Interview: Weighing an interim release to Windows
InfoWorld | at | by Mike
Under the project name Windows XP Reloaded, Microsoft is considering how to add functionality to Windows. The discussions could result in an interim release of Windows before Longhorn. Greg Sullivan, lead product manager for Windows XP, recently spoke with InfoWorld Editor at Large Ed Scannell about XP Reloaded.
Q: Will XP Reloaded serve as the basis for an interim release between Service Pack 2 and Longhorn?
Sullivan: There has been a lot of speculation about new product plans for an interim release and what we are considering there. [Group Vice President, Platforms] Jim Allchin has referred to an internal project called Windows XP Reloaded, but that refers to a couple of different things, including how do we deliver the ongoing platform technology being developed [for Windows XP] and how to deliver that to users in a way that they can take advantage of easily? We have a number of different ways to deliver these technologies, including through products such as the Tablet PC, the new Media Center Edition functions, Windows Update, Service Pack 2 work, and OEM refreshes. So the Reloaded term refers to the discussions going on internally about how we continue to add value to Windows XP as a platform and help people understand what existing and new capabilities it has and will have. People are fixating on the notion of an interim release, but to call it [that] is really overstating the current plan.