Microsoft began trying to build a buzz around Windows XP yesterday, debuting the consumer-oriented operating system that Chairman Bill Gates called "the most important release since Windows 95."
Strong sales of the new software are critical, because the company gets 95 percent of its operating profit from sales of Windows and the Office suite of applications, said Henry Blodget, an analyst at Merrill Lynch.
But growth in the PC market is slowing, the economy is tough, power prices are rising, and some functionality has shifted to the Internet from PC-based applications requiring a powerful operating system. In addition, some analysts and investors said they're not sure the product offers enough new features to persuade consumers and businesses to buy new PCs.
"The jury is still out whether this product can drive PC demand," said Christian Koch, an analyst at Trusco Capital Management, which owns about 4.5 million shares of Microsoft. "You talk to the average PC user, they say, `No, we don't need all these bells and whistles.'"
Still, Microsoft is confident that Windows XP will sell strongly.
"We're hearing from the industry that this is going to be a great catalyst for tablet PCs, plug-in audio and video devices and applications," said Windows program manager Tom Laemmel. "Windows XP is as big a jump as from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95."
Wearing his trademark V-neck sweater, Gates and Group Vice President Jim Allchin demonstrated the clean, easy-to-navigate design of the new software, which is strongly oriented toward music, digital photography and videos. The presentation took place at the Experience Music Project, the Seattle rock 'n' roll museum built by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.
The executives extolled the operating system's increased speed. They said it will let multiple users, such as family members, switch quickly among their individual sessions without restarting applications.
The software lets an authorized person on one computer securely access another computer over the Internet to fix problems, which Microsoft said will improve user support. It's also the first consumer-oriented operating system based on the business-oriented Windows 2000, which means it will probably be more reliable than Windows 95, 98 and Me.
A multimillion-dollar marketing campaign will jump-start the product. "We'll spend whatever it takes" to introduce the product properly, said Greg Sullivan, a Windows lead product manager.
Gates said XP cost more than $1 billion to develop, more than the cost of the Windows 2000 software it is based on. XP stands for the "experience" that the operating system's features will bring to the PC.
Pricing hasn't been set but will be "in line" with that of current software, Microsoft's Laemmel said. That means an upgrade could retail for between $109 to $149 and full package could cost between $209 and $309. No chip or memory upgrades are required for machines less than a few years old.
When Windows XP ships, it will come in two models. Windows XP Home Edition will be the successor to Windows Me. Windows XP Professional, an expansion of the Home Edition, will be the successor to Windows 2000, with additional management, software installation and maintenance features.
Home Edition will ship in a 32-bit implementation only, while Professional will also ship in a 64-bit implementation, meaning it can run the few new applications that harness that additional processing power.
Windows XP was known as Whistler while it was under development. Another piece of software is still being called Whistler: the back-office, server-based implementations of Windows XP that will succeed Windows 2000 Server, Advanced Server and Data Center. No new name has been selected for those products, and their release dates haven't been set, Laemmel said.
Microsoft shares closed yesterday virtually unchanged, down 56 cents at $58.19.
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