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, , XP was expected to reach general, retail availability on October 25, On the same day, Microsoft also announced the final retail pricing of XP's two main editions, 'Home' and 'Professional'. 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 changed the appearance of the operating system.
The number of effects enabled are determined by the operating system based on 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.
The Start menu received its first major overhaul in 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. 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 e.
Fast user switching allows additional users to log into 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. Windows XP uses prefetching to improve startup and application launch times. All Windows licenses must be tied to a unique ID generated using information from the computer hardware, transmitted either via the internet or a telephone hotline.
If Windows is not activated within 30 days of installation, the OS will cease to function until it is activated. Windows also periodically verifies the hardware to check for changes. If significant hardware changes are detected, the activation is voided, and Windows must be re-activated.
Some of the programs and features that were part of the previous versions of Windows did not make it to Windows XP. For instance, support for TCP half-open connections was removed in Service Pack 2, [45] and the address bar on the taskbar was removed in Service Pack 3.
Both editions were made available at retail as pre-loaded software on new computers and as boxed copies. Boxed copies were sold as 'Upgrade' or 'Full' licenses; the 'Upgrade' versions were slightly cheaper, but require an existing version of Windows to install. The 'Full' version can be installed on systems without an operating system or existing version of Windows. Windows 98 or Me can be upgraded to either version, but Windows NT 4. Two specialized variants of XP were introduced in for certain types of hardware, exclusively through OEM channels as pre-loaded software.
The OS is primarily aimed at first-time computer owners, containing heavy localization including wallpapers and screen savers incorporating images of local landmarks , and a 'My Support' area which contains video tutorials on basic computing tasks.
It also removes certain 'complex' features, and does not allow users to run more than three applications at a time. After a pilot program in India and Thailand, Starter was released in other emerging markets throughout As the result of unfair competition lawsuits in Europe and South Korea, which both alleged that Microsoft had improperly leveraged its status in the PC market to favor its own bundled software, Microsoft was ordered to release special versions of XP in these markets that excluded certain applications.
Consumer interest was minuscule, with roughly 1, units shipped to OEMs, and no reported sales to consumers. A service pack is cumulative update package that is a superset of all updates, and even service packs, that have been released before it.
Service Pack 3 is slightly different, in that it needs at least Service Pack 1 to have been installed, in order to update a live OS. It contained over minor, post-RTM bug fixes, along with all security patches released since the original release of XP. SP1 also added USB 2. This feature was added to comply with the settlement of United States v. Microsoft Corp. Service Pack 2 SP2 was released on August 25, The security improvements codenamed 'Springboard', [68] as these features were intended to underpin additional changes in Longhorn , included a major revision to the included firewall renamed Windows Firewall, and now enabled by default , and an update to Data Execution Prevention, which gained hardware support in the NX bit that can stop some forms of buffer overflow attacks.
There are silver and olive green themes, dark and really dark modes, dynamic wallpaper -- where the sun sets and rises over the iconic Bliss backdrop -- and also updated Paint and 3D Pinball apps. Watch the full video below and share your thoughts on it in the comments. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy.
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