Despite Microsoft’s repeated denials, the company will indeed release an interim version of Windows XP that will bridge the gap between the initial XP release and Longhorn, which is currently due in late 2005 at the earliest. The interim XP version will ship as a new retail product that replaces existing retail boxed copies of XP and as a set of updates, called XP Reloaded, that existing XP users can install separately.
Windows XP Reloaded to be Released?
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in other words SP3
Yes, but this time you get to pay for it.
I have no issues with MS releasing such a thing, but “XP Reloaded”? I can hear the collective groan in response to that terrible naming decision. It sounds like a tag-on to a particulary bad sequel to a particularly overrated science fiction movie.
It will be interesting to see how much this update kit costs.
I can hear the collective groan in response to that terrible naming decision. It sounds like a tag-on to a particulary bad sequel to a particularly overrated science fiction movie.
…or a tag-on to a certain Web browser: Firefox 0.8 The Browser, Reloaded.
http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/
On the Windows Super Site, they have been theorising that XP SE would be released, similar to how Windows 98SE was released. Most of the “improvements” will more than likely be available as a service pack add-pon, but 2 or 3 “new” features will require the purchase of the update pack. In 98SE, it was ICS that was not available via Windows Update.
I will assume that just for the sake of it that the feature in this release requring an upgrade will be the new “web based installer”, and WMP 10. Although I will assume that 9.x will be available to enable the playback of WMP10 encoded files. Does not sound like much of a reason to upgrade to me. With XP I shall stay. I sincerly hope that the populus does not buy into this “new” version of XP, when very little funcionalyt will be added, and they will be mostly paying for a service pack that will be available for free on the Windows Update v5 site.
I was hoping for a simply reworked Windows XP that is smaller in size and better over all with the options of I installing wut I wanted to. Such as a plain OS then a second CD with MS stuff just incase I wanted it. However this looks to be Windows XP with even more crap ontop of it ~~~ Ol well I been spending much more time with MDK LINUX of late so ~~~
–Idoxash
Well, it would be good for those with Dial-up. It would also give many users, a reason to finally back up and do a fresh clean install of the OS. I personally believe the features will be incremental, such as MSN 9 included, (6 months free), WMP 10, IE and OE 6.5 or 7 (maybe)and a nice new banner on the XP Classic start menu that says Windows XP Reloaded.
One thing that confuses is the editions, will there be two editions of XP reloaded?
Windows XP Professional Reloaded
Windows XP Home Edition Reloaded
It might even be a code name, the actual name might be
Windows XP Professional version 2005
Windows XP Home Edition version 2005
So, Longhorn, would be put out to pasture until 2008
No way are they going to call it “Windows XP Reloaded”, that has to be a code name. Microsoft wouldn’t give their flagship corporate product an unprofessional name like that.
I can’t wait for Windows XP Revolutions!
Are people going to complain if they have to purchase this? Hmmm, are they going to charge US$129.00 (US$199/5-user)? Personally, I think they should charge something in that range for this… And the PRO version should be the same as the Home version as well as the media version… if Apple can do it, M$ can…
Jb
Not Windows XP 2, or Windows XP SE, or Windows XP 2005, or Windows osX P, but Windows XP Reloaded – get Linux of your your machine and reloaded windows.
If Longhorn is held back then it makes sense to bring out a second edition of xp.
this is nothing new. ive had windows reloaded at least one a year since 1995.
I guess we all know what a second version of windows xp means… probably longhorn won’t be out before 2007. Or maybe they just need some money and they decided to make some more money with practically the same os (does ME aka 98ThirdEdition ring a bell?). Given the example, it also can be that they are on track and probably will be ready to ship longhorn by 2006.
I wonder where will linux be by then? Kernel 3.0? KDE 4? Can’t wait! Though I can’t quite figure out where Xfree and other X-es are headed. Will we still use Xfree? No news from Xouvert either.
Well, back to M$ news… one question: What’s with the cheesy name?
If you notice, it says in the article
“possibly in a bid to revive consumer excitement about XP while Microsoft preps the ever-delayed Longhorn release”
Its possible that this is Paul Thurrotts personal evangelical way of creating excitement about Windows XP.
Never is bout the product. Anyway, I’m a new adaptor of Debian and Gnome (love the gorilla theme which is also known as Orbit theme for Opera which is what I use).
Must say the install was a slight pain as I wanted a Gnome minimal Unstable desktop (btw been there before so not a newbie just didn’t think Linux had much to offer a couple of years ago on the desktop) and the nv driver with XFree didn’t work on my DVI output. Not to mention that it took me a little while to click onto needing kernel headers installed to install Nvidia’s driver. Oh well, all up and running. ALSA is great and I really do like Apt.
Windows ME? You mean Windows 95 SR4? All kidding aside, I bet they’ll go with a numbered scheme, Windows 2005. Windows XP SE or Windows Reloaded don’t quite work. I think XP should have been called Windows 2001, and been shipped in a black box 1″x4″x9″.
well the marketing ppl have had nothing to do since the dot net debacle.
well I can tell you as a business, we won’t be upgrading when we’ve just paid for XP Pro. If it ain’t a free upgrade, it won’t be worth considering.
Well, to be honest, Apple is kind of greedy too. Charging $129 a year for there upgrades, “upgrades” and displaying a disgusting reluctancy to patch older versions of OS X. I think Microsoft has done justice in the way its released Windows XP, its almost 3 years since the last major upgrade.
Although in a weird way, MS has released newer versions of Windows, if you count in different editions such as Windows XP Media Center 2003, Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2003, Windows XP Media Center 2004 and the forth coming (free upgrade), Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2004. And lets not forget the 64 bit editions, versions 2002 and 2003.
So if Microsoft does release, a substantial upgrade to XP, with features that improve the OS, I think it would be worth upgrading to. But there would have to be a consequence though, no Longhorn until 2008 or 2009.
Microsoft could also do a number of things if Longhorn is giving them problems.
Either give us the Foundation technologies of Longhorn in XP Reloaded or the Aero User interface. So we either get the promised reliability of Longhorn or the beauty of Aero. But then again, what we saw at PDC was only a Macromedia Director generated concept of what Aero should look like. I personally believe that Microsoft only has the basic concepts of Longhorn ready and we have already experienced it and thats Windows Code Name Longhorn (build 4051 to 53).
If I were Microsoft, I take tiny steps on the road to Longhorn.
yeah, the FULL version Windows XP is US$299.00, Upgrade US$199.00… Getting a 5-user license is… well I can’t find the price. So 129/year for MAJOR updates to an os (FULL unrestricted version) ain’t that bad. Also, I wouldn’t call the Mac upgrades minor, there were some significant improvements and enhancements.
Back to WinXP: REDUX
Most people get a new OS when they get a new pc, both platforms bundle that cost when we buy… The newXP will, hopefully not be a hashed together ME-style upgrade. I hope the updated features are akin to the way the Mac has upgraded… you really thin M$ will come out with a new feature as usable as expose? I do hope.
http://www.matrix-xp.com/
(i had to… just for kicks)
I think it’d be in Microsoft’s best interest to add a bunch of graphical enhancements to this seemingly “XP 98”-sounding release. Wow some people and convert a few OS X users by adding a hardware-accelerated interface, with magical minimizing effects and transparency. Yeah, this would be EXTREMELY gimmicky, but necessary, IMHO.
I wonder how it’ll turn out considering the EU’s latest rulings on MS as a monopoly (as well as whatever happens with this Japan investegation)… perhaps the ability to truly uninstall Media Player? It just seems like whatever happens in the european XP lite (which i will _DEFINITELY_ try to get my hands on, should it happen), will eventually need to occur Statesside. We are, admittingly, notoriously known for attempting to outdo Europe in every way.
Sorry if this sounds a bit ill-informed or immature, but i feel like i haven’t touched my bed in weeks
…
Just call it what it really is: Windows NT 5.11
I’m sure it will be every bit as interesting and entertaing as Matrix Reloaded. XP Reloaded will be the same high quality as Keanu Reeves scintillating and riveting performance.
Will I be able to upgrade my Academic XP SP1 copy on the cheap? I am no longer a full time student.
This sucks, they better have a cheap upgrade option.
If they were to do this, what things would they have to include to justify a cost for this problem?
They can’t say security, that is coming in SP2 for free, and it is something that should have been in there from the beginning of this product.
OK here’s the thread header…..
Windows XP Reloaded to be Released?
here’s your reply…..
<GarbageIn>Never is bout the product. Anyway, I’m a new adaptor of Debian and Gnome (love the gorilla theme which is also known as Orbit theme for Opera which is what I use).
Must say the install was a slight pain as I wanted a Gnome minimal Unstable desktop (btw been there before so not a newbie just didn’t think Linux had much to offer a couple of years ago on the desktop) and the nv driver with XFree didn’t work on my DVI output. Not to mention that it took me a little while to click onto needing kernel headers installed to install Nvidia’s driver. Oh well, all up and running. ALSA is great and I really do like Apt.</GarbageOut>
It’s almost amusing to see how many people reply to threads simply to say “Oh well I don’t care i’m using Linux anyway”.
I don’t see that this is aimed at users who already have XP installed, so we shouldn’t be complaining about there being very little reason to upgrade for the cost. It’s more for users who are upgrading from older versions of Windows or buying new PCs, and it sounds much more appealing than “Windows XP with Service Pack 2”. It makes sense that MS offer updated versions of their flagship product while Longhorn is under development.
Andre said:
“It would also give many users, a reason to finally back up and do a fresh clean install of the OS.”
I’ve already had the (forced) pleasure of doing this after only a few months! It’s amazing how conditioned Windows users are to accept that reinstalling the OS is the best way to maintaining a running system.
I hate to see useless Microsoft bashing in comments. Don’t you people understand that Apple has done this with OSX? You pay for each 10.x upgrade on an almost yearly basis, only to get a few new features. But I don’t see anyone bashing Apple…
“Don’t you people understand that Apple has done this with OSX? You pay for each 10.x upgrade on an almost yearly basis, only to get a few new features. But I don’t see anyone bashing Apple…”
MS does it also. Windows 95 Original was 4.00.950, Windows 95 OSR2 was 4.00.1111. Windows 98 was 4.10.1998, 98SE was 4.10.2222. Windows ME was 4.90.3000. Also, there is the NT series. NT 3.1, NT 3.5, NT 3.51, NT 4.0, Windows 2000 (NT 5.00.2195), Windows XP (NT 5.10.2600, Windows Server 2003 (NT 5.20.3790). Only X.x.x.x releases are free. Windows XP SP1 is Windows NT 5.10.2600.1106, and Windows XP SP2 interem biuld is Windows NT 5.10.2600.2082.
Because Apple’s new features are sometimes quite significant. For instance, did you know that the super cool OpenGL accelerated Quartz interface was not always opengl accelerated? That was an update. Another update brang partial 64-bit support. Those are serious features.
In contrast, I doubt this new Windows will have a new compositor, or 64-bit support. Windows64 is another product, no one complains about that, since it’s significant. I’ll reserve judgment on this until the new feature set is released. But I have a bad feeling that this is another windows 98SE or Windows ME, neither of which brought *anything* new to the table, and one of which, Win ME, was actually WORSE than 98!
I just got Windows XP with a new computer not much more then a month ago, why pay for a simple service pack. I just finished ordering Xandros Desktop Linux anyway, their student discout was 45% off the Deluxe edition (still not quite as affordable as the standard edition though). Besides if people buy this Microsoft is probably going to start charging money for all their service packs and updates which come so late anyway that they aren’t worth anything.
As for the upcoming Windows service pack the only real highlights therein that I’ve heard of are the firewall and popup blocker which can easily be replaced for free by Zone alarm and Mozilla.
If you look back on the NT4 to Nt5 (Win2k) transition, Windows 2000 came out my later than originally first expected. Trust me, Longhorn would be pushed back to year 2006 the earliest. This happens to every company – take Apple for example. They release OS X after a year and a half late than originally speculated. And the first version of OS X release was *terrible*.
Hmmm…at least now we know for sure that the company from Redmond is responsible for building The Matrix 😉
Apple charges money for updates that really bring improveemnts to an already well-working, secure OS. Microsoft wants to charge for a big bugfix and security update. Not cool.
and after reloaded : REVOLUTION !!!
Why don’t they just call it Windows 2004?
Direct quote
“The interim XP version will ship as a new retail product that replaces existing retail boxed copies of XP and as a set of updates, called XP Reloaded, that existing XP users can install separately”
Emphasis on “that existing XP users can install separately.”
Microsoft does this already with xp as they’ve added sp1 to all boxed versions. They’re just adding sp2 plus extras this time around, and the marketing department decided the name xp reloaded would boost sales.
This is different from 98se. 98se had many features regular 98 users couldn’t go download.
why dont they just stick with numbered naming of their versions. either 3.5 4.0 4.1 5.0 5.3 an so on or 2000 2002 2004 2006
XP means nothing they just copied the X form apple’s os X cause of all the buzz it caused. So to pull attention from ppl back a little, they x-ed their next windows version.
Oh and this reloaded crap is just … too much. It kinda shows how hard they are trying to get ppl to buy their os.
hi
these people are just desperate idiots.
I wonder if they will offer an upgrade CD. When Win98 SE came out, they had availible a $25 upgrade CD on the Microsoft site for users of Win98. It was 98 SE, but without the dos boot disk, or bootable CD. The installer would only run from an existing Win98 session.