Hello everyone!
Here is a posting, from the product manager for Windows XP64, Brian Marr, in the
microsoft.private.windowsserver_64bit newsgroup:
Hi Everyone -
My name is Brian Marr and I work in the Windows Client Product Management
Team - I am the product manager for Windows XP64, which means that I am
responsible for making the decisions that will affect how you get your hands
on the product (along with a few other things).
I've been reading these threads and wanted to clarify some things about
availability. Below is a summary of what we have planned. I hope this will
answer your questions.
BETA PROGRAMSz
Today we have a customer preview program, which it sounds as though most of
you have taken advantage of. I realize that we have a very old build out
there and I'm working with our release management team to get an update out
asap. I think you are going to be impressed by how much work our
development team has put into the OS since Beta 1 and look forward to
hearing your feedback on it.
There is also a technical beta program - my understanding is that we'll open
this back up again after XP SP2 ships. This is a great way to get builds
more often, but there are some requirements around filing bugs etc that
you'll be responsible for.
FINAL RELEASE
Now to the big question - what happens when this product releases? Here is
what we have planned:
1. The OS will be available on some new OEM PCs. No surprise there .
The OEMs are responsible for deciding which systems they want to support it
on.
2. The OS will be part of MSDN
3. The OS will be part of Software Assurance
4. The OS will be sold through System Builders and Distributors.
You can either purchase it pre-installed on a system builder PC or just
purchase the OS with some piece of hardware. As Darrell mentioned on
another thread, this can really be anything (a cable, for example). If your
system builder of choice wants to only sell it with high-end components, I'd
suggest finding a new place to buy your equipment.
5. There will not be a retail fully-packaged product.
I've read some interesting posts here where some of you sound angry because
we're not doing a retail box. This really surprises me - SB/Disti is the
easiest and least expensive way to get your new OS, especially if you build
your own PCs.
"EXISTING 64-BIT SYSTEMS..."
Finally - I am working on something that would let you trade your 32-bit XP
Pro license for 64-bit. Nothing final here... no details... but the point
is that we want to take care of the people who go out and buy or build x64
systems before we ship.
At the end of the day my colleagues and I work on this project for a
reason - we (you and I) are the people driving the transition into the next
phase in computing. Our job isn't to squeeze money from your pockets or
make this hard for you - we want to make it *very* easy.
Hopefully consolidating some of this info will help. If you have any other
questions about our plans, feel free to ask. If I can answer them, I will.
Have fun with the OS... I'm looking forward to organizing a friendly game of
64-bit UT04 pre-release with anyone interested sometime soon .
Brian
