In June 2001, Microsoft indicated that it was planning to, in
conjunction with Intel and other PC makers, spend at least US$1 billion on
marketing and promoting Windows XP. The theme of the campaign, "Yes
You Can", was designed to emphasize the platform's overall capabilities;
an initial slogan, "Prepare to Fly", was dropped due to sensitivity
issues after the September 11 attacks. A prominent aspect of Microsoft's
campaign was a U.S. television commercial featuring Madonna's song "Ray of
Light"; a Microsoft spokesperson stated that the song was chosen due to
its optimistic tone and how it complemented the overall theme of the
campaign.
On August 24, 2001, Windows XP build 2600 was released to
manufacturing. During a ceremonial media event at Microsoft Redmond Campus,
copies of the RTM build were given to representatives of several major PC
manufacturers in briefcases, who then flew off on decorated helicopters. While
PC manufacturers would be able to release devices running XP beginning on
September 24, 2001, XP was expected to reach general, retail availability on
October 25, 2001. On the same day, Microsoft also announced the final retail
pricing of XP's two main editions, "Home" and
"Professional".
Updated start menu, now featuring two columns
While retaining some similarities to previous versions, Windows XP's
interface was overhauled with a new visual appearance, with an increased use of
alpha compositing effects, drop shadows, and "visual styles", which
completely change the appearance of the operating system. The amount of effects
enabled are determined by the operating system by the computer's processing
power, and can be enabled or disabled on a case-by-case basis. XP also added
ClearType, a new subpixel rendering system designed to improve the appearance
of fonts on liquid-crystal displays. A new set of system icons were also
introduced. The default wallpaper, Bliss, is a photo of a landscape in
the Napa Valley outside Napa, California, with rolling green hills and a blue
sky with stratocumulus and cirrus clouds.
The Start menu received its first major overhaul on XP, switching to a
two-column layout with the ability to list, pin, and display frequently used
applications, recently opened documents, and the traditional cascading
"All Programs" menu. The taskbar can now group windows opened by a
single application into one taskbar button, with a popup menu listing the
individual windows. The notification area also hides "inactive" icons
by default. The taskbar can also be "locked" to prevent accidental
moving or other changes. A "common tasks" list was added, and Windows
Explorer's sidebar was updated to use a new task-based design with lists of
common actions; the tasks displayed are contextually relevant to the type of
content in a folder (i.e. a folder with music displays offers to play all the
files in the folder, or burn them to a CD).
The "task grouping" feature introduced in Windows XP showing
both grouped and individual items
Fast user switching allows additional users to log in to a Windows XP
machine without existing users having to close their programs and logging out.
Although only one user at the time can use the console (i.e. monitor, keyboard
and mouse), previous users can resume their session once they regained control
of the console.
Infrastructure[edit]
In an effort to prevent copyright infringement of XP, it also
introduced Windows Product Activation, which requires that each Windows license
be "activated" and tied to a unique ID generated using information
from the computer hardware.
Windows XP uses prefetcher to improve startup and application launch
times. It also became possible to revert the installation of an updated
device driver, should the updated driver produce undesirable results.
Numerous improvements were also made to system administration tools
such as Windows Installer, Windows Script Host, Disk Defragmenter, Windows Task
Manager, Group Policy, CHKDSK, NTBackup, Microsoft Management Console, Shadow
Copy, Registry Editor, Sysprep and WMI.
Networking and internet functionality
Windows XP was originally bundled with Internet Explorer 6, Outlook
Express 6, Windows Messenger, and MSN Explorer. New networking features were
also added, including Internet Connection Firewall, Internet Connection Sharing
integration with UPnP, NAT traversal APIs, Quality of Service features, IPv6
and Teredo tunneling, Background Intelligent Transfer Service, extended fax
features, network bridging, peer to peer networking, support for most DSL
modems, IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) connections with auto configuration and roaming,
TAPI 3.1, and networking over FireWire. Remote Assistance and Remote
Desktop were also added, which allow users to connect to a computer running
Windows XP from across a network or the Internet and access their applications,
files, printers, and devices or request help. Improvements were also made
to IntelliMirror features such as Offline Files, Roaming user profiles and
Folder redirection.
Other features[edit]
DirectX 8.1 upgradeable to DirectX 9.0c
A number of new features in Windows Explorer including task panes,
tiles and filmstrip views, improved sorting and grouping, searching by document
categories, customizable infotips, built-in CD burning, AutoPlay, Simple File
Sharing and WebDAV mini-redirector.
Improved imaging features such as Windows Picture and Fax Viewer,
improved image handling and thumbnail caching in Explorer
A number of kernel enhancements and power management improvements
Faster start-up, (due to improved Prefetch functions) logon, logoff,
hibernation and application launch sequences.
Numerous improvements to increase the system reliability such as
improved System Restore, Automated System Recovery, Windows Error Reporting and
driver reliability.
Hardware support improvements such as USB 2.0 (with Service Pack 1),
FireWire 800, Windows Image Acquisition, Media Transfer Protocol, DualView for
multi-monitors and audio improvements.
Fast user switching,
The ClearType font rendering mechanism, which is designed to improve
text readability on liquid-crystal display (LCD) and similar monitors,
especially laptops.
Side-by-side assemblies and registration-free COM
Improved media features in Windows Media format runtime, Windows Media
Player, Windows Movie Maker, TV/video capture and playback technologies,
Windows Media Encoder and introduction of Windows Media Center
General improvements to international support such as more locales,
languages and scripts, MUI support in Terminal Services, improved IMEs and
National Language Support, Text Services Framework
Improved application compatibility and shims compared to Windows 2000
Updated accessories and games.
Native support for ZIP files (compressed folders).
