Programming Windows: XP Reloaded (Premium)

Despite the perpetual Longhorn delays, Microsoft decided in early 2004 to forego a new version of Windows XP to bridge the gap. Instead, it plotted a marketing push codenamed “XP Reloaded” that would promote new PCs based on Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2), Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005, and a wide range of multimedia enhancements.

“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 Windows Longhorn, which is currently due in late 2005 at the earliest,” I wrote in February 2004. “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. According to sources I contacted this morning, XP Reloaded will include all the features from XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), which is due by midyear, as well as a host of other unique features, including Windows Media Player (WMP) 10.”

“Other details about XP Reloaded are unknown at this time, although the update kit apparently will include a web-based installer application that will let users choose optional features. Reports about an XP Version 2 release first cropped up more than a year ago, but Microsoft officials repeatedly denied that the company planned to issue such a release. In early 2004, when the company revealed the new security features that XP SP2 will include, the rumors resurfaced. But the XP Reloaded OS refresh will clearly include a lot more than security updates, possibly in a bid to revive consumer excitement about XP while Microsoft preps the ever-delayed Longhorn release.”

When I asked Microsoft to comment on this news, the software giant was noncommittal.

“We look forward to outlining all the details but at this time we don’t have anything to announce,” a Microsoft representative told me.

Off the record, I was told that XP Reloaded would be free to all XP users and that “XP Reloaded” would not be the final name for the add-on kit. And for the time being, Microsoft was understandably more interested in concentrating on the security-oriented XP Service Pack 2 (SP2).

That March, I discovered that Microsoft was considering an interim Windows XP update for business users, analogous to Windows Server 2003 R2, called D2. (Get it? R2-D2.) That never happened, of course. Instead, Microsoft pushed Windows XP SP2 on businesses, as it did on consumers, and it made sure that SP2 was integrated into its corporate XP images as quickly as possible.

In April, I learned that Microsoft planned a marketing blitz for Windows XP that would be timed to start with the general availability of XP SP2, then expected in June. But it would also include new digital media enhancements, including “two low-priced Microsoft Plus! packs, one designed for digital media; one major Windows Media Player (WMP) release, with a second to follow this summer; a major new release of Windows Movie Maker; three Fun Packs that extend XP’s digital-media experience with new capabilities, animations, graphics, and sounds; new applications such as Microsoft Windows Journal Viewer; and various Microsoft PowerToys, screensavers, and other add-ons.”

The campaign was expected to include refreshed XP retail boxes that will include the slogan “Windows XP Service Pack 2 with Advanced Security Technologies,” retail point-of-sale, print, TV, and Web advertising, and, by late 2004, a second round of promotions based on the XP Reloaded theme. “XP Reloaded, which was once to have included an interim XP version codenamed Oasis, will now concentrate on the many consumer-related updates Microsoft plans to ship in the second half of 2004, I’m told, although those plans are constantly being evaluated,” I wrote. “The XP Reloaded promotions will coincide with the releases of XP MCE 2005 (code-named Symphony), Media Center Extender devices, Portable Media Center devices, and the next WMP version.”

2004 ended up being a busy year for Microsoft’s consumer-focused efforts.

It announced, tested, and launched MSN Music, a web-based music service to rival Apple iTunes. It released Windows Media Player 10, which was originally expected to ship in Longhorn. It recast Media2Go as Portable Media Centers, and its partners launched a handful of devices in time for the holidays. It launched XP Media Center Edition 2005 and Windows Media Center Extenders, which would let users remote the Media Center experience to other TVs in their homes. A software version for the Xbox (“softsled”) would provide Media Center Extender remoting capabilities too. And a new networking interoperability technology called Windows Media Connect would let a new generation of smart devices intelligently interoperate with the digital media content stored on XP-based computers.

By the fall, Microsoft was also prepping other advances, including a new Napster subscription service called Napster Premium that would use Windows Media Audio (WMA), a broad set of Windows Media Video (WMV)-compatible TV tuners from a variety of companies—including ATI Technologies, Hauppauge Computer Works, NVIDIA, Pinnacle Systems, and SnapStream Media—and the acceptance of Microsoft’s WMV format as a mandatory part of the Blu-ray Disc (BD-ROM) specification for video playback equipment.

In October, Microsoft announced the Plus! SuperPack for Windows XP, which was available at retail for $29.95 in the U.S. It combined the features from Plus! Digital Media Edition and Plus! for Windows XP and was described as “the ultimate companion for Windows XP.” Among other tools, Plus! SuperPack for Windows XP included Plus! Photo Story 2, an impressive tool that let users easily stitch still photos together with music or narration to create compelling, animated photo slideshows.

Later that month, Microsoft released an add-on pack for Windows called the Windows Partner Pack, which included the web installer I had mentioned earlier that year. The Partner Pack web installer installed applications, games, and utilities, and there were some third-party options that included a free year of Computer Associates’ eTrust EZ Antivirus.

One of my favorite Microsoft stories involves the secret nature of XP Reloaded, which was necessitated by the Longhorn delays, so it was thus somewhat of an embarrassment to Microsoft. In July 2004, I was invited to a “Microsoft Reviewer’s Workshop 2004” set for early August, and was told that this event would “cover Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005, Windows Media Player 10, Portable Media Center, MSN Music, and Smartphone.” So it was clearly focused on XP Reloaded. And at a cocktail reception the night before the event, I asked a Microsoft PR person to come clean.

“So this is clearly XP Reloaded,” I asked.

“Paul, Microsoft is constantly reevaluating how it delivers updates to its customers…” he began as Greg Sullivan walked by.

“Greg,” I interrupted the PR flack. “This is XP Reloaded, right?”

“Yep!” he answered, hoisting a wine glass in salute.

I turned to the PR guy.

“That’s how you answer a question.”