Windows XP Has Arrived

ruszka writes "CNN has a good article on the release of Windows XP in London and NYC.. The BBC has their own article." I find it amusing that I didn't really even notice until I saw this submission. I know this affects a fair number of users but for the life of me I just don't know why ;)

In answer to your question

[yobbo]

The launch doesn't affect anyone because half the population has already been using it for freakin months

Guerrilla(sp?) marketing

[dmorin]

Know what really, truly scares me about XP? This morning on the Howard Stern show he gave time to 3 callers (well, 2 actually because he got bored) to blatantly do a commercial. And when I changed the channel, another morning talk station was talking about it too! I mean, the hell?! Since when does the release of a new piece of software from the world's biggest software company suddenly mean everybody has to start plugging it?

On a good note, the first guy was so boring (talking about why XP is cool because it's on a 32bit kernel, not a 16bit one on top of DOS like Win98/ME) that Howard and crew got very bored. So he gave the second guy a chance, who pointed out the bit about having to register every machine, etc... to which Howard summed up "So let's all get together and not buy this thing." And that was the end of that. Gotta wonder if that third guy was gonna be pro or against Microsoft.

why it affects us

[gavlil]

I know this affects a fair number of users but for the life of me I just don't know why ;)

windows is a major part of computing and of history. many people who work it IT have to come in to contact with windows (like it or not).

there are hundreds of reasons why it would affect us - even if its just because we have a new set of themes to d/l for X!

dont be so ignorant to the world outside slashdot taco (yes one does exist!)

Re:No more blue screen of death?

[SilentChris]

You could always change the blue screen with a few registry hacks up until ME. Green always freaked people out, though.

Re:What does XP stand for?

[windi]

AFAIK, XP stands for the 2 greek letters pronounced khai and rho.

Khai-Rho == Cairo, IIRC, the codename MS used for the first 32bit Windows

GOOD news!!!

[the_2nd_coming]

Howard Stern was talking about Win XP and he decided that there was no compeling reason for him to buy it, then when a caller told him about how you could only put it on one computer per copy, he said "well screw that!!" I was excited, do you know howmany not computer literate people listen to him and take his opinion to heart? not to mention that XP just got some negitive press in popular media....

I am so happy.... :-)

Gates on Regis yesterday said ...

[zummit]

Yesterday morning, Bill Gates was on the Regis show and I would like to share a direct quote which he said in reference to the idea that WinXP doesn't crash as much as other windoze OS's.

"The average user will save about a week a year."

[When I shared this with a friend, he replied, "Someone should file a lawsuit alleging that Windows was defective and that the licensing was an ineffective waiver of rights because of M$'s monopoly and their collusion with hardware manufacturers to force their product on consumers. I figure that since 1996, Biull G. & Co. have waster about $8,000 of my time."]

Re:What does XP stand for?

[i_am_nitrogen]

Stupid slashdot formkeys error... This is the second time posting this. Why am I making it a habit to select all text and Ctrl-Copy every time I post?

There is no X in the Greek alphabet. It starts with Alpha and ends with Omega, 23 letters. Alpha corresponds to the Latin A, and Omega corresponds to the Latin W. X falls beyond the Greek alphabet for transliteration. If XP really does mean "Cairo," then it's probably based on similar appearance to the Greek letter khai, rather than letter order. Could someone please describe what a khai looks like?

Mac OS X Envy

[Slur]

I can think of at least one reason more people will upgrade to Windows XP: MacOS X. Many users of PCs - for the most part your average gamers who are using Windows 98 or ME and who are aware that "modern" operating systems are becoming an essential commodity - will buy this thing. Its aesthetic beauty - or at least M$ idea of aesthetic beauty - adds another element.

I can imagine one of these users looking at the colorful screenshots and saying, "Ah, finally something that makes full use of my powerful graphics card!" I have to admit that knowing I've got the capability of amazing 3D graphics lurking in my system makes me wish it were being used more ubiquitously. And now because of the hype surrounding "modern" crash-proof multitasking OSes a lot of users are slavering over exactly this kind of thing.

Hardcore gamers and power users long ago upgraded to Win2K. Although Windows 2000 is a modern crash-proof OS, to many users it *looks no different* from Windows 95 or 98. Microsoft is leveraging a lot of what Apple has done with MacOS X to give a brand-identity to the modern OS. In the minds of consumers an OS that has the audacity to get funky gives the impression that such computing cockiness is warranted by the underlying stability and speed of the OS. It also carries the impression of being forward-thinking, because - sure - with today's processors a lot of this stuff may be taxing, jumpy, or slow, but wait a few months or a couple years and just watch how normal it will all be.

The only thing that troubles me about the XP aesthetic is how closely it mirrors the graphical style of modern media. It won't be long before you'll have to look twice before you realize you're not looking at a sports-statistics display like you see on ESPN or NBC. And that flying logo: it's not the nightly news logo my friend, but "You've got mail!"

As a finaly note, It's obvious to me - and no doubt to many /. readers - that MacOS X is a much better deal and more viable in the long run for one simple reason: It's a Unix. No matter how many nice gadgets M$ decides to plop on top of their modern kernel (the dubious .NET included) when PC users decide to go further they'll find themselves sorely lacking. The savvier ones will install Linux and dual-boot it (hopefully there'll be a way to run Linux concurrently as an OS service). The all-in-one solution of MacOS X just seems more compelling to me, and frankly it's a hell of a lot prettier and more elegant.

Re:What does XP stand for?

[perky]

Could someone please describe what a khai looks like?

an 'X',(but with curley bits) otherwise he wouldn't have said what he did. The transliteration isn't an ordered 1-1 mapping of the first 23 characters.

Critical update/patch already out.

[eddy]

I guess Microsoft is showing its commitment to security, because we already have the first critical update for WinXP out.

Citing HardOCP [hardocp.com]:

Windows XP Update Package, October 25, 2001- Download size: 1.9 MB - This update resolves all critical issues that were found in Windows XP between August 2001 and October 2001, and is discussed in Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB)

Article Q309521 [microsoft.com]. Among the updates included in this package are several that eliminate security vulnerabilities. Download now to ensure that you have all the latest critical updates for Windows XP.

You'd think they'd at least hold onto the last release-candidate for a month or so to make sure no critical issues come up, before making it a master and sending it off to be pressed, no?

CNN reveals the best XP feature

[marcelk]

If you wonder what XP is really about, CNN summarizes it in its very first sentence on XP:

"The [Windows XP] system promises fewer computer crashes and will allow users to delete data from their hard drive." (cnn.com)

Now, -that- is a killerapp!

Re:What does XP stand for?

[Alan Partridge]

"It was also a direct nod (or rip-off) of OS-X, and a tendency by Microsoft to put X in the names of practically any consumer technology because the letter has a certain mystery and cachet in marketing circles (it is also the principle sound of SeX, and there is no doubt some subliminaly attempts here to make XP "sexy")." Did you hear that Steve Jobs always intended SCSI be pronounced "sexy". Master of marketing though he is, that was ONE step beyond...