OEMs Could Ship Windows XP-based Systems Next Month

Such a ship date would be a month earlier than the operating system's official, scheduled Oct. 25 launch, although Microsoft contends the rollout is in keeping with past operating system launches.

While the Oct. 25 date is still intact, OEMs generally receive software code earlier than the launch to ready complete systems for shipment, says a spokesman for the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant.

In some cases, it is possible that OEMs would be able to ship to customers ahead of the launch date, the spokesman said.

One OEM source says the Sept. 25 shipping date would have minimal impact on PC makers, as many of them already had planned to get some Windows XP-based systems to larger accounts ahead of the official launch.