Microsoft on Custom XPs

Last year, Microsoft merged its two Windows lines--9x/Me and NT/2000--into one, Windows XP. Now the company is launching three new XP-based products. To learn why, PC World editors Harry McCracken and Yardena Arar interviewed Microsoft's top Windows guy--Jim Allchin, vice president for Microsoft's Platforms Group. Here's a partial transcript of the conversation.

Q. Is there some big strategy here?

A.Yes, absolutely. After 11 years we finally got to the NT code base for basically everyone. And the benefits of that [include] higher reliability, more stability, security, and the like for consumers. It's obviously better for IHVs [independent hardware vendors] because they only have to write one driver and it will work everywhere. And now we have the flexibility to target specific customer needs very quickly without having a splintering of the code base.

Q. Did you consider doing these more as add-on packs, as opposed to distinct editions of XP?

A. Although we have been asked [to make] the Media Center Edition able to run on a regular PC, we wanted our first baby step into the potential living room to be a good experience.... We wanted people to just have a machine that worked out of the box.

Eventually we may decide, okay, if we can define a class of machine that we know is going to have sufficient capability... then you can just buy the software. We would definitely be open to that....

That's less true for the Tablet because it's a different environment there. It's not one that you can just go say, "Oh, well, load the Tablet Edition on your laptop."

Q. How much has Microsoft been involved in the actual hardware designs?

A. In terms of the Tablet, quite involved, quite involved. We had, as you probably know, some of the people from Xerox PARC here, and they were definitely intimately involved in the work on the Tablet.... Our investment was building prototypes.... And you might see us do more of that. It's not our business, but we're trying to show that you can innovate in the hardware and show off some of the software as we move ahead.

Q. What made you decide to come out with all of these at once, and are you concerned about consumer confusion?

A.The biggest confusion point could be between the Smart Display and the Tablet. But in that case, if you explain it to somebody, it becomes pretty clear. We have a lot of analogies we talk about here--that the Tablet is like a cell phone and the Smart Display is like the cordless phone in the house. You can't go outside the house with it very far, versus the Tablet, which you can take totally with you--it's a full-fledged machine.

Q. How do you see the PC evolving?

A. You will see us continue to push harder and harder into the living room.... You're going to see these nice, slim form factors come up [for Media Center Edition PCs], and you'll see us make progress in the software so that it can be a sort of A/V-type device.... And then you'll see us do distribution of audio and video based on that throughout the home.

Q. If Windows-Powered Smart Displays are intended for home use, why do they require Windows XP Professional on the desktop?

A. Our dream is to move to where these panels are anyplace in the home, a lot of them, and we didn't want to do that work in Home Edition. We wanted to do it in Pro.... That's the long-term vision of what we're trying to get to there. But it's a valid point.

Q. If we come back in a couple of years, will there be ten Windows versions with extensions for special types of PCs, special types of hardware?

A. Probably not. Probably not. Right now we have no plans for additional ones besides what you see right now on the drawing board.