More than four years after it was filed, the government’s antitrust case
against Microsoft is finally about to bear fruit for consumers. Al though the
effort by nine states to toughen the deal agreed to by Microsoft and the Justice
Dept. drags on, the software maker has decided to honor part of the original
agreement by modifying Windows XP with an update called Service Pack 1. SP1, now
in final testing, is scheduled to be released as a free update later this
summer.
SP1 makes it easier for consumers, and, more important, computer makers to
change the configuration of Windows XP and add or subtract applications. It also
includes a collection of bug fixes, many based on the error reports sent to
Microsoft when a program crashes in XP. And it incorporates all the improvements
in security that Microsoft has issued since XP was released last fall.
This update is a sign that Microsoft may finally be growing up. Four years
ago, the company responded to a judge’s order that it offer a version of
Windows without Internet Explorer by saying such a move would keep Windows from
working at all. But the new package goes beyond grudging compliance with the
letter of the agreement, and actually acknowledges the spirit.
The most significant change for consumers is in the control panel. First, you
can use the Add/Remove Windows Components section to get rid of features that
have been mandatory parts of Windows, including Internet Explorer, Windows Media
Player, Windows Messenger, and Outlook Express. Removing them does not just
eliminate the icons or other means of access, but actually removes the features
themselves. However, since virtually all PCs are set up with a copy of the
compressed Windows installation files on the hard drive, the same control panel
can be used to reinstall these features.
A new feature, called "set program access and defaults," offers
another approach. It controls what will be the default applications–and what
appears on the Start menu–for five classes of what the agreement calls
"middleware." The middleware includes the Web browser, e-mail, instant
messaging, media player, and Java. (The service pack restores built-in support
for Java, which Microsoft petulantly stripped from the original release of XP.)
The "Microsoft" button chooses Internet Explorer and other standard
Windows programs. The "non-Microsoft" choice selects such programs as
a Netscape browser and RealNetworks’ RealPlayer, if installed. The
"custom" option lets you choose your default for each class of
programs. Not many people are likely to delete applications such as Internet
Explorer, since they are useful and disk space is rarely an issue these days.
But gaining an easy way to choose the default program for viewing Web pages or
listing MP3 music is a plus.
These changes are far more important to computer makers and, accordingly, to
buyers of new computers. Manufacturers gain considerable flexibility in how
computers are set up and what customers will see when they first turn them on. I
doubt that any computer maker will eliminate Internet Explorer, or even replace
it as the default, because it is the browser standard. But a manufacturer might
well substitute RealPlayer for Windows Media Player, especially if Real Networks
provides financial incentives.
Should you install SP1? For one thing, it’s huge. While the final product
is likely to be a bit smaller than the 117-megabyte test version I used, most
people will probably choose to order a CD (for a "nominal fee") rather
than download it. More seriously, the installation is almost as complex as an
operating system upgrade, and things can and will go wrong. One of my laptops
refused to boot after I installed the test version. On the other hand, many of
the bug fixes that don’t involve security will be available only with the
service pack. Since these fixes almost always include new bugs, it would
probably be wise to wait a few weeks after SP1 comes out to see what problems
surface before taking the plunge.
By Stephen H Wildstrom
in BusinessWeek. Copyright 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc