Windows XP SP1 Released With Little Fanfare: Now What?

Microsoft

The question remains if and how OEMs and solution providers will exploit and deploy the software update. Service Pack 1, which incorporates changes to the user interface as required by the company's proposed consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice, enables OEMs to configure the Windows XP desktop with competing Internet middleware from AOL, RealNetworks and other Microsoft competitors.

While Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 integrated changes as well, the Windows XP desktop OS is increasingly being bundled on consumer and business PCs and has been the focus of government trustbusters.

The new options in Service Pack 1 give solution providers, white-box makers and systems integrators more flexibility in configuring the desktop to a customer's needs, and allow Windows XP desktops to contain a variety of Internet middleware.

However, channel partners are sharply divided over the value of the first Windows XP service pack. For some, it will enable the development of business and PC product lines that favor a mix of Internet middleware. For others, it is merely a service pack with bug fixes and security patches that will be deployed like any other Microsoft Windows update with a default user interface that spotlights Microsoft Internet icons.

Some systems integrators acknowledge the potential of the service pack but say few users will want to mix and match Internet middleware from competitors because the tight integration of Microsoft's Internet features with Windows is what users want.

"Most people just want Microsoft applications, especially when they are free. It is much easier to standardize on Microsoft," said Rich Figer, vice president of sales at Cleveland-based S.B. Stone and Co. "It's [Service Pack 1 probably more important for systems builders who want to customize the desktop for distribution."

Some solution providers aren't sure they will deploy it at all, saying they are uncertain as to how critical this service pack is to customers because many of the changes have been inspired by antitrust issues, not customer feedback.

"We are torn on WinXP SP1," said Ken Winnell, president and CEO of Econium, Totowa, N.J. "In the past, there was no question that a service pack should be applied in a timely manner, and that it provided more fixes/enhancements to the baseline. With SP1, we are faced with a new scenario. Strictly speaking, a lot of the features put Microsoft in compliance with legal remedies as mandated by the settlement terms. There is little benefit to our clients to incorporate this, although having some additional middleware flexibility might be something we want to take advantage of later."

Econium is looking to hardware suppliers such as Dell and Hewlett-Packard to see how they reposition XP with the new service pack. Dell plans to load the Windows XP Service Pack 1 on both Dimension, Inspiron consumer and Optiplex business PCs but won't use the OEM option to reconfigure the Windows desktop in any way, a company spokesman said. Dell does not offer non-Microsoft middleware on its desktops.

Others intend to deploy Windows XP like any other bug fix and let the market decide how to use the new features.

Aside from the user interface changes, Service Pack 1 incorporates myriad bug fixes, security patches and a few new features that OEMs can exploit, such as support for the tablet PC and the recently released Windows Media Center.

Some of the 100 fixes address reliability problems with the operating system, application compatibility bugs, and networking and multimedia issues. They included problems transferring images from a Nikon digital camera into Windows XP, detecting USB 2.0 devices, PC Cards and FireWire (1394) storage products. Also fixed was a common problem whereby Internet Explorer 6.0 stopped working when a user closed a window.

Oli Thordarson, president and CEO of Alvaka Networks, Huntington Beach, Calif., said he will upgrade customers, although most of his business users are running Windows 2000 Professional on the desktop.

"Now it's ready for deployment, but it's a bit of a non-issue because there's so little deployment of Windows XP at our sites," said Thordarson. "We will do e-mail broadcasts of what's important, and within three months, all customers will have been upgraded. We have a quarterly process where we run our client systems through checklists and make sure all service packs are installed. Those processes are done by end of quarter."

Analysts say while Windows XP Service Pack 1 won't change the corporate landscape much, it does open the door for increased competition and new desktops. AOL, Netscape, RealNetworks and Linux are expected to benefit from the change. Even Apple's new "Jaguar" Mac OS X could get a bounce from a more level playing field.

"For the corporate space, there's not much [impact," said Rob Enderle, a research fellow at Giga Information Group. "For consumers and small businesses, it will provide the OEMs with additional potential revenue opportunities in the form of bounties for new customers which have been somewhat difficult to get. The white-box folks aren't really set up to get these bounties, but it could spawn a business that could aggregate and pay for this activity across a large number of them. Such a business has not emerged to my knowledge, but we expect it shortly.

"This weakens, but does not remove, Microsoft's lock on the desktop during a time when companies and individuals are becoming less enamored with that company," he continued. "Unfortunately, the lack of funding will likely continue to provide, for some time, a more effective barrier to competition on the desktop than the one that this action mitigates."