the press to forthcoming XP service packs and Longhorn targets.

But by April Allchin had confirmed Longhorn had slipped to 2004 in April, and by June it had receded even further into a 2005 product. This fall the "Second Edition" option looked a lot more likely.

Neowin reports that the most recent build integrates existing clients - IE 6.5 and Media Player 8 - rather than new versions of these clients. There's no sign of WinFS, perhaps the key feature of Longhorn. But since Microsoft hasn't yet taken the decision on whether to include WinFS in Longhorn, we shouldn't read too much into the omission.

Was it ever Microsoft's intention to foreswear the annual Upgrade habit for so long? We don't know, but a primary goal of such roadmap hints is market testing. We do know that feedback from enterprises in the new year indicated that Update-Fatigue was the biggest beef that large customers had with Windows: even trumping security gripes. So Microsoft was simultaneously testing the "no upgrades" spin while it was gauging the reaction to an XP SE.

We've noted before that until XP, Microsoft has had two Windows product lines from which to pull its annual upgrade. Now there's one codebase for business and consumer. It could yet seek to recreate that bifurcation with a "business only" upgrade and give the Home XP line its own range of updates (with say, Tablet, Mira and multimedia enhancements).

Any guesses where that leaves Gates' list of "ten key Longhorn scenarios" that he hinted to Forbes here?

[FreeUS]

Thats mean one thing... There are (a lot?) people that still believing (or trust? , LOL!) in M$

[M31]

Hey come on everybody. Don't you think that those guys over at m$ deserve an upgrade to their company jets. I for one can't wait to put my hand in my pocket for for XP mk2. I'm sure we'll all be raving about the radical changes to XP that will be provided to us. An extra screensaver here and 30 new skins for media player there, et cetera, et cetera.

Don't bother.

Burp.

[Darkwolven]

Quote:

Originally posted by M31@Nov 25 2002, 04:26 PM
Hey come on everybody. Don't you think that those guys over at m$ deserve an upgrade to their company jets. I for one can't wait to put my hand in my pocket for for XP mk2. I'm sure we'll all be raving about the radical changes to XP that will be provided to us. An extra screensaver here and 30 new skins for media player there, et cetera, et cetera.

Don't bother.

Uhh...can I point out here that Win 98 SE was widely agreed upon to be much better than Win 98? And the upgrade disk from the MS website was only $10. MS may be the evil empire to some, but they are not always so bad. Only most of the time.